Coppe launches modern Well Technology Center

Coppe/UFRJ will launch an important project aimed at the modernization and expansion of its research and development capacity for the oil and gas industry in very deep waters. The Well Technology Center (NTP), linked to the Subsea Technology Laboratory (LTS), represents an important advance in the national capacity to develop and test downhole drilling equipment under extreme conditions of pressure, temperature, traction and compression, expanding Coppe’s capacity to develop and test downhole equipment, which is fundamental to the challenges of the pre-salt layer.

The new structure comprises two large testing systems: a thermo-hyperbaric chamber and a thermomechanical apparatus. The equipment allows the application of internal pressures at up to 8 points of the sample of up to 30 Ksi and pressures with nitrogen gas of up to 20 Ksi, an unprecedented capacity in the country that places the Center among the most modern structures in the world. But what does this capacity mean? It means that NTP researchers will be able to study a pressure twice as high as that recorded in the Mariana Trench, in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest known point on the planet (11,000 km), or 2,000 times higher than atmospheric pressure.

At NTP, researchers from the Ocean Engineering Program will be able to develop characterization and qualification tests for materials and equipment, high-pressure tests, tests with combined loads, and complete simulations of the pre-salt environment. These tests allow for the evaluation of safety, reliability, resistance, and service life of components used in critical oil and gas industry operations.

The tests may include temperatures ranging from 4 °C to 250 °C and tensile axial loads of 500 tons (a force “pulling” the object of study, with 500 tons of force employed in the tensile movement) and compressive loads of 700 tons (withstanding compression greater than the weight of more than a hundred elephants), ensuring greater reliability for the equipment used by the industry. In addition, the works on the LTS structure allow for the expansion of the number of test benches, improvements in the load handling system of up to 10 tons, renovation of the main yard and use of existing structures, which will be fully utilized in research and development activities.

The project is coordinated by Professor Ilson Pasqualino, from the Ocean Engineering Program (PEnO), and is funded by Shell Brazil with resources from the R&D clause of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). “The NTP (Well Technology Center) is a new testing area at LTS, aimed at developing technologies for the intelligent completion of oil wells. The NTP has great potential for the development of academic research, the development of technologies aimed at the exploration of deep pre-salt wells and constitutes an important link between academia and the oil and gas industry,” assesses the professor.

With this initiative, Coppe reaffirms its position as a center of excellence in subsea technology, unique in Latin America, strengthening its contribution to scientific advancement, the training of highly qualified professionals and the generation of innovative solutions for the oil and gas sector and the development of strategic technologies in the national territory.

Schedule

The event will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the project presentation in the PEnO auditorium, located in room C-208, Block C of the UFRJ Technology Center. Starting at 11:00 a.m., guided tours will be conducted in small groups to the Well Technology Center, located at the back of Block-I.

The opening panel of the event will include, in addition to Professor Ilson Pasqualino, Coppe’s director, Professor Suzana Kahn; Manoela Lopes, Director of Technology and Innovation at Shell Brazil; Leonardo Marazzo, Research, Development and Innovation Manager at Petrobras; Telmo Ghiorzi, Executive Director of the Brazilian Association of Petroleum Goods and Services Companies (ABESPetro); and Carlos Victal, Sustainability Manager at the Brazilian Institute of Petroleum and Gas (IBP).