Aberdeen center supporting five offshore innovation projects

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) has awarded £330,000 ($437,000) of support to five projects designed to cut operational costs and improve efficiency in the oil and gas industry.

Five companies are co-operating with Scottish universities on the various programs.

TechnipFMC Umbilicals and the University of Aberdeen are developing a load-bearing connector for use with power umbilicals containing high strength aluminum conductors.

One goal is to either lessen or eliminate the need for ancillary strength members. Phase one of the project has been completed and an initial design for the connector is in progress.

Under phase two the University of Aberdeen is investigating the design of the connector through analysis and testing, to improve understanding of the required mechanical and electrical performance requirements.

Weir Group and Heriot-Watt University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences are developing a barrier layer of 2D Nanomaterial for elastomers to reduce gas permeation.

This should allow easier and safer access to high-pressure/high-temperature oil and gas reserves. An initial evaluation has been completed on the feasibility of 2D Nanomaterial as an additive to polymer coatings – there will now follow further permeation studies to assess how the technology would work.

Balmoral Group and the University of Edinburgh are investigating potential use of new materials that could be integrated into Balmoral’s subsea ancillary product line. Primarily, the goal is to develop composite materials operating at extreme loads in challenging offshore environments.

Getech Group, the University of Glasgow, and University of Strathclyde are investigating the conditions under which granites and crystalline-based basement rocks weather and fracture, to a degree that transforms them into potential hydrocarbon reserves.

This would increase the opportunities to exploit unconventional reservoirs on the UK continental shelf. Data gathered on various formations will be used to predict the presence of weathered and fractured granite.

Finally, N-Sea and the University of Strathclyde are developing technology that will perform automatic annotation of subsea video and auxiliary data, reducing the time taken to process inspections and associated cost, and at the same time improve consistency and accuracy.

Phase one has proven the feasibility: phase two, facilitated by OGIC, will include testing of a prototype.

07/16/2018