Equinor and partners DNO Norge, Petoro and Wellesley Petroleum have struck gas and oil in production licence 923. Recoverable resources are estimated at between 7-11mn cu m of oil equivalent, corresponding to 44 – 69mnboe.
“The discovery is a direct consequence of thorough subsurface work in the Troll/Fram area over many years, and shows the importance of not giving up, but starting over, looking at old issues from new angles. Exploration thus creates great values for society, at the same time as the resources can be realised in accordance with the requirements for CO2 emissions through the value chain, from discovery to consumption,” commented Nick Ashton, Senior Vice President for Exploration in Norway at Equinor.
The discovery details
Exploration well 31/1-2 S and appraisal well 31/1-2 A in production licence 923 were drilled some 10km northwest of the Troll field, 18km southwest of the Fram field and 130km northwest of Bergen.
The primary exploration target for exploration well 31/1-2 S was to prove petroleum in the Brent group from the Middle Jurassic period and in the Cook formation from the Early Jurassic period. The purpose of 31/1-2 A was to delineate the discovery made in the Brent Group in well 31/1-2 S.
Both wells proved hydrocarbons in two intervals in the Brent Group. Well 31/1-2 S encountered a c.145m gas column in the Brent Group (Etive and Oseberg formations) and a 24m oil column where the oil/water contact was not encountered. A total of 50m of effective sandstone reservoir with good reservoir quality was found in this interval. In addition 6m of oil-bearing sandstone with moderate to poor reservoir quality was struck in the upper part of the Dunlin Group.
Appraisal well 31/1-2 A struck sandstones with good to moderate reservoir quality in the Etive formation and upper part of the Oseberg formation. The lower part of the Oseberg formation contained sandstone with moderate to poor reservoir quality. An estimated total of 41m of effective sandstone reservoir was found in the two formations. The well proved 12m of oil in the Etive formation, where the oil/water contact was not encountered, and a 17m oil column in the Oseberg formation.
The Cook formation proved to be water-filled in both wells, but with moderate to good reservoir quality. The wells were not formation tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling took place.
Well 31/1-2 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 3439.5m below sea level and a measured depth of 3555m. The well was terminated in the Amundsen formation from the Early Jurassic period. Well 31/1-2 A was drilled to a vertical dept of 3452m below sea level and a measured depth of 3876m. The well was terminated in the Cook formation.
The licensees consider the discovery commercial, and will explore development solutions towards existing infrastructure.
Previous discoveries in the region
The Røver North discovery adds to a number of discoveries in the Troll/Fram area in recent years such as Echino, in the autumn of 2019, and Swisher in the summer of 2020. Recoverable oil equivalent from these three discoveries can already measure against the total production from fields like Valemon, Gudrun and Gina Krog.
“It is inspiring to see how creativity, perseverance and new digital tools result in discoveries that form the basis for important value creation, future activity and production in accordance with Equinor’s climate ambitions,” said Ashton.
Baker Hughes has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving complete net-zero status by 2050 and, in pursuit of these objectives, engineers from the company have been developing innovative solutions with perhaps the most complex of these centred around subsea technology and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
At the Baker Hughes Annual Meeting 2021, which took place virtually on 1-2 February, Julian Tucker, front end regional lead for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Baker Hughes, provided an in-depth presentation on CCS and explored the company’s projects around this technology.
Tucker explained, “CCS is a process where CO2 is captured from various sources and injected into a suitable store rather than being released into the atmosphere. One application of this technology is to capture CO2 from industrial emitters, transport it offshore via pipeline or vessels and then inject it into depleted oil and gas reservoirs or even saline aquifers. These offshore locations are ideal candidates for C02 stores given their proven capability in trapping fluids underground, as well as the fact that they live in mature basins such as the North Sea which have been comprehensively explored and appraised.”
The injection process
Focusing on the injection system, Tucker outlined three key considerations that must be taken into account when developing technology for this; phase behaviour of CO2 and the impact of this can have; corrosive potential of CO2; and considerations of long step out distances to some of these offshore locations.
