Wellhead Load Relief (WLR) System

Mitigate wellhead fatigue, reduce HSE risk and increase your available deck space with our Wellhead Load Relief system.

Oceaneering’s Wellhead Load Relief (WLR) system is a compact, high-capacity Blowout Preventer (BOP) tethering system suitable for template and seabed anchoring. By tethering a BOP to an existing structure on the seabed, the need for multiple sets of fixed length wire ropes is eliminated, significantly reducing rig time and costs dedicated to traditional tethering operations.

Benefits and features

marine asset protection, vessel encroachment

Reduce topside spreads by 100%

marine asset protection, vessel encroachment

Reduce deployment time by 50%

marine asset protection, vessel encroachment

Reduce crew size by 75%

marine asset protection, vessel encroachment

Provides operational flexibility

marine asset protection, vessel encroachment

Reduces wellhead fatigue

marine asset protection, vessel encroachment

Stabilizes BOP

Increase Operational Flexibility

Our WLR system is ideal for shallow water operations where heavy BOPs are used. All WLR functions are ROV-operated, removing the need for topside tether preparations. The WLR system can adjust to any length of tethers subsea and adds the ability to wet store equipment.

Wellhead Load Relief (WLR) System

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    A Flexible WLR Solution

    Our WLR System consists of several winch units complete with wire rope, parking columns, and BOP clamps. The anchoring points can be located on the template structure, mud mats, or protection structure, depending on the existing infrastructure and type of well. The system is adaptable to different BOP designs. Our WLR system is designed and supported using:

    • Dynamic tether calculations
    • Detailed installation procedures
    • BOP clamps for tethers
    • Tensioning system (winches) with load monitoring
    • 24/7 operational support
    • Repair, maintenance, and storage of equipment

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    Contact Us | Wellhead Load Relief

    Company page Since our founding in the early 1960s, Oceaneering has expanded and grown globally to service several industries such as the offshore energy industry, defense, entertainment, material handling, aerospace, science, and renewable energy industries. In 1964, Mike Hughes and Johnny Johnson formed a Gulf of Mexico diving company called World Wide Divers. The company grew in response to increasing demand for their services and in 1969 merged with two other diving companies to form Oceaneering International, Inc. To solve the toughest challenges, we do things differently, creatively, and smarter. As your trusted partner, our unmatched experience and truly innovative portfolio of technologies and solutions give us the flexibility to adapt and evolve, regardless of market conditions. Our mission is to solve the unsolvable. We thrive by creating industry-changing technically creative solutions for the most complex operational challenges under water, on land, and in space. Our five core values establish a common culture and demonstrate what is most important for us as a company. Since the beginning, the company has transformed from a small regional diving company into a global provider of engineered products and services. Today, we develop products and services for use throughout the lifecycle of an offshore oilfield, from drilling to decommissioning. We operate the world's premier fleet of work class ROVs. Additionally, we are a leader in offshore oilfield maintenance services, umbilicals, subsea hardware, and tooling. We also serve the aerospace, defense, and theme park industries. Underpinning everything we do, safety is not only the foundation of our core values, but it is vital to our unmatched performance record and company culture. The industries we serve are as diverse as they are complex. Whether we are engineering deepwater umbilicals or developing robotics for aerospace applications, the safety and health of our employees, vendors, and customers is an integral part of our day-to-day business. If we are working, then our responsibility is to be working safely. Since our inception in 1964, we have placed a high value on employee safety—from diving services and subsea inspection to vessel-based installation operations. We have and will continue to evolve not only our health, safety, and environmental (HSE) processes, but those of the industries in which we work. Although we have been fatality-free since 1999, our HSE journey goes beyond statistics. As our portfolio of services has grown, we have continued to prioritize and advance our approach to HSE.