History of Twister Development

The technology was pioneered for the aerospace industry by Stork NV from whom Shell acquired all intellectual property in 1999/2000. Shell’s subsequent investment allowed a number of test units to be built and tested on commercial Shell sites, before selecting it as a flagship candidate for open market commercialisation in a joint venture between Shell Technology Ventures (STV) and external investors in 2001. A new investor, Lime Rock Partners, invested in Twister in 2005, and Shell Technology Ventures and Lime Rock supplemented this investment with a further pro-rata investment in Q2 2006.

These investments together with subsidy programs (from The Netherlands and the EU) underpinned the development and testing costs of the second generation technology for which the program commenced in early 2005. Final validation tests were completed during 2006, proving the final mechanical design and commercial application tuning. A qualifying model of the second generation technology was successfully tested on a commercial production station offshore Malaysia.

The first commercial order for this second generation Twister was awarded in Q3 2006, for SPDC in Nigeria, for the provision of a Twister system to condition wellhead gas for feed to a gas-fired power station. Installation is scheduled for Q3 2008.