The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) announces 14 award recipients
for the Spotlight on New Technology Program. "In its second
year, the Spotlight on New Technology program continues to serve
as a stage to highlight the most innovative
and significant offshore developments during the year," said
Rod Allan, OTC .05 Chairman. "These recipients demonstrate
the increasing technical edge that is required to explore and produce
in ever-increasing water depths, and more remote and hostile environments.
The products recognized in this year's Spotlight program will help
bring offshore development to new depths—depths that just
a few years ago seemed impossible."
AGR Subsea - RMR™ Riserless Mud Recovery
System - A Dual Gradient Tophole Drilling System
Aker Kvaerner - Stepped Diameter Tendon
Cameron Division of Cooper Cameron Corp. -
The Cameron DC™ All-Electric
Subsea Production System
Expro International Group PLC - 15k Subsea Safety System
Expro International Group PLC - CaTS™ (Cableless
Telemetry System)
Halliburton's Energy Services Group - PoroFlex® Variable
Reach Annular Barrier Tool
KROHNE Inc. - Altosonic III Ultrasonic Flowmeter for Custody Transfer
Kvaerner Oilfield Products - Carbon Fibre Rod utilization within
Subsea Umbilicals for axial stiffness enhancement
Mustang Engineering - LNG Smart™ Vaporization
Norse Cutting & Abandonment - Abrasive Waterjet
Cutting (AWJC) system for severing Multistring Conductors Below
Seabed
ProPure AS - C100 H2S Scavenger Mixer (Offshore H2S removal)
Schlumberger - PressureXpress* pressure-while-logging service
Shaffer, a National Oilwell Varco Company -
Continuous Circulation System (CCS)
Weatherford International - Optical Flowmeter
|
 The
RMR™ Riserless Mud Recovery System is a riserless
dual gradient technology aimed at the tophole or open hole
sections of a subsea well. Using sacrificial mud systems
(“pump
and dump”) for tophole drilling has to date been the
only available technology for drilling subsea wells. RMR™ collects
the well return from the open hole sections and thereby enables
reuse of tophole drilling fluid and controlled handling and
disposal of drill cuttings. The RMR technology may allow
drilling wells which otherwise may not have been possible.
It also mitigates
shallow geohazards, allows use of engineered fluid systems,
eliminates emissions, drills deeper topholes to save casing
strings and produces significant cost savings. View
larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (310K .EPS) Product
logo (488K .EPS) Hi-res
image (9.2MB .TIF)
|
 |
(Website) |
 The
stepped diameter tendon provides an answer to many years of
search for how to extend the TLP commercial application
to water depths beyond 4,000 feet. The challenge lies in that
conventional steel tendons become heavy in the deeper waters
and thereby consume payload of platform. Earlier concepts have
represented step changes in pressurized steel tendons or composite
materials. The stepped diameter tendon is merely applying well
proven components in a new fashion. The lower sections are
made up of small diameter, thick wall pipe that can withstand
the hydrostatic head. The upper sections are made up of large
diameter, thin wall pipe that has excess buoyancy to carry
to the lower sections. View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (219K .EPS) Larger image
(8K .JPG) |
|
(Website) |
 The
CameronDC™ all-electric system is the first subsea system
powered by direct current and not by hydraulics. This benefit
offers OPEX/CAPEX savings, actuation speed and accuracy, high
speed communication and real-time condition monitoring, less
environmental risks and more simplified components. The CameronDC™ also
offers deepwater and long-distance stepouts, along with new
technologies such as smart wells and subsea processing. The
system is capable of operating efficiently in deepwater and
at record distances from host facilities. CameronDC™ consists
of a surface power and communications system, power/communications
transportation system, subsea actuation (valves and chokes),
and controls system.
View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (398K .EPS) Product
logo (265K .EPS) Hi-res
image (1.6MB .TIF) |
|
|
 The
safety system developed by Expro provides well control function
and disconnect capabilities during well installation,
workover, intervention and well test operations. The landing
string is a critical component in the protection and safety
of personnel, the well and the rig. Expro landing strings also
provide for safe, low-cost well reentry. This technology uses
a patented high integrity ball valve system that enables the
landing strings to provide reliable cut and seal ability in
a single device. The intervention string provides the dual
barriers required during worker operations on horizontal subsea
christmas trees over a live well. Each system is certified
to deal with all intervention situations and will seal after
cutting coiled tubing and/or logging cable used for well intervention.
