North America

Baker Hughes has launched the MS-2 Annulus Seal, designed to save substantial operational rig costs by reducing rig trips.

The new integrated sealing solution, the latest technological development to the MS-SN, has already been adopted by multiple customers in North and South America.

The MS-2 Annulus Seal integrates with Baker Hughes’ existing MS-800 wellhead system and helps to lower the cost of well construction and intervention, expands intervention options and ensures security and confidence of well integrity in challenging conditions.

“We constantly strive for technological optimisation and delivering the most advanced solutions to our subsea customers,” said Neil Saunders, Executive Vice President of Oilfield Equipment at Baker Hughes. “Through our new MS-2 Annulus Seal, we are helping to transform the subsea market and are developing quality technology that delivers long-term value, reliability and efficiencies for subsea customers.”

The MS-2 can be installed in a single trip, with an integrated lock ring that results in improved rig efficiency by providing immediate lockdown of up to 2mn pounds force without the need for a second trip, saving rig time. The MS-2 also provides easier access to wells, with no need for supplemental lockdown devices. It is tested to 20,000 psi, and to 200 load cycles ensuring life-of-field reliability and further demonstrating the seal integrity.

C-Innovation, LLC (C-I), an affiliate of Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) and its family of companies, have signed a two-year contract for continued Riserless Light Well Intervention (RLWI) services onboard the Island Venture offshore support vessel.

The new contract follows a previous agreement in which the Island Venture performed interventions on multiple deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

David Sheetz, C-Innovation’s Vice President, said, “This new award is a continuation of nearly three years of setting new standards in the RLWI space. We are constantly working to change the way the industry looks at RLWI work to increase production in this ever-changing market. We look forward to the next few years on this project, and we are already making plans to expand the offering, including numerous dock upgrades to facilitate even more efficient fluid handling and waste removals to minimise required between-wells maintenance time.”

With no safe vertical access to several subsea wells under a platform, the C-I Subsea Projects Group was able to find a solution by utilising a well service jumper to perform well interventions. This collaborative effort between C-I and the operator allowed C-I to perform the intervention without disrupting the platform’s operations.

George Wilson, C-I’s RLWI project manager, commented, “C-I is committed to ensuring the continual improvement of the quality, health, safety and environmental aspects of its operations and services. The two-year RLWI work is no exception: with over one million man-hours, C-I had zero recordable incidents. So far this year, C-I has clocked over 135,000 hours with no recordables.”

Sheetz added, “The contract award for additional RLWI work is a credit to the entire RLWI team. Our team continues to provide creative solutions and methodologies to perform interventions that have not been achievable from a conventional RLWI approach. The collaboration of various subsea disciplines within our group has contributed to the successes, and our offshore teams continue to deliver on every execution that comes their way. C-I’s subcontractors, Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Caltex Oil Tools, were also key to the new award. I am extremely proud to work with some of the brightest people in our industry.”

C-Innovation, an affiliate of Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) and its family companies, is celebrating its 15-year anniversary.

This milestone was reached by continuing to provide its customers with the most advanced remotely operated vehicles (ROV) systems and industry-leading ROV services. Such offerings have seen the company operate across the globe alongside major operators such as bp.

Since its foundation in 2007, the company has grown into the largest owner and operator of Schilling Robotics ROV systems in the world, with a fleet of 57 work class ROV systems. In addition to ROV services, it has now expanded into providing AUV, offshore survey, pipeline and well intervention services – recently demonstrated with the award of a light well intervention contract with a major operator in the Gulf of Mexico.

The addition of these services has steadily expanded C-Innovation’s footprint on the oil and gas industry.

Richard Bourque, Chief Operating Officer of C-Innovation, commented, “The past 15 years has seen multiple ROV companies come and go, while C-I has continued to grow and expand our offerings with additional vessels and advanced solutions.

