New technologies improve efficiencies and optimize operations

After a pandemic-altered schedule the past two years, the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) was back on track as an in-person only event, with a vast variety of technical presentations, networking opportunities, technology showcases and demonstrations, and a crowd-filled exhibition. Industry leaders, C-suite executives, technology experts, investors, buyers, entrepreneurs, young professionals and more than 1,000 exhibitors gathered May 2-5 in Houston to network and discover the latest advances, challenges and opportunities in the offshore energy industry.

Each year attendees gather to focus on new technology innovations, advances and trends. The 2022 Spotlight on New Technology Award winners comprise 14 companies, including seven small businesses, from around the world.

This award is presented to OTC exhibitors based on the following criteria: novelty in the marketplace; level of innovation; demonstrated success; broad commercial appeal; and ability to make a significant impact across the offshore industry.

2022 Spotlight winners

For electrifying subsea process automation, Bosch Rexroth has been honored with a Spotlight award for its SVA R2, an electric subsea valve actuator with safety springs. The subsea electric actuator is as compact as hydraulic actuators and can replace conventional hydraulic cylinders without taking up additional space.

Expro is an award recipient for its Galea autonomous well intervention system. The system is designed to reduce intervention costs, HSE risks and environmental impact, and it can be set up in different operating modes to suit a variety of applications onshore and offshore. Galea minimizes deferred production, offers 24/7 monitoring from anywhere across the globe and recues operational overheads.

Oil States Industries has received an award for its Oil States Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) and Riser Gas Handling (RGH) system. The system integrates MPD and RGH into a deepwater drilling riser. The system’s design features retrievable annular packers, which allow replacement and servicing in minutes—without disconnecting the lower marine riser package—to substantially reduce maintenance and nonproductive time.

Additionally, Oil States has also been recognized with partner TotalEnergies for developing the Merlin 15K HP/HT riser system for subsea drilling applications in shallow water. Merlin enables drilling of HP/HT wells in shallow water from a jackup rig, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per well compared to using traditional higher specification semisubmersible rigs, according to a company news release. It also offers simple plug-and-play advantages compared to conventional flanged systems.

“The system is believed to be the first of its kind design-rated for sour service applications,” OTC stated.

Part of the Municipal Group of Companies, R3 Environmental Systems has won an award for its Vacuum Assisted Pure Oil Recovery Technology, which recovers drilling fluid and water from waste that is generated during oil and gas drilling activities.

“We are confident that this technology could significantly reduce the waste produced in the oil and gas sector,” said Patrick Rooney, director of manufacturing, Municipal Group of Companies, in a recent company news release. “It’s a small contribution to making this industry just a little bit greener.”

Schlumberger has received an award for its ReSOLVE iX extreme-performance instrumented wireline intervention service, which leverages intelligent downhole technologies to optimize results in extreme conditions, such as HP/HT, sour and restricted-access environments.

“The instrumentation enables real-time downhole measurement and diagnostics, visualized in a user-friendly dashboard,” according to Schlumberger’s website. “You can now confirm operations as they happen and quickly adjust your actions to address downhole uncertainties.”

Schlumberger was also recognized for its Autonomous Directional Drilling, a hardware that drills holes autonomously.

“Autonomous Directional Drilling isn't one tool or technology,” according to Schlumberger news release. “It amalgamates the fullness of well construction operations to drill from spud to TD [total depth], using an autonomous system that constantly analyzes its position, formation characteristics, conditions and trajectory to optimize steering, well placement and overall drilling performance—reducing cost/foot drilled and improving productivity.”

2022 Spotlight Small Business Winners

ClampOn has been awarded a Spotlight award for the ClampOn Subsea Flow Temperature Monitor, which is a non-intrusive instrument that calculates and monitors the temperature of the flow medium from outside the pipe. The non-invasive monitoring tool can be retrofitted to existing installations (e.g., as a replacement for broken intrusive sensors). The company states it also can be integrated into ClampOn’s range of subsea sensors to provide temperature measurement alongside sand monitoring, pig detection, vibration monitoring or leak detection.

CoreAll has been recognized for its CoDril tool.

“The CoreAll Intelligent Coring System and Logging While Coring tool provides real-time transmission of gamma-ray, resistivity, downhole vibration and core jam indication,” OTC stated on its website. “The CoDril tool is a supplemental downhole convertible core bit, allowing the operator to select between coring and drilling modes and saves a complete roundtrip to change the BHA [bottomhole assembly] every time.”

HYTORC has received two Spotlight awards for its MXT+ hydraulic torque wrench and its HYTORC Connect App.

The wrench is constructed from high-strength materials for “rugged industrial use” and “highly repeatable performance,” according to the company. It includes a coaxial reaction drive, auto-release feature and a new cycle counter.

The Connect App software provides wireless data exchange between Bluetooth-enabled HYTORC Electric Torque Tools and Windows PC or mobile devices. According to the company, detailed bolting results are captured wirelessly for complete project documentation.

“The [Connect] App communicates wirelessly with the tool, initializes bolting parameters, guides the operator, monitors results, collects data and generates complete quality documentation to assure bolted joint integrity,” OTC stated on its website.

Rocsole Ltd. has won an award for its Intelligent Level Detection & Data Analytics for Sand Management. Sensors for automated sand management systems secure the proper functionality and avoid unexpected shutdowns or reduced production rates. ROCSOLE’s electrical tomography allows deposits to be registered and monitored in real time.

“Being rewarded the Spotlight on New Technology award three times in a row is a huge recognition for our technology,” said Rocsole CTO Arto Voutilainen in a company news release. “Being able to detect waste streams, deposits and solids buildup in real time is providing large benefits for our customers to improve their efficiencies and ESG measures.”