View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (578K .EPS) Hi-res
image (4.7MB .JPG) |
|
(Website) |
 The
Cableless Telemetry System (CaTS™) is a revolutionary
development in the field of well and reservoir monitoring systems.
It allows real-time information to be recovered from remote
sensors using the available conducting (steel) well infrastructure
and without the use of dedicated cabling or instrument lines
in the well. This offers operators immense advantages in the
monitoring and control of wells with completion configurations
that may require downhole wet connects to use more traditional
electronic or optical telemetry systems. CaTS™ allows
for real-time data, the flexibility for different sensor types,
greater ease in configurations, minimal completion equipment
penetrations and no cable to the surface for communication. View
larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (578K .EPS) Hi-res
image (3.9MB .JPG) |
|
|
 PoroFlex
expandable completion system’s variable reach
annular barrier technology (ABT-VR) enables zonal isolation
capability in open hole completions. The zonal isolation provided
by the ABT-VR technology enables the use of production management
tools and techniques that were formerly only possible in cased
hole completions. These techniques include production and injection
control using downhole control valves or sliding sleeves, stimulation
and conformance treatments. View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (428K .TIF) Hi-res image
(1.4MB .TIF) |
|
(Website) |
 The
Altosonic III is a dedicated three-beam liquid ultrasonic flowmeter
for custody transfer of light hydrocarbon products.
The highly reliable Altosonic III was designed to replace turbines
and PD meters. The meter offers .15% accuracy in custody transfer
applications. With no moving parts, it eliminates problems
with clogging, scaling or blockage while reducing pressure
loss. Lifecycle costs are dramatically reduced since the meter
has little to no maintenance needs and recalibration is unnecessary.
The Altosonic III is bidirectional and the three beams offer
built-in redundancy in the unlikely event of a sensor failure.
View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (912K .TIF) Hi-res
image (443K .JPG) |
|
|
 The carbon fiber technology was introduced to be used in
umbilicals in extreme water depths, such as 2,000 meters and
beyond. Carbon fiber is far more efficient than steel due to
its high stiffness to weight ratio. The stiffness of the carbon
fiber rods is about 150,000 Mpa, which is close to the value
for steel, but at only 15 percent of the weight. The carbon
fiber rods are used to enhance the axial stiffness of the cross
section in the umbilical. The rods are incorporated in the
umbilical along with the other functional elements, such as
steel tubes, electrical cables and fiber optics. Another advantage
of this design is that the rods are in direct action within
the umbilical, which contributes to the stiffness without any
delay of break-in that is typical for Aramid armoring. View
larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (219K .EPS) Hi-res
image (785K .JPG) |
|
|
 The
LNG Smart™ Vaporization process is used to efficiently
and economically regasify liquefied natural gas (LNG). Field
tests show that this technology can reduce fuel gas consumption
and NOx and CO2 air emissions by as much as 90% across a wide
range of temperatures and humidity. This results in significant
operating cost savings and benefits to the environment. Key
components of this technology are industry standard fin-fan
air exchangers used with downward flow and LNG vaporizer heat
exchangers. The process is generally used in parallel with
Submerged Combustion Vaporizers (SCVs) and significantly lowers
yearly gas consumption int eh SCVs and Nox and CO2 emissions
from the SCVs. The process also can be used in lieu of sea
water vaporization technology, e.g. Open Rack Vaporizers, reducing
the potential harmful effect on marine life. The process was
specially designed to use commercially available equipment
and can be used equally as well on new or existing facilities,
either onshore or offshore. The only by-product is fresh water
that can easily be treated for potable consumption. View
larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (132K .JPG) Hi-res image
(1.4MB .JPG) |
|
|
 Abrasive
Waterjet Cutting provides operators with a safe, fast, cost
effective and environmentally friendly method for
cutting multistring casing in plug and abandonment and conductor
slot recovery projects. The system can be mobilized quickly
and its flexibility enables it to work simultaneously with
rig operations. The tooling can be run downhole through a rotary
table, from a skid or platform deck and from a vessel. Norse
Cutting & Abandonment’s cold cutting technology produces
clean, level, even cut edges, enabling easier and safer handling
of the sections to be recovered and an ideal surface for landing
out a whipstock for slot recovery. The abrasive waterjet cutting
system is powered by a high-pressure pump and mixing chamber
delivering a powerful jet of water borne abrasive particles
through an umbilical to the nozzle in the cutting tool. The
tool and all cutting parameters are controlled and monitored
through a real-time computer-based data tracking system. This
unique system is patented and proven at water depths of 350
feet. It is capable of cutting five string configurations,
cemented or partly cemented, in a single pass. View
larger image.
