Plug & Abandonment (P&A) is the process of permanently closing an oil or gas well when it is no longer required or has reached the end of its useful life.

When a well is abandoned, the wellbore must be securely sealed to prevent oil, gas or other fluids from moving between underground formations or reaching the surface. This requires specialist equipment, careful planning and a controlled sequence of operations.

For offshore wells, Plug & Abandonment can be particularly challenging. Work may need to take place on existing offshore platforms where lifting capacity, working space and equipment access are limited.

This is where rigless P&A can provide an alternative to using a conventional drilling rig. Instead of bringing a large drilling rig onto the platform, modular equipment such as Hydraulic Workover Units (HWU) and Rigless Pulling Units (RPU) can be used to carry out well intervention and abandonment activities.

However, these systems still need reliable lifting support to move, assemble and handle heavy equipment and tubulars.

Our modular cranes can be deployed on offshore platforms where an existing platform crane may not have sufficient lifting capacity, may be unavailable, or may not provide the required reach.

The TC90 modular crane can support the movement of equipment between supply vessels and offshore platforms, assist with the installation and removal of HWU or RPU packages, and handle associated equipment such as Blowout Preventers (BOPs).

During tubular pulling operations, the crane can work alongside the Rigless Pulling Unit. Once the RPU has freed the tubular from the well, the crane can pull the tubular joint, lower it onto the platform deck and lay it down. Thunder Cranes reports lay-down operations of approximately 2.5–3 minutes per joint, helping reduce handling time during P&A operations.

Thunder Cranes can also address limited offshore deck space through its modular TC Extension Deck. The system can create additional usable working space for equipment staging while helping distribute equipment loads across the platform deck.

A successful Plug & Abandonment campaign is not only about closing a well. It is also about completing the work safely, efficiently and with as little non-productive time as possible.

Thunder Cranes supports this objective through: