Offshore staff
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV) has closed an equity investment in an artificial lift specialist.
Zilift was formed in Aberdeen in May 2009 to develop and market permanent magnet technologies for novel artificial lift applications. It is currently working on three products: TorqueDrive, targeting heavy oil production and gas well deliquification; SpeedDrive for retrofit conventional oil wells; and KickStart for kill fluid displacement as an alternative to coil tubing/nitrogen lift.
The products are designed for deployment via coil tubing or wireline and are claimed to offer high power efficiency. The finished tools will also reduce lifting costs, Zilift claims, enabling electric submersible pump deployments in new applications.
Ibrahim Buainain, CEO of SAEV, said: “Reliable and easily deployable artificial lift systems are a priority area of technology development for Saudi Aramco. We believe that Zilift’s technologies offer potential for substantial time and cost savings in artificial lift deployment and the potential for substantially enhancing the output from large numbers of producing wells.”
Existing investors in Zilift are Energy Technology Ventures – a GE-NRG Energy/ConocoPhillips partnership – Energy Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Viking Venture, Jebsen Asset Management, and Investinor.
6/04/2013
