The experts and divers of Khark Operating Area (KOA) have successfully reclaimed an old offshore oil well in Doroud Oilfield which was abandoned for over 40 years.
According to the Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), D-15 Well was one of the area’s abandoned wells which was rehabilitated by the efforts of the KOA experts and technicians.
The report says, due to the possibility of pipeline fractures, the plan for operating and commissioning the well was uncertain, so the use of flexible tube was put on the agenda of the IOOC, and it was decided by the KOA CEO to consider examining the existing pipeline by the Undersea Maintenance Unit of the area, with the close co-ordination and co-operation of the well service, operation and maintenance unit of IOOC.
It was then planned that the wellhead riser of the well shall be repaired and water and gas injected to the well in an offshore operation.
For this purpose, in a complex operation, a team of KOA divers, under extreme conditions at a depth of 51 meters and above the standards of diving, cold water of March, anchored among dozens of oil pipelines in an area with heavy tanker traffic, and identified two leakage points at a distance of 1800 meters on the western coast of Khark Island and 2,350 meters south of Azarpad oil dock.
Then, by draining the remaining water in the pipeline and injecting the gas to the desired pressure, other possible leakages were investigated and, fortunately, it was found that the pipeline was acceptable for commissioning. After completing these steps and fixing the problem with the flowline path of the pipeline, the well was finally rehabilitated and its production resumed.
The first barrel of oil was pumped from the well in 1975 but it was abandoned in 1979 because of falling pressure and lack of oil current.