Subsea Shuttle LLC has earned an award for its technology that provides subsea chemical storage and injection, which meets the need for longer and more cost-effective deepwater subsea tiebacks.

“The system features a cost-effective modular design and delivers application flexibility regarding injection rates, autonomy, reliability and compatibility with a wide range of production chemicals,” OTC stated on its website.

Aquatec Group has been recognized for its KINEKtron, a fully functional, tested and deployed retrofit subsea strain monitoring system. The system is capable of measuring strain on structural tubular members. KINEKtron combines Aquatec’s existing underwater instrumentation and communications technologies with a new method for measuring strain in an ROV-installable package.

OTC 2022 featured tech designed for the future offshore marketplace

New technologies highlighted at OTC are improving efficiencies and cutting costs for offshore operators.

By Ariana Hurtado

The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) provides ample opportunity to share and soak in new technical and scientific knowledge about offshore energy. Many attendees find themselves gravitating toward the latest in technology innovations showcased on the exhibition floor, and exhibitors, presenters and attendees alike have almost endless conversations about new technology advances and trends.

This year’s conference featured plenty of new technologies, tools and services, and below is a sampling of the latest innovations that were highlighted at the show.

Autonomous operations

Wood and Xplorobot showcased robotic technology that is part of their autonomous operations initiative, which aims to reduce methane emissions for their clients and catch operating anomalies within plants, facilities and assets. The partners shared the results of their successful onshore pilot and ongoing offshore pilot at the conference. They also highlighted video renderings that had been captured from different sites, which provided viewers with a good sense of the types of thermal, acoustic and methane emissions imagery that can be picked up in the field.

“We have successfully deployed autonomous robots onshore and proven the use cases for technology to map visual, thermal, acoustic and vibration process conditions, as well as detect methane leaks,” Paul Leonard, president of Operations Americas with Wood Plc, told Offshore Magazine. “With funding from the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we will be evaluating this technology offshore in the coming months. We are looking forward to implementing this offering further with our clients to optimize their operations and reduce emissions.”

Enhancing lockdown capacity

The industry has to be mindful of operational rig and capex costs and the impact it has on margins. Helping reducing capex costs, Baker Hughes’ MS-2 Annulus Seal will save operational rig costs as the technology reduces one additional rig trip, enhancing lockdown capacity of the wellhead. The technology is designed to drive efficiency savings.

“Typically, the industry practice is to run an additional lockdown hanger, which increases the number of trips and, consequently, rig time and costs,” according to the company. “The Baker Hughes MS-2 Annulus Seal removes this requirement, saving rig time and increasing rig efficiency.”

The new MS-2 sealing technology is tested to maximum industry standards of 200 cycles with 2 MMlb of lockdown capacity, ensuring life-of-field reliability and seal integrity.

“The MS2 features are based on full utilization of smart technology solutions for our offshore customers,” Romain Chambault, vice president services and offshore for Oilfield Equipment with Baker Hughes, told Offshore Magazine. “The MS wellhead guarantees seal installation at full capacity and guarantees full lockdown capacity. Working with our customers, we have developed a wellhead solution that goes beyond API qualification in the offshore industry, a very proud development giving our customers increased operational and installation enhancements.”

Valves for emissions control

The industry is increasingly focused on reducing methane emissions. As of November 2021, nearly 90 countries have committed to the Global Methane Pledge, an initiative to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

“As one of the largest contributors of industrial emissions of methane, all eyes will be on the oil and gas industry to deliver, making it imperative that all operators take urgent steps to eliminate fugitive emissions, effectively, reliably and as soon as possible,” Oxford Flow shared with Offshore Magazine.

The pressure equipment control provider said the most common failure points of most valves is the stem and actuator.

“Operators remain trapped in a cycle of spending millions in maintenance to catch leaks after they’ve already increased safety risk or impacted the environment,” according to a November 2021 Oxford Flow news release.

The company’s new ES valve offers a solution for isolation, flow control and pressure reduction, eliminating the potential for fugitive methane emissions.

“Poorly monitored and controlled fugitive emissions from valves contribute significantly to climate change,” Oxford Flow CEO Neil Poxon told Offshore. “We have removed the stem from our ES valve, the primary cause of fugitive emissions.”

Poxon added that the ES valve can play a crucial role in tackling emissions.

Simultaneous casing and drilling

Benthic, a brand within Acteon’s Geoservices segment, recently released its fifth-generation portable, remotely operated drill called PROD5. The system is designed for shallow-water wind developments and offers almost twice the tool load of previous PRODs.

PROD5 is designed to increase productivity and cut costs for the offshore renewable energy industry. Its new functionality includes a drill enhancement package (DEP) suitable for shallow-water and deepwater operations. The DEP enables simultaneous casing and drilling to ensure the borehole is always supported.

First deployment is expected in third-quarter 2022.

“Traditionally, a geotechnical drilling tool would push cone penetration tests (CPT) into the borehole until refusal, then pull out and case,” an Acteon representative shared with Offshore Magazine. “There was a risk of the hole collapsing during pull-out. The DEP allows to move the casing independently of the CPT, always protecting the borehole.”

This one feature will provide higher daily productivity than has previously been the case as well as reduced day-to-day variability.

There are other seabed drills, which have a sweet spot of 1,100 m or so. The company said this new tool allows it to remain competitive on productivity in shallow water and challenging soils.

“The target market for this tool is offshore wind (shallow water = wind market = 70 m,” according to the company. “And to succeed in this market, this radical new functionality has been developed.”

This tool can also perform up to 4,000 m.