TEAMWORK MEANS EFFICIENCY

Teamwork is one of the most important buzzword in modern business and many times is the solution to big problems. The Noble Globetrotter I drilling vessel applies this concept with an advanced implementation of a smart network for monitoring health and performance of any major equipment. World’s first Digital Rig, this vessel is jointly developed by GE and Noble Corporation. GE’s Predix platform collects data through sensors and control systems and transmits it in near-real time to GE’s Industrial Performance & Reliability Center for predictive analysis. Noble receives real-time data and the collective analysis to improve rig efficiencies and make data sharing with manufacturers to improve equipment performance. The Digital Rig may deliver as much as a 20% reduction in operational expenditures across the targeted equipment through reduction of unplanned downtime, improved revenue and lower maintenance costs. This synergic attitude is the driver of a holistic transformation of the offshore industry, targeted at top level efficiency, safety and reliability.

A BOOST TO THE NEW SUBSEA WORLD

Subsea processing enables operators to turn fields previously unprofitable in economical and allowing for recovery of additional reserves. Subsea boosting covers a crucial role in this market and recent improvement and advances allow to extend the profitability range of many areas of the seabed.
For example, today a 3.0 Mw pump is quite common and new developments will make real 6.0 MW too in a matter of few years. Motor drives and modular pump stages with VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) systems can also improve capex savings. Moreover new equipment are more tolerant to wide operational tolerances in gas volume fraction (GVF) or gas slugs, important clues to plant optimization. Increased reliability is also part of the perspective to a better and more economic subsea world.

THE DUPLEX AND SUPER DUPLEX CONQUEST IN THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY

The new challenges of the oil & gas industry can be only won with the best engineered equipment and smartest designs. Piping and valves applications are particularly critical in this world, so a steep increase in duplex and super duplex steels is and will be the rule.
These steels have many advantages compared to traditional carbon steels:

Higher mechanical strength
Higher corrosion resistance
Reduced thickness (and related weight saving)
Less expensive coating

In the valve design, these material (22 Cr and 25 Cr are the most popular) allow to avoid the Inconel overlay and use “slimmer” trims giving higher flow capacity. All in all in many cases the duplex family steels can also increase the earnings through reduced maintenance of the plants (better reliability of the equipment) and lower impact on the ancillary costs (coating, supports, etc.).

Energean contracts TechnipFMC for Karish FPSO, SURF facilities

PARIS – TechnipFMC acquired from Energean Oil & Gas a contract for the Karish gas field development in the Mediterranean Sea offshore Israel, at a 1,750 m (5,741 ft) water depth.
This iEPCI (integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation) contract covers the design, procurement, construction and installation of the subsea system. Additionally, an FPSO will also be designed to accommodate production from the later subsea tieback of the Tanin gas field (connection is a 90 km – 56 mi – gas export pipeline); the subsea pipeline system; and the onshore pipeline and valve station at the receiving station in Israel.

Into the deep

Off shore technology develops through evolutionary steps directly related to the water depths reachable with systems and equipment.
Deep drilling needs the best technology to succeed and requires special tools and materials. A great help comes from
the radio frequency identification (RFID), a technology able to reduce risks and non-productive time using micro electronic devices that consist of an antenna and a small chip to automatically identify and track tags that are attached to objects.
These devices can be strictly integrated into IoT platform solutions and so can collect, store, analyze, understand and act on data streams, in real time. This revolution will increase safety, availability of the plant and revenues in a significant way.

BP comes back in the North Sea

BP PLC expands its North Sea fields through two new satellite fields—Alligin and Vorlich—which will produce a peak rate of 30,000 boe/d after 2020.
This represents a significant increase and renewed interest in an historical area of the oil & gas market.
Management, engineering, procurement and construction services for the subsea pipelines will be provided by Subsea 7, beginning in 2019.
BP operates Alligin with 50% interest with 50% partner Royal Dutch Shell PLC. BP operates Vorlich with 66% interest and partner Ithaca Energy holds 34%.

NEW TRENDS OF VALVES

Valves are a mature product evolving at a slower pace than other equipment for primary energy.
However also mature products sometime “jump up” from a stabilized position to reach new developments. An example is the role that diagnostic and “smart” technology are playing in the industrial valve industry. Smart valves not only monitor a wide range of process variables (e.g: upstream and downstream pressure, temperature, stem position and flowrate), but also enable the instantaneous transfer of crucial data and info for the diagnostic systems, many times acting as “sentinels of the plant”.
This role can dramatically improve economics and safety of the plants with important benefits on the efficiency and productivity of the entire process too.

OIL & GAS INDUSTRY NEEDS HIGH PERFORMANCE MATERIALS

Now and more in the future, the oil and gas industry have been requiring new, tough materials that can cope with the most rugged and complex environments in the world. Delays or accidents stemming from equipment wear, malfunction or failure can have severe implications, and reliability is an absolute necessity.
So, in this “world of the toughest” there is only room for the best: high strength and high alloy steels are the rule and continuous development is essential.
Advanced heat treatments, copper-nickel-tin alloys, innovative coatings and surface treatments all converge to hit the target of better resistance to erosion, corrosion, high temperature and fatigue. This is immediately converted in higher revenues and profits for all users

We are the robots! First on-site trials of an autonomous robot for oil & gas operations

Oil & Gas Technology Centre is starting the first offshore autonomous inspections.
The design of this robot started in Austria by the Taurob firm and it was judged so promising that in 2017 TOTAL joined in partnership to launch the ARGOS project.
This interesting adventure opens the way to new frontiers in the oil & gas world, particularly for routine inspections (it can also walk and climb ladders) and will significantly improve safety, economics and availability of the plants and equipment.
In the next 18 months the ATEX certified robot will also be tested in a North Sea offshore platform to evaluate it in harsh operating conditions off shore the Shetlands.

Gas will join the two Koreas

A new Russian project could contribute to the unification of the two Koreas, courtesy of a PNG (Pipeline Natural Gas) streaming through the frontiers.
The first feasibility study started in 2011, when Gazprom planned a new pipeline reaching Seoul. But reaching the Southern Korean city would mean reach first the North Korea and the exacerbation of political and military situation froze the plan for years.
Now it is time for changing: the recent visit in Peking of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un opens real possibilities for reaching a historical agreement for a reunification of the two countries or at least starting a new deal.
This new deal will surely pass through energy: as history teaches, energy is a powerful prime mover for technical and social progress.