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contents
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O
pec will meet in Vienna, Austria, on 8 June 2011 and increasing economic development worldwide are
for its 159th Ordinary Meeting. For the rst time placing intense pressure on an already creaking supply
since December 2008, when the group set chain. The very fact that isolated weather events or political
its production target at 24.85 million bpd, there is a upheaval can impact commodity prices to quite such an
genuine possibility that this gure may at last be set extent as we have witnessed in recent months/years is a
for an increase. Although purely speculative, reports testament to how nely balanced the system has become.
indicate that an increase of between 500 000 bpd and The oil and gas sector is a case in point with the market
1.5 million bpd is on the cards. In reality, Opec members lurching from being comfortably supplied in early January
have been actively outing production targets all along to a sharp rise in oil prices from sub US$ 100 to US$ 125
with an actual current production total, due to member in the space of a few weeks on the back of events in the
non-compliance of closer to 26.3 million bpd, in spite Middle East. The effect has contributed in no small part to
of Libyas 1.4 million bpd of lost production. However, the rise in global ination and the threat of an end to the
what is important is the apparent recognition, should an global economic recovery as analysts forecast even greater
increase be conrmed, that Opec is awake to the spectre prices hikes over the course of the next 12 months.
of demand destruction and the impact of consistently For Opec at its forthcoming meeting, the actual level
high oil prices on the recovering global economy. of any increase in production, be it 1 million bpd or higher,
Whilst Brent crude prices have already dipped is largely immaterial, as it will inevitably be quickly soaked
amidst the speculation, the impact of such a meagre up by global demand. What is important is that the cartel
increase would be symbolic rather than medicinal as is seen to be reacting sympathetically to an escalation in
demand for crude oil is forecast to escalate further the current price of crude oil. By showing intent to address
during the second half of 2011. The same issues face rising oil prices its efforts will go some way to defusing the
key commodities across the spectrum be they oil, wheat growing clamour from the renewable energy lobby intent
or gold, in that there is a fundamental tension between on the substitution of fossil fuels with alternatives such as
falling supply and rising demand. Whether the cause is wind, solar and nuclear energy.
the unprecedented economic growth not just in China, This months issue begins with an article by
but across many emerging Asian nations, the Fukushima Contributing Editor, Gordon Cope that looks at the Arctic
nuclear crisis in Japan or the now extended period of frontier as the largest remaining region of untapped oil
unrest in the Middle East, the reality is that this type of and gas reserves and an effective illustration of how the
price volatility is likely to become the norm rather than industry is pushing back every conceivable barrier in its
a temporary blip. The dual effects of a rising population quest to meet future oil and gas demand. O T
tle
itor: James Lit m
Managing Ed gy.co
ileldtechnolo
james.little@o
os
r: Anna Scord
Deputy Edito technology.com
ord os@o ileld
anna.sc
: Rod Hardy
ent Director
Advertisem @oileldtechnology.com
rod.hardy
: Ben Macleod
ent Manager m
Advertisem leod@oileldtechnology.co
Palladian Publications Ltd, ben.mac
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
05
world news
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
06 June 2011
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OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
08 June 2011
THE ARCTIC HEATS UP
T
he Arctic is one of the most desolate places on oil (90 billion bbls), could be found there. I think
Earth, starting at a latitude 66 33N, it covers the USGS survey is conservative, says Dr. Benoit
some 21 million km2, or 6% of the planets Beauchamp, a professor of Geoscience at the
surface. One third is land and two thirds sea; for much University of Calgary and the Director of the Arctic
of the year, it is shrouded in darkness, ice and raging Institute of North America. They did a good job
blizzards. of the Beaufort Sea and the Mackenzie Delta, but
But the Arctic is also a land of tremendous bounty. downplayed the potential of the Sverdrup Basin in
Whales feast on abundant sea life, polar bears hunt the Canadian Arctic Islands and the Bafn Bay basin
the shores for seals, and herds of caribou wander the between Greenland and Canada.
vast tundra. Beneath the surface rests immense fuel Recently, the search for oil and gas in the far north
reserves; according to the United States Geological became a lot easier. Due to rising temperatures, the
Survey (USGS), more than 400 oil and gas elds, area of the polar region subjected to permanent sea ice
containing 40 billion bbls of oil, 1136 trillion ft3 of has begun to shrink, from an annual summer minimum
natural gas, and 8 billion bbls of natural gas liquids of 9 million km2 in the 1990s to 6 million km2 in 2007;
have been identied and developed, mostly in the some scientists predict a total clearance of ice by 2040.
West Siberian Basin of Russia and on the North Slope The retreat has not only opened up northern shipping
of Alaska. lanes, it has extended the period of seismic offshore
And much more remains to be found. In a 2008 research and drilling by several months.
study, the USGS assessed all potential sedimentary The result has been a resurgence in oil and gas
basins north of the Arctic Circle and estimated that exploration not seen since the 1970s. Ineld Systems,
approximately 30% of the worlds undiscovered gas a London-based consultancy, estimates that capital
(1670 trillion ft3) and 13% of the worlds undiscovered expenditure in the Arctic region should increase steadily
10
Climate change may be opening
up the Arctic to an exploration
boom, but other factors may be
shutting it down. Oilfield Technology
Correspondent Gordon Cope
takes a look at these factors.