Tucker commented, “CO2 is most efficient when transported in a dense phase, so is condensed and pressurised and can be in a supercritical state. This has several implications for materials selection, including solubility effects and fracture toughness. There is also the potential for low temperatures in the system which can occur if expansion drops due to pressure. This effect can be significant, especially when associated with a change of phase. The system therefore needs to be designed to manage these changes and the materials need to be properly selected and tested for these conditions.”
“CO2 is also highly corrosive to steel when water is present, and this will ultimately depend on the water content in the process stream. This can be mitigated by materials selection, dehydration processes or even through the use of chemical inhibitors, of which Baker Hughes has several dedicated products,” Tucker continued.
Tucker added, “It is important to note that CO2 injection systems are inherently different to hydrocarbon production in their operation as well as defining characteristics. These are governed by technical and economic drivers unique to these developments. In that regard there is great opportunity for simplification, but careful consideration of the type of CO2 store, the modes of operations, as well as the system design is needed to make sure equipment is fit for purpose.”
CCS at Baker Hughes
Tucker continued, “Baker Hughes is not only able to leverage decades of experience in the oil and gas industry but also with our experience from having delivered the worlds first subsea CO2 injection system for dedicated commercial storage. This was at Equinor's Snøhvit field. We actually supplied a record setting electro-hydraulic subsea control system for the 175km step out which is actually qualified for 220km.”
Tucker also mentioned other planned CCS projects that Baker Hughes has in store such as developing an all- electric system which can negate the need for hydraulic line in the umbilical. This has the potential to save significant costs for long offsets.
“I think the industry needs to build on the great strides that have been made in recent years to reduce costs and inefficiencies and really apply that mindset to CCS and to take it further even to really support these developments in their infancy and allow CO2 storage networks to grow.”
CCS and the push for sustainability
Tucker stressed he believed that CCS would really help the industry achieve its green targets and could work in tandem, rather than discourage, the industry becoming more efficient or switching to cleaner energy.
Tucker commented, “I really think that CCS is just one tool available in the fight against climate change, one piece of the puzzle. The world’s population and energy demand is still growing and this needs to be met. CCS is going to be absolutely vital for this. It has a huge role to play in addition to alternative fuels, renewable energies and also increasing energy efficiencies. It will be especially vital in industries and sectors where we have energy intensive processes. Action is needed now, and as more of these projects come to light, the technology will become cheaper and the process will be far easier to implement.”
A pioneering design for a Floating Normally Unattended Installation (NUI), that has the potential to unlock smaller and deepwater oil and gas reservoirs, is one step closer to commercialisation following an announcement of a collaboration agreement between the engineering consultancy behind the design, Buoyant Production Technologies (BPT), and Subsea 7, a subsea engineering, construction and services company.
The BPT Floating NUI
BPT’s patented proprietary design is a compact single column offshore facility, designed and equipped specifically for unmanned operations. The unit’s low OPEX and low CAPEX deliver optimised lifecycle costs to offshore developments.
With increasing focus on the environmental impact of oil and gas projects, as well as uncertainty surrounding commodity prices, Floating NUIs can offer a robust development solution for a wide range of future projects. BPT has developed Floating NUI into several configurations:
-Utility buoys powered using renewable sources, that can replace subsea umbilicals for well control and management
-Normally unattended production units
-Offshore substation units for use in offshore wind farms and for power import/export to oil and gas infrastructure
Central to the patented design, which is scalable for different field requirements, are several features:
-Slender “hull” structure and integrated (buoyant) “deck box”
-Open deck for topside process equipment and personnel access
-Deck box housing power generation and utilities
-Minimal motions, enabling deployment in harsh environments
-Minimal offshore installation cost
The Floating NUI series includes:
-Production Buoy: A standalone production facility for smaller deep-water developments
-Power & Control Buoy: Providing well-site services to enable subsea developments such as long-range /complex gas and oil tiebacks
-Floating substation: Supporting offshore substations for use on offshore wind developments and power import/export applications
The NUI conecept was developed and tested with multiple industry partners including the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, Premier Oil, Total E&P UK, Lloyds Register, Siemens, Wärtsilä, Ampelmann and BW Offshore.
