OTC Announces 2007 Spotlight on New Technology Award Recipients

The Offshore Technology Conference has announced the 13 winning technologies that will receive the 2007 Spotlight on New Technology Awards recognizing innovative technologies significantly affecting offshore E&P. The awards will be presented at 4 p.m. 30 April, at the conference, which occurs 30 April–3 May at Reliant Park in Houston.

Now in its fourth year, the Spotlight on New Technology program gives exhibitors an opportunity to showcase their latest and most advanced technologies. Winning technologies are selected on four criteria:

New and Innovative—The technology must be less than 2 years old.
Proven—It must be proven, either through full-scale application or successful prototype testing.
Broad Interest—It must have a broad interest and appeal for the industry.
Significant Impact—It must provide significant benefits beyond existing technologies.

The 2007 award recipients represent a broad range of technologies and solutions.

Aker Kvaerner Subsea

SeaBooster
The SeaBooster system is a subsea process system for the injection of raw seawater. It goes through an injection well and into a subterranean reservoir for maintaining reservoir pressure while oil is extracted from the reservoir.

The system is made up of a single retrievable liquid pump (LiquidBooster) module with a filtration module that is retrievable from the pump module. The liquid pump is a single-suction type driven by a water-filled motor. The filter unit is self-cleaning and has a hydraulic actuator and a water-purging system. The system is connected to the host facility through a service umbilical for supply of power, chemicals, hydraulics and communication.

The seawater-injection system either can be a standalone structure at the seabed or can be incorporated into a production/injection subsea template.

Aker Kvaerner Well Services

PowerTrac Cone Crusher Scale Mill Concept
The Cone Crusher technology is used for removing scale from the wellbore to restore well productivity. Run in conjunction with a wireline tractor, the crushing assembly includes a special rotation adapter, mill gear, and shock absorber for weight-on-bit control. The tractor’s wheel section can be used as an anchoring device in vertical sections and an anchoring and forward-thrust device in horizontal sections of the well.

The crusher technology is based on a design incorporating a main body with four rotating cutting cones (Fig. 1). Each cutting cone rotates freely in its own axis independently of the main body’s revolution rate. Each cone has a unique cutting pattern, which crushes the scale, allowing the flow of oil or gas to resume.

Fig. 1—The Cone Crusher tool for removing wellbore scale.

Baker Oil Tools

Diamond Fraq Polymer-Free High-Performance Fracturing Fluid
Diamond Fraq is a new viscoelastic surfactant (VES) fluid with polymeric fracturing fluid performance properties and formation and proppant-pack cleanup capability. Its micelle stabilizers extend VES fluid use to 300°F. Viscosity enhancers reduce VES loading and total system cost. Fluid-loss control agents significantly reduce fluid leakoff to at least 2000 md and 250°F to reduce fluid treatment volume and improve fracture geometry. The new fluid uses nanoparticle tech-nology to associate (pseudocrosslink) VES micelles together, stabilize VES micelle structures to 300°F, and form a pseudofilter cake composed of highly viscous VES fluid (micelles) and nanoparticles. Internal breakers work over a wide mix-water salinity and temperature range to go wherever the VES fluid goes to assure viscosity reductions, eliminate reliance on reservoir hydrocarbons to clean up VES fluid, and work synergistically with high-temperature stabilizers, viscosity enhancers, and fluid-loss control agents.

Baker Oil Tools

Linexx Solid Expandable Monobore Liner Extension System
The Linexx Solid Expandable Monobore Liner Extension System optimizes casing configurations for drilling deeper or isolating trouble zones without reducing critical hole size. A recess casing shoe installed with the previous 9 5/8-in. (or 9 7/8-in.) casing strip enables the liner to be anchored on the bottom of the parent casing and expanded into the shoe with no inner-diameter (ID) size restriction below the parent casing. An expandable liner hanger/packer locates in the casing shoe and ties the liner to the previous casing strip. Solid expandable casing with pre-expanded outer diameter of 8 in., expanded to 8.625-in. ID with 8.5-in. ID drift, is run below the hanger. A retrievable guide shoe installed at the bottom of the string guides the liner in the hole. The system employs hydraulic, top-down expansion technology.

