Technology and Innovation Podcast – one year on.

It has been one whole year since we released the first OGV Energy podcast series “Technology & Innovation” on the OGV Energy website with Re-Gen Robotics, Safe Influx, VROC, and Arc Marine.

To listen to the podcasts click the link https://www.ogv.energy/news-item/ogv-podcast-technology-and-innovation-series-with-bob-keiller however a lot can change in the space of a year, we thought we would take a look at how the participating companies have changed one year on from the release of the podcast series and also recap what was discussed.

Re-Gen Robotics

Re-Gen Robotics were created 14 months prior to the release of the first podcast, making them a fairly new addition to the industry. However, they came with some very innovative ideas, like introducing robotic cleaning into the Oil & Gas sector for the first time. Overground and underground industrial tanks ranging from 5 to 105 metres are being cleaned efficiently and risk free by fully automated machines.

The number one benefit of this technology is safety related, with the robots completely removing the need for any humans to be inside the tanks and exposed to confined spaces and dangerous chemicals, but there is also a significant cost benefit too over time from a labour perspective.

What Re-Gen Robotics do differently to the other companies worldwide who have similar technologies is that there is never a need to have a human in the tank, whereas other companies have a 15%-30% range where there is a requirement for a person to be in the tank, which means it still holds a significant risk.

Even if the robots malfunction, they have a system in place for the equipment to be retrieved from outside the confined space – ensuring that their fully automated process is systemic.

At the time of the podcast, Re-Gen Robotics had one system fully operational and a second system that was being halted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and they were in discussions with several other clients across Europe.

One year on, it was great to hear their Managing Director – Fintan Duffy spell out the optimistic sentiment that his company could expect:

“Despite the challenges posed by Covid-19, we are continuing to win major contracts, recruit staff and we’re confident that 2021 will be stellar year, in terms of our order book, turnover and new market penetration. In the last year we’ve invested over £2 million in an additional Zone 0, explosion proof, tank cleaning robot, an ADR certified jet/vac tanker and new auxiliary equipment, to keep up with demand for our services.”

“This Summer we will be adding a cutting-edge, tank localisation mapping system to our service and delivery of our third large robot and truck is due in the third quarter of this year. We are cleaning floating, fixed and heavy oil fuel tanks whilst servicing long-term cleaning contracts with the UK’s oil majors and gas facilities.”

“We’ve ploughed a further £500,000 into a state-of-the-art Headquarters to house our expanding team, with R&D facilities and service bays for our robotic equipment and trucks.”

“Staffing levels are set to double this year with plans to create a further five jobs in Admin, Design and an additional three crew members, who will be based permanently in England.”

“Plans are also in place to further develop our equipment offering, as we advance into European and worldwide markets, so all said it’s been a successful year with massive growth projected again for 2021-22.”

Safe Influx

The second company that featured in the podcast was Safe Influx, who manufacture products and technologies that seek to reduce the risk of well-control events.

Safe Influx Automated Well Control makes the well-control process safer by enabling continuous monitoring of the well and managing influx flow automatically whilst drilling. Once it detects a kick the system performs a series of operations by taking control of the drilling equipment and shutting-in the well.

All of this is done with machine code instructions enabling simultaneous commands to be issued and executed. The well and equipment control algorithms enable swift detection and shut-in of an influx, substantially reducing the volume of the influx.

The system comprises a small unit and human-machine interface touch screen for the driller to configurate and operate. It is a tool to help the driller be more effective and accountable as he sets it up and, at any moment, can intervene to stop the automated sequence progressing. The rig personnel remain in charge.

Safe Influx believe it is a step forward for the industry and at the time of the podcast, a year ago, they were prepared to bring the first one onto the field following testing in both simulators and real rigs. Now, a year on they have seen great success.

In January 2021, Safe Influx received a patent by the United Kingdom Patent Office covering its Automated Well Control Technology. In order to get a patent, it must be a new and innovative invention. The patent will stop other companies from using the technology unless there is an agreement from Safe Influx and it also recognises the ability for the technology to detect the presence of fluid influx condition in a wellbore and makes a decision against criteria to shut-in, and then automatically initiate an initial well control protocol that results in the well-being safely shut-in.

Safe Influx took another big step in April 2021 when they brought their first ever integration of the system to the field in collaboration with Weatherford following months of preparation and appropriate testing.

VROC

VROC are an artificial intelligence (AI) company who specialise in processing industrial data, especially from Oil & Gas and energy assets. AI is used to learn about how the industrial facilities work and provide operators with learned insights to help them optimise production and reduce downtime.

