Oil & Gas
THE UK Oil and Gas Innovation Centre recently announced £640,000 in funding for the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Applied Dynamics Research, CADR. GlobalData’s offshore technology writer Scarlett Evans talks to Dr Vahid Vaziri, a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen and CADR member, about the innovative partnership.
Evans says: “The UK Oil and Gas Innovation Centre, OGIC, has partnered with the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Applied Dynamics Research, CADR, which works to improve offshore drilling their implications, to attempt to modernise the oil and gas industry and perhaps work out what the offshore drilling of the future may look like. With a large amount of funding and a clear grounding in and vision for the offshore industry, the partnership could yield significant return for the industry.
Vahid Vaziri tells GlobalData: “We are working on a wide range of projects, from novel drilling techniques to AI. One of the companies we are working with through OGIC is looking at analysing data taken from downhole calipers to understand the condition of the well being examined. The main thing we want to achieve across all of our projects is to help modernise the oil and gas industry. Although it is a relatively modern industry already, there are some parts that are still conservative.
“Resonance Enhanced Drilling, RED, is the core of our novel and patented technology invented by CADR funding director, Professor Marian Wiercigroch, with the general idea being to change the basic mechanics behind drilling.
“The traditional means of drilling uses pressure and rotation to cause a shearing, or gouging action that uses a low frequency and high amplitude that is actually quite dangerous and invasive. While it does work in some applications, it’s not widely popular as it compromises borehole stability. By contrast, RED uses a high frequency and low amplitude vibration to create a microcrack around the drill bit, making it far easier to shear, as well as less energy-intensive.
“Ideally, in the future, we want a tool that can read the data from what’s going on around it – the response of the vibration, and change its own frequency as it goes down. By using this technology that recognises the stiffness of the formation, you can get a much higher improvement factor and make operations much more efficient. All the engineering aspects of this already exists, the knowledge exists. Until now, it’s just been a question of licensing and finance, as well as the motivation to use it.”
– Dec. 12, 2019 @ 12:59 GMT |
Tags: New oil and gas partnership makes an encouraging start