The Subsea 7 and BPT collaboration agreement
BPT will bring their proprietary Floating NUI designs, configured for a range of offshore developments while Subsea 7 will provide field development and delivery expertise, supporting the integration of Floating NUIs into offshore energy developments and the engineering, construction, procurement, and installation phases of the project.
Duncan Peace, Managing Director at Buoyant Production Technologies, said, “By entering into this collaboration agreement with Subsea 7, we have developed a robust delivery model for Floating NUI projects, which we believe will enable us to successfully deliver projects to our global customer base.”
Thomas Sunde, Vice President Strategy at Subsea 7 added: “We believe BPT’s Floating NUI technology is well placed to help us support clients to improve lifecycle development economics of their offshore energy projects. By working together, we believe both parties will be able to better support our clients’ ambitions.”
For BPT, a wholly owned subsidiary that was formed in 2018, this announcement is a step along their journey to create novel designs to reduce HSSE risks and minimise lifecycle costs with a clear route to the market for the Floating NUI now established.
Logan Industries, a hydraulic repair, manufacturing and rental company, has manufactured and delivered the second set of a new and innovative design of small-footprint coiled tubing (CT) reelers.
The new CT reelers, the largest reeler Logan has manufactured, are suitable for storing and deploying 10,000ft of 2 3/8in tubing and enable operators to perform open water well interventions without bringing in a full drilling rig; boosting efficiency and reducing costs.
Dean Carey, Technical Director at Logan Industries, said, “One of our most valued customers trusted our expertise to deliver them with a unique solution when nothing on the market met their needs. Our new CT reelers are truly innovative designs and game changers for the offshore intervention market because they feature such a small footprint. This enables customers to take on more well stimulant fluid load, meaning they can perform a bigger job for longer. Logan has become the industry leader and the preferred option in CT deployment for open water intervention service providers.”
Logan pioneered new ways of assembling drive systems on large drums, and new methods of ensuring the CT lays and stays on the drum and wraps. Prior to Logan’s development of this solution, no fatigue models existed for CT performance. Since Logan’s development of these types of reelers, distinguished professors have investigated new methods of evaluating CT and have published their findings. Now, Logan’s CT reelers are specified in several of these papers and Logan has helped introduce a new requirement for CT fatigue evaluation.
Logan maintain the mantra, ‘if you can describe it, we can bring it to life; make it safe; and make it work for you’ and the CT reeler set is the latest from their extensive catalogue (alongside products such as winches, hydraulic machinery, spools and handling equipment) that aims to prove it.
The upgrades will be applied to rigs in the Norwegian sector of the North sea, Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Nordkapp, with the opportunity to include Deepsea Stavanger, Deepsea Aberdeen, and Deepsea Yantai at a later stage.
BlueDrive DC-Grid technology
Siemens Energy’s BlueDrive DC-Grid technology was developed to meet the offshore industry’s demanding energy distribution requirements, especially for propulsion and drilling systems. It is an efficient, environmentally friendly solution that provides high levels of reliability, availability, and ease of service, with low emissions.
The solution consists of DC/DC converters connected to the existing four drilling drive DC buses from one side and to DC/DC converters connected to energy-storage systems. This allows platform operators to conduct peak shaving of drilling loads, so fewer generator sets can run at higher and steadier loads resulting in a reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Further, the solution increases reliability by reducing blackouts, which will prevent downtime and boost asset utilisation.
In regards to drilling applications, the Siemens Energy BlueDrive system will be an integral part of the entire drilling process, enhancing the drill string's performance when applying high torque during drilling operations.
On the Odfjell platforms
Odfjell Drilling is committed to reducing the harmful impacts its operations may have upon the environment wherever it can and is therefore pioneering the use of the BlueDrive DC-Grid technology – the first of its kind to be installed on an offshore drilling rig.
