OPUS EXPERTISE GAINING MORE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
News Release
Opus
Issued- 21 December, 2012
For use- immediate
• British firm wins new contracts from oil majors
• Industry leaders to assist projects in Australia, Qatar and North Sea
• Expert knowledge will help environmental targets.
A British firm’s industry-leading expertise has enabled them to secure major new contracts and enhance their growing reputation in the global market.
The recent awards have added to a successful year for Opus, who have their headquarters in Guildford in Surrey and testing/development facilities in the Orkney island of Flotta, and have plans for further growth in 2013.
Opus, whose motto is ‘results delivered’, specialise in treatments for oil separation and produced water which is a by-product of petroleum production.
The firm are to carry out a process review for Apache Energy’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Ningaloo Vision, off Western Australia.
The 12-week Opus study will include a general overview of various process vessels including an evaluation of the efficiency of its first stage separator and IP separator – pressure vessels used for separating fluids produced from oil and gas wells into gaseous and liquid components - and provide recommendations for possible improvements.
Theoretical assessments using innovative Opus analytical techniques will be performed by staff in Guildford, while colleagues in Flotta will perform the scaled physical modelling of the vessels to assess the existing internals and further support the recommendations.
Peter Randall, Opus projects manager, said: “Our specialist knowledge and understanding, gained over years of experience, provides a comprehensive approach to problem solving.”
Any internals modifications would be carried out during a shutdown planned for next year.
Norwegian oil giant Statoil have also chosen Opus to test produced water treatment technology in their Mariner and Bressay fields.
Mariner and Bressay fluids have heavy oil and, in each well, light oil is also to be injected at the electrical submersible pumps (ESP) which are used for artificial lift during production of the fields.
Hydrocyclone technology has been selected as the primary produced water treatment stage and Opus are required to provide independent assessment of a range of vendors’ technologies.
The work, worth £65,000, will be done at the Flotta facility which will simulate conditions in the Mariner/Bressay fields and also those in the Norwegian Asgard field and test the suitability of three different hydrocyclone technology procedures.
Statoil announced in June it is to invest a total of £18 billion over the lifetime of the fields in the UK North Sea. Mariner is estimated to hold recoverable resources of 300-500 million barrels of oil equivalent and Bressay 200-300 barrels.
Opus are already helping Maersk Oil Qatar (MOQ) meet stringent environmental targets in the Middle East where it operates the Al Shaheen offshore oil and gas field, 110 miles north east of Qatar’s capital Doha.
Applying Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practice (BEP) study methodology, for which Opus are internationally renowned, allows oil and gas operators to maximise production while minimising harmful discharges to the marine environment.
Glen McLellan, Opus’ Director of Strategic Operations, said: “We are delighted to get this contract which allows us to get a foothold in this area and spread the word of what we can do.
“OSPAR regulations dictate that all assets need to be operating to BAT and BEP principles and we are pretty much the first ones to offer a robust and practical methodology to do that.
“A large proportion of the world generally follows the OSPAR region guidelines, so it is important to be at the front of the pack on this.”
Opus have devised a ground-breaking and comprehensive three-stage process to ensure companies gain the full benefit of BAT and BEP principles in produced water management.
It allows operators to improve production, achieve optimum environmental performance, reduce downtime and cut operational and capital expenditure.
Notes to editors
The OSPAR Convention, the result of ministerial meetings of the Oslo and Paris commissions in 1992, sets out a legal framework guiding international cooperation on the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.
Opus’s ingenuity and technical expertise have won it the Best Oil and Gas Industry Service Supplier Award from the industry organisation Energy North, whose 170 members operate in this sector across the globe.
For more information contact
John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
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