11
throughout this decade, rising to over US$ 7 billion annually buildings to collapse, says Beauchamp. Right now, engineers
through 2017. dont know what the effect will be, and industry doesnt like to
x In Alaska, Repsol has announced a plan to spend at least deal with such large unknowns.
US$ 768 million exploring 2000 km2 on the North Slope
over the next several years. Development of this regions Politics as usual
offshore continental shelf (OCS) has been estimated by In addition to geological and meteorological considerations,
the American Petroleum Institute to have the potential
navigating Arctic waters will require a steady hand when it
to produce 10 billion bbls of oil and 15 trillion ft3 of gas,
comes to social, sovereign and environmental issues.
generating almost US$ 200 billion in government revenues
over the next four decades. The Arctic has a permanent population of 4 million residents
in Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland and Russia. Most of
x In Russia, the immense Shtokman field, with reserves of
over 24 billion boe, is tentatively due onstream in 2016. them are aboriginal people, and their emphasis is on preserving
CGGVeritas and JSC Geotech Holding have announced a their environment and livelihoods. For the last several years,
joint venture to supply ice class vessels to shoot 2D and 3D Shell has attempted to drill licences held in the Beaufort Sea and
seismic in Arctic waters to delineate further targets. Rosneft Chukchi Sea (a body of water between Alaska and Russia that
and BP have formed a joint venture to tap into Arctic regions may hold as much as 30 billion bbls). Aboriginal groups objected
previously reserved for Russian companies. to Shells programme, and late last year, a federal Environmental
x Several companies have announced plans to institute and Appeals Board judge ruled that the Environmental Protection
continue exploration in Greenland, which has a potential Agency (EPA) had not adequately evaluated the effect of drilling
for over 50 billion boe in its offshore waters. Cairn drilled emissions on nearby aboriginal villages, and repealed two EPA
three wells in 2010, one of which showed signs of oil, and permits. Shell, in turn, announced it would postpone drilling until
plans to drill another four during the 2011 season. Shell and
the issue was resolved.
Statoil have been awarded two large exploration blocks in
Environmental groups are adamantly opposed to Arctic
West Greenland totalling more than 20 000 km2.
drilling, and may have good reasons to be worried. BPs
x In the Canadian Beaufort Sea, Shell and Exxon have
spent almost C$ 1.8 billion in the last two years meeting Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling disaster last year (in which
lease obligations, and hope to drill an offshore well on the 11 crew members were killed and almost 5 million bbls of oil
continental shelf within five years. were released), highlighted the difculties of countering a major
spill even in an accessible, warm climate. Experts painted a
Problems glum picture of the ability to respond to a similar spill in an Arctic
There are many challenges facing Arctic exploration and accident. Retired Admiral Thad Allen noted that only one of three
development. First and foremost is the harsh climate; winter US Coast Guard ice breakers is currently operational. The
daily averages hover near -30 C, and total darkness can stretch drill-staging community of Barrow, Alaska has no ability to house
for six months. the hundreds of extra workers needed to handle a spill, and
Secondly, the Arctic is gas prone; about three times as limited ability to handle emergency aircraft. Harsh weather and
much undiscovered reserves are considered to be gas, the rest ice oes would further complicate remediation efforts.
is oil and natural gas liquids. Current markets for natural gas The National Oil Spill Commission, appointed by the
in North America are depressed by the glut of shale gas. This White House after the BP disaster, also iterated these concerns,
surplus has already cast doubt over the viability of the recently saying that much more offshore research was necessary to
approved Mackenzie Gas Pipeline (MGP), a C$ 16 billion ensure the ability to overcome the challenges imposed by the
project designed to ship up to 1.9 billion ft3/d from the onshore extreme Arctic environment. Before the spill, there was talk of
Mackenzie Valley elds 1200 km south to markets in Alberta, BP and Exxon drilling a subsea well in the next ve years, says
and the Alaska pipeline, a proposed US$ 35 - 40 billion project Beauchamp. They were also seeking to remove a drilling clause
to send 4.5 billion ft3/d of stranded gas in the Prudhoe Bay eld that called for their ability to drill a relief well in the same season.
to the lower 48 states. Now, I dont think removal of that clause will y at all. Industry
The trend toward rising temperatures is not without its will have to come up with serious plans to control any disaster
downside, either. Climate warming is a blessing and a curse, rst.
says Beauchamp. With less sea ice, you can navigate in the There are also many sovereignty issues to be sorted out. The
Northwest Passage (NWP) and the Beaufort Sea, which aids NWP is a convoluted channel that passes between Canadas
in seismic exploration and commercial trafc, but you are also mainland and its Arctic Archipelago. For centuries, seafarers
getting bigger, faster icebergs that scrape the ocean bottom seeking a shortcut from Europe to Asia have sought an ice free
much deeper, which means you have to bury pipelines quite route, to no avail. Now, climate warming has opened the NWP
deep to avoid damage. completely for months at a time, creating an opportunity to
Climate change also complicates drilling. During the rst safely transit the sea route.
