The service will address the growing demand for industrial energy efficiency. (Image source: Sulzer)

Sulzer has launched an energy efficiency and carbon reduction service called Sulzer Energy Optimisation Service to upgrade the standards of centrifugal pumps across their lifecycle for energy intensive industries such as power generation, oil and gas, chemicals and water desalination 

This service will address the growing demand for industrial energy efficiency with access to digital analysis, machine learning and ongoing monitoring to reduce carbon emissions, enhance reliability, and reduce energy costs. A 1% increase in global pump efficiency would save around 59TWh of electricity – equivalent to New Zealand’s annual power needs; some pumps’ efficiency could be increased by as much as 20-30%.

Ravin Pillay-Ramsamy, services division president at Sulzer said, “Inefficient and unreliable pumps cost operators in the industrial sectors millions of dollars in unnecessary downtime, energy costs and carbon emissions every year. Sulzer Energy Optimisation Service offers a comprehensive solution that tackles this inefficiency – from identification through to improvement and monitoring.

“A pilot customer in Spain will now save €1 million in energy costs and over 2,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year as a result of energy optimisation improvements identified by the Service. By rerating five pumps, energy efficiency increased from 72% to 83% saving the operator 5,000MWh in electricity every year.”

Consisting of four steps, an initial pump energy audit identifies areas of inefficiency with Sulzer’s proprietary calculator – PumpWise – outlining the potential energy, carbon and monetary savings.

A tailored proposal is generated by Sulzer’s expert team presenting a range of options to return the pump to run at its best efficiency point through an engineered retrofit, with varying techniques such as hydraulic re-rates, specialised coatings, wear clearances and more. Each option weighs operational costs, investment, downtime, payback and efficiency guarantees. The upgrades are then implemented with support from Sulzer’s established retrofit team which has delivered more than 4,000 retrofit projects globally since its setup in 2010. The team is supported by a network of more than 120 service locations globally.

Following retrofit, Sulzer offers a performance agreement to maintain optimised reliability and efficiency. This includes access to Blue Box, Sulzer’s proprietary machine learning technology which turns pump performance data into actionable insights.

Pillay-Ramsamy said, “For operators who are constantly challenged to do more with less, making energy efficiency improvements is a win-win. With pumps accounting for 20% of the world’s electricity demand, we want to offer a streamlined, futureproofed way for customers to improve their energy efficiency regardless of their pump OEM.

“To do so, we’ve combined the competence of our people and longstanding engineering expertise with our proprietary innovations and wrapped them in a collaborative and customer-centric approach. Altogether we believe this solution creates a new best practice standard for pump operation that goes above and beyond in supporting operators to remain future-ready.”

Field tests have demonstrated a reduction in corrosion of up to 90%. (Image source: Omniflex)

Cathodic protection specialist Omniflex has collaborated with researchers at Australia’s Deakin University to develop a novel closed-loop cathodic protection (CP) system for localised corrosion control in offshore and underground infrastructure such as underground or subsea oil and gas pipelines

Prototype field tests on underground pipelines have demonstrated a reduction in corrosion by around 90%, potentially doubling operational lifetimes of these structures when exposed to harsh environments.

The closed-loop probe is the outcome of several years of research by the team at Deakin University supported by the Energy Pipelines CRC, Future Fuels CRC, the Australian Economic Accelerator project, Omniflex and specialist pipeline operators. Omniflex worked with the team to develop the technology’s electronics, integrate sensors and facilitate remote monitoring and control capabilities.

The technology facilitates improved localised corrosion control in complex and varying environmental conditions. The potential applications include protecting offshore structures, such as oil and gas platforms and wind turbines, and underground infrastructure, such as steel pipelines and storage tanks.

“Currently, corrosion under disbonded coatings is a major issue impacting the safe operational life of underground gas pipelines and future hydrogen pipelines,” explained Professor Mike Tan, professor of applied electrochemistry and corrosion techniques at Deakin University.

“In one of our prototype tests on an underground gas pipeline, we reduced localised corrosion by roughly 90%. This level of corrosion reduction can more than double operational lifetimes, making installations more sustainable and cost effective. This capability of closed-loop control of cathodic protection not only mitigates corrosion, but also avoids over protection that can cause issues like hydrogen embrittlement and cathodic disbondment of coatings,” continued Tan.

