Not only that, but the technology must be “original, groundbreaking and capable of revolutionizing the offshore E&P industry.”

That’s a tough call. But showing once again that the upstream industry’s engineers like nothing better than a challenge, the lineup of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Spotlight on New Technology award winners demonstrates it is very possible to at least tick most of the above boxes and plenty of others as well.

In addition to the above criteria, other notable demands by the OTC awards committee (made up of representatives from the OTC’s board and the program committee) include:

  • The technology must be less than two years old from the time it was first introduced to the marketplace or announced;
  • It must be proven, either through full-scale application or successful prototype testing;
  • It must have broad interest and appeal for the industry; and
  • It must have significant impact, with the technology providing significant benefits beyond existing technologies and with environmental impact also an important criterion.

Impressively, since these awards for both hardware and software solutions were launched in 2004, the industry has produced more than 100 winning technologies.

Cast your mind back 10 years, and worthy inaugural winners included Baker Hughes’ TesTrak formation pressure testing solution, Epcon Offshore’s Compact Flotation Unit produced water system (now owned by Schlumberger) and FMC Kongsberg’s Subsea Riserless Light Well Intervention solution.

This year the winners included novel FPSO, LNG transfer, seismic, drilling, downhole, intervention, monitoring and other solutions from companies including Baker Hughes, FMC Technologies, GE Oil & Gas, Schlumberger, Halliburton, SBM Offshore, Weatherford, WesternGeco and West Production Technology AS.

Very high pressure fluid swivel

One offshore solution of particular relevance as the global floating production sector continues to thrive is SBM Offshore’s winning Very High Pressure Fluid Swivel (VHP Fluid Swivel) technology.

This patented solution allows operators to use FPSO vessels for the development of ultrahigh pressure reservoirs. The company said in its awards release that to date this has not been possible where a weathervaning system was needed in conjunction with fluid reinjection into the reservoir.

Currently, fluid swivels are proven up to 7,542 psi. SBM stated that its fully qualified VHP Fluid Swivel has raised this limit by almost 60% to attain operating pressures of up to 12,000 psi.

An OTC statement added that the technology increases the operating range of high-pressure swivels by using “a patented technique to cascade the pressure drop over multiple seals. The 12-in. prototype toroidal swivel has been fully qualified to 12,000 psi including long-term endurance test runs and has the potential to operate at over 14,500 psi.”

With more qualification testing planned to take place during the course of this year to further increase its capability to that desired 14,500-psi level, SBM is focused on applying its swivel technology for operators exploring the potential reserves of the Lower Tertiary fields in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The company said the swivel technology is applicable to the ultra-HP/HT challenges inherent in this region.

Essentially the toroidal steel swivel will enable gas or water reinjection into ultrahigh-pressure reservoirs such as those found in Lower Tertiary fields from a turret-moored FPSO unit, helping operators boost recovery factors and opening up the possibility of using FPSO vessels for Lower Tertiary applications beyond current early production systems (enabling their use for full field developments where reinjection will be needed).

Monaco-based SBM is already heavily involved in the industry’s push into the Lower Tertiary, with the contractor supplying disconnectable FPSO units suitable for steel risers such as the FPSO Turritella, destined for Shell’s Stones project in the GoM.

FMC’s helping arm for FLNG

FMC Technologies, meanwhile, received its OTC accolade with a Spotlight award for its Offshore Loading Arm Footless (OLAF).

The new loading arm was developed for LNG transfer between side-by-side moored floating LNG (FLNG) vessels and conventional LNG carriers, such as Shell’s giant Prelude field facility destined for the western coast of Australia.

OTC stated the design is able to deal with the large elevation difference between an FLNG facility’s deck and the LNG carrier’s piping connection at a lower level without overloads. “OLAF covers 100% of side-by-side operability in harsh environmental conditions thanks to its concept, its targeting system for connection assistance and Constant Position Monitoring System, SIL3, to manage the emergency disconnection,” it continued.

The system is likely to help further minimize the transfer times between vessels, a key advantage for facilities such as Prelude, located in the harsh environment of the Browse Basin where weather conditions can change rapidly. The Prelude facility will have seven OLAF systems, also helping to reduce the likelihood of partial vaporization.

FMC clinched another Spotlight Award for its ISOL-8 Pump developed by its Schilling Robotics subsidiary. The pump enables secondary intervention for BOPs in compliance with API Standard 53. The pump is tightly integrated with FMC’s own UHD III ROV, with the company saying it meets the 45-second requirement for closing BOP shear rams. It consists of independent pistons synchronized with software control. Flexible configuration allows optimization for a variety of demands and can simultaneously provide up to 190 l/min (50 gal/min) at 5,000 psi, according to FMC.

Crucially, OTC said in its award statement that “compared to existing industry solutions, this system is depth-insensitive and can save operators up to $4 million per rig.”

Winners Circle

Other Spotlight Award winners this year were:

  • Baker Hughes – LaunchPRO Wireless Top Drive Cement Head, a remote-activation system for deepwater applications, launching balls, plugs or darts during cementing of extremely heavy subsea long strings and long, heavy liners;
  • GE Oil & Gas – SeaLytics, which enables drilling contractors to monitor performance and plan maintenance of BOPs using predictive analytics based on actual component performance data. This can improve BOP system uptime, reduce unnecessary maintenance and lead to better cost forecasting;
  • GE Oil & Gas – Zenith GFI (ground-fault immune) ESP monitoring system. On average, 15% of ESP well monitoring systems fail to provide data following earth leakage in the ESP cable, according to GE. This system cannot be disturbed by ground faults, enabling continued well surveillance for production optimization and pump protection despite fault conditions;
  • Schlumberger’s Geoservices – FLAG (fluid loss and gain) detection service, aimed at meeting the challenges of increasingly complex drilling programs in deeper waters with an early warning system highly sensitive to fluctuations but intelligent enough to help prevent false alarms. The service provides accurate fluids monitoring and precise coriolis flow metering with any drilling fluid on any rig, the company stated;
  • Halliburton Drill Bits and Services – TDReam tool, a downhole innovation designed to significantly reduce rathole length and reach total depth in one run. Halliburton designed a more efficient tool with optimized steerability and fluid flow and reduced tool length based on the proven reliability of the near-bit reamer technology;
  • Schlumberger – Seismic-guided drilling pore-pressure prediction ahead of the bit, which can predict formation pressures hundreds of meters ahead while drilling, Schlumberger said, using both surface seismic and LWD data to provide a 3-D look-ahead velocity model with more accurate results. It enables proactive drilling decisions, particularly in deepwater exploration. Velocities ahead of the bit are recalculated from seismic reflections by using LWD velocities behind the bit as a constraint;
  • Weatherford – CasingLink EM antenna system, developed to address the signal attenuation encountered while drilling in deeper depths with an electromagnetic telemetry system. It employs an insulated wire that is externally attached to a standard casing string, a borehole receiver typically located downhole and connected to the casing and a surface transceiver;
  • West Production Technology AS – SwarfPak technology, for plug and abandonment and slot recovery with significantly reduced rig time and environmental footprint. All the swarf particles will be deposited and left downhole, avoiding the use of surface swarf-handling equipment. Another benefit is that milling speed is greatly increased; and
  • WesternGeco – IsoMetrix marine isometric seismic technology, which delivers high-fidelity point-receiver seismic data while overcoming spatial bandwidth compromises that the company said limited all previous towed-streamer methods. The new streamer design results in fine isometric sampling in both crossline and inline directions.
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