round of exploration in the 1970s, the industry used some clever Unfortunately, there is no international agreement on who
devices to drill, such as building articial ice islands by spraying can use the passage, and when. The United Nations Convention
sea water in the cold conditions so that they could land large on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) allows free travel of vessels
planes and install huge rigs, says Beauchamp. Now, there is through certain bodies of water that transect jurisdictions
some question if such devices would still actually work, and (such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Gibraltar).
companies may need to bring in steel-reinforced ice platforms at Individual nations, however, control passage through internal
much greater expense. bodies of water (such as the Mississippi River in the US). When
Onshore infrastructure can also suffer. Climate warming UNCLOS was being created in the 1970s, Canada pushed for
can destabilise the permafrost, causing roads to buckle and the latter designation. As a sovereign water, Canada can say
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
12 June 2011
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no to vessels carrying nuclear waste, or insist on The Arctic Council, an international body that has traditionally
double-hulled vessels carrying crude, says Dr. Rob Huebert, been used to communicate concerns between ve main aboriginal
the Associate Director of the Center for Military and groups and the eight nations that rim the Arctic (Norway,
Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. Sweden, Finland, Russia, Denmarks Greenland, Canada, the
The US and EU disagree with Canada, however, and US and Iceland), has taken a further step forward and created
argue that the NWP is an international strait. If the NWP is an international treaty that will divide search-and-rescue
considered an international strait, then the ability of Canada responsibilities among the nations and co-ordinate emergency
to control shipping is limited, says Heubert. You can have response efforts.
military vessels and nuclear powered subs, as well as the In the longer term, the industry will design exploration
right to military yovers. and production hardware designed to deal with harsh Arctic
There is also an environmental aspect to control of the conditions. Seabed Rig, based in Stavanger, Norway, in
NWP, says Beauchamp. International laws are less enforced conjunction with Statoil, is developing a remote controlled rig
than Canadian laws. It would be more difcult to control the that would sit on the Arctic seabed, well away from ice. The rig
dumping of wastes. would be remotely controlled through an interactive 3D interface
Unlike the Antarctic, which is not claimed by any nation, located on a surface vessel above. The rig is sealed to prevent
there are ve nations that claim sovereignty over parts of contamination of the surrounding water, and has zero-liquids
the Arctic: Canada, the US, Denmark (Greenland), Russia discharge during operations.
and Norway (known as the Arctic 5). Several disputes over Numerous shipbuilders around the world, including Teekay
international boundaries remain to be solved. In 1825, in Vancouver and FLEX LNG in the UK, are working on building
Russia and Great Britain established the north-south oating LNG plants capable of handling 75 - 100 million ft3/d
boundary between Alaska and British North America as of gas. Designed to circumvent the long, expensive process of
the 141st meridian of longitude. After the US purchased building a liquefaction plant on land, the self-propelled vessels
Alaska from the Russians and Canada became independent, can pre-treat, liquefy, store and ofoad LNG. Such vessels are
however, a disagreement arose over where the boundary ideally designed to produce remote gas elds in the Arctic during
actually rested offshore. Each country covets a pie-slice of ice-free months, then move out during inclement winter weather.
territory that covers some 21 000 km2, and may hold as much Changing economics may also make Arctic pipeline projects
as 1.7 trillion m3 of gas and 6 billion bbls of oil. more viable. Im cautiously optimistic about the MGP, says
Beauchamp. Shale gas is the big bogeyman; many people think
The near future that we wont need the MGP or Alaska pipeline for a long time.
Over the next few years, research may begin to dispel some But I think that the industry may have already picked the low
of the concerns regarding the Arctic. The region, which is hanging fruit of shale gas. The growing oilsands production will
30 times the size of Texas, has only a few thousand wells in soon need that gas.
total; it may be far more oil-prone than geoscientists expect. In addition, an untapped source of energy may eventually
During a recent Arctic technology conference, representatives come to the fore in the Arctic. Gas hydrates are complex water
from Total SA postulated that exploration in deeper waters ice structures in which methane is trapped. Geoscientists reckon
and around the rims of basins might nd oil that was that there are several thousand trillion ft3 of methane trapped
displaced by such giant gas reservoirs as the Snhvit eld off in hydrates around the world, with signicant concentrations in
Norway, and the supergiant elds in the Yamal Peninsula/ Arctic permafrost and seaoor sediments. For the last several
Kara Sea off northern Russia. years, the US National Research Council, the Geological Survey of
Industry and nations are working to nd solutions to Canada and other researchers have been conducting experiments
above-ground problems. Experts note that aboriginal at the Mallik eld in the Mackenzie Delta. Their studies have
reluctance regarding oil and gas production depends on shown that hydrates can be produced in commercial amounts
how companies approach communities. You cant make from conventional gas wells.
blanket statements in regards to aboriginal attitudes and
development, says Huebert. When you look at the Canadian Conclusions
side of the Arctic, you have aboriginal groups that are Although many obstacles remain, the Arctic is still the largest
favourably oriented, such as the Aboriginal Pipeline Group remaining region of untapped energy, and is relatively free of
pushing for construction of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, political restraints that place most of the worlds energy supplies
which is a reection of the homework that BP and Exxon did off limits to IOCs. In 10 years from now, I see signicant oil and
there. The Greenlanders are also really looking forward to gas production in the Beaufort, the Russian high Arctic, and off
oil and gas development; the Danes and Greenlanders have Greenland, says Huebert.
