Grant Prideco, Inc. announced that its Plexus Deepwater Technologies Division has been awarded a contract by Shell Deepwater Services, a division of Shell International Exploration and Production, to investigate the operational advantages and enabling aspects of POS-GRIP(TM) Technology for deepwater drilling and completion systems. The project includes consideration of surface wellhead, riser system and subsea wellhead design. POS-GRIP(TM) has the potential to eliminate a number of the technical limitations imposed by the requirements for landing shoulders and annular seals in existing wellhead designs. POS-GRIP(TM) Technology is a method whereby an outer housing is elastically deflected inwards to grip a mandrel inside it and achieve very high axial load capacities through friction.
This eliminates the requirement for a landing shoulder, allows for adjustability and facilitates sealing. POS-GRIP(TM) has been used in the jackup drilling market for the last three years, and has also been applied to tensioned tubing hanger systems.
