(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Oman is deeply involved in nurturing and developing innovative technology to enhance oil recovery. In this regard, an ongoing research by a PhD student from Sultan Qaboos University focusing on technology used in oil and gas drilling has won him a gold medal at the recent International Trade Fair Ideas-Inventions-New Products (iENA2012) held in Germany.Omar Said al Abri, who is pursuing a PhD in multi-scale modelling of expandable tubular steel in the mechanical engineering department of SQU, bagged the medal for his research paper on Down-hole pipe expansion tool'.He has been involved in a research on solid expandable tubular (SET) technology used in the oil and gas industry from his graduation days and has won several awards for his research papers, including the prestigious Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International Student Paper Contest held in Italy in 2010.His research three years ago got funding from PDO and at the end of 2011, The Research Council gave him another grant for four years to continue his research.Abri said that the ever-increasing demand for energy, oil in particular, has resulted in oil companies intensifying efforts to meet the global demand. To do this, there is a need to drill deeper and access difficult reservoirs, which is already posing serious challenges to the industry.SET Technology is an emerging technology in the oil and gas industry that aims to resolve many challenges. ''My invention presents the design of a tool that can be used to expand the tubular (oil-drilling equipment made from tubes) in this technology."It consists of an expansion unit that deforms the tubular, an anchor unit to keep the system in place during expansion, and a power unit to provide the force required for expansion.''Abri said the tool will assist in drilling slim wells as compared to the conventional telescopic wells. ''It will also help out in isolating unwanted regions (water zones, high permeability zones, etc) by expanding the pipe using the developed tool."Operators and service providers are facing problems related to the above two issues in many wells, both onshore and offshore. Thus, they will be the major target for utilising this tool in their systems.''Abri participated in iENA under the GCC Patent Office's banner, which took part for the first time to showcase inventions from GCC. ''It is one of the oldest innovation fairs of Europe wherein more than 750 inventors from 54 countries participated. It feels great to be chosen among such distinguished honourees from across the world,'' he said.