“Traditional CP systems don’t change output voltages and currents under constantly varying conditions by directly measuring corrosion current, meaning there is a risk of over- or under-protection,” explained David Celine, managing director of Omniflex. “Some may assume that you can’t have too much protection, but this is not the case with CP systems. Apart from wasting energy, over-protection can produce hydrogen and cause embrittlement, ultimately causing structural failure.

“The closed-loop CP probe, with in-built remote monitoring and control capabilities, allows us to account for ongoing variances caused by factors like stray current and leakage and consistently maintain optimal protection levels.”

The project is now entering the commercialisation phase.

The new tool provides operators with enhanced accuracy, control, and wellbore stability, while delivering a lower total cost of ownership. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Enteq Technologies has launched SABER Vertical, an advanced drilling solution for vertical and top-hole drilling particularly suited to the Middle East and Africa market

SABER Vertical builds on the existing advantages of Enteq’s directional drilling rotary steerable, field-proven SABER Tool (Steer-At-Bit Enteq Rotary Tool) to extend to vertical drilling, offering a low-service requirement and modular design that minimises both equipment needs and overall costs.

In the Middle East and Africa, vertical wells are often drilled in remote, challenging environments, where traditional methods can be costly and logistically complex. SABER Vertical is engineered to meet these demands, providing operators with enhanced accuracy, control, and wellbore stability, while delivering a lower total cost of ownership compared to existing systems.

The modular design enables adaptability to multiple hole sizes, reducing equipment requirements and enhancing operational flexibility. Its optimised wellbore stability improves drilling accuracy and control, ensuring greater precision throughout the process. The solution is also low-risk and can be deployed globally in a variety of environments, making it a practical and scalable option for operators worldwide.

Andrew Law, CEO at Enteq, said, "SABER Vertical is the result of listening to our customers and understanding the unique challenges of the market. It is inevitable that incumbent solutions for these applications are expensive due to the required large tool size, limiting commercially suitable options available to the market. With its compact design and cost-effective nature, SABER Vertical delivers a much-needed alternative, helping operators improve efficiency without compromising on performance."

The collaboration will harness the capabilities of edge computing and AI to enable autonomous production, real-time data analytics and seamless communication across production environments. (Image source: SLB)

AIQ, the Abu Dhabi-based AI pioneer, is continuing with its drive to push forward AI adoption in the energy sector through a partnership with SLB to accelerate autonomous energy operations through the Agora edge AI and IOT solutions

Agora edge offers real-time remote connectivity and the ability to host AI applications for autonomous operations.

The collaboration will harness the capabilities of edge computing and AI to enable autonomous production, real-time data analytics and ensure seamless communication across production environments. It will enable customers to unlock value, reduce costs, boost automation, improve efficiency, minimize emissions, and enhance worker safety.

AIQ and SLB will also develop a framework to accelerate the deployment of edge AI workflows, including AIQ's RoboWell autonomous well control solutions, and SLB's suite of edge AI applications to accelerate the integration of AI in upstream and downstream operations.

Magzhan Kenesbai, acting managing director of AIQ said, “The closer collaboration between AIQ and SLB reflects our shared vision on the transformational impact autonomous capabilities can deliver to upstream operations. AIQ is committed to partnering with leading global technology providers to accelerate deployment and time-to-value of our AI solutions.”

Rakesh Jaggi, president for Digital & Integration, SLB, said, “Edge AI is a solution to the industry challenge to balance production throughput, operational costs, and emissions reduction, all while ensuring the safety of our personnel. Over the past five years, we’ve seen the impact of turning insights into autonomous actions with edge AI, through numerous SLB deployments of the technology globally, including in the Gulf region. Our partnership with AIQ, a regional leader, will set new benchmarks in the industry by helping scale our operations.”

The collaboration follows the announcement in December that AIQ has partnered with SLB to integrate its Advanced Reservoir 360 (AR360) solution with SLB’s Petrel software, which will deliver an improvement of asset reservoir understanding through data integration. The AR360 solution was in fact launched as a collaboration between ADNOC, AIQ and SLB. It is a reservoir visualisation and performance application that incorporates all subsurface data into a single integrated system, using AI and automation to optimise the field development plan (FDP).