worked out an agreement that will see independence talks Dr. Beauchamp agrees. Other regions with the potential for large
move ahead when they reach a certain degree of prosperity. conventional discoveries have warlords and terrorists and unfriendly
In 2010, Russia and Norway announced that they governments, he notes. The Arctic is under Canadian and US
had resolved a 40 year old Arctic boundary dispute, jurisdiction, which have stable governments and regulations. That
encompassing 170 000 km2, to their mutual satisfaction. makes the Arctic less risky and more appealing. O T
Canada and the US also launched a joint expedition survey
in order to map the Arctics North America continental shelf. Notes
1. Dr. Rob Huebert is the Associate Director of the Center for Military and
Not only will it ascertain the extent of the OCS, the data will
Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.
also help resolve the maritime boundary between the two 2. Dr. Benoit Beauchamp is a professor of Geoscience at the University of
countries. Calgary and the Director of the Arctic Institute of North America.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
14 June 2011
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The Russian riddle
Ekaterina Kozinchenko, Jake Leslie Melville,
HegeNordahl and Adrian Del Maestro, Booz & Co., UK,
contribute their perspective on ensuring the long term
success of Russian oil and gas.
W
inston Churchill once described Russia as a riddle, Geographically, Russia sits strategically between the large
wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. That energy demand centre that is Europe, and the rapidly growing
remark still resonates with Russias foreign investors demand centres of China, India and other Asian economies. It
particularly with those involved in the energy sector. Today remains very important geopolitically.
Russia stands at a major crossroads with regards to the What is less clear is how well prepared Russia is to face
evolution of its oil and gas industry. What is undisputed the array of challenges to further develop its energy resources;
is that the country boasts some of the worlds largest a growing scal burden, ongoing investor concerns about the
hydrocarbon reserves, and is the largest oil and gas producer. regulatory framework, inconsistent government intervention in
16
the energy sector, overlaid as a costly place to do business remote and frontier basins under difcult conditions, such
from an expatriate perspective. An additional concern relates as offshore Arctic. The industry needs to further develop the
to the age and the types of elds both in production, and technical capabilities required to deliver large capital projects
those still to be developed. Can the oil and gas sector meet in both the upstream and downstream segments. Developing
the growing technical and operational challenges in accessing these capabilities often by working side by side and in
the countrys additional hydrocarbon reserves? collaboration with international companies that have the
New oil and gas developments in Russia are increasingly requisite expertise will be key for the long term success of
complex, with operators having to explore and produce in the sector and critical in enabling domestic players to increase
17
It appears that international oil companies (IOCs) have
been expressing growing condence in Russia. This year
alone has witnessed the announcement of the BP Rosneft
alliance (yet to be completed) focusing on exploration
opportunities in the Arctic South Kara Sea, as well as Totals
US$ 4 billion investment to acquire a 12% stake in the gas
producer Novatek. Similarly, Shell announced a strategic
alliance with the Russian gas giant Gazprom towards the
end of 2010, signalling its continued interest in Russia
after the events of 2006, when the super major was forced
to cede majority control of one of its agship projects,
Sakhalin II. Investor condence in the Russian energy sector
is not just limited to the oil majors. Wintershall (the upstream
subsidiary of BASF) has a long history of co-operation
with Gazprom. Indeed the two companies have three
gas-marketing joint ventures, as well as production joint
ventures in Russia and Libya. They also recently signed a
memorandum of understanding on joint development of gas
Figure 1a. Proven gas reserves by country, 2009. elds in West Siberia and the North Sea.
Source: Booz & Company research.
but there are
challenges ahead
Despite the renewed interest
of the international oil majors,
West Siberia, the countrys
most prolic oil province,
is in sharp decline due to
basin maturity and the lack of
sufcient investment in existing
infrastructure and new project
developments. Partly for this
reason, and as illustrated in
Figure 2, oil production after a
decade of substantial growth
now appears to be plateauing.
As a result, energy
companies are having to
develop new prospects in
frontier territories, driving up
their costs signicantly.
Figure 1b. Top 10 oil producers, 2009.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
18 June 2011
WERE
ALL FEELING
THE PRESSURE.
Were in an HPHT environment, and
thats before the drilling even starts.
Boots & Coots has been bringing risk under control for decades. Our hands-on
experience as pressure control specialists makes us uniquely qualied to help you
prepare forand preventcritical well events. And a well-structured Prevention
plan can provide some much-needed relief from the pressure.
Conclusion
Figure 2. Russian oil production, 2000 - 2009. Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy
Churchill concluded his famous
June2010; Booz & Company research.
comment on the riddle of
Russia by noting that the key
[to solving it] is Russian national
interest. That interest, happily,
is the same as the interests of
the global energy industry, as
well as those of consumers in
Europe and Asia: with the right
sets of capabilities in place,
foreign energy companies
present the best path forward
for Russia to develop and
capitalise on its incomparable oil
and gas reserves, and to ensure
abundant supplies for these key
markets in future decades. O T
Note
Founded in 1914 by Edwin Booz,
Booz & Co. is a global management
consultancy, working with businesses,
Figure 3. Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2010; Booz & Company research.
governments and organisations.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
20 June 2011
CREATING
INVESTOR
OPPORTUNITIES
Kevin Forbes, Epi-V, UK, explores the opportunities for private
equity investors in the upstream services sector, which is set for
the next phase of industry investment.
