The objective of the modernization program is to improve rig safety, extend rig operating life, increase drilling efficiency and raise cost effectiveness. The target is to achieve performance improvements of between 10 and 30 percent.

About 40 of TNK-BP’s fleet of 100 drilling and side-tracking rigs are slated for improvement. The scope of the revamps is comprehensive and ranges from enclosed operator control cabins to new top drives, hoisting systems and mud pumps.

At the heart of the revamp concept is an AC drilling drive system – a pioneering ABB innovation from the 1990s that enables the rigs to be powered by cutting-edge AC drives and motors rather than conventional and less advanced DC powered systems.

“The AC system allows us to control all the rotating equipment very precisely,” says TNK-BP in a video about the concept and the improvements achieved in the first revamp. “AC systems are lighter and smaller and about 25 percent more efficient than other systems. They allow faster, safer rig moves and have less potential for human error in rig up.”

Working with its partners, system integrator Privodnaya Technika and rig supplier Uralmash, ABB supplied the AC drilling drive systems for the first three rig revamps and is negotiating for several more.

All three rigs are located at the Samotlor oilfield in Siberia, the biggest oilfield in Russia and one of the largest in the world. Samotlor produces 485,000 barrels per day and accounts for 40 percent of TNK-BP’s production and half its total reserves.

The program marks a significant watershed in the country’s booming oil and gas industry as it is the first time that AC drilling rigs have been used in Russia - currently the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, second largest exporter of oil and third largest consumer of energy.

ABB’s AC drilling drive systems have had an enormous impact on improving productivity, energy consumption and safety at onshore and offshore drilling rigs, worldwide, since their introduction on the world’s biggest offshore oil platform, Troll A, in the North Sea, in 1994.

Equipped with uniquely powerful AC drives and robust, virtually maintenance-free induction motors, ABB’s drilling drive systems are available in both air- and liquid-cooled single drive and multidrive solutions.

ABB is the world’s leading supplier of drives and motors, and of drilling drive systems for drilling rigs, drilling vessels and semi-submersibles.



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