BSEE to establish Ocean Energy Safety Institute for collaborative research, shared learning

Posted on 05 June 2013

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) will establish an independent Ocean Energy Safety Institute to further enhance safe and responsible operations across the offshore oil and gas industry. The institute will provide a forum for dialogue, shared learning and cooperative research among academia, government, industry and other non-government organizations in offshore-related technologies and activities that ensure safe operations with limited impact to the environment.

“The Institute will help federal regulators keep pace with new processes employed by the industry as they move into deeper water and deeper geologic plays that require technological innovation to bring projects into production,” Rear Admiral James Watson, director of BSEE, said. “I look forward to expanding the dialogue and engagement with additional stakeholders to identify and reduce risks to worker safety and the environment.” Interested applicants should register with the grants.gov website to submit an application.

The institute stems from a recommendation from the Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee (OESC), a federal advisory group comprised of representatives from industry, federal government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the academic community. The recommendation calls for establishing a body that will provide a program of research, technical assistance and education and serve as a center of expertise in oil and gas exploration, development and production technology. The institute will be an important source of unbiased, independent information and will not have any regulatory authority over the offshore industry.

“As offshore energy development becomes more complex, every effort should be made to make sure it is done ever more safely,” said Dr Thomas O. Hunter, chair of the OESC and former Sandia National Laboratory director. “The Institute provides a unique opportunity for all engaged parties to work together to identify and deploy technology that will make a real and enduring difference. The time is right and the opportunity is clear.”

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Cuadrilla Says Research Shows Public Coming Around to Blackpool Fracking

Cuadrilla Resources, the company pioneering shale gas extraction in Britain, says the results of research it commissioned show that public opinion is shifting towards its work.

A survey by research company BritainThinks reveals that local residents in Fylde, Blackpool and West Lancashire are feeling more knowledgeable about shale gas, and more supportive of continued exploration in their local area to understand the potential for shale gas in the UK.

After a moratorium, the British government announced recently that shale gas extraction involving hydraulic fracturing could go ahead, under strict regulations. Fracking at a site operated by Cuadrilla was stopped last year after minor earthquakes occurred in the area.

Cuadrilla Resources commissioned BritainThinks to conduct 500 telephone interviews with people living in three areas. It said the purpose of the survey was to understand attitudes about shale gas in the context of recent announcements.

Francis Egan, the company’s chief executive, commented: “Clearly the more people hear about and talk about shale gas in Lancashire the more informed they are about the potential advantages it can bring, as well as the environmental considerations that need to be managed.

“A well-informed community can have the constructive public discourse this industry needs to be successful in the UK.”

Cited from http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/

May 2013

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New Baker Hughes Research and Technology Center in Brazil Demonstrates Next Phase in Network of Global Technology Solutions

HOUSTON, TEXAS – Oct. 7, 2011 – Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) announced today the opening of a new research and technology center in Rio de Janeiro designed to enable the development of technologies and solutions to unlock the full potential of deep water and pre-salt reservoirs.

“Baker Hughes’ new research facility on the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro will open up a new level of collaboration with our customers and Latin American universities. Together we will build a new generation of highly specialized wellbore construction tools and services to economically produce the pre-salt reservoirs in offshore Brazil,” said Andy O’Donnell, president of the Western Hemisphere for Baker Hughes. “The new Baker Hughes Rio Research and Technology Center in Brazil represents the next phase in the expansion of our global technology network and strengthens our capability to provide local solutions.”

The Brazil center is one of 10 major research and technology facilities globally situated in the U.S., U.K., Russia, Germany and Saudi Arabia. The centers focus on providing solutions to oil and gas challenges specifically related to applications engineering and geosciences. In addition, the facilities enable Baker Hughes to provide support for field testing of new products and regional customization of existing commercial products.

By the end of 2012, the Rio Research and Technology center is expected to create 45 new jobs and the company will continue to add to its workforce by recruiting regional scientists and engineers and other professionals to the center as new projects are initiated.

Baker Hughes is already partnering with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Petrobras to consult on the design, construction and operation of a full-scale laboratory drilling simulator located near the university. Baker Hughes will reproduce field-drilling conditions in a controlled environment so that the drilling process can be monitored, characterized and improved.

Amended on Nov. 8, 2011 to reflect Baker Hughes’ Rio Research and Technology Center in Brazil is located on the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

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Baker Hughes provides reservoir consulting, drilling, formation evaluation, completions, pressure pumping and production products and services to the worldwide oil and gas industry.

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Hot spot for geothermal research - Connexus

 

The Christensen Diamond Products manufacturing plant opened in Celle, Germany, in 1957. The facility built diamond core heads and drill bits and later expanded to make downhole tools. In 1977, the Celle engineering and manufacturing team introduced the Navi-Drill™ line of downhole drilling motors.

After a series of mergers and acquisitions that began in the late 1970s, the facility became part of Baker Hughes in 1990 with the acquisition of Eastman Christensen. Other innovations developed in Celle include the industry’s first steerable motor system and the AutoTrak™ rotary steerable closed-loop system.

The Celle Technology Center (CTC), as it’s called today, was expanded in 2009 to support joint technology developments, including geothermal, with operators and local universities. Since its grand reopening, the CTC is also home to the Baker Hughes Center of Excellence for geothermal and high-temperature research and development.

In 2009, Baker Hughes and the Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) state government jointly launched a multimillion euro, five-year cooperative university research project aimed at improving the technology for generating geothermal energy from very deep (4000 m to 6000 m) [13,123 ft to 19,685 ft] geological formations. With guidance from Baker Hughes scientists in Celle, Lower Saxony’s technical universities will combine their acknowledged strengths in geosciences, material sciences, drilling technology and technical systems in order to generate leading-edge research results for Baker Hughes to integrate into the development of sustainable and marketable products and services.

The Lower Saxony state government is also providing financial support for Baker Hughes’ research and development of high-temperature electronics for use in drilling and evaluation, as well as completion and production applications. In addition, Germany’s federal government has awarded Baker Hughes a cofunded project to develop cost-efficient drilling technologies for geothermal wells.

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