Portfolio Spotlight: Interview with Abrado Executive Chairman, Martyn Fear

We caught up with Martyn Fear, Abrado Executive Chairman on Abrado’s leading Medusa technology and performance optimization via its ‘Operations Excellence’ approach.

It was recently announced that you were appointed as Executive Chairman for Abrado, how has your remit changed or expanded since that change? 

My new role brings more responsibility. First, to help ensure that board meetings focus on the right issues, enabling shareholders to understand, support and influence management decisions and practices. Secondly, the new role requires more active support to the CEO in his leadership of the business, so we are enjoying strengthening that partnership. 

You have had decades of experience in upstream well operations in onshore and offshore settings. What is it about Abrado’s Medusa technology that stands out from other permanent P&A techniques? 

Successful P&A may require the deployment of gas-tight barriers across the annuli between casing strings, meaning that some sections of casing need to be removed by milling, without damaging other casing strings outside that.  Abrado is the only provider that has a substantial and successful track record of doing this.  In addition, a step change in well P&A costs requires this capability to be available without a rig, something Abrado has distinctive and successful experience of.

‘Operations Excellence’ is high on the agenda for many companies throughout the industry. How does Abrado use this approach to optimise performance in the day to day?

For Abrado, ‘Operations Excellence’ involves introducing the sort of well engineering and optimisation methodologies that are established in drilling engineering, into milling.  We are now using data, modelling, workflows and interpretations to identify how to improve milling rate of penetration and tool life, and then using this data to continuously-improve performance that operators can share the benefit of.  Recent projects are seeing the fruits of this.  

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