DYNAenergetic GmbH & Co. KG

DYNAenergetics No Debris Gun System
The patent-pending No-Debris Gun System (NDG) is a perforating-gun technology that leaves essentially no debris in the well. The system works by closing the gun’s shot holes after the shot. This is achieved by an internal sliding sleeve, which is shifted by an internal piston activated by the gas pressure produced in the detonation. While the jet of the shaped charge has penetrated the slider and the outer wall of the gun in 1/10 milliseconds, the shift of the slider takes several milliseconds. The gas pressure not only shifts the slider laterally but also expands the sleeve and seizes it into its new position, thereby preventing the shot holes from reopening. The gun is in no way pressuretight. Fluid and gas can circulate between the inside of the gun and the wellbore, making pressure trapping impossible.

Tests with the new gun system—made in accordance with the new American Petroleum Inst. (API) RP 19b Section V standard that is under development by the API 19B subcommittee and identical with the specifications for the Visund Field in Norway raised by Hydro—have proved that no debris can exit the gun during or after the shot. The gun can be used with any standard shaped charge independent of size, geometry, or explosive type. Quality-control shots with shaped charges in the new gun-system setup have shown little or no penetration loss.

FARO Technologies

FARO TrackArm
FARO portable computerized measurement devices replace obsolete hand tools and large, expensive fixed Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs). The FARO TrackArm combines technology from the company’s FaroArm and Laser Tracker X systems to measure geometric features and directly import 3D measurements into digital form for computer-aided-design-model or part-size verification.

The FaroArm uses optical encoders, advanced error coding, and temperature-compensation technology to record 3D points on items ranging from palm-sized to 12 ft across. The Laser Tracker X system uses laser targets and a patent-pending absolute-distance-measurement technology to measure items up to 230 ft away. TrackArm users can seamlessly move between the tracker and arm by using a laser target mounted directly on the FaroArm. Thus, the user can measure in large volumes with the tracker and switch to the FaroArm to digitize areas hidden from the tracker’s line-of-sight.

Jet-Lube Inc.

Seal-Guard ECF and NCS-30 ECF
Jet-Lube Inc.’s patented ECF technology was developed to comply with the stringent North Sea environmental guidelines for offshore chemicals while maintaining the required performance standards. Jet-Lube’s Seal-Guard ECF thread compound for premium casing and tubing connections and NCS-30 ECF thread compound for drillstring connections meet Norway’s “Yellow” standards and the United Kingdom’s “E” classification. The classifications are a result of the Harmonized Offshore Chemical Notification Format (HOCNF) adopted by the OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic. The HOCNF directives require pipe compounds to be biodegradable, bioaccumulation-potential-free, and nontoxic. These are the most stringent thread-compound requirements to date, and meeting them required a total reformulation of pipe compounds.

Both compounds are entirely nonmetallic, yet they provide excellent protection against seizing and galling. They are temperature-rated for applications –65°F (–54°C) to 500°F (260°C), and their nonconductive formulas are ideal for high-pH mud (9–10%) applications.

MODEC Intl. LLC

MOSES Self Stable Integrated Platform Tension Leg Platform
The MOSES self stable integrated platform is a tension leg platform (TLP) with inherent stability allowing quayside integration and commissioning of the topsides to the hull structure and wet towing of the integrated platform to the installation site. The platform design eliminates the need for expensive temporary buoyancy or crane-provided installation assistance. The hull configuration comprises a central base structure, four tendon support structures (TSS), and four vertical columns. The base and TSS systems are located deep beneath the surface and provide a significant portion of the platform’s buoyancy. Each TSS is a rectangular pontoon device. The columns are located further outboard, smaller than conventional TLP columns, and rectangular. A total of eight tendons are supported at the end of the TSS (two at each end) by means of top connectors on a porch arrangement. The tendons are connected at the seafloor on piles by bottom connectors. The self-stable integrated TLP can support a variety of drilling or workover rigs and a large number of top-tension risers and flowline risers.

