The Oil & Gas Technology Centre / Projects / Completed Projects
We are working with industry to develop and deploy innovative technology, advance thinking in the industry and progress new ways of working. Read more about some of our completed projects.
Challenge: All All Asset Integrity Digital Transformation Marginal Developments Wells
Company: All All ABB DeltaTek Eserve International Ocean Power Technologies Oilfield Innovations OMV Robert Gordon University Tendeka Total E&P UK
TRL achieved: All All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Repair order management
Industry sponsors:
Entry TRL
TRL Achieved
We worked with Eserve on a project to develop the company's workflow management system, which has been a resounding success. The 3- month project was delivered on time and Eserve have since secured contracts worth more than £1 million and created 9 jobs.
The project developed a new approach to offshore surveys that can reduce costs by up to 80%, when compared with traditional methods. The technology used, pulls together three pieces of existing software to create one product which reengineers fabrication drawings
This innovative solution allows operators to rapidly reduce their backlog of survey, design and inspection activity on brownfield projects, modifications and repair orders.
Economic value
Non-economic value
Non-intrusive inspection survey
We worked with ABB to conduct an industry survey of major operators which identified that adopting non-intrusive insepction technology for inspectung process pressure vessels could deliver increased production and lower maintenance costs worth up to £242 million per year to the UKCS.
Key findings from the survey include:
Adopting NII could deliver increased production and lower maintenance costs worth circa £242 million per year to the UKCS.
The use of NII on the UKCS is limited, with some operators currently making no use of the available technology.
Potentially, up to 80% of vessels could be examined non-intrusively, without requiring a shutdown.
Improved safety with up to 80% fewer confined space entries required, with a corresponding reduction in the number of line breaks and subsequent leak tests.
A 33% reduction in turnaround durations have been achieved.
Overall cost savings of up to 80% compared to inspections that involve entry into a vessel.
The survey report can be downloaded here.
Enhanced production efficiency
Engaging the industry on non-intrusive inspection
Non-intrusive inspection trials
Eddyfi Silverwing
MISTRAS
Sonomatic
The results of three non-intrusive inspection (NII) trials, organised by the Oil & Gas Technology Centre and Total E&P UK, demonstrated that the technology can deliver significant cost, safety and efficiency benefits compared with traditional intrusive methods.
Total identified two process pressure vessels on its Elgin Franklin platform that it would intrusively inspect during a shutdown. Working with the Technology Centre, it was agreed that NII would be carried out in advance of the shutdown so the results could be compared.
Three technology providers – Eddyfi, MISTRAS and Sonomatic – were selected to conduct the field trials, and they deployed a range of ultrasonic corrosion mapping and time of flight diffraction solutions.
The three NII trials took place while the vessels were online and operating, and the intrusive inspections were later completed as planned during the shutdown. The NII scopes did not detect any significant defects that would pose a risk to the integrity of the pressure vessels, and the intrusive inspection confirmed the same.
The results correlated meaning NII delivered the same outcomes but without the requirement for a costly shutdown and potentially hazardous man entry into the vessels.
Decommissioning Simulator
Robert Gordon University, in collaboration with funding partners the Oil & Gas Technology Centre, KCA Deutag and Drilling Systems, with technical support from Baker Hughes, a GE Company, established the simulator to focus on well-plugging and abandonment. The simulator and the associated software is a world-first and will be used to support decommissioning activities in the UK and other parts of the world.
The Drilling Simulator was installed to provide onshore rig simulation facilities for research and commercial use for decommissioning activities. This is now enabling crew training prior to offshore execution, software development and new tool deployment simulation, increasing offshore operational efficiency, as well as accelerating new tool and software development.
Enhance production efficiency
Tubing compaction
We supported Oilfield Innovations to trial the company's technology, which could become an enabler for rigless well plugging and abandonment. The trial took place in an onshore yard and simulated a well environment.
The technology aims to remove approximately 100ft of completion tubing from above the production packer to allow access to the production casing for logging and barrier placement, without the need to bring in a rig to remove the entire completion string.