T
echnology has been crucial in supporting the sourcing and production of hydrocarbons since the modern age
of oil and gas exploration began.
These technologies are developed to reduce capital expenditure, improve reservoir recovery, access new
hard-to-reach reserves or minimise the environmental impact of exploration. Each requires signicant nancial capacity
to develop, commercialise, test and position in order to achieve market adoption.
Parke A. Dickley, the petroleum geologist, once famously wrote of oileld exploration in the 20th century: Several
times in the past we thought we were running out of oil and gas, whereas, actually, we were only running out of ideas.
Over the next few years, ideas in the form of innovative oil and gas technology will be more important than ever as
the sector faces a raft of notable challenges.
21
However, one of the barriers remaining is changing To position companies to bring game-changing technologies
non-conventional reserves into cost-effective, efcient to market, initially, they require capital investment to allow for
prospects. Accessing this new oil requires intensive drilling product development, qualication and commercialisation -
and new completion methods, which in turn necessitate overcoming the challenges of industry adoption.
signicant capital investment. Epi-V has successfully invested A notable challenge for new companies is to dene potential
in technologies such as the i-Tec I-FRAC ball drop activated applications and markets for a given technology. Epi-V works
fracturing sleeve; that are helping to unlock these resources closely with management teams to chart all conceivable industry
efciently. These new, innovative technologies will be vital if the opportunities and how the technology can bring most value to
industry is to meet energy demand, which is predicted to grow the industry operators. In many cases, technology companies
by 40 - 50% to 2035 by the International Energy Agency (IEA). commercialise ineffectively as a result of failing to appreciate
For emerging fast moving services businesses, the industry the adverse implications of changing current operator workows
climate is bringing considerable new growth opportunities to or target applications that have low value to the operator. The
the fore. These opportunities include technology that is able to broader perspective of an experienced, specialist investor can
cost-effectively address the difculties posed by deepwater, bring insight into the true commercial opportunities. This stage
geologically complex reservoirs and unconventional reserves, should assess the feasibility, use, development time and markets
such as shale gas. for the given technology, and consider additional applications
Moreover, with oil prices above US$ 100 and the industry that can speed adoption, identity value from an operators
increasing its capital expenditure by 11% this year, 2011 is as perspective and, ultimately, create a protable business.
good a time as any to back oil and gas services, as the sector Strategic market positioning can then be taken to the
enters its next signicant spending cycle, with notable capital next level, with the company actively engaging with its target
investment expected. customers having understood their requirements. By aligning
Entrepreneurial technology-driven oil and gas services technology with customer requirements, the business can then
businesses are highly attractive to a specialist investor, such build persuasive marketing and brand strategies.
as Epi-V, where, through a mixture of growth capital, industry There are also more practical issues to take into account. How
insight and commercialisation competence, it can turn potential does the business translate the founders science and innovative
into a ourishing company of signicant strategic value to the IP into a development programme to create robust products?
industry. Does the company manufacture or outsource? What facilities
are required? How will the business cope with geographic
The shale challenge distribution? How will management recruit and manage a diverse
The swift rise of shale gas and oil is just one of many workforce to meet growth targets? In the midst of all this change,
segments of the oil and gas industry that is creating signicant the business must take an objective and disciplined approach
opportunities to invest in groundbreaking innovations that to funding and cash ow, as this is the lifeblood of any new
optimise production and drive process efciencies. business. Experienced investors can provide signicant support
Shales extremely low permeability and the extraction to guide emerging businesses though this process.
challenges this created meant that it was previously considered Combined, these stages allow a technology-led oil and gas
completely uneconomical. However, the combination of services company to nd its market, perfect its proposition and
horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing and high tech build a presence that allows for rapid adoption and protable
multi-stage completions is allowing us to realise some of the business growth.
potential of these vast reserves, with greater than 50% of US
rigs now drilling horizontal wells and more than 150 drilling in Ideas transformed into successful companies
one basin alone. Innovation and technology will become increasingly central to
The challenges this market poses are both technical and the fortunes of oil and gas exploration businesses as companies
economic, and they are placing strategic premiums on new explore resources in ever more challenging environments. The
technology capable of maximising reservoir contact and inow opportunities for investors and investee companies alike are
performance, while improving efciency and reducing time and signicant, so long as the proposition is well positioned in the
costs. marketplace.
Epi-V is looking at a broad range of businesses with In seeking funding, businesses should look to potential
technology that, when applied to this market, will address partners with deep industry experience, not just funding. The
specic process challenges. These include maximising industry is very competitive and traditionally slow to embrace
economic reservoir contact for the well and improving drilling new technologies, and nancial backing alone is simply not
and completion efciency safely. enough to gain competitive advantage.
Emerging oil and gas services companies should seek both
An investors active approach investment and the alternative viewpoint that an experienced
As mature participants in the upstream services sector, Epi-V investment partner can bring to its companies to help them
has witnessed a number of technologies with potential to exploit realise their growth potential. When commercialisation is effective,
these new high value growth markets. upstream oil and gas services businesses can seize opportunities.
