Oilfield contractor Cape Environmental Services secured a major award for operational innovation at the GSA Golden Service awards in London, being recognised for its work for BP on the ETAP platform in the UKCS North Sea.
The Aberdeen-based company, a division of Cape plc, provides onshore and offshore cleaning and decontamination consultancy, contracting services and technology, won the Service Delivery Innovation of the Year accolade for its Syphonvac VI sand removal system.
Syphonvac VI allows operators to continue hydrocarbon recovery activities during sand removal from production vessels, avoiding the requirement for costly shutdowns previously associated with tank cleaning processes.
Cape, which recently received a RoSPA gold standard award for safety, has an international reputation for pioneering a wide range of safe, environmentally sound industrial cleaning techniques. These are designed to increase exploration and production efficiency while reducing potential environmental risk.
Cape received the prestigious award at the Lancaster London Hotel.
Gordon Mackay , regional director responsible for the UKCS at Cape, said:
“Being recognised by the judging panel at the Golden Service Awards for the work carried out by Cape Environmental Services on ETAP is testament to the high quality, safe services, we provide to our clients in the oil and gas industry.
“Cape Environmental Services developed Syphonvac to facilitate the online removal of sand from production vessels without the requirement for production shutdown or confined-space entry to the vessel by personnel – significantly improving efficiency and safety.
“Syphonvac was created specifically to improve production within the supply chain and it has been received incredibly well throughout the industry, with its deployment on ETAP delivering significant time savings to the operator.”
BP engaged Cape Environmental Services to install and operate the Syphonvac system to the LP Separator on the ETAP platform in the Eastern Trough Area of the UKCS North Sea.
Cape Environmental Services removed almost 3 tonnes of sand throughout the process, with the vessel remaining in full production for the duration of the procedure.
Time saving achieved by this procedure was approximately 17 days in the Turnaround period. Further benefits have also been realised, with oil/water separation improved and a reduction in the volume of sand carrying over through the produced water process.
Cape Environmental Services has deployed Syphonvac for several additional international operators including Shell UK E&P, Hess Ltd and Nexen Inc.
[mappress] Press Release, November 04, 2013