Twelve simulation trials were carried out. Half of the trials demonstrated repeatable 50% compaction of 4 ½" inch 13Cr L80 12.6-ppf tubing and 5 ½ inch 13Cr L80 17.0-ppf tubing inside of 9 ⅝ inch 53.5-ppf casing. This was the desired compaction for the trial, and could potentially open the doors for rigless abandonment.
The other half of the trials provided data for a subsequent project by OGIC and the University of Glasgow to mathematically predict tubing compaction results using existing well information.
Oilfield Innovations Tubing Compaction Qualification Trials
Onshore PulseEight trial
We supported Tendeka to conduct a successful onshore field trial of the company's PulseEight technology in a gas storage well in Austria, operated by OMV Group.
PulseEight is a wireless intelligent completion technology that provides operators with options to extend the life of their existing assets, and to develop new fields more effectively, reducing the need for intrusive well intervention work.
The technology uses a unique pressure pulse telemetry suitable for multi-phase fluid environments that allows wireless communication between downhole and the wellhead. Eliminating control lines makes the technology an easy to install and cost-effective solution.
During the installation of a PulseEight downhole device and a newly developed PulseEight surface system, various operations were undertaken to test the downhole device and prove the surface decoding system.
The two-week trial was a success and that proved the capability to communicate data from downhole to surface and remotely function tools.
Enhanced recovery
OGTC
Marine logistics - the transportation of equipment by boat - accounts for almost 10% of the £10 billion total operating costs for operators in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Despite this, data and anecdotal evidence strongly suggested that this area of supply was far from optimised.
The Oil & Gas Technology Centre conducted a feasibility study, partnering with Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University (RGU), focusing on support vessel logistics in the North Sea, to see how data can be used to quantify inefficiencies and the size of the prize.
The Technology Centre then worked with Crimson & Co to understand logistics models used in other industries and the key success factors required to move towards new, digitally enabled models.
Modelling work demonstrated that, if automated scheduling had been applied to shift the same amount of equipment and bulks supplies in the study area, fewer boats would be used on shorter but more frequent voyages, sailing for less vessel days.
It is indicated that theoretically, savings of the order of 20-25% in vessel days could be achieved if there are no operational restrictions.
In addition, if vessel sharing is invoked, further savings of 5-10% could be achieved. The modelling indicated that around 50% of the vessel trips would need to be shared between operators
Download the final report here.
PB3 PowerBuoy feasibility study
Premier Oil
We co-funded a successful project with Ocean Power Technologies and Premier Oil to study the feasibility of using the PB3 PowerBuoy for decommissioning operations in the North Sea.
The project determined the viability of using the PB3 for monitoring and guarding remaining wells and subsea equipment after removal of a floating production, storage and offloading vessel and prior to subsea decommissioning and/or well plugging & abandonment operations.
The successful study paved the way for a field trial in 2018.
ArticuLock - Phase 2
ArticuLock aims to provide operators with larger weather windows to deploy subsea hardware, and improve operational reliability by removing bending fatigue through subsea running tools and landing strings.
The objective of the project was to field trial the ArticuLock tool concept in an operational environment to:
Prove the ability of the tool to interface with racking equipment and rig floor hardware
Execute long-term degradation testing of the tool, by using substantial hanging mass (65MT) to represent actual subsea hardware being installed beneath the tool.
Demonstrate the tools functional performance in the intended load condition.
It is estimated that the technology could save North Sea operators up to £80 million per year by reducing waiting on weather, as well as reduce risk in subsea deployment operations.
The project was a success and achieved:
Successful integration of the ArticuLock tool with the drillship handling package.
Successful execution of the ArticuLock load and long-term degradation testing.
Cost avoidance
We worked with Deepwater Oil Tools to develop, test and certify, ArticuLock, a special articulated joint within the drillpipe running string used when deploying subsea equipment through the drilling rig during well construction.
The technology aims to enable drilling operations to run equipment even in rough weather conditions, resulting in a reduction in waiting on weather time (WOW), a multi-million pound issue annually to the drilling industry.
Independent studies have demonstrated that ArticuLock could increase the operating weather window by 30-35%, having a significant impact on reducing WOW time.