In line with the industry and ANP (Brazilian National Oil Agency) trend towards the generation of disruptive innovation, Repsol Sinopec Brasil, Ouro Negro and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) are pleased to announce their partnership for the joint development of an autonomous modular robotic system to operate in and inspect oil wells. In the Wellrobot® project the goal is to create a new tool for well inspections aiming at plugging and abandonment (P&A) operations.

“At Repsol Sinopec Brasil we invest in innovative technologies, seeking a greater degree of automatization in our operations in order to help us increase their safety and generate energy in a more sustainable and efficient fashion”, highlights Tamara Garcia, Research and Innovation Manager at Repsol Sinopec Brasil.

“Ouro Negro is a company that has innovation in its DNA. This project is totally aligned with the company's strategy, not only in terms of its scope but also because of its adoption of the open innovation model, as this approach accelerates the development of disruptive technologies, which is what this partnership is all about. We are very pleased to be able to work alongside Repsol Sinopec Brasil and PUC-Rio”, says Eduardo Costa, Ouro Negro's CEO.

“This robotic system will reduce costs, especially those related to well logging and rig time, and operational risks. It will optimize the critical plugging and abandonment process undertaken during decommissioning in mature basins", adds Costa.

"The University-Company partnership will accelerate the development of this innovative robotic system by integrating teams with development knowledge of high-reliability hardware and intelligent control software required to perform the challenging tasks proposed”, concluded Marco Antonio Meggiolaro, PhD, coordinator of the Robotics Laboratory of PUC-Rio and professor of Mechanical Engineering Department of the Centre of Science and Technology of PUC-Rio (CTC/PUC-Rio).