1-BB5 pump skid with 3point gimbal mounting for FPSO unit. (Image source: Trillium Flow Technologies)

Oil Review Middle East hears from Trillium Flow Technologies experts about the company’s innovative solutions for the offshore environment.

Oil Review Middle East: Thank you for joining us today. Ensuring energy security is crucial during the global energy transition. With oil and gas accounting for 55% of global energy, the industry is increasingly using floating production systems to tap into new and existing offshore reserves. How is Trillium Flow Technologies contributing to meeting these demands?

Sam Eccles, pump product director: Trillium Flow Technologies has extensive experience and a diverse portfolio of engineered pumps and valves tailored for FPSO and FLNG unit operators. We offer innovative, reliable, efficient, and safe solutions.

Oil Review Middle East: What makes your pump solutions unique for offshore applications?

Sam Eccles: Trillium offers flexible, tailored pump solutions through our Gabbioneta Pumps and Termomeccanica Pompe brands, available in numerous configurations and materials like Super Duplex that meet NACE MR0175 / ISO 15156 and NORSOK M-650 standards. Our solutions feature skids with Anti-Vibration Mountings (AVMs) and Three-Point Gimbal Mountings to handle ship and deck movements. We use Finite Elements Analysis for design and conduct extensive in-house testing to guarantee reliability. Additionally, our oil and gas pump solutions include a complete vibration monitoring system with a dedicated human-machine interface per API 670 standards to prevent malfunctions and failures.

Oil Review Middle East: Sebastien, can you tell us about Trillium's engineered valve solutions for the offshore environment?

Sebastien Vermeulen, valve product manager: Sure. Through our Sarasin-RSBD brand, we recently designed a robust and efficient block-forged pilot-operated pressure relief valve (POPRV) without tubing to withstand the high pressure (up to 643 barg) on the gas compression units of a customer’s new FPSO platform design. This solution uses technology proven in the nuclear market, ensuring the highest pressure and capacity while maintaining reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness. This resulted in a 60% reduction in the total cost of ownership of the valves in question.

Oil Review Middle East: David, what control valve solutions do you offer for the oil and gas market?

David Shaw, control & isolation valves applications manager: Trillium offers for instance tailored choke valve solutions through our Blakeborough brand, leveraging decades of experience and field feedback. Each application, such as production, water injection, gas lift, gas injection, and gas blowdown, is uniquely addressed to ensure optimal performance and minimal maintenance. Our choke valves can meet ASME B16.34 and API6A standards, guaranteed by rigorous in-house testing. Our innovative X-Stream trim solution, used in high-pressure drop services like water injection where sand or contamination is present, is more resistant to blockage than other multistage trims and is available in erosion-resistant solid Tungsten Carbide for extended service life.

Oil Review Middle East: Can you also tell us about the solutions provided by the Red Point brand?

Jizke Van Dura (business development manager): Absolutely. Trillium provides a range of non-commodity and fast-track delivery solutions for offshore applications through our Red Point brand. This includes ball, gate, globe, check, and double block and bleed valves with compact designs for space-saving or the API 6A monogram for wellhead and other applications. For a customer who was looking for a 3-way ball valve to divert an incoming flow of 120m³ evenly between two outlets for one of their FPSO project, Red Point showcased its expertise by proposing a 3-way globe valve instead for a more accurate flow diversion, also designing an adjustable lock on the stem to accommodate for possible changes in flow conditions. The valve was developed via CFD software and underwent physical flow tests to demonstrate its functionality and efficiency.

Oil Review Middle East: That's fascinating. Thank you, Sam, Sebastien, David, and Jizke for sharing how Trillium Flow Technologies is advancing offshore solutions.

The new coating effectively eliminates CUI. (Image source: Sherwin-Williams)

Sherwin-Williams has launched the Heat-Flex Advanced Energy Barrier (AEB) which tackles corrosion under insulation (CUI)

CUI occurs due to moisture present on the external surface of insulated equipment and is prevalent in the onshore and offshore oil and gas industries, constituting a threat to assets, personnel and the environment.

The new coating replaces the bulky mineral-based insulation traditionally used on storage tanks, process vessels and piping to retain process heat. It works by building a thick film of insulative coating material onto assets that are required to maintain operating temperatures up to 350°F (177°C), with excursions to 400°F (204°C). This coating retains process heat inside coated assets, allowing them to continue operating even in extreme environments. It effectively rivals the in-service insulative capabilities of traditional insulation systems due to their tendency to absorb and trap moisture that infiltrates their exterior cladding. This moisture not only dramatically reduces the insulating capacity of the insulation, but also contributes to the acceleration of CUI.

