Technology from Europe:
United Kingdom

Accommodation and driller's control modules gain acceptance

Aberdeen-based engineering specialist to the oil and gas industry, Labtech Modular Engineering, designs, manufactures, repairs and refurbishes high-quality, containerized and skid-mounted modules and welding habitats, for sale and for hire. It has extended its product range with its first accommodation module and a custom-built driller's control cabin/drilling data center module (see photo). 

The driller's control cabin/drilling data center.

Operators are using the company's modules in the world's major oil and gas regions - offshore and onshore - including the North Sea, Australia, Japan, the Former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Brazil and West Africa. The cabins are designed to suit a range of operations, including engineering cabins, laboratories, logging units and MWD cabins. The welding habitats are effectively a module within a module and are used for the welding of coiled tubing offshore, in a safe, controlled environment, without the need of hot work permits. 

Commissioned by Transocean for installation on the MG Hulme, located in West Africa, the 16-man A60 fire-rated accommodation module – complete with integrated toilets, showers and HVAC and a cantilevered support structure for the module and lifeboats – was completed within just 16 weeks. 

The pressurized (safe by ventilation) Driller's Control Cabin (DCC), Drilling Data Center (DDC) and Geology Laboratory module, complete with access platforms, was designed and commissioned by Maritime Hydraulics AS, a company within AkerKvaerner, for the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field development, Phase 1, in the Caspian Sea. Features include laminated and toughened safety glass windows, electric window wash/wipe system, raised access floor and a false ceiling for services. The DCC and DDC module were trial-fitted together onshore to simplify the offshore hook-up and connection to the rig HVAC system. 

In addition to the above, the company filled orders for overseas markets during the past year with three mobile cabins for land-based contracts, one A60 fire-rated laboratory cabin for Sakhalin Island, a workshop container for Kazakhstan and three A60 fire-rated mud logging cabins for various offshore locations. 

The company was recently accepted onto Scottish Enterprise's Globalization Programme, wherein the company receives assistance to expand into further international markets through a carefully defined global strategy.