Press Resources:
Company
logo (51K .TIF) Hi-res
image (234K .TIF) |
|
(Press
Release) |
 The
ProPure technology implies on site H2S removal that both reduces
costs and is more environmentally friendly compared to conventional
H2S scavenging methods. Using ProPure’s system, H2S scavenger
is supplied in a controlled manner to an annular injection
chamber. Due to the ProPure patented pipe geometry, the injected
scavenger solvent is transformed into minute droplets and almost
instantly atomized. Immediately afterwards, there is a rapid
mass transfer of H2S to the scavenging agent. The complimentary
C100 injection mixer has a high turndown ratio in scavenger
injection and helps avoid clogging and malfunction. The in-line
concept is designed to support successful pigging of the pipelines
at all times and requires minimal maintenance. Operating units
in the North Sea report a H2S scavenger usage of typically
2400 - 2600 USgal/day when using conventional chemical injection
methods. After replacement of conventional devices by the ProPure
C100 H2S scavenger Mixer, the H2S scavenger consumption has
been reduced by 30-35%. Besides the positive environmental
effects achieved by use of ProPure C100 H2S Scavenger Mixer,
the operational cost savings are considerable. View
larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (343K .EPS) Hi-res
image (695K .JPG) |
|
|
 The PressureXpress* reservoir pressure while logging service
is a wireline tool that has been developed specifically for
formation pressure and fluid mobility testing, unlike conventional
formation testers that also incorporate fluid sampling capabilities.
The resulting streamlined design of the high-quality pressure/mobility
testing tool enables measurements as low as 0.004mD/cp to be
taken in a fraction of the time required by multifunctional
formation testers, minimizing the risk of differential sticking
and subsequent fishing operations and replacement costs. For
one customer the overall impact of PressureXpress* use in the
field were reductions of 30% in well costs and 65% in overall
well cycle time, and a 30% increase in field production. View
larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (1MB .TIF) Hi-res
image (6.5MB .TIF) |
|
|
|
 The
Continuous Circulation System (CCS) allows drilling fluid circulation
to be maintained while making connections with
conventional drill pipe during the drilling process. The CCS
integrates into key operating functions into a single system,
including iron roughnecks, blow-out preventers, power slips,
mud manifolds and snubbing units. The CCS makes continuous
circulation during connections possible by creating a sealed
pressure chamber around the tool joint to be broken. Pressurized
drilling fluid is introduced into this chamber equalizing the
pressure inside and outside of the connection. The CCS is designed
to work in conjunction with the rig’s rotary table and
top-drive drilling system and is a self-contained unit that
can be installed on almost any top-drive equipped rig in a
matter of hours. Continuous fluid circulation creates the conditions
needed to maintain constant bottom-hole pressures resulting
in enhanced drilling performance while reducing non-productive
time. View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (439K .EPS) Company
logo 2 (2.8MB .TIF) Hi-res
image (381K .JPG) |
|
(Website) |
 The
Optical Flowmeter provides accurate, real-time downhole flow
measurement of liquid and/or gas. It is designed for permanent
downhole installation and is deployed as part of the production
tubing during the completion. The Optical Flowmeter is the
first to use sonar optical technology, which provides greater
accuracy, reliability and stability than traditional electronic
flowmeters. It features an innovative array of spatially distributed
fiber optic-based sensors to measure the propagation of pressures
associated with turbulent flows and acoustic signals in the
flow. The flowmeter’s benefits include zonal production
allocation, early identification of production decline, direct
determination of the productivity index, and fewer surface
well tests and surface facilities. View larger image.
Press Resources: Company
logo (46K .EPS) Hi-res
image (645K .JPG) |
| |
|