Per Lund, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology & Sustainability at Odfjell Drilling commented, “These projects are the result of asking a simple yet challenging question: ‘What would be the most efficient technological approach to minimise emissions from a rig in the short term?’ The resulting ideas were very well received by Odfjell Drilling’s customers and will contribute to their long-term emission targets, so this is business and low-emission targets working hand-in-hand.”
Jennifer Hooper, Senior Vice President of Industrial Applications Solutions for Siemens Energy added, “Our agreement with Odfjell Drilling affirms our ability to understand and deliver complete, innovative, and cutting-edge solutions in line with our customers’ expectations, which include design, engineering services, interfacing with third parties and fabrication of state-of-the-art power electronics, as well as financial advice and support.”
The long-term relationship and technology cooperation between Odfjell Drilling and Siemens Energy also includes several R&D initiatives related to power from shore or nearby platforms and floating offshore windmills to fixed platforms or rigs. These solutions will complement the Siemens Energy DC-Grid and BlueVault battery solution system and provide customers with a holistic approaches to solving their power challenges that Siemens Energy can deliver entirely.
With these upgrades, the rigs will push the boundaries for conventionally powered offshore rigs and set a new technological standard in Odfjell Drilling’s strategy towards zero-emission drilling.
According to a recent PwC survey 90% of upstream companies have begun investing in digital initiatives and research by McKinsey suggests that 70% consider digital operations at the top of their operations strategy agenda. LTI and Offshore Network hosted a webinar entitled ‘Simplifying the Journey to Industry 4.0 through "Connected X as a Service”’, as Kartik Raman Iyer Head of Delivery of Indusrial IoT at LTI, and Frode Støldal, Chief Digital Officer at Tampnet, discussed the benefits of digitalisation that the upstream oil and gas industry has begun to recognise and identified connectivity as crucial step along this journey.
Connectivity as the key
Raman began by outlining that with new advances in technology the potential to transform and optimise business within the upstream oil and gas industry is enormous and one fundamental enabling factor has been the advancements made in communication technology.
Raman commented, “If you look at the oil and gas vertical, especially with operations whether onshore or offshore, connectivity has been a challenge all along. But with advancements in connectivity there lots of possibilities opening up in terms of digital interventions. All these used cases and innovations help bring in operational efficiency and also bring in efficiency from a workforce standpoint. This helps in accelerating the entire digital transformation journey. In terms of technology trends connectivity is the backbone but beyond that you have AI, automation and analytics as well.”
Due to demand fluctuation, a current industry dynamic as a result of the pandemic, operators are increasingly seeking to strike the correct balance between production and demand, making visibility and quick action vital.
Raman continued, “Organisations need to be agile, nimble and flexible to really adapt to the changing market dynamics. Providing real time visibility of an entire operation allows necessary interventions based on insights you are getting in real time. Because of the advancement on the connectivity side there are lots of used cases emerging around convergence as well because now you have access to the right working data on the enterprise side and analytics is possible. Many of these insights you are getting will help you take decisions very fast.”
Tampnet Infrastructure
For Tampnet, connectivity is everything, and Støldal outlined his company’s role as planners, builders and operators of fiber that connects offshore assets. They have also now implemented mobile infrastructure that can extend around 50-60 km from each asset, which allows complete coverage of the entire value chain and enables faster communication along it.
He commented, “Latency is core of what we do at Tampnet, one of the reasons for this is we also have a carrier business where some of the most advanced customers in financial industry are customers of Tampnet. If you are doing trading you are obsessed with latency. So we try and assign the entire infrastructure to minimise latency.”
Støldal added that the company also provides services to introduce complete coverage over the whole of an asset, regardless of size and complexity, so that there is a connection between different use cases, be them sensors, tablets or service containers. Together with DNV GL, Tampnet conducted a complete quality assurance test of the infrastructure at a Dutch site. Støldal said, “Feedback was very very good. The survey concluded that there was less safety exposure, no helicopter flight needed, no real travel needed, no offshore presence of a surveyor needed, smaller environmental footprint, efficient time and cost, and kept company assets compliant, safe and reliable. For business cases the improvements are quite significant.”
