(WO) — Unity has launched an ultra-compact blowout preventer (BOP) valve designed to allow properly intervention in space-constrained offshore environments the place typical BOP methods can’t be deployed.
The brand new Unity Qb valve measures roughly one-third the width of typical BOP methods and is rated to 10,000 psi. The expertise is designed for wireline, slickline and coiled tubing operations, with potential future functions in drilling.
Not like typical BOPs, which use rams that journey in a straight line from reverse sides of the wellbore, the Qb’s rams rotate round a central cartridge inside the housing. Unity describes the design as a hybrid between a standard BOP and a ball valve, permitting it to carry out commonplace BOP capabilities inside a smaller footprint.
The patented system has twice the strain score of Unity’s present compact shear (CSS) valve whereas sustaining the identical weight. It will also be stacked in single, twin or triple configurations, increasing its potential use on higher-pressure wells and in constrained platform environments.
Unity invested roughly £500,000 in analysis and improvement of the expertise. The Aberdeen-based firm mentioned the brand new system expands its pressure-control providing past the coiled tubing functions that account for a lot of its present CSS valve work.
“The way forward for properly intervention can be outlined by applied sciences that ship extra functionality from a smaller footprint,” mentioned Gary Good, CEO of Unity. “We acknowledged that the dimensions and complexity of typical BOP methods had been more and more constraining operations in space-limited environments.”
Unity mentioned its present CSS valve will stay in its portfolio, with Qb meant to broaden the vary of offshore intervention operations the corporate can assist.