SPE Offshore Europe 2017 Preview
Published: 31 August, 2017
Embracing new realities: reinventing our industry - SPE Offshore Europe 2017 – which will take place from 5 to 8 September 2017 at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) – is being staged at a time when confidence levels are gradually climbing following the longest and most significant downturn the oil & gas industry has seen in decades.
Over four days, under the central theme ‘Embracing new realities: reinventing our industry’, 65 free-to-attend technical presentations and a programme of business breakfasts and topical lunches, will provide opportunities to debate, knowledge-share and take new courses of action that will shape the future of the industry.
The 2017 conference chair, Catherine MacGregor, and her executive committee of 17 senior international industry figures, have put together a focused keynote programme that will tackle the issues the industry is facing as it adjusts to the realities of the ‘new normal’.
Conference programme
The opening plenary session promises a packed hall with a top-level line-up of industry CEOs. Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP; and Robin Watson, CEO of Wood Group will address the hundreds of visitors attending the opening plenary together with Solange Guedes, board director and chief E&P officer of Petrobras and Andrew Jones MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
Eleven keynote panel sessions will cover the gamut of topical issues that are relevant in the current climate: from people safety, Big Data, cyber and physical security, transformative technologies, sustainability and decommissioning to new business models for mature basins, making capital work, the talent pool, breakthroughs in supply chain effectiveness and learning from other industries.
Exhibition
More than 1000 exhibitors from across the globe will take to the exhibition floor showcasing a diverse range of technology and equipment. The event will welcome new companies as well as the return of several of the industry’s major players. A large international exhibitor presence will be present with national and international pavilions including Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria and USA.
The free-to-attend high-level technical presentations will address topics including improvements in safety and environment, pipelines, drilling, well automation and analytics, and data driven decision support. An interactive ‘special session’ will address subsea standardisation.
Decommissioning
A new event feature for 2017 is the Decommissioning Zone, which will include a themed exhibition hall for decommissioning technology and service providers and a conference programme that is being organised in association with Decom North Sea, IMechE, ITF and SUT. Independent North Sea operator Fairfield Energy, which is in the process of decommissioning the Greater Dunlin assets, will share details of progress.
Tech Trek
Also new is Tech Trek, designed to make it easier for visitors to find what is new, more easily. Technologies, products and solutions launched within the past 12 months are eligible. Visitors will follow the Tech Trek logo visible on the website exhibitor list, app and catalogue and can look out for it on the stands.
Technology Zone
The Oil & Gas Technology Centre’s Technology Zone will present a series of technologies used in alternative sectors to encourage the oil & gas industry to think differently about the adoption of new products.The Centre believes technologies such as robots, composite materials, additive manufacturing and augmented reality are all currently underutilised in offshore oil and gas, despite being part of a general industrial transformation in other industries. The Zone will bring together start-up companies and SMEs, showcasing their ideas and solutions. Also, there will be a series of short presentations followed by a Q&A session with the Technology Centre’s board and leadership team on its priorities and how to get involved.
Inspire Programme
Continuing on from the success of SPE’s Inspire Programme in 2015, a series of activities, workshops and lectures specifically focused on supporting and informing young people interested in joining the oil & gas industry or just beginning their careers will be held from Monday 4 September (the afternoon before the show starts) to Friday 8 September. For younger generations, there will be introductions to the industry and the importance of STEM topics though SPE’s school engagement programme. SPE is also working with local schools to show the opportunities within the industry and meet professionals to talk about what they do.
Investment Workshop
This one-day programme connects Oiltech’s investor members with innovative technology providers, giving entrepreneurs industry-specific advice on partner funding and providing access to funding opportunities. On the morning of 6 September, a series of drop-in sessions will be held where industry experts will give guidance on getting technology to market in the fastest and most effective way, and offer advice and expertise around partner funding. On the afternoon of Wednesday 6 September, a limited number of companies will be invited to one-to-one meetings to discuss investment projects with various grant, early seed and direct industry funding providers.
Exhibitor taster
The following is a brief example of the show’s wide-ranging exhibitor base:
BiS Valves
BiS Valves has introduced a wider range of stainless steel solenoid and directional control valves. The new range incorporates direct acting and internally and externally pilot operated variants, plus an extensive options list that includes manual override, manual reset and Ex d and Ex emb hazardous area coils with ATEX and IECEx certification.
Benefits of the new range include:
• Power consumption as low as 3W often required for remote locations.
• -50degC temperature rating for arctic environments.
• A balanced spool design which allows the valve to with stand variable pressures on the main ports, essential in a variety of applications.
• A barrier between the pilot and main flow ports, which prevents cross-contamination of fluids.
• Block before bleed operation to minimise fluid loss on changeover.
• SIL 3 capability.
BVAA
The British Valve & Actuator Association (BVAA) will be at their usual stand, 2D05. The BVAA’s CEO, Rob Bartlett, commented: ‘BVAA will be multi-tasking as per usual. As well as representing our 200 members and their products in the oil & gas space, we will also be promoting the many benefits of BVAA membership. We will also be demonstrating once again our completely-independent valve industry training, an area in which we excel and which is proving very popular with the valve and actuator customer-base, particularly in Aberdeen. We’ll also be providing the UK Valve industry with its usual hub and rest stop.”
Enerpac
The latest developments in bolting tools and heavy lift systems for offshore oil and gas, wind energy and decommissioning projects will be featured on the Enerpac stand at SPE Offshore Europe 2017. Enerpac’s torque wrench range includes the PTW-Series pneumatic torque wrench and ETW-Series electric torque wrench, providing constant torque output, and low-vibration operation to reduce operator fatigue and risk of injury. The new ETW-Series bootloader version allows one common control box to be used with all sizes of wrenches, enhancing the flexibility of the fixing system.
