Oil and gas mining multinationalConocoPhillipshas revealed that it’s currently trialing 3D printing as a way of overcoming supply chain problems at its Kuparuk oilfield in Alaska.
Naturally, given that the facility is forty years old, parts such as the burner plugs found in the gas turbines there have begun to wear, but as the firm has gone to replace them, it has struggled as they’ve been discontinued. Even if ConocoPhillips could find spares, shipping them to such a remote area would be difficult, hence it has begun rapidly 3D printing its own performance-optimized parts instead.
“So, you’re taking something that would traditionally be a thirty-week thing down to a two-to-three-week thing,” explains Curt Andersen, an Instrument, Control and Electrical Engineering Supervisor for ConocoPhillips’ Alaska business unit. “And so far, the printed plugs are working fantastic. They’re performing as good, if not better, than our conventionally made plugs.”
Addressing oilfield supply challenges
Conocophillips位于休斯敦的能源走廊，专门从事碳氢化合物勘探和生产，目前声称是阿拉斯加最大的原油生产商。该公司表示，为了使这一成为可能，并“从现有资源中最大化其生产”，在幕后，它试图推动其业务范围内的“创造力，技术和投资”。
Conocophillips试图保持领先地位的一种方法是与那些开发有助于其业务目标的技术建立战略合作伙伴关系。作为其能源技术风险项目的一部分，与GEand NRG Energy, for instance, the company says it has conducted a number of industry-first field trials that could provide it with “strategic advantages.”
现在,作为其燃烧器塞计划的一部分,康菲公司Phillips appears to have taken this adoption of advanced tech a step further, by turning to on-site 3D printing to replace them. The part itself isn’t made anymore, thus when it eventually succumbs to heat erosion through usage, new ones need to be produced from scratch and shipped out, thus they can take over a year to reach the firm’s Alaskan facility.
Given that this lead time has clear business disruption implications, ConocoPhillips’ Alaskan and Global Production teams have started to 3D print spares from Inconel 718 instead. In doing so, the company has not just managed to introduce replacements with upgraded pressure and temperature-resistance properties, but resolve many of its queries about the technology and assess its end-performance.
安德森补充说：“这对我们来说是一个机会，可以试用它具有很多潜在优势的东西，并且还将其用作公司其他公司的数据。”“对我们来说，这是一种新的制造方法，带有许多问题，例如当我们将其投入使用时，该部分是什么样的？它如何行动？它的作用像另一件被滚动，锻造或铸造的金属吗？”
Optimizing oilfield well injection
在其最初的燃烧器插头项目成功之后，ConocoPhillips还开始与一家未命名的OEM和3D打印公司合作，以生产添加剂制造的零件，以便在其其他操作领域使用。特别是，该公司已经确定有必要更换其许多阻塞笼阀，这些设备被部署以控制油田注入井中的水流。
Similarly to its gas turbine burner plugs, these parts have now been obsoleted by the OEM that made them, leading ConocoPhillips to retrofit its existing valves with 3D printed cages. This approach is said to have extended the life of the firm’s choke cage valves and enabled it to put off the process of having to order new spares, ultimately helping to reduce its costs and improve its injection well uptime.
Moving forwards, Andersen says that 3D printing could offer ConocoPhillips further lead time and warehousing benefits, yet there are limitations preventing these from being realized in practice. On the one hand, additive manufacturing spares requires substantial parameter validation, while on the other, the patent protection over its burner plugs may have run out, but IP could become a barrier to future initiatives.
“We need a good bit of information to execute a successful and legal print,” concludes Andersen. “Part information like metallurgy and service conditions, a design drawing/3D model that is either not controlled under intellectual property or can be used with permission, and a manufacturer that can meet the need.”
3D打印的油气潜力
随着，石油和天然气公司的数量转向3D打印以在内部生产其备件，因此也有越来越多的推动力来标准化这样做的过程。DNV GL一直是这项工作最前沿的人之一第一分类指南for oil, gas and maritime 3D printing in 2017, it has published aservice specification document支持用户。
Over in Brazil, meanwhile,Carl Zeiss（蔡司）已经开始与SENAIandPetróleoBrasileiro（petrobras）至advance the use of metal 3D printingin the country’s oil and gas industry. During the remaining year or so of the the firms’ initiative, they intend to develop and validate new methodologies and process parameters for producing end-use parts.
The美国石油研究所(API) has also committed a significant amount of time and resources to advancing the adoption of 3D printing among its members. With this in mind, the organizationintroduced ‘Standard (Std) 20S’late last year, a three-tiered criteria, which sets out the technical, quality and qualification requirements for 3D printing rig parts with the properties for end-deployment.
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Featured image shows ConocoPhillips’ 3D printed burner plugs and shipping cages. Image via spiritnow, ConocoPhillips.
