Foxdrill completes conductor installation Schoonebeek

Wagenborg Foxdrill has completed the installation of 73 conductors for NAM successfully and incident free. The conductors were installed on 18 individual locations in the Schoonebeek redevelopment project.

The installation of conductors was one of the first steps in redeveloping the Schoonebeek oilfield. The field was first discovered in 1943, production continued till 1996 when the activities were stopped on the Dutch side of the border. An increasing oil price and the availability of new and evolved production techniques (steam injection), made NAM decide to redevelop the Schoonebeek field.

After a thorough preparation for this project, Wagenborg Foxdrill started the 20^th of October 2008 with driving the first of 365 piles into the ground. Each conductor consists out of five individual piles with a length of approx. 12 meters, welded together . The total length of the conductors driven was 4.400 meters. Transport of the piles and supplying cranes for installation were carried out by Wagenborg Nedlift.

Conductor installation on the last site was quite a challenge. NAM requested that five conductors were driven under an angle; to be sure the piles wouldn’t hit any existing wells. This had been done offshore many times before by WF crew, but onshore was a different situation all together.

The problem was solved by using so-called deviated shoes (a steel reinforcement on the bottom of the first pile); the shoe is welded on the pile with an offset. During conductor driving this makes the pile deviate in a certain direction and angle, in this case a deviation of 3 degrees under the surface. The pile had to be driven straight, in line with the other conductors and in the right direction. To ensure this Foxdrill designed and manufactured a special plate.

On the 29^th of March 2010 the last conductor was driven. To celebrate this, NAM organized a small party on site. During this the names of two NAM project managers were written on the last conductor which was then driven into the ground.

For both management and crew of Wagenborg Foxdrill it was a great project to carry out.

Wagenborg Foxdrill looks forward to more opportunities for demonstrating its expertise in conductor driving, to NAM and other clients.