ICON Engineering has announced its most advanced model of heave compensator, the ARTP E-Series Compensated Tension Lift Frame, has just completed well flowback operations on an LNG project in Western Australia’s Carnarvon Basin.
The ICON ARTP E-series was deployed and operated on a semi-submersible drilling rig for the supermajor’s nine well completions campaign in 110–240 metres water depth. The ARTP was deployed specifically to mitigate risks associated with unintentional lock up of a rig’s active heave drawworks while conducting flowbacks and other “locked-to-bottom” well completion operations. The ARTP is a passive compensation system with in-built redundancy and failsafe mechanisms enhancing reliability.
Why Locked-to-Bottom Well Completion Operations Carry Extra Risk
During a locked-to-bottom well completion, the well is deliberately held rigid against the seabed while the rig above it keeps moving with wave and swell. That’s exactly the condition where a heave compensator’s job gets hardest: if the compensation system locks up or fails, load that should be absorbed by the compensator transfers straight onto the completion string instead. It’s why ICON builds passive compensation into the ARTP range, with in-built redundancy and failsafe mechanisms, rather than relying on active systems alone — and why an NPT rating of 0.1% across a full nine-well, locked-to-bottom campaign is a genuinely hard number to hit, not just a headline figure.
Once deployed on the contracted rig, the ARTP E-Series provided primary compensation for the rig for the entirety of the nine well, locked to bottom operations. ICON achieved a Non-productive time (NPT) rating of 0.1% which far exceeds industry norms.
Using ICON’s onshore test facility in Henderson allowed full interface and function testing of the ARTP prior to deployment, which saved valuable critical path time once offshore.
ICON had a team of 6 people on the rig throughout these operations, providing round the clock operations and maintenance support services, gaining significant experience and lessons learnt. ICON was commended by the client for the well planned and executed rig up and handling of the equipment and seamless integration with the rig crew.
ICON has been granted patents for its innovative ARTP Series of Tension Lift Frames. The ARTP E-Series is now being deployed to a Woodside project and was expected to be in operation again later in 2025 — worth confirming this outcome before republishing. ICON’s ARTP B-Series is continuing to be used on the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG project in the Timor Sea.
This kind of locked-to-bottom well completion support sits within ICON’s broader Drilling, Completions & Well Test Support capability, alongside the Heave Compensation Solutions and Tension Lift Frames work that produced the ARTP range itself.
ICON’s Track Record
ICON has installed more offshore platforms with jackup drilling rigs than any other company worldwide, and is expert in minimal facilities installation techniques such as Minnowpods, Monopods and Annex platforms. That track record includes a British Government engineering award for the innovative North Sea design and installation method of Shell’s Skiff oilfield, and installation of the first fixed platform in the Timor Sea. ICON has also carried out the deepest and lowest cost deployment of flexible flowlines from a semi-submersible drilling rig in Australia, and has pioneered mini-floatover technology for installing small topsides in weight ranges up to 1200 tonnes.
On the equipment side, ICON is world leader in the supply of conductor tensioning systems for jackup drilling rigs, from the Gippsland Basin to the Gulf of Mexico, and is renowned for completing difficult upgrades to drilling rigs outside shipyards in remote offshore locations. ICON’s growing equipment division sells and rents equipment internationally, with a focus on developing niche equipment to support construction and drilling operations. The company dominates the Australian market for heave compensated systems and for drilling locked-to-bottom well test conditions — the area of compensation that demands the highest level of reliability.
