In the East African market, conductor specialist CIS has reduced Maurel & Prom’s costs by removing caisson and conductor installation from the critical field-development path and using a specially designed drive chaser for its drilling campaign at Mafia Island, Tanzania.
CIS designed and manufactured a special drive chaser with a 36-in. body and 42-in. outer sleeve, which enabled a 42-in. caisson to be driven using a hydraulic hammer with a 36-in. drive sleeve.
Without this drive chaser, Maurel & Prom would have had to follow the far more expensive option of renting a 48-in. sleeve that would have been slimmed to 42-in. diameter.
CIS also employed its custom-designed landing frame during the driving operation, so the caissons and the conductors could be installed off the critical field-development path before the drilling rig arrived on site.
CIS also supplied the conductor handling and running equipment, a hydraulic hammer with a 36-in. drive sleeve and a power unit.
The minimum target depth of 30 m for the 20-in. diameter, 1-in. wall-thickness conductors was easily exceeded; the final penetration was 34 m. The first 42-in. diameter, 1-in. wall-thickness caisson was driven to final depth in less than two days, and Maurel & Prom was delighted with the cost savings.