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eBOP

As the industry advances into ultra-deepwater exploration avoiding the consequences of BOP failures have never been more important. Even a minor failure may impact redundancy and necessitate repair which involves introduction of new risk and significant loss of productivity, a technological step change was needed in BOP design.

Transitioning away from conventional hydraulic components to electrical components we have created a superior BOP with significant advantages, which include simpler design with reduced complexity (reduction of components equates to reduction of potential failure points), increased reliability through both reduction in component count and implementation of a maintenance- minded design, elimination of hydraulic fluid resulting in a zero-discharge system, reduced weight and footprint.

Noble Research and Development developed and patented the electrically-powered eBOP™ ram design and manufactured and tested a prototype (Protected by U.S. Pat. No. 10,689,933 and patents in other jurisdictions). The shear test went up to 2 million lbs. made ready for introduction to the energy industry.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE

500k Test – In 2015, the 500,000 lbs closing force eBOP™ ram system was tested. It was proven that a 500K eBOP™ ram system was possible using standard components. With only minor modifications this design can be used on land based drilling rigs.

Design – Using the lessons learned during the testing of the 500K eBOP™ ram system, an improved design was completed in 2016. The closing force was increased to 2MM lbs. The number of components was decreased and the design was made fully subsea capable (12,000ft). Also a major bearing manufacturer was included in the design team.

Manufacturing – Manufacturing was completed in January, 2017. The manufacturing was done both in the US (machined parts, electrical drives, worm gear cone drives) and France (SKF roller screw and ram shaft).

Testing – Early testing focused on functionality and controllability checks. After completion of the first phase progressively larger pipe diameters were sheared up to 2 MM lbs force. Subsequent testing featured the successful shearing of 6-5/8” 5135 40lb/ft drillpipe and 7-1/4” OD tool joint, which required more than 2 million pounds of closing force.

Implementation – The current eBOP™ ram system design can be retrofitted on a variety of standard BOP ram bodies using different interface plates. The design is already subsea capable and will require modest modifications to be able to implemented subsea. However an integrated design of the ram design and the body can reduce overall weight, size and number of components even more. Design drawings reduce the number of bolts by two-thirds and remove five seals.