2H Offshore, an Acteon company, has been appointed by Weatherford Secure Drilling services to manage the design and delivery of the riser equipment for its managed pressure drilling (MPD) system, a news release said.

The project award follows a successful feasibility study carried out by 2H Offshore, which outlined multiple integrated concepts for the system. 2H’s scope of work now includes the development and delivery of MPD riser stack equipment for the next two generations of Weatherford’s MPD systems for offshore applications, according to the release.

Despite the success that has been achieved using MPD offshore to date, there are still some challenges with the ability of offshore, particularly deepwater, rigs to accommodate MPD technologies. Weatherford is developing a fully integrated MPD solution that can be incorporated into nearly any deepwater drilling vessel, aiming to improve the adaptability and implementation for deepwater MPD systems, the release said.

Weatherford and 2H Offshore are working to ensure that the systems meet the new regulations being adopted by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Drill Class N and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) CDS Certification. The next generation of Weatherford’s MPD system is expected to be delivered in 2015.