Drilling Equipment

Underwater Wellheads

The first underwater completions were a series of gas wells on the north shore of Lake Erie. Designed to avoid ice damage, trees were installed by suited divers in 20- to 30-ft of water. Shell's RUDAC System used a nested suspension system incorporating casing and tubing hangers, master valves and dual flowline connections for introduction of remote, through-tubing maintenance tools. The concept was first used in West Cameron 192 in 150-ft of water in 1960. Meanwhile on the west coast, Shell used a free-swimming remote controlled robot, called MOBOT, to make up bolts and operate valves. Five wells at Gaviota were completed this way starting in 1962.

Recognizing the pioneering efforts of the following people and companies who contributed to the development of this technology:

John Haeber, Ron Geer, Bill Bates, Howard Shatto, Bill Petersen, Bruce Watkins.
WKM Valve (Cameron), Regan Forge & Engineering (ABB Vetco Gray), Shell Oil Co., Cameron Iron Works (Cameron)