Connected X as a Service
For a quick, simple and cost effective way to make the most of new connectivity technology and embark on the journey to Industry 4.0 Støldal and Raman recommended the Connect X as a Service. This has been developed to evaluate the range of new digital technologies on the market, provide comprehensive a assessment to identify where digital advancements can be made, and guide and maintain businesses along the path to digitalisation. To listen to the webinar recording exploring this service in more detail, click here.
Following on from the OWI Global Awards hosted at the end of 2020, Rob Potter, Strategy Director at Genoa Black, and Claire Kinloch, CEO of Genoa Black, caught up with some of the winners as they hosted the webinar entitled ‘Turning 2020 lessons and achievements into 2021 opportunities’.
2020 blockers to agility
Potter began the webinar by asking what the key blockers were to agility in 2020, and how the panellists had each worked around this in their respective company. David Carr, Senior VP of International Business at Helix Energy Solutions, noted that the biggest challenges his company faced primarily revolved around travel restrictions and the migration to online working . However, Carr was quick to note the positives, outlining that actually the biggest effect of these was the acceleration of trends that had already been building within the industry. At Helix, Carr had noticed an increased efficiency and agility from working from home (suggesting they had actually signed more contracts than previous years) and that the switch to online had levelled the playing field when it came to operator to service company negotiations as the tradition of travelling to their office had been shattered. Carr said, “No one is doubting that it was a terrible year but there was an acceleration of a lot of the changes we were expecting to see and needing to see that perhaps would not have happened otherwise”.
Echoing Carr’s sentiments on the levelled playing field, Daniele Petrone, Life of Field Solutions Manager at OneSubsea, also pointed to his company’s budgets and plans, which were suddenly thrown awry last March. The manager suggested that suddenly there was a dramatic need to be extremely flexible, adaptable and patient to work around the fluctuating circumstances. As well as thanking his customers for their continued understanding throughout the pandemic, he highlighted the heroic effort of his staff, some of whom had remained mobilised offshore for more than a year without coming home. For Petrone, 2020 had revealed the importance of collaboration, both within the company and at an industrial level, as key to success.
Positive initiatives from 2020
Kinloch introduced the next question, enquiring what the best initiatives put into place in 2020 were and how these can be taken forward and replicated. For Andy Myers, Subsea Director of Oil Spill Response Limited, the most important steps taken in 2020 for his company were all around digitalisation. For a response company, it was paramount to demonstrate that they had the capabilities to respond as quickly as possible, even in the disrupted circumstances, and this prompted a real look into the digital tools that could offer optimal performance, prioritising fast communication above all. Through developments such as a dashboard on their website and investments into user interfaces the company sought to enhance interactions with their clients and ensure people were fully aware how they could respond to any incident. Myers commented, “A lot of this stuff was a reaction but will continue as there is a lot of positives to be taken from them. A lot of the tools will be maintained because they are cost-effective”
Carr admitted that the majority of the initiatives that came to fruition last year for his company, such as the decision to move some business to offshore renewables, were actually started prior to the pandemic, but they paid dividends and meant that much of their business was still utilised. The VP did however pick out that COVID brought into sharp focus the need to stay on top of the safety of his crews, and that it prompted a drive to monitor not only the physical health (with a new biological mindset) but also the mental health of employees.
Benefits of collaboration
For the third and final question, Potter asked what benefits were found in the increased collaboration that each panellist had witnessed within their company. In his line of work, Myers stated that no single company can provide a full oil spill response on their own, it is therefore more efficient and makes fiscal sense to work in collaboration with others, and this was a lesson that nearly all of the offshore industry had taken on board in 2020. He claimed that the shared experience of switching to online working, and the ease of communication that this has opened up, has made people far more open to collaboration than perhaps they have been in the past.
Petrone added to this as he said, “Collaboration has been key to any projects actually happening - even the operation for which we won the award wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration within our company and with our partner Helix. Some jobs would just simply not fly from an economic standpoint. That has been the key”.
