New products

Vol. 233 No. 9

Gas-over-oil pipeline valve actuators for heavy duty applications

The GO Range now provides a more compact, reliable solution for automating heavy duty valve applications found in the gathering, transmission, compression and storage of gas. Re-designed to provide longer, more efficient service in the harshest of environments, with a minimum of maintenance, the new generation of actuators has undergone an important upgrade, including streamlined manufacturing and product improvements. As a result, GO actuators are now lighter, more compact and incorporate advanced changes to functional specifications. The improved modular design enables the smallest number of components to meet a wide variety of valve torque and control requirements. The GO range uses the pipeline gas as the motive power source. The gas is delivered to oil tanks that convert the gas into hydraulic pressure. This pressurized hydraulic oil is used to drive industry-preferred Rotork scotch-yoke quarter-turn or linear valve actuators. A complete range of sizes is now available to suit virtually any valve size or class.

Engineering information management software

Datum360 is set to provide software solutions that it says will set new standards for managing engineering information in the oil and gas industry. The first of these is PIM360, a project information management solution that manages the acquisition, conditioning, cleansing and delivery of engineering information, to ensure that information conforms to both the business validation rules and the class library that defines the data.  PIM360 is designed to be complementary and work together with all other IM technologies. The major innovation within the software is the automatic acquisition of clean data into the Engineering Information database. It is unique in providing fast, flawless loading of trusted data into other systems, such as ERP, maintenance management or other design or engineering information management technologies, many of which do not tolerate data, which is not as it should be. PIM360 is supplied as Software as a Service (SaaS), making it very easy and quick to deploy. It is easy to populate, and fast and easy to configure. It processes and assures information in real time with full feedback of informational progress metrics to the project team. This results in rapid project set-up, increased data governance & integrity, and reduced timescales and costs.

Successful test of dual-seal gate valve to API 6A HPHT standards

Worldwide Oilfield Machine (WOM) has successfully completed of an extreme high-temperature test of its patented dual-seal gate valve with a Magnum seal assembly. Conducted at its manufacturing facility in Houston, the test included operating the gate valve through 200 cycles of extreme temperatures ranging from -20°F to +450°F, under a constant pressure of 15,000 psi. The rigorous test was completed for the first time at this temperature range, exceeding previous tests at 350°F. Representatives of major oilfield service companies were present to observe and confirm the testing authenticity. This test ensures customers that the gate valve meets the American Petroleum Institute (API) 6A Annex F PR2 performance requirements, a stringent standard for individual equipment units containing pressure. The dual-seal technology developed by WOM forms a bubble-tight seal against the valve gate, which is maintained through the most extreme conditions such as those occurring in Arctic and ultra-deepwater drilling and production.

Expanded line of environmentally compliant chemicals

Baker Hughes has added drilling and completion fluids, production chemicals and additives used in cementing and stimulation operations to its SmartCare family of environmentally responsible solutions, becoming the first oilfield services company to apply a comprehensive standardized environmental assessment process to products beyond those used in hydraulic fracturing. The expansion gives operators greater confidence that the chemicals they deploy have been thoroughly qualified to meet existing and anticipated regulations, without sacrificing performance. Before awarding the SmartCare solution designation, a team of chemists and researchers evaluate and rate the components of a chemical product for potential environmental and health impacts. The product is further qualified for optimal performance, cost-effectiveness, and compatibility with other chemical treatments. Insights gained from the rigorous evaluation also guide the research and development of increasingly sustainable SmartCare solutions.

Software platform for improved E&P decision-making

Schlumberger announced the release of its Petrel 2012 E&P software platform, delivering integrated analysis from exploration to production. The 2012 release strengthens integration between geophysics, geology and reservoir engineering, including systematic exploration risk assessment, pre-stack seismic workflows, and efficient reservoir simulation results analysis. Petrel 2012 extends functionality into drilling and production—optimizing well placement in shale and heavy oil reservoirs, and providing enhanced production scenario planning. Further, it offers enhanced enterprise knowledge management and multiuser collaboration. The software introduces integrated play-to-prospect risk assessment, enabling systematic evaluation of trap, reservoir, charge and seal with associated uncertainties. Geoscientists combine physical property maps to create an overall chance-of-success map, dynamically incorporating the latest information in a single platform. Decisions are tied to interpretations, allowing the objective comparison of alternative prospects within the portfolio. Bridging interpretation and processing workflows, the Petrel platform delivers enhanced pre-stack seismic interpretation, simultaneous inversion, and reservoir AVO modeling developed by WesternGeco. New attributes delineate subtle structural features, and when combined with interactive reconstruction and structural analysis, enable rapid validation of the horizon and fault framework in complex geologies.