Rotork IQ intelligent electric valve actuators are being installed on an oil industry development scheme situated in one of the coldest and exposed environments in the world. Situated within the Arctic Circle on the northern coastal slope of Alaska, the Borealis and Meltwater are new oilfields being developed to offset declining production from the adjacent Prudhoe Bay field.
The Rotork actuators are installed on prefabricated, skid mounted plant sections, known as pads, that are specially designed to operate in harsh sub-zero temperature conditions and shipped to site as a series of modules. In the Arctic environment the user-friendly virtues of Rotork’s non-intrusive commissioning and interrogation technologies are particularly appreciated. An infrared cable link from a hand-held setting tool is attached to the outside of the actuator, eliminating the need to remove electrical covers or perform any mechanical adjustments in the freezing conditions.
Rotork actuators operate high-pressure ball, choke, globe and plug valves on the two sites. At the Borealis site, which is operated by BP, the inclusion of a Rotork Pakscan two-wire control and supervision system has been very favourably received. Being the first Pakscan installation on the Alaskan northern slope, it has particularly impressed its operators with its diagnostic abilities. At Meltwater, operated by Phillips 66, Modbus and Extended Modbus protocols are used for actuator control in the majority of cases, linked to a Pakscan system in one area. In total, almost two hundred IQ actuators have been installed at the two sites – virtually all fitted to Exeeco gearboxes – together with a number of Rotork Fluid System P range pneumatic actuators.
