Aker's MPO Unit Wins Industry Award at OTC

Aker Solutions' subsidiary, Managed Pressure Operations, won a prize for its riser safety system at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

The Aker Solutions unit won the Woelfel Best Mechanical Engineering Achievement Award for its Riser Safety System (RSS).

The award recognizes products, devices or systems that reflect innovation or practical use of mechanical engineering in solving problems, improving design or maximizing performance, according to the ASME International Petroleum Technology Institute that hands out the award.

The Riser Safety System is designed to assist in control of wellbore fluids while undertaking oil and gas drilling offshore. The system is built to detect an influx of gas into a drilling riser and divert the gas to prevent a blowout.

To do this, an annular blowout preventer is integrated with the drilling riser. On detection of an influx of gas into the riser, the BOP can be shut in 5 seconds, and the wellbore fluids and expanding gasses diverted to a mud and gas separator. The drilling fluid can be returned to the rig systems, and the gas safely vented, with no environmental impact or risk to the vessel. Aker Solutions delivers the complete subsea system and surface equipment.

The award is handed out by the ASME International Petroleum Technology Institute. ASME was founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineer and is today a global organisation dedicated to promoting the art, science, and practice of mechanical engineering.

The Woelfel award recognizes products, devices or systems that reflect innovation and/or practical use of mechanical engineering in solving problems, improving design or maximizing performance. Aker Solutions also won the award in 2011 for its vertical connection system for subsea installations.

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