Concluding the session, Kinloch identified that collaboration, which will open up companies to new ideas and pull in more diverse teams; digitalisation, which has given many companies the ability to reach more markets and re-balanced some of the relationships within the industry; and diversification, which can be used as a tool to cover all bases and give businesses the resilience to survive; were the key lessons to embrace and take into 2021. She said, “There has been an immense amount of change over the last 12 months. The biggest question moving forward is around managing this change and understanding what this has done to our culture, not just at an industry level but also how we operate within our own business. It is something that we will all have to catch up on and ask ourselves how can we use the pandemic now to our advantage”.
Spirit Energy has announced it will drill a new well in the Grove North East area which, if successful, could extend the life of the Grove field by five years to 2028.
Neil McCulloch, Executive Vice President of Technical and Operated Assets at Spirit Energy, commented, “The infill well is planned to target the un-appraised north-eastern limb of the Grove field and has the potential of delivering 4.2 million barrels of oil equivalent net additional reserves. Further, it could add five new years to the life of the Grove field and improve the prospect of additional opportunities in the area.”
Options available:
Several concept solutions have been studied, including horizontal, simple vertical and platform deviated wells, subsea tie-back concepts as well as an appraisal well before the development well from the platform.
McCulloch said: “Based on the subsurface, well technical complexity, value and strategic fit criteria, we have decided on a platform deviated well. We believe this is the optimal way forward and a robust well design has been developed – our team is experienced in drilling similar wells in the Southern North Sea, including other wells in the Grove area.”
Maersk Resolve:
The development well will be drilled by the harsh-environment, Gusto-engineered MSC CJ50 jack-up rig ‘Maersk Resolve’, which recently completed a campaign offshore the Netherlands. Operator, Maersk Drilling, was awarded the contract worth around US$11.3mn with additional services of mobilisation, demobilisation and an option to add plugging and abandonment of one well.
Morten Kelstrup, Chief Operating Officer of Maersk Drilling, commented, “We are excited to be able to build on our relationship with Spirit Energy with our first UK well for the customer, for whom we previously completed a highly successful subsea development campaign in Norway. We will surely be able to continue our close collaboration and mutual focus on operational excellence, and in addition the campaign at Grove will benefit from Maersk Resolve’s experience with safely and efficiently drilling challenging Zechstein formations as part of the rig’s latest assignment in Dutch waters.”
Drilling is scheduled to start in Q1 2021, with production expected to begin by Q3 2021. Alistair Macfarlane, Area Manager for SNS & EIS at the Oil and Gas Authority, said, “After a challenging time for the industry in 2020, we welcome this positive news for the basin, with activity at the Grove field bringing opportunities for the UK’s supply chain.”
Corvus Energy has received an order from Wärtsilä for four Energy Storage Systems (ESS) for the offshore support vessel fleet operated by Harvey Gulf.
Wärtsilä will integrate the battery-based ESSs, each with a capacity of 745kWh, into their LNG-fueled hybrid-electric propulsion system. The ESS and Wärtsilä Energy Management System (EMS) will allow the vessels to operate in dynamic position mode on a single engine augmented by battery power, to operate more efficiently in transit and other operational modes, and to operate on battery-power only when stationary.
Harvey Gulf CEO, Shane Guidry, commented, “This fleet of vessels will be crucial in assisting our clients’ efforts to achieve net carbon zero, and we will continue to listen to them and invest in technology that will assist with their goals.”
Its robust design, high C-rate and proven performance makes Corvus Energy’s Orcas Energy ESS the ideal fit for the critical role it serves meeting demanding load profiles on the offshore platform supply vessels.
“We are very proud and pleased to be selected again by Harvey Gulf and Wärtsilä,” said Sveinung Odegard, Vice President Sales North America and President of Corvus Energy, USA. “Our technology, understanding of customer needs and commitments towards lifecycle support is again being acknowledged by receiving this order. We look forward to continuing serve the integrator and vessel owner in the years to come.”
