P6 and P25 20K rotary electric completion pushes the envelope of choke technology to greater depths
Offshore producers are going deeper than ever and technology has caught up with the extremely high pressures these deepwater plays are producing.
Fresh on the heels of the big announcement from Chevron in August that Anchor has begun production in the Gulf of Mexico, marking the world’s first deepwater development to deploy 20,000 psi technology and one that saw Master Flo develop the world’s largest 20,000 psi choke valves to help make the project a reality, another major Master Flo high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) milestone has been accomplished by the 20,000 psi high-capacity choke pioneer.
“We have developed a P6 20K for another end user and although the P6 is smaller in flow capacity than the P8, physically it’s bigger,” said Master Flo Product Development Engineering Manager Anwar Sleiman, noting the larger distinction is due to the unique end connections that were requested.
Two of the P6 20K rotary electric chokes that will be used in an offshore topside application in the main Edmonton Master Flo manufacturing facility before being shipped. (Redd Francisco)
In addition to the four P6 20K offshore topside chokes Master Flo developed, Sleiman says five P25 20K valves were also created.
“It was a big project,” said Sleiman. “Different from the P8 because the actuation side of things is completely different. The end user requested rotary electric, so there were two new designs that we fully built, prototyped, and tested.”
New low-temperature ratings reached
Another novel 20K achievement the newest additions to the Master Flo product line bring with them is their colder temperature rating of -50 degrees Fahrenheit, with one of the P25s even having -125 degrees Fahrenheit design capabilities to accommodate possible rapid depressurization.
“They were concerned about brittle failure so we did special material qualification, special materials, special weld program, -125 Fahrenheit impact testing,” explained Sleiman. “It’s another extension of the 20K product line and it continues to put us out as a leader in this market. I don’t know of anybody else in the world doing a high capacity 20K product yet. So P4, P6, P8, plus the P25, we’ve got a product family.”
The development of that product family has been lots of hard work and many years in the making, with Sleiman saying these latest chokes took roughly two years from initial conversations with the customer to shipping the finished products.
“Everything throughout the process, you don’t get to do off the shelf,” said Sleiman. “It’s all application specific, it’s unique to that product and often to that project.”
For this project, specifically when it came to the larger chokes, Sleiman says it was the rotary electric actuators that posed a bit of a unique challenge.
The third-party electric actuator drastically reduces the overall footprint of the P6 chokes. (Redd Francisco)
“In order to accommodate for that rotary motion, we had to redesign the internals of the valve to reduce the loads that the actuator would see,” detailed Sleiman. “It wasn’t just bolted on, the valve had to be designed to accommodate electric.”
With electric actuation becoming an increasingly sought after choice, Sleiman says the achievement to provide this option sets them up well for the future.
“Everybody wants to go electric now,” said Sleiman. “There’s weight savings, size savings, having an electric supply versus a pneumatic compressor. It’s greener. Accomplishing this allows us to offer whatever options our customers want.”
Sleiman says the electric rotary component is a prime example of how Master Flo can tailor its expertise depending on specific customer requirements. He also mentions that with this latest project, they took a calculated “gamble” before a contract was even in place.
“We had been working on it for two to three months prior because the deliveries were stringent,” stated Sleiman. “The company committed to hundreds of hours of engineering before we even had a job in hand.”
Drawing on past 20K project expertise
Once in hand, it was up to Master Flo Applications Engineer Remi Richard to oversee and manage the project, as he did with the P8 20K.
“As Anwar mentioned, we believe there hasn’t been another developer that has scratched this surface, so this project was treated like a newborn child to new parents,” recalled Richard.
That means it came with all the hypervigilant supervision new parents are known to shower on their firstborns.
“Consistent overview of the project, development of the product we supplied, available support to the customer for any inquiry,” explained Richard. “Overall, a great example of how Master Flo can tailor a choke product to effectively meet a customer’s requirements while continuously offering further support to ensure their satisfaction.”
Richard travelled overseas in May to meet with the end user as development continued. During the talks, it became clear 20K is going to become a lot more commonplace across the subsea world.
“They believe that this is the future of offshore technology as producers are drilling deeper and seeing extreme service conditions more and more,” said Richard, further highlighting the opportunity that exists around these extremely high-pressure applications.
In addition to Richard and his project management prowess, Sleiman says the heavy lifting and long hours for the latest project were once again provided by Master Flo’s R&D team, as was the case with the P8.
“It is a group effort, it always is,” said Sleiman. “Nobody does this stuff alone, it doesn’t come together without everyone.”
Deep growth potential
With two new development programs fully qualified, Sleiman sees major growth in Master Flo’s future for their 20K product family, especially when you factor in that deepwater developments — and the 20K psi they require — are becoming a reality.
“People have held onto these offshore plays for 20 years without doing anything because the technology wasn’t there,” said Sleiman. “The technology is now catching up to these higher-pressure applications. We’re positioning ourselves to become the premier 20K supplier for high-capacity chokes, if we haven’t already.”
The platform our P6 and P25 valves will be used on in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to begin production in 2028.
