National Oilwell Varco’s (NOV) Pressure Control Group (PCG) develops all of NOV’s subsea controls systems associated with Well Control. These systems include Blow Out Preventers (BOPs), Diverters, Risers and all integrated controls for operations.

In March of 2015, Braeden was contracted to provide Engineering support, expertise, and oversight of the NOV PCG Engineering group with the continuing development and upgrades of their existing 6th generation Subsea BOP Control System. Braeden assisted the NOV team in Project Management, Product Development, Manufacturing and Acceptance Testing. Braeden Engineers contributed their knowledge and experience in BOP Controls to help some of the Engineers get acclimated faster so they could further their contributions and grow their responsibilities for production.

Braeden Engineers are also assisting in the development of NOV PCG’s next generation Control System (RCX) for the Subsea Blow Out Preventer. The design for this new system includes a much more advanced Surface Control System (Remote Operator Stations, HMI’s, and integrated Software) a retrievable and swappable Subsea Control Pod to drastically decrease downtime caused by subsea malfunctions, and advanced Subsea Sensor installations for better feedback on Control Pod and Riser positions and status.

braeden upgraded the control system and software that tests all of the handling tools. All PLC components were upgraded on a 1000-ton press that tests large elevators and spider type slips. A new windows software package was developed for testing, certifying and managing the operations for testing of drilling tongs, slips and small/large elevators.

DNV-OS-E101 is the Drill Plant Specification for DNV verified and approved drilling systems for MODU’s (Mobile Offshore Drilling Units).  Braeden Engineering was hired to perform a gap analysis compliance requirement differences from the E101 2009 to the E101 2013 version on some National Oilwell Varco (NOV) Blow Out Preventer equipment.

The equipment being examined are NOV’s 15k PSI BOP Stack Triple Ram Assembly, the Fixed Diverter System, and the Marine Riser.  Also being examined are the  associated Control System for Diverter and BOP stack operations. This BOP stack is designed for either surface or subsea (up to 490ft) operations.  Braeden studied the changes in the versions of E101 2009 to E101 2013 and is currently performing analysis and data gathering to determine the resources needed and overall investment required to upgrade the systems to be E101 2013 compliant.

braeden has been hired to assist the software development team for National Oilwell Varco’s Pressure Control Group, or NOV PCG, to navigate the certification process for DNV-OS-D203 compliance.  The purpose of DNV-OS-D203 is to set the standard for complete Integrated Software Dependent Systems, or ISDS.  This standard encompasses every phase of design, testing, implementation, and lifetime maintenance and upgrades.

Braeden is assisting with developing the many phases of the Testing and Implementation processes which must be reviewed and verified by DNV to achieve certification. Our Engineers are helping the NOV PCG Team with the Software Development and the creation of workflow designs for the system’s Basic Design testing and Advanced Functional testing once built. We are helping to devise the Strategy for Implementation once the design has been verified, as well as, strategies for component maintenance after implementation, and component upgrades that will be required throughout the system’s life-cycle to remain compliant. These are just some of the methods that must be demonstrated and verified to obtain the DNV-OS-D203 compliance.