The four LNG-battery hybrid vessels will be fitted with the 1100VDC – 745kWh ESSs in 2021 and are expected to go into service in early 2022.
With the energy industry suffering a shock in 2020, many sectors are still reeling and full economic recovery looks a long way off. However, last year revealed an increasing emphasis on clean energy, with governments, industry and investors doubling down on their commitments to curb climate change. In such times optimising energy efficiency and reducing emissions is paramount and currently more than 50% of the world’s hybrid and zero-emission vessels are equipped with Corvus ESSs.
Causes of a wellbore influx:
Safe Influx Ltd has been granted a patent by the UK Patent Office covering its Automated Well Control technology including a wide range of modules using the same technology.
If the formation pressure exceeds hydrostatic pressure in a wellbore it can result in an undesirable flow of formation fluid, called a wellbore influx. This is caused by factors such as human error, abnormal pressure, light density fluid in the wellbore, and lost circulation. If the influx deteriorates, this could potentially escalate into a blowout which could threaten lives, contaminate the environment and incur severe financial loss.
The Automated Well Control technology:
The patent granted to Safe Influx recognises the ability of their Automated Well Control system to detect the presence of a fluid influx condition in a wellbore, make a decision against criteria to shut-in, and then automatically initiate an initial well control protocol that results in the well being safely shut-in.
The Safe Influx Automated Well Control system enables fast identification, decision-making and reaction to well control events. This technology is capable of reducing the size of an influx compared to conventional techniques, and this means a reduction in delays, costs and operational issues in getting back to drilling. Additionally, the confidence obtained with reliably smaller influxes can lead to much more efficient well designs, leading to an estimated 15-20% saving in well costs.
Implications for the industry:
Bryan Atchison, Co-founder and Managing Director at Safe Influx, commented, “I believe that applying automation in well control represents a step change in the area of process safety. Implementing this novel technology allows faster decision making, and significantly reduced well control risks and costs. The system’s ability to detect and automatically initiate and complete the vitally important well control protocol without manual intervention will represent a much-needed step change for the industry. With the technology behind this patent, we are able to provide a system with unique capabilities unavailable from any other company.”
At the end of 2020, Safe Influx conducted a report analysing the frequency of blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico, concluding that these are still occurring and that there is much evidence to suggest human error is a key factor in many of these incidents. With the introduction of Automated Well Control Safe Influx aims to eradicate human error leading to blowouts, which could potentially reduce the frequency of such catastrophic events across the globe.
Following the approval of the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, Equinor have retained the services of the Wellserver light intervention vessel, owned by Island Offshore.
Since its construction in 2008, the ship has been almost exclusively in use by Equinor (previously Statoil when it was first acquired) and it is now entering its twelfth year of service with the option to extend the contract for another three years. The vessel is suited for a number of tasks including construction work, subsea installation work, securing of wells, trenching, P&A work, tower and module handling, crane work, and has carried out more than 250 well interventions for Equinor.
A spokesperson from Island Offshore commented, “We are very pleased with the consent for the continued use of Island Wellserver. This year we avoided winter lay-up for the vessel as Equinor will be using it throughout the winter. Normally the campaign commences in April, so this is positive for us and for the crew in particular.”
This consent allows for the operation of the vessel on fields in the Norwegian Sea, Barents Sea, and North Sea and comes as Equinor marked the end of 2020 with a flurry of activity in these areas:
-The Norwegian company and its licence partners agreed to provide NOK3bn to improve operations on the North Sea Statfjord Øst field. This investment will result in the drilling of four new wells from existing subsea templates, modifications for the Statford C platform and a new pipeline for gas lift. As a result of this project, Equinor expects the recovery factor to increase from 56% to 62%, improving recovery by 23mmbbl. The production start is scheduled for 2024.
-The Snorre Expansion Project commenced production which will add nearly 200mmbbl of recoverable oil reserves and extend the life of the Snorre field through to 2040. Expected in Q1 2021 the project was completed ahead of schedule, with 11 wind powered turbines to power the Snorre and Gullfaks fields expected in Q3 2022.