The organisational maturity of the majority of ambitious, By identifying specic market opportunities and working
technology-led oil and gas services companies means that closely with management to fully exploit their technology in
investment alone is not enough. To access new growth areas, that space, its possible to turn a nascent technology into a
funding should be considered as only one requirement in a signicant growth business that drives innovation for the entire
companys long-term growth strategy. industry. O T
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
22 June 2011
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FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland
Tel. +358 10 8611
www.kemira.com
In North America
+1 800 347 1542
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OT_21-24_June2011.indd
OT_JuneOnline.indd 1 24 08/06/2011
07/06/2011 09:09
16:45
Kristofer Tingdahl, dGB Earth Sciences, USA,
addresses the limitations of seismic interpretation.
F
ew would argue against the premise that seismic
interpretation tools and their ease of use have
improved signicantly over the last few years.
From advances in attribute analysis to fault mapping
and horizon picking, seismic interpretation has made
substantial advances in developing geologically consistent
3D representations of the subsurface. Interpreters today can
also enjoy a highly visual graphics environment on which to
rigorously interpret their geological data and maximise its
value for future reservoir management decisions.
This being said, however, seismic interpretation today
still comes with certain limitations, which are manifested in
a number of ways. For example, many geological models,
often containing gigabytes of data, still remain highly
generalised. All too often, it is just kilobytes and megabytes
of data, including just a few mapped horizons, from which
important interpretations are derived. The result is that huge
amounts of potentially valuable seismic information are
being lost.
There is also often a lack of understanding of the full
structure of the seismic data, a lack of integration across
the workow and a manual-focus to interpretation activities.
25
automatic fault detection and denition
and the accurate structural modelling
of both elds and prospects.
While conventional interpretation
workows might only require a limited
number of key horizons to be mapped,
however, it has become clear to us
that, by automating horizon tracking
and creating a denser set of horizons,
interpreters can extract more geology
from their seismic data.
A dense set of auto-tracked
horizons can help guide well
correlations, generate an improved
insight into the depositional
environment, interpret systems tracts,
and improve the chances of nding
stratigraphic traps where oil might be
Figure 1. The HorizonCube process and the impact it can have on all elements of the seismic found.
interpretation workow. Furthermore, in comparison to
standard workows where the low
frequency model is often considered
to be the weakest link, having a dense
set of horizons can result in a much
more detailed model being built to
be put forward for seismic inversion.
By interpolating well data along
the dense set of horizons, detailed
geologic models can be generated
that are fully consistent with seismic
measurements.
This is the rationale and thinking
behind the dip-steered auto-tracker
dGB Earth Sciences has developed,
known as the HorizonCube.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
26 June 2011
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OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
28 June 2011
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temperatures (HPHT). with casing applications. S-shaped wells. to the market.
The importance of an
accessible, intuitive workflow
HorizonCube can only be fully effective,
Figure 4. The thickness maps of the depositional sequences with and without HorizonCube however, if interpreters move away from
interpretation on a eld, offshore Abu Dhabi. the manual-focused and limited graphics
environments of the past and operate in an
environment where workow processes are more accessible
and intuitive.
Its with this in mind that dGB has teamed up with the
Japanese company Wacom, a world leading manufacturer of
pen tablets and digital interface solutions, allowing seismic
interpreters using HorizonCube to interact directly with the
tablet in their editing and visualisation activities (see Figure 5).
This allows for the drawing of horizons, faults and
objects within a highly user-friendly and graphics-focused
environment, with the interactive pen display allowing the
user to directly work with the pen on the screen and thereby
making the process of analysing data much more efcient.
This is due to the perfect hand-eye co-ordination of the pen
display and the fact that the user works exactly at the point
Figure 5. Seismic interpreters can use HorizonCube to interact on the screen where he wants the cursor.
directly with the tablet in their editing and visualisation activities. To this end, HorizonCube can be used for sequence
stratigraphy interpretation where the horizons are used
to mark sequence boundaries and faults can be directly
Furthermore, in partnership with third-party specialists, drawn into the data set. The result is a highly innovative but
dGB now offers the stratigraphic framework analysis of practical tool.
associated well log data, as an add-on to its Sequence
Stratigraphic Interpretation System (SSIS). Generating a different perspective
Here, the stratigraphic analysis of well logs is conducted Seismic interpretation today is all about generating a
interactively with the seismic data analysis, adding to both the different perspective on the geological and stratigraphic
robustness and resolution of the resulting chronostratigraphic aspects of data volumes and squeezing maximum geological
scheme. value out of this data.
In particular, dGB offers unconventional, data-driven With applications, such as HorizonCube, and
attribute analysis of well logs with which it can either QC partnerships with companies such as Wacom, where
preferred well log markers for consistency with its SSIS dGB is using its experience in the photography, graphics,
results, or build a completely new log-based framework, and fashion design industries and applying it to seismic
based on sequence stratigraphic principles. interpretation, the company is seeing how seismic
Like seismic data, well logs carry geological information in interpretation has the power to innovate and the overcome
attributes that are unseen in conventional displays, and that limitations of the past.
are therefore unexploited for stratigraphic interpretation. Geoscientists will nally be able to enjoy the full benets
Based on linear predictions, the transforming of a facies- of knowing the complete structure of their reservoir data,
sensitive log (such as GR) reveals depositional patterns leading to geologically sound rock-property predictions,
- correlatable from well to well - even across lateral facies effective well correlation and more geological information
variations. These dene packages of strata, bounded by from seismic than ever before. O T
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
30 June 2011
SHARPENED VISION
Henning Trappe, Gerald Eisenberg-Klein, Juergen Pruessmann,
TEEC, Germany, discuss the use of CRS analysis on seismic
data to improve the view of reservoir structure and lithology.