“When developing Heat-Flex AEB, we needed to ensure the coating itself could retain process heat at temperatures high enough to remove traditional insulation and not affect the consistency and flow of materials housed inside assets,” says Erik Dammen-Brower, R&D chemist II for Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine. “Careful manipulation of the coating molecule and product formulation enabled this surprising capability, which has notable ramifications for reducing costs and improving carbon footprints, while enabling efficiencies in various facility applications.”

The thermal insulative coating also offers sustainability benefits. Using just the insulative coating eliminates the manufacturing, shipping and storage of all the materials required for a traditional system. In addition, because Heat-Flex AEB eliminates CUI, steel assets will last far longer before any steel needs to be replaced, if at all, minimising the environmental costs of steel production to maintain an asset. Finally, the consistent thermal efficiency Heat-Flex AEB offers allows asset owners to maintain required operating temperatures without needing to increase process heat inside the coated asset.

In a typical CUI-elimination coating system, a primer is applied directly to prepared steel to protect it from corrosion, with the Heat-Flex AEB insulative coating on top of that and an optional topcoat layer.

Applying Heat-Flex AEB is also much easier, faster and safer to apply than installing bulky insulation systems over assets, the company says.

Electric well control technologies address the limitations of traditional hydraulic systems. (Image source: SLB)

SLB has launched EWC electric well control technologies, which replace hydraulics with a simplified electric power system

The new product was launched at the SPE/IADC International Drilling Conference and Exhibition, taking place in Stavanger, Norway.

Well control technologies play a vital role in preventing the uncontrolled release of fluids from the well, and have traditionally been powered by hydraulic systems, which encompass a complex network of hoses, valves and actuators. This makes the well control system expensive to install and requires costly routine maintenance over its lifetime. EWC electric well control technologies are revolutionizing drilling operations by addressing the limitations of traditional hydraulic systems. EWC technologies significantly reduces costs, make drilling operations safer and providing real-time data insights and a continuous supply of on-demand power to well control components under any operating conditions. Hydraulic accumulators are replaced with with redundant-powered controls and electrically-actuated components, eliminating accumulator pressure constraints. 

SLB’s first EWC technology enables drillers to instantly and precisely control and monitor BOPs onshore and offshore, leveraging industrial internet of things (IIoT) components along the system architecture to provide instant pressure readouts, without the need for conventional pressure gauges. This will help customers make better-informed decisions about the operation and maintenance of the well control system, reducing nonproductive time and minimising opex.

SLB was recently awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for a custom EWC BOP control system for an operator in the North Sea. Work on this project has already begun and final review of the design is expected in the first half of 2025.

“As drillers continue to seek safer, cost-efficient solutions for well control, we continue to focus on innovation to answer this call,” said Cecilia Prieto, president, Well Construction, SLB. “EWC represents the next evolution of well control technologies, which we pioneered with the industry’s first blow out preventer (BOP) a century ago. Not only do these technologies remove the upfront and long-term cost inefficiencies of traditional hydraulic well control systems, but they also bring next-level safety capabilities that are in line with new industry standards and regulatory requirements worldwide for closing times and full system redundancy.”

The new GD 500HDD pump. (Image source: GDEP)

GD Energy Products (GDEP), a total solutions provider for the frac, drilling and well servicing pumps market, has launched the GD 500HDD pump, the latest addition to its line of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) pumps

HDD is a process usually deployed when installing pipes and cables underneath roads, rivers and other types of infrastructure. Therefore, most jobs come with a challenging set of parameters that demand high rates of accuracy, efficiency, and effectiveness. Horizontal directional drilling pumps provide an essential service to the HDD industry.

The GD 500HDD pump supports a range of HDD applications and can be used to tunnel under rivers and roads, as well as to help lay sewerage systems, water pipes, fibre optic lines and pipelines. With a rod load rating of 53,000 pounds, the GD 500HDD has the highest rod load on the market for triplex HDD pumps. This lightweight pump maximises flow rate in a compact design and its engineered power end frame with coated crankshaft bearings allows customers to achieve higher pressures capable of 1000 PSI+ at 600 GPM. The 500HDD also integrates next-generation fluid end technology, which features carbon steel construction and enhanced geometry to minimise stress on the pump.

Assembled with components made in the USA, the pump also features the company’s industry-leading Redline consumables, including valves and seats, pistons and liners for extended maintenance intervals. The internal components and seal housing feature an upgraded design to prevent contamination.

Jose Rubin, vice president of sales, said, “The HDD industry has been waiting for a triplex pump with this high of a rod load in a small-scale footprint, and GDEP is pleased to introduce this durable design. With any of GDEP’s pumps, customers can expect high-quality craftsmanship backed with our exceptional service and support. It provides the HDD market a powerful industrial pump with a high rod load built for the most rugged applications.”

GD Energy Products has been designing pumps for the global oil and gas industry since 1859, with state-of-the-art repair shops and service facilities in every major North American shale play as well as strategic international locations.