-Alongside its licence partners, Equinor awarded a NOK500mn contract to hook-up the fifth platform on the John Sverdup field to Aker Solutions. The processing platform is currently under construction with installation on the field to begin in 2022, and the project is expected to employ around 1,200 people across three offshore shifts.
With the continued procurement of the Island Wellserver vessel it appears Equinor is looking to start 2021 as it finished 2020, promoting positive activity despite the challenging times.
Genoa Black caught up with Craig Feherty, Director of FiberLine Technology (FLI) at Well-SENSE, to discuss their new product after it burst onto the market last year and subsequently received the award of Most Impactful Technology at the OWI Global Awards 2020.
FLI is an intervention system for downhole data acquisition which enables the operator to perform high-quality well surveys faster than ever before. It employs single-use bare fibre-optic lines for distributed temperature and acoustic sensing, placing them directly into the wellbore from surface to total depth.
This compact and lightweight technology does not rely on the use of rigs, wireline, sickline or coiled tubing for deployment - reducing cost, risk and time taken for well intervention, while still providing a dynamic picture of a well over time. Only one engineer is needed to deploy the system and it can be used for a number of different applications.
Behind the projects success:
Feherty reflected on why the product has received so much attention over the last year. He commented, “We have been running the technology for a couple of years, developing it, trialling it, making it commercial. We knew all along it was something important for the market, that will enable well surveillance to be carried out more efficiently. Over the last year FLI has delivered impressive field results."
When asked what value the FLI system brings to customers, Feherty responded, “One struggle for the industry is efficient data collection of the right type - understanding what is happening within assets, how they are performing and where things are going wrong that may be put right. Standard intervention methods can be costly and have not evolved much over time.
“We have approached this from different angle - how to give our customers faster, richer data sets and reduce the risks that especially offshore interventions can carry. All the way through our development we have tried to address the problem of gathering more meaningful data using a simpler technique. By doing so you minimise the risk. Our product is capturing such rich data sets that it gives our customers much more of an understanding of what is going on within their well, which in turn allows them to make decisions fast. And it is delivered at a very affordable price.
Why recognition was significant:
The FLI Director continued by observing that the company is a small team that has evolved from humble beginnings, mainly through determination. He noted, “It is not easy bringing a new product to market, especially something as different as ours. Developing and building the business up, really is a true reflection on the hard work of our team and the commitment we have had. We have always known that this would be something quite special and it is only through perseverance that you get there. It is the icing on the cake that the hard work that we have committed to, and the work we have done in partnership with our customers, has been recognised by these awards.”
Reflecting on 2020:
2020 was a difficult year for every company across the oil and gas industry and Feherty did not shy away from addressing the obstacles Well-SENSE had faced. He admitted, “I won’t lie and say it hasn’t been a challenge. It has been a challenge for all of us with a lot of uncertainties about. But I think, if anything, it gives us more pride in what we are doing.
“We have had a tough year, but we have ridden through it and with the commercial benefits FLI can offer, we still have a fantastic level of customer engagement, enquiries and orders. We are still growing and that is a testament in itself that, even in challenging times, a small, dedicated team with a great product designed to deliver value, can really make a difference.”
Looking ahead to 2021:
Finally, the FLI Director turned to the future as he concluded, “I would like to say the plans will be bigger and better next year, and of course they are, but really it is keeping to the same path we are on. We are seeing demand growing for our services and our technology and we look to continue servicing that throughout 2021. The more we do, the more we can prove how FLI can make big wins for our customers and we only see that as being fruitful. As a team we are really excited for the next 12 months. 2021 will be a new beginning for all of us, but we are starting in a great position, and we are expecting big things.”
Dedication and perseverance appear to have paid off for Well-SENSE with the recognition from the OWI Awards judging panel, with one of the expert judges noting that the FLI system is ‘giving operators new options’. The new technology is a much needed innovative boost for the industry and is fast becoming the first choice well surveillance and diagnostic tool across the sector.
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