Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) is investing more than £85,000 ($110,000) into three new technology development projects, under which three companies will work with Scottish universities to develop innovative technology related to current industry challenges.
Kibosh is working withHeriot-Watt University to develop prototypes of rapid repair and rapid freeze clamps suitable for use in the oil and gas industry.
The repair clamps are said to cut downtime as they require virtually no tools, so they can be fitted quickly, even when the leak is in full flow.
Once in place the clamps allow the pipe to keep functioning normally at high pressures, hot or cold, until a permanent repair can be put in place.
The clamp is designed to fit onto the pipe, and can also accommodate leaking pipe fittings.
The freezing clamp works on the same basis, creating and maintaining an isolation ice plug that avoids drain-downs when pipe repair work and valve replacements are performed. A hybrid clamp could also follow.
In the second project, University of Strathclyde is working with Cavitas to develop a downhole device that will generate heat, fluid, or steam within the wellbore of injection wells and which could be used as a bypass fluid heater.
The technology is based on rotation of a specially designed rotor within a housing.
According to OGIC, it could improve the economics ofheavy oil and enhanced oil recovery on the UKCS, which has an estimated 7 Bbbl of heavy oil that is presently not viable to produce.
University of Strathclyde will model fluid dynamics to allow Cavitas to further develop its design and build a prototype.
Finally, Composite Scaffolding Company Ltd. (CSCo), working with University of Strathclyde and University of Glasgow, will develop a scaffold system made from composite material that could cut the weight of conventional metal scaffolds by up to 75%, also mitigating injuries at the workplace.
The scaffold will be made out of chemically inert, non-corrosive and non-conductive materials, which should also make it safer in an offshore environment. The two universities will combine to complete phase one of the project ahead of CSCo manufacturing the system at the next stage.
Ian Phillips, CEO of OGIC, said: “CSCo’s technology has the potential to have a major economic impact on asset integrity and life extension.”
09/26/2016
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