About Us
Bluesky Environmental Engineering is a specialist research and development company set up in 2021 to develop and offer new solutions to the environmental challenges faced by the energy industry.
Bluesky key research personnel have over thirty years of experience in developing acclaimed novel solutions for oilfield production problems and now as the move away from fossil fuels becomes essential for life on Earth, Bluesky has focused its research efforts on developing new technology to overcome the issues associated with decontamination, decommissioning and reversing environmental pollution.
Bluesky offers its leading-edge patented technology to service companies best placed to apply it in the field through licensing agreements.
Overview
Oilfield Decontamination and Decommissioning
In the oil industry, hydrocarbon production is accompanied by unwanted hazardous by-products that can contaminate both the production and processing working environment and the external natural environment. Toxic mercury present as elemental Hg and HgS mineral scale and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) such as elemental Pb-210 and Ra-226 as sulphate scale can contaminate steel surfaces of vessels, equipment and subsea pipelines. Contaminated vessels may need to be decontaminated either for on-going processing operations or for decommissioning purposes when platforms, FSOs and pipelines become redundant and contaminated steel needs to be cleaned. Bluesky has developed new chemical formulations that allow hazardous deposits such as elemental mercury, mercuric sulphide, lead-210 and lead sulphide to be effectively dissolved for the first time and safely isolated for disposal.
Environmental Pollution
The dumping of waste hydrocarbon and NORM-contaminated produced water in the desert during more than half a century of oil production in desert oilfields has resulted in the formation of waste pits and even massive lakes containing heavy black oil and radioactive contaminated sand. Whilst the issue is massive in scale, Bluesky have developed an efficient means of cleaning the sand returning the desert to its pristine natural state.
In other areas high pressure onshore water jetting operations to remove NORM scale from contaminated oilfield equipment and production tubing have resulted in waste water containing particulate NORM scale being discharged into the sea where rather than being diluted as expected by the regulators, has found its way onto public beaches as radioactive particles and has accumulated in the sand column down to the level of bedrock where it is particularly concentrated due to its high density.
Experience
Bluesky scientists have a distinguished track record of solving oilfield problems in innovative and ingenious ways. When the problem is out of the ordinary and there is no standard solution, Bluesky is ready to investigate and develop possible solutions using conventional chemistry in unconventional ways.
We have a history of achieving industry firsts and winning various awards for our innovative chemical and engineering solutions.
Oil Industry Firsts
Our research director developed the first effective Barium Sulphate Scale Dissolver “BaSOL” in the 90’s. Reference de Vries, Hans, and Fabrice Arnaud. “The First Successful Downhole Barium Sulphate Scale Dissolving Operation.” Paper presented at the SPE Offshore Europe, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, September 1993. Patent GB2314865
Our breakthrough electrochemical decontamination technology designed to remove radioactive lead from steel surfaces received the BP Environmental Award for the Development of an on-site radioactive Decontamination processing plant for BP Wytchfarm, Dorset where tens of thousands of items of radioactive Pb-210-contaminated equipment were successfully cleaned on-site and all waste returned to the reservoir. Patent 6042713 1998
A method invented by the Bluesky director received the Energy Institute Platinum Award in 2008 for the development and successful application of a patented gas displacement method for the recovery of a large volume of oil trapped in the attic space of subsea concrete storage cells on the Dunlin platform for Shell. Patent 8062510 2007
Insoluble barium sulphate is converted to more soluble barium carbonate by the potassium carbonate before sequestering the barium ions with a chelating agent and simultaneously reforming the potassium carbonate converting agent. The combination of converting agent and chelating agents forming a “reaction loop” vastly increases the dissolution rate and sequestering capacity and allows production rates of scale-damaged wells to be restored quickly using a series of soak-displacements.
Attic oil trapped in the subsea concrete storage cells of Dunlin Alpha was recovered using a novel technique of pumping solutions into the cells that on mixing, generated carbon dioxide gas which displaced the oil enabling its removal from the cell. The method was successfully applied offshore from the back of a supply vessel and resulted in the recovery of 250,000 barrels of trapped hydrocarbon. In the words of a senior manager of Shell “this is the most innovative technology successfully applied in the North Sea over the past 5 years”. The technology received the Energy Institute’s Platinum Award.
Recent Developments
Bluesky have, over the past two years, carried out an intensive period of research focused on filling gaps in the energy industry’s ability to dissolve hazardous and undesirable deposits. As a result of cutting-edge research, brand new exciting ways of treating deposits have been discovered that allow these deposits, for the first time, to be rapidly dissolved at ambient temperature using environmentally friendly solutions. The new formulations are AZURE-XPC, AZURE-B, AZURE-XPM, AZURE-M, AZURE-L and AZURE-G and are formulated to efficiently and safely dissolve Calcium Naphthenate, NORM-contaminated sand, Mercuric Sulphide, elemental Mercury, Lead and Lead Sulphide. Patents PCT/GB2022/050668, PCT/GB2022/051637, GB2305811.8, GB2218581.3
