North Sea Success
At the centre of the North Sea, on a rig surrounded by mile upon mile of ocean, one of Applied Integrations latest projects is set to reach fruition.
The Tees firm worked in partnership with ABB to provide the power management systems for a new bridge link platform (BLP) run by leading oil and gas exploration company Talisman Sinopec UK in a North Sea region known as Montrose, 130 miles east of Aberdeen.
Talisman has ferried and successfully installed the Montrose bridge linked platform (BLP) from the Heerema Fabrication Group’s Zwijndrecht yard for the Montrose field area to help unlock an additional 100 million barrels of oil equivalent of reserves. This is an important milestone in the redevelopment of the Montrose area, adding significant reserves and extending the life of the existing fields.
The £200,000 system will provide operators on the rig with an interactive overview of the platform’s electrical generation and distribution.
After development work at Applied Integration’s Stokesley headquarters, initial commissioning work on the energy monitoring and control system was carried out in Heerema Fabrication Group’s Zwijndrecht yard, near Rotterdam, before leaving the Netherlands for the centre of the North Sea.
Final commission will take place from September, where an Applied Integration engineer will complete the work over several months, synchronising the system between the new and existing rigs. First production from the field is expected during the first quarter of 2017.
Applied Integration director Graham King said: “Although we’ve previously worked on platform management systems for oil rigs, this is the first we’ve worked on a new rig. It’s a good example of the large-scale power management systems we’ve been able to deliver into a range of industrial sectors along with data centres, banks and hospitals. Our experience is key when tackling projects of this nature. We often have knowledge of the potential pitfalls that a client may not be aware of, so we’re able to advise them from our learned know-how.”