It’s a phrase that will be well-worn by the time this year’s Offshore Technology Conference is over:
“In light of what happened in the Gulf last year…” company XYZ is rolling out a new technology.
This morning it was T3 Energy Services with their new blowout preventer shear rams. Many more are following suit.
Weatherford International touted its new “closed-loop” drilling system, which allows for better monitoring for gas as mud comes back from a well during drilling. The crew on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig appears to have missed early signs of gas coming back to the rig through the drilling mud, including incorrectly diagnosing the problem as something called “the bladder effect.”
“This system lets you tell the difference between the bladder effect and a kick very easily,” a Weatherford sales engineer said during a discussion Monday.
National Oilwell Varco was showing potential customers its new shear rams — a pair of trident-like blades that first puncture a drill pipe before cutting it to shreds. The ShearMax Low Force Cashing Shear Rams are aimed at making short work of tool joints — the thickest section of a drill pipe where it screws into another section of pipe.
Clay Williams, NOV’s CFO, explained the new shear rams still have trouble with drill pipe that’s off-center, but that the company has other devices in the works.
GE Oil & Gas’ Hydril line of blowout preventers have a couple of new features that also seem aimed at Macondo-related issues.
The RamTel Plus System combines hardware installed on a BOP with a software system to let operators know exactly how far closed shear rams are within the BOP and how much pressure they exerted as they closed. This was an issue when teams using remote-operated submarines first tried to activate the Macondo BOP following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon.
GE has also developed a Hydrostatic Pressure Assisted Shearing System, essentially a system that captures the natural pressure from being many thousands of feet underwater into a device that can then use that pressure — up to 4,500 pounds per square inch — to activate a shear ram. That lets a company use many fewer canisters of pressurized fluid on the subsea equipment it places on the sea floor with a BOP.
There are many more developments to come this week, including a system for skimming oil from a blowout well. Stay tuned.
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There are other products not mentioned:
1. New low oil processed shell fish.
2. New sun tan lotion that prevents oil from sticking to your skin.
3. New 2 gallon jug of oil dispersant available at gas stations, Wal Mart, and sea food stores. Keeps oil out while your family swims in the ocean beach.
4. Crude oil and tar ball aromatic and sensitive skin FDA approved wipes.
5. On sale DVD on sale telling you it is safe to swim at the beach. (ignore the floating fish and birds).
Good. Technology is responding to the spill. This means more business in the Houston area and hopefully a safer drilling industry.