Innovation Norway is running a program to get Norwegian technology companies into the US and Mexico Energy market. Kelda Drilling Controls will join this program for 2019 and 2020 and are excited to deliver more state-of-the-art technology into the region.
Kelda will have a poster presentation at the IADC/SPE Managed Pressure Drilling & Underbalanced Operations Conference in Amsterdam 9-10 April 2019. The conference will take place in the Mövenpick hotel in downtown Amsterdam, and Kelda will have a poster session on automated pressure control for underbalanced drilling – be sure to pay us a visit at P7 as shown on the floorplan below:
Our presentation is titled: “Automated Pressure Control for UBD Operations; Benchmark Testing and Field Validation“, which will showcase the results from several field case studies from the application of automated pressure control to a series of underbalanced drilling (UBD) operations in Russia. An overview of the encountered challenges in MPD/UBD operations is outlined and related to functional requirements for pressure control in MPD operations.
To see the full program and read more about the conference, please visit the IADC website: IADC/SPE Managed Pressure Drilling & Underbalanced Operations Conference & Exhibition (external link)
Kevin Wise, one of our Chief Advisors and Partners, was inducted by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) on September 30 2018. Wise, along with two other engineers from Boeing, were among the 83 new and 16 international members inducted at the academy’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The academy acknowledged Wise for his application of optimal, robust and adaptive control to aircraft and advanced weapon systems.
The 2018 class of NAE
“National Academy of Engineering members are senior professionals in business, academia and government who are among the world’s most accomplished engineers,” said NAE President C.D. Mote Jr. “Their expertise, spanning all areas of engineering, is dedicated to providing advice on national needs to all areas of government. I congratulate and welcome the 2018 class of new members to the academy and look forward to our work together.”
The whole team of Kelda congratulates Kevin on one of the highest professional distinctions in engineering!
Kelda has a long history of employing students as interns, and already has two PhD-candidates from USN and NTNU working as Research Engineers. This fall, Kelda again partnered with the University of Southeast-Norway (USN) and their Industry Master-programme, and employed Martine Alvestad as their first Systems Engineer Student.
All Industry Master-students from USN (Picture from USN.no)
The Industry Master-programme is designed to give students the opportunity to grow in the role of an engineer and become equipped to meet the industry's needs for efficiency and improved working methods. The students work and study 50/50 over the course of three years to receive their M.Sc in Systems Engineering. Martine previously has a B.Sc. in Mechatronical Engineering from the University of Agder and will be located at the Kelda main office in Porsgrunn.
For more information on the Industry Master-programme, visit the USN-webpage: Master of Science in Systems Engineering
Link to USN's article on the Industry Master-students immatriculation: Jobbar 50 prosent medan dei fullfører utdanninga (only in Norwegian).
Kelda's control system Leidar® has successfully been used for a fully automated Underbalanced Drilling (UBD) operation at the Archinskoe oil field in Russia. GNS and partner Air Drilling Associates performed the job for Gazpromneft Vostok. Watch the video below to see Leidar in-action (external link)
A lot has happened since we completed our first onshore well in the Autumn of 2016. The times are busy with the development of new features and improvements of existing ones as we receive more feedback from the industry. We are extremely proud to announce that our MPD control system Leidar® completed its two first offshore operations in Indonesia the last quarter of 2017, drilling in total 5960 ft.
The performance of Leidar® during drilling operations made a strong impression on the experienced MPD crew. The capability of maintaining a constant bottom hole pressure during connections without operator intervention was also a great success. In the following screenshots made by the MPD crew, the consistent system performance of Leidar is shown in several connections.
The team deliver more than ever and we see that both our core products are really getting traction and more experience every day.
Leidar® Control System has now been used in both UBD and MPD operations and we are working hard every day to make it the best there is out there. In addition to deliver the best control system, we now also design and deliver everything you need to upgrade your existing MPD/UBD package to perform beyond today’s standard. Nontraditional sensor packages, smart choke manifold solutions, electric actuators, control cabinets and backup power, all integrated in custom drilling packages is something we now do to make sure the user gets a system that works.
Straume® Hydraulics Simulator is, in addition to be used in everyday in-house testing and internal and external training of our Leidar® Control System, now the hydraulics engine in Oiltec Solutions hiDRILL Simulator. This joint venture project with Oiltec Solutions, partly funded through Skattefunn, is showing to be very promising and we hope to share more details on this in not to long.
The whole team of Kelda would like to congratulate our Chief Advisor, Kevin Wise, with the IEEE. Technical Excellence in Aerospace Control Award of 2016, for the contributions to the flight demonstration of the Phantom Eye high altitude long endurance UAV using robust adaptive control.