“The key to remaining successful during a time when new competitors emerged and existing competitors faded away has always been the loyalty and hard work of our employees and the support of our clients. Reaching this 15-year milestone is proof to our clients and competitors that we are, and will continue to be, a leading ROV services provider in the oil and gas industry.”

Helix Energy Solutions Group, a leading provider of offshore energy services, has entered into a new multi-year contract with Shell Offshore to provide well intervention services in the Gulf of Mexico.

The three-year contract, commencing in March 2022, includes an anticipated 75 days utilisation per year with the option to add additional utilisation days.

Helix will provide either the Q4000 or Q5000 riser-based semi-submersible well intervention vessel, a 10k or a 15k Intervention Riser System (IRS), remotely operated vehicles, project management and engineering services to cover operations from fully integrated well intervention to fully integrated plug and abandonment well services.

The Q4000 and Q5000 well intervention vessels provide an optimal platform for a wide variety of tasks, including subsea well intervention, field and well decommissioning, installation and recovery of subsea equipment, well testing and emergency well containment.

Scotty Sparks, Helix’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, commented, “Shell continues to be a valued customer of Helix. We appreciate their continued confidence in our fully integrated well intervention services, our commitment to safety and cost-effective and efficient solutions. We are confident in the efficiencies and value we bring to our customers, and this contract further signals the increasing demand for our services.”

ROCSOLE has received an Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 'Spotlight on New Technology award' for its Intelligent Level Detection & Data Analytics for Sand Management.

In oil and gas facilities, sand production is an unwanted element. Robust and reliable sensors are critical for automated sand management systems to secure the proper functionality and avoid unexpected shutdowns or reduced production rate.

ROCSOLE utilises leading-edge tomographic technology, its Separator Profiler is a real-time non-radioactive monitoring solution that physically sees and measures separator's emulsion layer, improving separation efficiency by optimising residence time and resulting in higher quality output downstream.

“We are honored by this recognition. Innovation is not just a one-day job; this shows that the community appreciates the continuity of our innovative work shaping the future of energy and process control,” said Mika Tienhaara, Chief Executive Officer of ROCSOLE.

This is ROCSOLE’s third OTC Houston Spotlight award with the company first being recognised in 2020 for its Liquid In-Tank Inspection (LITI) product. This was swiftly followed, in 2021, with the prestigious award being bestowed on the company yet again, this time for its Deposition In-Line Inspection (DILI) system. It is the first Finnish company that has ever won the award

“Being rewarded the Spotlight on New Technology award three times in a row is a huge recognition for our technology. Being able to detect waste streams, deposits and solids build-up in real-time is providing considerable benefits for our customers to improve their efficiencies and ESG measures,” said Arto Voutilainen, Chief Technology Officer of ROCSOLE.

PanGeo Subsea, a subsidiary of Kraken Robotics, has been awarded a US$5mn contract by Couvillion Group for assistance with a decommissioning project in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2004, a storm induced mudslide caused an offshore jacket to topple which has since been lying on the seafloor 150 metres down, with subsea conductors buried in around 60 metres of mud. PanGeo will use Acoustic Corer, its high-resolution sub-seabed imaging technology, to identify where the conductors are located in the debris field to provide valuable information for the plugging and abandonment of the well.

The campaign will start in Q2 2022 and will last for 90 days – representing the largest Acoustic Corer project undertaken by the company to date.

Moya Cahill, PanGeo’s CEO, said, “The Acoustic Corer delivers a unique solution to the industry that has been tried and proven by the Couvillion Group in a demonstration project in 2019. We are truly excited to return to this site and work with the Couvillion team to complete a full site investigation of the debris field.

Couvillion Group’s CEO, Timmy Couvillion, added, “We believe that PanGeo has the key to unlock the unknowns below the seafloor that will ultimately enable a successful plug and abandonment of the well.”
In addition to the debris survey, PanGeo has been issued a letter of intent for a multi-million Acoustic Corer campaign of 50 days for an offshore wind farm in the Baltic where it will be imaging boulders in the sub-seabed.

