Brunei Shell Petroleum has ordered 34 explosion proof winches from Asep of the Netherlands for onshore and offshore use. The winches are to be powered by Iveco diesel engines, supplied by Benelux distributor Landré Ruhaak. Asep has previously supplied 68 winches to Brunei Shell.
Asep’s core business is the design, development and manufacture of wireline winch units, which are typically used for maintenance of oil or gas wells drilled in the earth’s crust to depths of up to 7,000m.
Generally the winches consist of a power pack section, a control cabin and a winch drum section, which are all integrated within a single frame. Alternatively they can be delivered as separate modules.
The power pack units are almost exclusively built up around an Iveco four or six cylinder engine and are adapted by Asep for use in a Zone 2 environment where an explosive gas mixture can be expected. No part of the engine nor the exhaust gases must exceed a temperature of 200°C.
Typical additional equipment to be added by Asep to the base engine supplied includes an exhaust manifold cooling jacket, engine air intake overspeed valve, inlet flame arrestor, exhaust flame trap plus many temperature and pressure sensors. To prevent sparks, either an air, spring or hydraulic starter needs to be fitted.
Acoustic and thermal insulation is designed to ensure that the units perform with minimum noise pollution and in both extremely warm and cold weather conditions. The products are equally suitable for service in Siberia or Abu Dhabi, it is claimed, and in either densely or sparsely populated areas.
Asep exports approximately 98% of its production and has a sister manufacturing plant in Houston USA.
