Single shear and ball valve designed for subsea access throughout a well’s full life cycle

Expro has released the Solus high-debris single shear and seal ball valve system.

The development is designed as an alternative to the two-valve requirement for subsea well interventions, involving deployment of just one valve.

The company says this lessens operational risk and complexity and is also more cost-efficient.

Solus, which has been tested and validated in accordance with API Std 17G, is said to be the first fully NACE MR0175 compliant fail-close bi-directional high-debris ball valve system capable of performing shear and seal on wire and coiled tubing.

It can be used in both in-riser and open-water applications throughout the well’s life cycle, from exploration and appraisal and completion intervention to P&A and decommissioning. 

The system has already been deployed for a new in-riser completions project in the US Gulf of Mexico and also installed in an open-water system for a North Sea P&A campaign.

It provides shear and post-shear seal for gas and liquids on slick line, braided electrical cable, and coiled tubing, with bi-directional sealing for liquids and gas, even after a pump-through, Exoro added.

And the company now includes Solus as part of its lightweight P&A Open Water Intervention Riser System (OWIRS).

The valve’s modular design is said to facilitate isolation and disconnection from the well, while the compact design is said to suit next-generation smaller-sized BOP stacks, and enables more efficient supply chain management. 

Its fail-close design is said to also reduce the risk of emissions.