Expro, an energy services provider headquartered in Houston, TX USA, was recognised with ‘Spotlight on New Technology Award’ at the 2022 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston for its Autonomous Well Intervention System - Galea.

This award highlights the latest and most innovative global technologies that are advancing and revolutionising the future of the energy industry. Galea was selected based on its autonomous technology and significant environmental, cost, and HSE impact beyond existing technologies.

According to Expro, Galea is the world’s first fully autonomous well intervention system that maximises production while reducing intervention costs, HSE risks, and the carbon footprint of operations. The system replaces larger, conventional, and more labour-intensive wireline rig-ups for a range of routine slickline operations. Galea can be configured in a variety of operating modes ranging from fully autonomous to manual to suit a range of applications on and offshore.

Galea deploys a tool string into the well either at regular intervals or as defined by the well conditions in fully autonomous mode. The system performs a pre-programmed intervention sequence in semi-autonomous mode, initiated locally or remotely. When in manual mode, quick rig-up intervention compared to conventional operations is enabled.

The system also reduces the impact of operations on the environment around the well site. A small self-contained intervention package located at the well site all year-round eliminates the need for repetitive environmentally disruptive wireline unit or truck operations required for traditional approaches.
Galea also features several fail-safe capabilities to ensure containment and elimination of potential wire breaks during interventions.

Expro’s Well Intervention and Integrity Vice President Max Tseplic said, “This prestigious award from our industry recognises not only one technology, but also Expro’s wider commitment to delivering cost-effective, innovative technologies and solutions, and what we consider to be best-in-class safety and service quality performance, as part of creating a more sustainable business and a lower carbon future.”

Expro North and Latin America Region Vice-President Toby Pitre added, “Enhancing our technology development remains a key focus for Expro. With a wide breadth of capabilities and expertise across the entire well lifecycle, we are fully focused on meeting changing industry demands.”

Verlume, a leader in intelligent energy management and storage technologies for the energy industry, and a consortium of partners have progressed on the development of an autonomous underwater robot that moves like a fish for offshore inspections.

The agile biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), named ‘RoboFish’, is made up of several self-contained modules with self-managed battery and actuator control for full-body, autonomous movement around underwater structures. It is capable of operating in harsh and hard-to-reach environments.

With the limited accessibility, manoeuvrability and environmental impact of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and some larger AUVs, inspection of structures in the underwater environment is complex, expensive, and reliant on human input.

The first RoboFish prototype was completed in summer 2020 and research to improve it and apply it to new applications is ongoing. Two conference papers and a journal paper have been published on the RoboFish prototype, with another journal paper due to be published this year on control of the swimming gait with machine learning.

Dr. Mark Post, Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at the University of York, commented, “Through the use of innovative electronics, actuation, networking technology and additive manufacturing techniques, we have been able to develop a modular robot that can move very precisely in challenging offshore environments. The collaborative contributions of many partners have been instrumental in creating a practical platform to further develop robotic technologies in this field.”

Verlume is playing a key role in the project, assisting with the development of an intelligent power solution for RoboFish. The company will supply an underwater power system for charging, as well as an integrated intelligent battery management system.

Paul Slorach, Business Development Director at Verlume, said, “With an increasing focus on decarbonisation and the automation of high-risk underwater tasks in the so-called Blue Economy, RoboFish is an example of how these operations can be revolutionised. We are pleased to act as the industry gateway for our academic partners in this project and share our expertise to integrate Verlume’s intelligent battery system as the power solution for RoboFish.”

RoboFish was initially devised by researchers at the University of York, Department of Electrical Engineering and the University of Strathclyde, Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean & Marine Engineering with grant support from the EPSRC Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy Hub.

The RoboFish research consortium was formed of partners Verlume, The University of York, The University of Strathclyde, PicSea Ltd, the Supergen ORE Hub, and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. Through outreach activities, the consortium is expanding.