A Scottish firm has come up with a new filtration system that it claims will allow well operations to be carried out faster and more efficiently.
Peterhead based Raptor Services Scotland Limited say the new Raptor Swarf Recovery System will lower costs associated with plugging wells.
Swarf is the fine chips of material found as the result of machining.
In oil and gas the shavings are often encountered when drilling a well, sidetrack or during plug and abandonment operations.
Raptor’s “improved” system for filtering these ‘chips’ is the result of a two-year and six figure research and development programme.
Raptor’s managing director, Wayne Gatt commented; “Oil and Gas UK recently announced that over 950 wells are forecast to be plugged and abandoned as part of the North Sea’s decommissioning plan until 2024.
“With costs associated for Plug and Abandonments currently projected to account for 46% of the total decommissioning spend, it is clear industry needs to embrace innovations which will help to decrease this figure.
“We believe the Raptor System will play an invaluable part in decreasing costs through being more efficient than other systems currently available and have estimated that it can save operators up to 50% on their current SWARF removal spend.”
He added: “It is essential that swarf handling is carried out safely and reliably providing efficient separation of the metallic SWARF particles from the drilling fluids as these can cause damage to the rig process system causing downtime.
“It is also vital that any system is safe for operating personnel as very often they can be exposed to oil based mud fumes during this process. This is completely unacceptable from a Health & Safety perspective.”
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