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Scantrol AS provides electronic control systems for offshore, fishing, and marine research applications. The company’s new active heave compensation system, Scantrol AHC, is a control system for winches and cranes used for subsea operations. It is designed to give precise control of load position when a vessel is in motion. The AHC can be adapted to all different hydraulic and electric winches.
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Brazil’s offshore claims some of the world’s most prolific oil and gas regions. Predominant among them is the Santos basin, where giant petroleum deposits have been discovered below a salt layer that in places is over 2.5 km thick. In addition to the obvious challenges of reaching and completing these presalt reservoirs, drillers faced water depths over 2,000 m and locations over 300 km from shore.
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The oil and gas, healthcare and aviation industries may seem, at first glance, to have little in common. But all of them have the same general goals—lighter weights, higher efficiencies and more durable materials. Often, a technological breakthrough in one field of research can lead to unexpected benefits in another.
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Aberdeen-based Stork Technical Services has launched an industry-first hot bolt clamp system that enables the safe removal and replacement of corroded bolts on live flanged connections that have eight bolts or less. The system has been extensively field-tested and was successfully utilized by Stork personnel for a recent project on a Chevron-operated asset in the North Sea.
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In oil and gas well drilling, one of the initial key elements is the conductor pipe. Offshore, the conductor pipe must be driven into the seabed at significant water depths, which presents its own set of difficulties. World Oil spoke with Andy Penman, president and managing director of Conductor Installation Services, an Actean company, a firm specializing in both onshore and offshore installation of conductors and pilings.
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International rope manufacturer Bridon is expanding the capabilities of offshore heavy-lifting systems. The historical challenge in deepwater operations has been to deploy 300 tonnes in 3,000 m (9,843 ft) of water. Now, as operators seek to reach greater depths, industry is increasingly demanding lifting systems that can deploy weights of 400 tonnes at depths up to 4,000 m (13,123 ft).
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Asbørn Kroken
For more than 80 years, the technology behind the shaker has remained essentially the same. Adapted in the 1930s from the mining industry, conventional solids control equipment has always relied on gravity (g-forces) to separate shale and particles from drilling fluids. In 2004, two engineers in Norway asked themselves, “Is it possible to make a shaker that doesn’t shake?”
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Finland’s Cargotec has developed a new system for tug and supply vessels to change chain wheels while at sea. This system has the potential to eliminate countless trips to and from port. The company’s new MacGregor Chain Wheel Manipulator has won the Innovation of the Year award from an offshore support journal.
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TDW Offshore Services AS has designed and built a customized 48-in. SmartPlug pipeline pressure isolation tool to facilitate maintenance of Nord Stream AG’s twin pipeline system. Weighing approximately 12 tons, it is the largest SmartPlug tool ever produced.
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Gordon McKinnell
Preventing corrosion on subsea architecture is critical for operators in their effort to maintain an asset’s integrity and extend field life. Cathodic protection (CP) is a cost-effective solution for the prevention of corrosion as part of a long-term integrity management strategy.
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Industry safety training has evolved in recent years, from teachers and classrooms to standardized, web-based training. OPITO, the skills body that ensures safety and competency in the oil and gas industry, teamed up with Atlas, a provider of skills and learning technologies, to develop and deliver an online safety training program, which they are currently introducing in the U.S. World Oil spoke with Atlas CEO John Rowley.
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Aberdeen-based Churchill Drilling Tools, focused on delivering innovative systems for the drilling and completion sectors, achieved a 100% reliability target for its Smart Dart system in 2011, which enabled it to ramp-up production. The company will invest £500,000 (US $909,000) to expand production offering and workforce at its Crombie Road facility over the next two years.
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Statoil is preparing an invitation to tender for a new type of drilling rig for mature fields on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The new rigs, known as category J, will be jack-ups designed by the industry on behalf of Statoil. The purpose is to make drilling and completion of production wells less expensive, more efficient and safer.