Offshore staff
SANDNES, Norway – Statoil has contracted Cubility’s compact solids control system MudCube for the Johan Sverdrup field development in the North Sea.
MudCube is said to be the first system to eliminate the need for the conventional process of shaking fluid and solids, resulting in improved drilling efficiency, lower mud consumption, and reduced waste volumes.
The vacuum-based filtration system removes solids fromdrilling fluids. It is in use on various offshore rigs in the North Sea, Middle East, Far East, and North and South America.
Unlike shale shakers, which rely on high G-forces to separate mud and drilled solids, with the MudCube drilling fluids are vacuumed through a rotating filter belt that employs high airflow to separate the cuttings from the fluid.
Cleaned drilling fluids are then returned to the active mud system and the drilled solids - carried forward on the filter belt - are discharged either directly overboard (if this complies with discharge regulations) or to a cuttings handling system.
Cubility claims the separation capabilities lead to better quality mud, fewer chemicals required to maintain its properties, more mud recycled back to the mud tanks to be re-used for drilling, less waste, improved drilling efficiencies with stable mud properties, and a decrease in non-productive time.
06/12/2015
