£8 million goes into the North Sea
11 Feb 2002
Oil and gas companies committed a total of £8 million in 2001 towards the development of new technologies that will be vital to the future of the North Sea. The funding was been secured through the UK oil and gas Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF), which promotes the development of innovative technology through joint industry projects.
The Industry Technology Facilitator is a not for profit company, established as an initiative of the UK Oil and Gas Industry Task Force, now PILOT. ITF's role is to broker technology development projects by matching the needs of the end users with the capabilities of the contracting and supply community. The targets of the technologies, in the areas of subsurface, wells and facilities, are to prolong the life of existing fields and facilities, and to unlock the reserves in undeveloped discoveries.
Last year, approval was given for a total of 30 projects, including two major collaborative programmes, which will develop advanced technologies to improve the search for and recovery of hydrocarbons on the increasingly challenging UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). A similar level of funding is envisaged again for new projects in 2002.
ITF received over 250 proposals last year from leading researchers around the world seeking funding for innovative ideas and technology in response to its call for proposals driven by the business needs of UK operating companies. Following rigorous refinement and review, the most promising were recommended to the oil companies for their support.
Two key current projects are: 'The Structurally Complex Reservoirs Programme' and the 'Seismic Reservoir Characterisation Programme.'
The Structurally Complex Reservoirs Programme was established to promote technology advances in the areas of detection and prediction of geological faults and fractures, and their properties. ITF's member companies need to understand and model the structural complexities of their reservoirs. Improvements in these areas will yield real business benefits in terms of optimising reserves, well targeting, eliminating development surprises and improving exploration success.
The Seismic Reservoir Characterisation Programme, on the other hand, was established to promote technology advances in the areas of seismic resolution and rapid prediction of reservoir performance from seismic data. The benefits of this programme will include better placement of wells, better definition of reserves and where they are to be found, and improved day to day well and reservoir management.
The two programmes, each lasting three years, consist of nine interlinked projects led by major UK and overseas universities, with active participation from the SME sector. They will be funded by a consortium of ten oil companies and the UK Department of Trade and Industry.
Other projects launched last year include a novel adaptation of a pipeline cleaning 'pig' (pipeline internal gauge) to detect corrosion, a downhole electric cutting tool, two new developments addressing produced water cleanup techniques and an examination of alternatives to umbilicals for subsea power supply.
This year ITF will continue to seek proposals in the subsurface, wells and facilities areas. The focus remains on technologies to underpin the vision of PILOT, the Government/Industry initiative, to maintain UKCS competitiveness, maximise economic recovery of the nation's indigenous oil and gas reserves, and preserve jobs. Key topics will include long subsea tiebacks, emissions control, and brownfield recovery and reservoir management.
As part of the 2002 thematic approach, ITF will be looking at technologies which could meet business needs, but which are stalled at the first application or field trial stage. This more difficult stage in the technology development process will require even greater levels of collaboration involving all sectors of the industry.
