SPEE3D aims for additive oil and gas sector

High speed 3D printer manufacturer SPEE3D is working with Australia’s energy industries growth centre, NERA, to bring additive manufacturing to the oil and gas sector.

National Energy Resources Australia, SPEE3D, Charles Darwin University and Santos are working on a project to spread a technology already taking hold in other sectors.

SPEE3D printers are already proving their worth producing on-site, fast, high-volume parts for the defence forces, with printers deployed in the field with the army and at Royal Australian Navy bases.

Spee3D CEO Byron Kennedy said: “NERA project funding has enabled a small technology company like us to have a legitimate reason to approach large oil and gas operators.”

SPEE3D’s technology is helping to move industry business structures from a costly ‘ordering-warehousing’ model to a faster and more efficient ‘print-on-demand’ scenario.

With many oil and gas installations in remote locations, the attractiveness of producing parts on site, on demand is great.

Potential benefits include the reduction in downtime, less cash tied up in working capital and a reduced warehousing footprint, increased productivity and the flexibility in design to production flow. The potential cash savings are significant.

Kennedy said the industry partner would pose problems, Spee3D would provide the technology and CDU the testing to develop a new industrial 3D printer.

Kennedy said: “The printer, once finalised and validated, becomes the newest product from SPEE3D, and will be used throughout Australia and exported all over the world as the first product able to generate parts on demand for remotely located, heavily industrial sites.

“It will be possible for any party to design parts anywhere in the world for immediate onsite fabrication at a remote industrial facility.”

Picture: SPEE3D/Byron Kennedy

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