T
hree ingredients are required to obtain a good resolution numerical computer power. Modern depth imaging by prestack
of our hydrocarbon reservoirs from reection seismic depth migration (PreSDM) provides the most accurate methods
data. These are an imaging method that is able to collect for a combined realisation of the two imaging steps, the focusing
and relocate the reections pertaining to a specic reector, of all reections from a single subsurface structure, and their
an accurate set of data dependent parameters that steer the relocation to the original position in depth.
imaging process, and, hopefully, good data. Especially in complex geology, however, these PreSDM
Highly accurate imaging methods are available today, methods are very sensitive to the signal-to-noise ratio of the
but quite often cannot fully exploit their strengths. Data seismic data, and even more to the velocity depth model. Model
noise and irregularities deteriorate both the determination of building has thus become the most crucial and costly step in
accurate imaging parameters, and the actual imaging process, depth imaging, since PreSDM requires an accurate and even
thus requiring effective ways to increase the robustness of more consistent global eld of imaging velocities. Here again,
imaging and lithology prediction. Such effective measures are the data quality has a strong inuence on the model building
demonstrated by recent strategies of the Common Reection process.
Surface, or CRS method that enhance the subsurface resolution The CRS approach now offers a preconditioning of seismic
in both, the prestack domain of measured data, and poststack data that strongly raises the signal quality, and optionally
domain of stacked data. compensates for irregularities in the spatial distribution of
During the last decades, the determination of the seismic seismic recordings as well. The main idea of this CRS strategy
imaging parameters, and the actual imaging process have is to collect and focus seismic reection events belonging to
seen a steady development to more and more sophisticated a local common subsurface structure, the so called common
numerical methods that went hand in hand with the increase of reection surface, before entering further imaging or reservoir
31
characterisation steps. As an example, Figure 1 illustrates the
effect of CRS focusing by PreSDM sections of low fold 3D
seismic land data.
Further advantages of this CRS data preconditioning
for imaging in time and depth, model building and reservoir
studies are outlined in the following, after a closer look at the
CRS imaging principles.
CRS method
CRS focusing is characterised by both a high resolution, and
a general robustness. Dense local measurements of seismic
data parameters are collected from each imaging point into
so-called CRS attribute volumes providing the high resolution.
The robustness with respect to local parameter errors is based
on the local independence of the measurements, in contrast
to the mutually dependent estimates of PreSDM imaging
parameters in a global model.
Another advantage is the high number of contributions
that are used in CRS focusing of individual reections events,
leading to a strong suppression of noise. This multiple
contribution, the so called fold, is a consequence of the
general CRS subsurface assumptions of local reector
elements with dip and curvature in the subsurface. In the
seismic data, the seismic reection produced by one of these
complex reector elements is certainly not conned to a
specic common mid-point (CMP) of the shot and receiver
pairs, but extends across many neighbouring CMP locations.
Collecting the contributions from all these CMP locations
amounts to a much larger stacking fold than in conventional
CMP stacking using one CMP location at a time only.
Figure 1. Kirchhoff prestack depth migration of CMP gathers (top)
The CRS contributions to a certain image point are
versus CRS gathers (bottom). Note the improvement of sedimentary
reections and salt boundary. collected along a hyperbolic time surface for zero-offset
stacking, that was presented by Mann et al. (1999) and
Jger et al. (2001) following initial work by Gelchinsky (1988).
Corresponding to the complex reector geometry, a complex
set of stacking parameters is required to dene this time
surface, comprising the waveeld dip , and the waveeld
curvatures RNIP and RN at the surface. They are related to
hypothetical wavefronts from a point source at the normal
incident point (NIP) on the reector, and from an exploding
reector, respectively. This is indicated in Figure 2 (top) for the
case of 2D seismic data.
The advantages of CRS stacking as opposed to
conventional NMO/DMO stacking were illustrated by
Hubral et al. (1999) in the schematic display of Figure 2
(bottom). The high fold and the increased S/N ratio of the
CRS stacked section are attributed to the better t of the CRS
travel-time approximation (green) to the actual reection times
(blue) in a much larger area of the offset and CMP domains.
