Well integrity and decom specialist Unity has launched an ultra-compact blowout preventer valve designed to enable well intervention in space-constrained offshore environments where conventional Blowout Preventer (BOP) systems cannot be deployed.
The new Unity Qb valve is one-third the width of conventional systems and rated to 10,000 psi, twice the pressure rating of Unity's existing compact shear valve, while maintaining the same weight.
Backed by around $675,000 (£500,000) of research and development investment, the recently patented system is aimed at wireline, slickline and coil tubing operations, with potential future drilling applications.
Unlike conventional BOPs, which use rams that move in a straight line from opposite sides of the wellbore, the Unity Qb uses rams that rotate around a central cartridge within its housing. Unity describes the design as a hybrid between a conventional BOP and a ball valve.
The configuration allows the valve to perform conventional BOP functions within a smaller footprint and potentially be installed in locations where previously only a Shear-Seal Ball Valve could fit.
The system can also be stacked in single, dual or triple configurations, while its 10,000 psi rating allows deployment on higher-pressure wells that cannot be serviced by lower-rated equipment.
“The future of well intervention will be defined by technologies that deliver more capability from a smaller footprint - Unity Qb represents exactly that step-change. We recognized that the size and complexity of conventional BOP systems were increasingly constraining operations in space-limited environments.
"Rather than accepting those limitations, our engineering team reimagined the design from the ground up. The result is an ultra-compact BOP valve that delivers the performance operators expect while dramatically reducing the space required to deploy it,” said Gary Smart, Unity’s CEO.
Unity, part of FrontRow Energy Technology Group, said its existing CSS Valve would remain in its product portfolio, with the Qb extending the range of intervention work it can support.