Complicated assets have lots of moving parts and so it is very difficult for operators to interpret the large volumes of data produced. VROC’s AI technology helps them focus on the most important parts and understand what components have the highest potential to cause problems, so they can be addressed.

As an example, an operator in the North Sea who had 200,000 sensors on their asset and 3 engineers managing it and trying to predict what may go wrong next allowed VROC to take a look. VROC managed to identify a potential failure with a mechanical seal on an electric pump, which then allowed them to switch off the pump and exchange it for a working one. If they had not swapped the pump over, it would have burst which would have cost money to repair and also would have created significant downtime.

VROC discussed on the podcast how they felt they were an experienced company that has all the technology they need, but the challenge they had was to try to get their name out there to more people and expand their company.

The Chief Operating Officer, Jennifer Reyes, commented on what the past year has brought for VROC and how they have continued moving forward with their innovative technology:

“At VROC we deeply believe in our overarching mission of finding simple solutions to solve complex problems. 2021 has afforded us the opportunity to sharpen our focus and build on the last 12 months where we have forged partnerships with some of the world's leading companies in renewables, oil and gas, and mining and resources.”

“By leveraging the VROC platform, these forward-thinking companies have saved over US$25 million through cost avoidance with approximately 83% reduction in production losses. The continued travel restrictions and quarantine costs have led many of our clients to reduce the number of personnel on-site and our platform has afforded them the ability to remotely monitor their critical assets and quickly identify impending failures and their root causes.”

The VROC platform has helped their clients prioritize their maintenance and optimize their production with limited personnel. This has caught the attention of the Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum Resources and has granted VROC, in partnership with Habrams, an approval to conduct a pilot that will be part of their Technology Adaptation Program among other initiatives.

Arc Marine

Eco-engineering company Arc Marine discussed their ideas to have a positive environmental impact within the sector on the podcast. The main focus they discussed was to improve how offshore energy companies protect subsea assets to benefit themselves and the environment.

They invented and developed reef cubes which are building blocks for the ocean and they are sold as precast concrete units which are used to protect cables and pipelines. As well as this they offer consultancy in the form of marine scientists who then monitor the ecosystem that has developed to create a biodiversity report to ensure sustainability.

In the South West coast of England, they had 150 reef cubes in an agricultural area and 200 in a freshwater site which targeted white-clawed crayfish. Studies were still ongoing at the time, but the first interim results were very positive as they created a habitat and breeding area.

At the time of the podcast when asked what their ambitions and goals were, they discussed an increased focus on the Oil & Gas industry as a key area. The products’ biggest selling points were that companies that use the technology can measure the positive environmental impact it has had and also once they are built, there is no need to change or remove them, as they can last for up to 500 years, which provides a huge cost saving.

When asked to comment on their past year following the podcast, Arc Marine said: “In 2020 we saw a tenfold increase in revenue in 2019, not bad given the impact of COVID-19 delaying some of our planned pilot projects. New sales applications keep emerging including sacrificial anchors and eco-friendly moorings. We are exploring new major opportunities around coastal defence linked to the Environment Agency’s commitment to net zero.”

“We are seeing significant interest in our low carbon plastic free technology from a number of oil and gas majors, offshore wind developers and international contractors. We have successfully completed upscaling manufacturing trials that will help us reduce our unit operating costs and completed our first external supply chain audit, proving we can soon apply for 1SO-9001 accreditation. We have a carbon negative solution under development.”

Arc Marine were finalists in the 2020 Offshore Achievement Awards and were awarded a “Highly Commended” award for HSE Innovation and they were recently nominated as a finalist again in the 2021 OAA’s in both “Net Zero” and “Emerging Technology” categories.

The company are also executing their biggest Reef Cube deployment so far in Torbay around an innovative aquaculture site in May 2021 – which the BBC is planning to film. Overall, a very successful year for Arc Marine.

After looking back at the first OGV Energy podcast and examining how some of the organisations have progressed over what has been an extremely challenging year, one thing that was clear is that they have all been able to move forward, push their product and services to more clients and improve their position within the market.

Despite these companies all being in different periods of development and organisational growth and having different market applications, all have overcome the strong headwinds of a global pandemic and been able to progress their innovative ideas to the next level.

As the subject of our first podcast was the “Technology and Innovation” series, it is clear and fitting to see through these examples and others within the Energy sector, that if your company is innovating and harnessing technology in the right way, you can progress in the face of even the most challenging of circumstances!

Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE.