In the drive for remote operations, reducing operator costs and reducing emissions and CO2, digitalization of sensors and control systems is imperative. To date, valves on wellheads and trees have predominantly been controlled by hydraulic actuators that are not ideally suited for fully remote operations. A new, innovative, electric actuator has been developed under a Joint Industry Project (JIP) by Equinor, Baker Hughes and TECHNI. This actuator is designed for fail-safe, critical operations offshore and is subject to stringent safety design requirements. The key motivation is reducing CAPEX and OPEX for offshore installations, while increasing availability of wells while providing improved monitoring and condition based, predictive maintenance. The electric actuator that was developed in the program has a patent pending fail-safe mechanism with extremely fast closing time (less than 1 second) to ensure well containment during critical situations. The actuator is designed to be a drop-in replacement for NoBolt™ CHA actuator solutions and is suitable for most standard wellhead and tree designs, sizes and pressure ratings. In the new all-electric design, a multitude of sensors in combination with an OPC-UA architecture, enables data-driven insights from the systems in operation. The program was started in 2017 and has resulted in a system at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 (on 0 to 7 scale) with TRL 5 testing planned in 2020 yielding it ready for field installation.
Pressure control have been going through steps of evolution. In the highlight of safety, reliability and control, the systems have been sturdy withstanding massive pressure and environmental impact to last the time of estimated life of well. Design have been emphasizing on sturdiness rather than intelligence and autonomy. Time moves on, sophistication levels rise in all parts of our industry. Sustainability and lower environmental impact of solutions grow from the young into business planning and democratic policies. Control lines of hydraulic systems posed risks to the environment as well as being costly in structure and maintenance. Condition monitoring helped ensure better maintenance planning and lowered the risk of breakdown, but still left a lot to be desired reaching for self-contained, self learning systems with low installation and maintenance costs, yet the safest approach. The next steps were taken towards electrification and digitization of pressure control systems, making short and undetermined strides over almost two decades. Still, the standards are not following the pace of technological progress. And when someone dares to pilot or demonstrate modern technology applied, the installations and operational procedures of the systems still need expensive distributed lines of power, of signals and control systems to ensure a swift and safe operation. The fly-by-wire principle applied in oil & gas is the operate-by-costly-technology-and-environmental-impact-lines. With the introduction of new and breaking technology in energy harvesting and storage, the playing field opens up towards fully automated systems with no need for expensive power lines or hydraulic control lines. The safety will be taken care of also off-grid, fully digitized. Should cabling of instrument signals be damaged, the system of tomorrow will still be up to par with the Safety Integrity Levels needed. New super-capacitors with an extra dense storage capacity being developed in partnership between the industry and the University of southeast Norway combined with an extremely low energy consuming actuation system with the fastest failsafe mechanism ever will ensure safety in all modes of operation, even with all lines down or consumed by flames. The paper aims to show how the technology works and underline why it will take a place in the future of well control and production.
PACT (Pressure control ACTuator) is a newly developed, all-electric wellhead- and production tree valve actuator for enhanced well control and fail-safe handling of emergency situations. The actuator was developed under a Joint Industry Project (JIP) by Equinor, Baker Hughes and TECHNI. PACT is designed for mission critical operations offshore and is subject to stringent safety design requirements. The actuator employs a patent pending fail-safe mechanism with extremely fast closing time to ensure containment during emergency shutdown. Opening time is 30 to 60 seconds (depending on valve size) and adjustable closing time of 4 to 8 seconds (valve closing in less than 1 second has been demonstrated). It is designed to be a drop-in replacement for NoBolt™ CHA actuator solutions and is suitable for most standard wellhead and tree designs, sizes and pressure ratings. Electric actuators offer significant CAPEX savings over hydraulic actuator systems by eliminating the need for costly hydraulic control systems (HPU), associated hydraulic lines and umbilicals as well as saving deck space and weight. Electric actuators also offer significant OPEX savings over hydraulic actuators by eliminating the need for specially trained personnel offshore during periodic testing and associated post-actuation flushing of hydraulic lines. Environmental impact is reduced by eliminating high-pressure hydraulic oil lines with associated risk of spills and removing the need to transport personnel offshore which reduce total CO2 emissions. The PACT development program was initiated in 2017 and has resulted in an actuator solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 (on 0 to 7 scale) with planned TRL 5 testing yielding it ready for field installation.
E&P companies are challenged with the cost-effective development of smaller and marginal fields, while ensuring safety for its crew and facing increasing regulatory requirements for further reducing emissions and environmental impact. Key enablers to achieve profitable development of smaller fields and maintaining safe production in remote locations is digitizing and automating the production chain and limit the need for on-site personnel. There are a number of safety critical valves on wellheads and production trees that have historically been manually or hydraulically operated and thus not suited for fully remote operations. In 2017, Equinor, Baker Hughes and TECHNI formed a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to develop a new electric actuator control system. The actuator system is designed for fail-safe, critical operations offshore and is subject to stringent safety design requirements. The key driver is reducing CAPEX and OPEX and environmental impact for offshore installations, while increasing availability of wells while providing improved monitoring and condition based, predictive maintenance. The electric actuator system developed in the JIP has a patent pending fail-safe mechanism with extremely fast closing time to ensure well containment during critical situations. It is designed to be a drop-in replacement for existing hydraulic actuator solutions and is suitable for most standard wellhead and tree designs, sizes, and pressure ratings. The all-electric solution contains a multitude of sensors, that, in combination with an integrated digital interface, enables data-driven insights from the systems in operation. The actuator development is currently at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 on the API 17N, 0 to 7 scale. In 2020, the JIP consortium was awarded NOK 8.2 million (USD 950 000) by the Norwegian Research Council DEMO 2000 program to support the test and qualification program. TRL 5 testing is planned in first half of 2021 yielding it ready for field installation.
E&P companies are increasingly challenged with cost-effective development or upgrade of remote fields, ensuring crew safety and regulatory requirements for reducing environmental impact. Remote operations and unmanned platforms have significantly lower CO2 emissions and lowerCAPEX and OPEX in areas of sparse infrastructure. Complete electrification of safety critical control systems is key to maintain safe production while digitization, automation and condition based maintenance reduce required on-site personnel. An all-electric wellhead- and production tree valve actuator for handling emergency situations has been developed under a Joint Industry Project by Equinor, Baker Hughes and TECHNI. PACT utilize a completely new, patent pending failsafe mechanism that is inherently safe without requirement for redundancy. PACT contains an embedded controller and sensors with extremely low power consumption rendering it well suited for solar/alternate power sources. A new super-capacitor is under development in partnership with the University of Southeast Norway, that in combination with the fastest failsafe mechanism ever ensure safety in all modes of operation, even with all lines down or consumed by flames. Electric actuators offer significant CAPEX savings over hydraulic actuators by eliminating costly hydraulic control systems and hydraulic lines as well as saving space and weight. Overall system cost is significantly lower than hydraulic systems (Equinor estimates at around USD 2million per well for an unmanned platform) while also reducing emissions and environmental impact. Globally, there are approximately 7000 offshore platforms of which 1600 are unmanned (200 in the Middle East). The existing population of unmanned platforms is undergoing continual upgrades and there are significant cost savings by using the PACT as a drop-in replacement for existing hydraulic systems, while enabling fully digitized, remote control and autonomous operations. Low power consumption, weight and a small footprint renders it equally suited for land wells, including retrofit upgrades without reinforcing infrastructure. PACT is designed to be an integral part of automated and remote-control systems and the modular technology is also being adopted for subsea trees, as well as other mission critical pressure control applications. Given the significant benefits in simplifying operations and reducing cost while improving HSSE, leading E&P companies including Equinor, Total, Aker BP and others have chosen electric operations as future technology platform for both topside and subsea operations. Embedded force-, pressure-, temperature- and vibration sensors enable data-driven, fact- and condition based maintenance. Aggregating real-time and historical data, component- and system models ensures fully remote/autonomous operation with a digital twin. The novel failsafe-mechanism fronts the most reliable action of all times while the patent pending solution ensures closing times down to 1 second. In 2020 the consortium was awarded USD 950 000 in government support funding and in May 2021 PACT won OTC Spotlight on New Technology award. The paper aims to show how the technology works and underline why it will take a place in the future of well control and production.
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