Oil and gas remains a vital source of global energy, providing 85% of total supply. As reserves become limited, exploration is being undertaken in harsher, extreme environments such as the Arctic Circle, or even deeper waters such as off the coast of Africa and Gulf of Mexico. 

Unconventional and extra heavy oils pose new challenges meaning that they cannot be produced, transported and refined by conventional methods. To continue meeting demand, novel solutions are required to exploit current sources of oil and new resources.

We are engaged in research in a number of areas on behalf of industry. Current areas of work include:

  • Enhanced Oil Recovery – to maximise production using gas lift, pumping, water injection, and smart wells combined with CO2 storage. 

  • Flow Assurance – from ensuring efficient and uninterrupted transportation of produced fluid from reservoirs, to processing facilities through a multi-disciplinary approach including process, subsea and pipeline engineering.

  • Production Technology – developing compact separators, jet pumps, metering and other innovative technology for newer and challenging subsea environments.

  • Multiphase Flows – understanding the complex interaction of gas, oil, water and solid phases is fundamental and underpins our work.

Our global client list includes BP, Chevron, Shell, Petrofac and Total.

Research has been sponsored by organisations such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as well as the European Union.

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