Join us on Wednesday the 16th of June for Gibson Reports Virtual MPD event where we will unveil our solution that bridges the influx management planning and operations gap – the Real-Time IME.

Our very own Martin Culen will speaking in the event around 11am Houston time.

Click here to sigh up for the Gibson Report – Virtual MPD Event June 16th

Our team has been working hard on an exciting digital twin R&D initiative that has been made possible through financial support by Innovation Norway.

The innovation of the project is simulator technology that enables the same hydraulics engine to be used effectively through all phases of the complete life-cycle of well construction, from the initial planning to real-time drilling advisory and control. The primary objective is to allow the handling of hydraulics model parameters in one place, cascading them through all of the phases.

Traditionally, planning, training, advisory and operational control tools each employ different calculation methodologies and solvers. Furthermore, they have been developed on different platforms, each operating in isolation from the other. This introduces large opportunities for input error, deviation from expected results, and data re-entry end-user frustration.

This project uses new results from research on fast multiphase models combined with the latest improvements of cloud-based technology to develop a hydraulics engine that can be used for effective simulations of all time-scales from steady-state to full transient simulations. This enables the same hydraulics engine to be used for effective simulations on the scale of hours and days of drilling in the planning phase, to realistic simulator-based training on well control incidents with compressible gas transport on a minutes scale, to full transient simulations with high-frequency pressure wave transients for controller testing in the seconds scale.

We have now reached the first milestone of the project, and are ready to release the first module of the simulator, named LeidarPlan. We are excited about what we’ve developed so far, and will have more news very soon.

LeidarPlan, soon to be released.

Aberdeen Drilling School (ADS) and Kelda Dynamics have entered into an agreement whereby Kelda’s dynamic hydraulic engine will be used exclusively in ADS drilling and well control simulators.

“We have been using Kelda’s multiphase hydraulics engine in our advanced training simulators in Oiltec since 2016, and have been very happy with its performance and reliability. Kelda’s shared vision for cloud-based solutions fits very well with our plans to provide cloud-based training to our international clients. ” said, Jason Grant, Managing Director of ADS.

Glenn-Ole Kaasa, CEO of Kelda, adds ” We are very pleased to be working with ADS on their new initiatives. It’s an honor to be chosen as exclusive supplier to a world-renowned training organization. The ADS team is very forward thinking and we’re excited to be working with them. It’s extremely rewarding to experience how the drilling industry now adapts our technology further, to improve drilling efficiency and enhance operational safety.”

The hydraulic simulator engine will be rolled out to ADS and RelyOn training centers around the globe as well as planned cloud-based training courses.

Aberdeen Drilling School Ltd, part of the RelyOn Nutec group and globally recognized for its advanced drilling, well engineering and well control training. From our RelyOn Nutec Copenhagen headquarter and 33 sites around the world, we serve +10,000 companies every year, from the sole employee contractor to some of the biggest companies in the high-risk industries across the world.

Kelda Dynamics has a unique competence in drilling technology, delivering fit-for-purpose solutions for the drilling industry. Our dynamic hydraulic model is a core element of our expertise and of many Kelda’s market leading technology products. It is being continuously developed, based on new research, data from newly drilled wells and feedback from customers.

Contact for further information:
Jason Grant: jgrant@aberdeendrilling.com
Martin Culen: martin@kelda.no

“More than just controls.”

A new year brings new beginnings. We are pleased to announce that Kelda Drilling Controls will now be known as Kelda Dynamics.

“With the growth of Kelda over the past year, we felt that our company name should reflect the evolution of our products and services”, says Glenn-Ole Kaasa, CEO. “Leidar has grown from an industry-leading pressure controller, to include a hydraulics simulator for planning, a real-time hydraulics model for drilling process monitoring, enhanced influx-loss detection using cutting edge stochastic methods, contingency management, and much more to come in 2021. We have also adapted it for conventional drilling, so drillers can experience the benefits of Leidar on non-MPD hole sections as well.”

