The major boost given to UK industry by the oil and gas industry offshore in the North Sea is evident all down the east coast, from north of Aberdeen to south of Great Yarmouth. But the spin off into UK general manufacturing is also significant, with suppliers learning the specialist welding skills and quality requirements for equipment built to operate in harsh environments and even subsea. The same has happened in Norway, where most of the country revolves around delivering offshore oil and gas, and universities concentrate their projects on developing new techniques for the industry, financing their commercialisation, then making a profit on selling the company.
Maybe the fracking for shale oil and gas in the USA is less geographically concentrated, and their oil contractors and suppliers in Texas were on hand to grab some work in a downturn, but other than in the construction booms, I don’t think the local measurement and control suppliers benefited. One of the technology areas given a boost by fracking has been the wider use of wireless links to monitor and control geographically spread-out wells, remote control centres powered by solar cells, and so on. In the North Sea the equivalent could be the growth of subsea monitoring and metering of wells, which are then linked into one production platform controlling multiple wells, even owned by different vendors. So there is a significant growth in subsea research, products and ROVs (remote operated vehicles) for maintenance work.
Offshore Europe Expo
Every September there is a major exhibition of equipment and service suppliers to the North Sea industry: this year it was in Aberdeen, called Offshore Europe. Over 55 000 visitors attended the Aberdeen OE2015 show this year, not a record, because of the downturn in oil prices, but bigger and better than any other UK industrial show.
Most of the measurement and control vendors were present at OE2015: it’s a reasonable venue to catch up with them. What is striking is the different approaches adopted. Yokogawa was the first stand visible right by the entrance to the first of the five halls. Its approach is to concentrate on the measurement equipment itself, and encourage skid builders and specialist suppliers to incorporate it in their offering. This has led it to develop the DPharp pressure transmitter systems to withstand HP/HT conditions, up to 2000 bar and 200°C, as well as putting them in subsea housings. Yokogawa also has an interesting approach to its ISA100 wireless technology: it is selling the wireless module for third-party use alongside other transmitters, and will even sell the electronics and antenna to be built into other sensors. It has also signed a distribution deal with GasSecure of Norway over its wireless flammable gas detector, and offer a temperature measurement display module from PR Electronics in a Yokogawa branded field housing.
Housings for transmitters can add significantly to the weight of any skid, particularly if it has to be stainless steel for corrosion resistance. New light-weight alloy housings from Yokogawa are being subjected to long-term field trials in a marine and salt spray environment: they should save cost and weight.
Nestled behind the Shell stand was Endress+Hauser, which takes the opposite view to Yokogawa, and is pleased to supply its sensors, or a full specialised measurement skid constructed for well flow and density metering or similar duties. Special sensors have also been developed, for example magnetic flowmeters operating up to 420 bar. The SpectraSensor system using Tuned Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy is widely used to check the quality and composition of North Sea gas, on and off-shore.
Training and green applications
In the UK, a major initiative started by EEUMA, the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association, known as CompEx, raises the subject of specific industry training and qualifications. CompEx was also present at OE2015: it was set up by EEMUA to satisfy the general competency requirements of BS EN 60079 (IEC 60079), parts 10, 14 and 17. The qualification is now required for anyone working on Zoned sites in the UK, so several technical colleges and a couple of commercial training centres (e.g. E+H in Manchester) have set up approved training schemes and test installations. These use simulated systems with built-in faults as test zones, as the final qualification test of the proficiency and methods used by the engineers. CompEx training is also now available in the USA, Singapore, S. Korea, Nigeria – and South Africa at Hazloc, in Sasolburg.
Always interesting are the press releases issued around these events. Emerson reported the completion of a system for 'Jetty Boil-Off Gas Recovery' from the six LNG tanker berths at Ras Laffan port, for Qatargas. The system recovers the gas that would otherwise be flared, or lost to atmosphere, during loading of the LNG. The gas recovery is estimated at 600 000 tonnes of LNG per annum!
Nick Denbow spent 30 years as a UK-based process instrumentation marketing manager, and then changed sides – becoming a freelance editor and starting Processingtalk.com. Avoiding retirement, he published the INSIDER automation newsletter for five years, www.iainsider.com, and now acts as its EMEA editorial correspondent. His blog is on www.nickdenbow.com
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