For heavy lift, Enerpac’s range of synchronised lifting systems from mechanical and hydraulic cylinders to gantries, strand jack and skidding systems have been used to lift and launch a 43,000-ton floating oil production system, and load-out a 7000-ton offshore production facility. They offer precise positioning of heavy loads in a safe and controlled manner both onshore and offshore.
Hi-Force
Since its establishment in 1982, Hi-Force has rapidly emerged as a leading manufacturer and supplier of hydraulic tools and bolting equipment. The product offering includes cylinders, pumps, torque tools, bolt tensioners, jacks, nut splitters and puller kits and many other industry specific tools.
At SPE Offshore Europe, Hi-Force will be highlighting products that are key for supporting critical bolting processes in Aberdeen’s recovering oil & gas industry and will offer a solution to technological challenges faced during significant ongoing developments.
With health & safety being of paramount importance in the bolting industry, Hi-Force will also be promoting the ECITB approved Mechanical Joint Integrity training courses. These courses not only maintain the competence levels of the personnel but further develop and improve to reduce potential risk of accidents or incidents wherever possible.
Hydac
Hydac will be showcasing its innovations around condition-based monitoring at SPE offshore Europe. Examples of how condition monitoring can be used to monitor single sub systems to complete marine and offshore vessels will be given. Hydac will be showing how its range of sensors can be integrated into these systems and what the data can show about the condition of the oil and components.
Hydac will also be showing the new HMG 4000 handheld data logger with its new capability and touch screen and how this can work with Hydac software. It was mainly developed for all values measured in relation to hydraulic systems; such as pressure, temperature, flow rate and position. Moreover, it provides a high level of flexibility, even when it comes to evaluating other measuring values. The main applications are servicing, maintenance or test rigs.
The HMG 4000 has an easy-to-operate user interface due to its large 5.7″ touchscreen. The operator can access all of the unit’s functions and settings by means of clearly presented selection menus.
Lee Products
The Lee Company will be showing its new latching solenoid valve for power sensitive, down hole applications. By incorporating magnets into the coil design, this solenoid valve offers a major reduction in overall power consumption; particularly when operating with extended on periods.
The company comments that, unlike a traditional coil design that requires continuous voltage to energise the valve from its natural state, the latching valve requires only momentary pulses of 14.5W to switch to and remain in each state. The polarity of voltage dictates the position.
The Lee latching solenoid valve draws on the design elements of the company’s ultra-compact and field proven piloting solenoid valves. The company states that the Lee MultiSeal radically simplifies port layout, offers significant space savings, reduces machining costs and provides a high level of reliability over traditional sealing methods. The Lee Company offers custom configurations to meet envelope, material, flow, pressure and electrical requirements for a wide variety of applications.
Pegasus Hydraulics
Pegasus Hydraulics is a leading UK stockholder and distributor of stainless steel hydraulic fittings. The company supplies many customers from the offshore, marine, metal processing and paper industries (although the range of industries and applications is much wider) with German-manufactured high quality stainless steel hydraulic fittings.
The stock product range includes stainless compression fittings to ISO 8434-1 (or DIN 2353), hydraulic hose inserts and ferrules (both standard and higher-pressure Interlock for 4SH, R13 and R15), BSP adapters to BS 5200, plus JIC fittings, valves (needle, ball, shut-off and non-return), SAE flanges and pipe clamps.
All products stocked and supplied are Type Approved and certified by leading organisations such as DNV, Lloyd’s Register, American Bureau of Shipping, RINA, Germanischer Lloyd as well as the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Gost-R, Bureau Veritas and UkrSEPRO.
TIS Hydraulics
TIS Hydraulics, which is the UK master distributor for Hylok Instrumentation, states Hylok is very close to launching a new range of medium & high-pressure equipment to its existing hydraulic instrumentation range. The launch is planned to coincide with Offshore Europe 2017, and TIS Hydraulics anticipates having samples and catalogues available for the show.
On the stand, the company plans to exhibit the full range of Hylok 20,000 – 60,000psi needle valves, ball valves and check valves, as well as various adaptors and fittings. The addition of these new products will allow Hylok to offer an extensive package of hydraulic products up to 60,000+ psi, making the company a truly global player in the field of instrumentation equipment.
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions will use SPE Offshore Europe as a platform to launch its latest Isolast perfluoroelastomer (FFKM) material development. Specifically engineered for the offshore industry, Isolast J9554 is claimed to matche up to the most demanding of upstream requirements and is suited for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) systems.
Extensive testing was undertaken to prove that Isolast J9554 can operate at the extreme temperatures and pressures encountered in critical upstream applications, including high temperature steam environments. The material exhibited excellent retention of physical properties following high temperature steam aging for one week at +300degC/+572degF.
Webtool (Allspeeds)
Hydraulic cutting tools specialist, Webtool, is announcing what it describes as the industry’s first battery-powered, high pressure hydraulic power pack, enabling smaller and inspection class ROVs access to the Webtool range of hydraulic wire rope and softline fibre rope cutters.
In addition, the company’s stand will feature the Webtool cable retrieval tool (CRT200), developed in consultation with international certification body and classification society, DNVGL, and the Webtool portable, softline, deck emergency cutter for offshore vessels.
The lightweight, battery-powered power pack gives electric ROVs a Webtool cutting capability for softline ropes and guidewires. Called EHP350, it is designed to be used with Webtool wire rope and softline at water depths up to 1000m.