R&D is part of our DNA. We are always looking for better ways of doing things, and our engineers are involved in numerous development projects. For example, we are continuing our research on influx management to include dynamic influx tracking for safer and more efficient drilling.

“Kelda is more than just controls. Kelda is Dynamic.”

In the middle of COVID-19 restrictions, 20th of March 2020, our bright star Christian Berg had his public defense (disputation) and became the fifth Ph.D. in the Kelda team.

 Congratulations! (Photo: Bernt Lie)

Doctoral thesis: Modeling for Automatic Control and Estimation of Influx and Loss During Drilling Operations
Click here to read the abstract or download the whole doctoral thesis.

Many, many hours of thinking, programming, simulations, analysis, re-doing, writing, and discussions have been used to produce this excellent doctoral thesis, and his in-depth knowledge, wide perspective, and practical understanding make this thesis even more interesting to read.

Other fun facts:
He is a husband, father of two, pilot, gamer, hunter, and did not take the ordinary path to become Ph.D., as he went from vocational education path over to the university and completing it with an industrial Ph.D.
Click here to read more about it.

Kelda Drilling Controls has been nominated for Gullkronen 2020 in the category for the “New Venture of the Year”, awarded by Rystad Energy.

Kelda was chosen as it has demonstrated exceptional achievement in one of the eight Gullkronen Awards categories, reflecting the program’s core values of innovation, success and ethics.

“We are truly honoured to be considered for the Gullkronen Awards by Rystad Energy” said Kelda’s Chief Executive Officer, Glenn-Ole Kaasa. “We’re humbled to be in the auspicious company of all nominees, some of which are InflowControl, Shell, Equinor, and Interwell” he continued. “The nomination alone is a testament to the vision, creativity and hard work of the entire Kelda team.”

Jarand Rystad, CEO of Rystad Energy, said: “The nominated companies are the most inspirational, successful and dynamic in the Norwegian energy space”. He continued: “They drive the Norwegian energy business and create jobs. The nominees are a benchmark of success for the rest of the Norwegian energy industry.”

Kelda will now have the chance to compete in one of the eight categories of this year’s Gullkronen competition. The awards ceremony will be held at Wallmanns Oslo on January 28.

Read more about it and the other nominees here.

Kelda will be joining the Norwegian Pavilion with Innowell Solutions, Trelleborg Offshore Norway, and CannSeal at ADIPEC 2019, Adu Dhabi.

Both our CEO, Glenn-Ole Kaasa and our CCO, Martin Culen will be attending from our side.

Find us at booth 9153

Kelda is pleased to announce that Martin Culen has joined the team as Chief Commercial Officer. He joined Kelda on October 1st, after 14 years with Blade Energy Partners.

Glenn-Ole Kaasa, CEO of Kelda stated “ Martin and I share the same vision for shaping MPD technology for the future, and I am truly happy to have him onboard as our CCO. Martin is one of the leading authorities on MPD and UBD in the industry and will be instrumental for what we are trying to achieve with Kelda going forward. “

Martin brings 25 years of industry experience to Kelda, all from a foundation of Underbalanced and Managed Pressure Drilling. He started his professional career in Canada drilling Coiled Tubing Underbalanced wells prior to moving overseas executing UBD projects in the North Sea and Oman. During his time with Blade, Martin participated in countless projects globally over the years, and held the position of Director for Blade in Dubai.

In addition, Martin’s contribution to the industry includes the development of the Well Controllability Curve (along with Robert Graham) for UBD wells and the introduction of the Influx Management Envelope for MPD operations. He also remains a staunch contributor to industry groups such as the IADC and SPE.

“ When I first was introduced to Kelda’s vision for the future of MPD systems, I knew I had found a kindred spirit ”, Martin says, “ I’m excited to join a truly creative and gifted team. I am looking forward to the positive impact Kelda is going to make on the energy industry.”