Single Buoy Moorings Inc.

LNG Toroidal Swivel
This is the world’s first toroidal swivel for liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) operations, which will make it possible to conduct cargo transfer via weathervaning offshore LNG terminals. The swivel has a central opening, which is a key requirement for any marine transportation system—whether turret or single-point mooring—where LNG has been transferred for import or export through a weathervaning system. The design can be configured to allow the passage of multiple LNG streams up to 20 in. and a 16-in. vapor return.

Through the use of composite material bearings and the incorporation of thermal rods inside the toroid, the swivel-sealing function is shielded from thermal deformations when cooled to its –265°F operating temperature and 10.5-bar pressure.

Secure Drilling

The Secure Drilling System
The Secure Drilling System is a closed-loop technology that analyzes available drilling data to detect kicks or losses and automatically manages backpressure at the surface to control influxes or losses. The system allows the volumes to be kept as small as possible—a microinflux or micro-outflux. The technology is designed to incorporate existing drilling and pressure-control equipment with minimal upgrades and equipment additions.

In its most basic form, the new drilling system allows the driller to “see” on screen real-time changes in, and deviations from, expected behavior in flow and pressure. The driller can use the technology to interpret these changes and effect control on the situation through computerized equipment that makes adjustments in the flow regime in response to the changes in downhole or surface conditions. The new drilling system specifically allows the well to be drilling overbalanced, near-balanced, or underbalanced, enabling each section to be optimized to downhole conditions.

Versabar Inc.

Eugene Island 330C and 330B Topsides Raising Design
Systems were designed to raise the eight-leg Eugene Island 330C and 330B platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Thirty-two synchronously controlled, 260-ton hydraulic cylinders were used to lift the platforms 14 ft each. The cylinders pinned into lower padeyes welded to the existing legs and upper padeyes integral to the split extension sleeve. The wall extension sleeves, each with a diameter of 40 1/2 in. and thickness of 1 1/2 in., captured the legs during the final leg cuts and, with the rub rails, limited lateral movement during raising to 1/4 in. The legs were cut between two bushings installed near the top of the legs. Before the lift, the top of the extension sleeve was welded to the upper bushing, and after rising, the bottom of the extension sleeve was welded to the lower bushing. A 12-in.-diameter, 1 3/4-in.-thick wall pin was inserted into the leg to provide a storm-safe condition at all times, except when removed to raise the platforms.

Vetco Gray

MR-6H SE Marine Riser Connection
Vetco Gray’s new marine riser (MR) system, the MR-6H SE, achieves dramatic improvements to the current industry offerings in safety and efficiency. The innovative design combines field-proven subsea wellhead-connector technology and the dog-style marine riser. To make the fully automated MR connection, hydraulic units on the spider engage a cam ring on the box. This actuates six dogs into the profile in the pin, creating a full preloaded connection with an efficient, effective load path. The fully automated MR connection takes people out of a potentially hazardous situation. The pin is lowered into the box and guided into place with an internal guide pin. Then the spider automatically makes up the connection. It takes less than a minute to make/break the connection, and a string of pipe can be run in about half the time of a flanged riser system.

Weatherford

OverDrive System
The OverDrive system was developed to enhance the safety and efficiency of topdrive casing running and drilling operations. Heavy-duty and modular tools are mounted directly on the rig’s topdrive for making up and breaking out casing. These tools provide complete casing running and drilling capabilities, combining the functions of conventional power tongs, bails, elevators, thread compensators, and fill-up circulation tools.

The new system provides faster makeup and breakout with accurate thread compensation, the ability to switch between fill-up and circulating functions without repositioning the tool, high-volume circulation and fluid recovery, independent torque measurement, and reduced risk of operator errors with multiple safety interlocks. In addition, the system can perform tasks that conventional tools cannot. These include rotating and pushing down the casing while running to help prevent differential sticking and achieving high-speed string rotation with the topdrive when drilling/reaming with casing. Overall, fewer personnel are needed on the rigfloor, thereby reducing risk.