CRS stacking obviously collects a much larger portion of
the actual reection. Stacking along the full CRS travel time
approximation provides a CRS stack, whereas partial stacking
in small offset and CMP intervals is used to produce CRS
Figure 2. The CRS stacking attributes comprise the emergence angle gathers with an enhanced signal contents.
and the wavefront curvatures RNIP and RN at the surface, which can The main factor assuring the high resolution of the CRS
be related to hypothetical experiments with (a) a point source, and (b) stack is the automatic estimation of an optimum set of
the exploding reector, respectively, in the subsurface (top row, after stacking parameters, the so-called CRS attributes, at each
Jger et al., 2001). The t of (c) DMO and (d) CRS stacking surfaces point of the image. Due to this detailed attribute search, CRS
(green) to the CMP/offset-dependent travel times (blue) are illustrated
imaging is a computationally intense method, especially in
for an anticlinal model (gray, bottom of graph), showing a large area
3D applications. This advance in seismic processing can
with excellent t for CRS stacking (bottom row, after Hubral et al.,
1999). thus be regarded as another consequence of the increased
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
32 June 2011
power of modern computers, just like the evolution of new depth
migration techniques.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
33
data conguration, or for regularising the data geometry in workow. Commonly the rst step to depth is the fast derivation
CMP/offset domain. Figure 5 compares an original CMP gather of an initial velocity model in depth from processing parameters
from 3D land data with corresponding CRS gathers. Geometry of the time processing. The traditional Dix conversion of stacking
preservation as performed in the CRS shot gather construction velocities into a starting model in depth is restricted to mainly at
of Figure 4, leaves the irregular data distribution in the structures since stacking velocities do not contain any useful dip
CMP/offset domain untouched but enhances the signal contents information (Dix, 1955).
(Figure 5 middle). Regularised CRS gathers with a uniform The CRS attributes, on the contrary, comprise an explicit dip
CMP/offset coverage (Figure 5 right) may interpolate the seismic measurement. Inversion of CRS attributes by grid tomography
reections in large data gaps and even reconstruct seismic into a velocity depth model thus well reconstructs the dipping
features like air waves. These CRS gathers are well suited for trends. This was demonstrated in a case study of CRS depth
CRS-AVO investigations, and for Kirchhoff prestack migration in imaging in salt geology by Pruessmann et al. (2008), using 3D
time or depth as shown in Figure 1. seismic data from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In this case
study, the velocity model from CRS tomography followed the
CRS based depth imaging workflow seismic depth structures much better than the Dix model from
Both the CRS gathers, and the event information in the CRS stacking velocities (Figure 6).
attributes may be used to design a complete depth imaging The costly renement of the velocity depth model that uses
iterative PreSDM with subsequent moveout analysis in depth
gathers, can as well be shortened signicantly by migrating
CRS gathers. The atness of the depth gathers as a measure
of the model accuracy is more clearly visible in the CRS depth
gathers with a high signal-to-noise ratio. The CRS depth imaging
workow nally produces a depth image with superior resolution
of the near surface sediments, a better denition of the salt
body, and much clearer sub-salt reections in comparison to the
result of the conventional workow (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Final prestack depth migration from conventional depth imaging ow (left), and from CRS ow (right). Note the improved denition of the
salt body.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
34 June 2011
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AT EVERY TURN
ADAMAS BASE
Advanced materials
extends high-wear
component life
SHADOW PATH
HELI PATH
Excellent directional
responsiveness
CRYO EDGE
DYNAMIC NUTATION
System dramatically
improves ROP
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
36 June 2011
decreases at the anks. As a result, the CRS approach provides
a robust AVO analysis with meaningful results at data where
conventional AVO completely fails.
Conclusions
The CRS method that was originally developed as a generalised
seismic stacking technique in time domain, has developed into
a universal tool for robust parameter estimation and model
building, enhanced lithology prediction and reservoir analysis,
and high resolution poststack and prestack migration in time
and depth, for 2D/3D land and marine data. The extension of
the CRS stacking range over several CMP locations and over
the full offset range strongly increases the fold, allowing a stable
determination of the stacking parameters, the so-called CRS
attributes, for each point of the image. These densely sampled
attribute volumes represent a highly detailed event description of
the seismic data for high-resolution applications in imaging and
beyond.
Figure 10. CMP gathers (top) versus regularised CRS gathers
The increased fold of the local event description, and the
(bottom) from 3D land seismic data across a gas storage. Note the
associated increase of the signal-to-noise ratio in CRS imaging
CRS signal enhancement in general. At location B, the increase of
is effective in both land and marine data of various fold. amplitude with offsets is highlighted by the CRS result, and trace gaps
Especially in low-fold data, CRS imaging uses the are lled.
redundancy of the event information to a maximum extent in
order to reveal reections and faults that are mostly buried in
noise in the associated conventional time and depth images.
CRS may thus be regarded as a versatile complement of sparse
2D or 3D seismic acquisition in surveys with limited access, or
severe cost restrictions.
A powerful approach to combine CRS processing with
modern prestack imaging techniques is the partial CRS stacking
into so-called CRS gathers. CRS partial stacking reduces the
data noise in prestack time or depth migration, and CRS data
regularisation minimises the migration noise in these processes.
CRS data regularisation in shot domain is well suited for
wave-equation depth migration and RTM, whereas regularisation
in CMP/offset domain improves Kirchhoff prestack migration
in time and depth, but also AVO analysis, or simply the manual
stacking velocity analysis in poor data.
A comprehensive CRS depth imaging workow comprises
both the model building, and the prestack and poststack depth
migration. In a rst step, the detailed event information of the
CRS attributes is inverted by grid tomography into a reliable
starting model of the velocity in depth. Dip is well honoured
in this model, in contrast to conventional models from Dix
inversion of stacking velocities. The reliable starting model,
and the improved model update on CRS-based depth gathers
effectively reduce the model building time and cost. The nal
depth migration of CRS gathers increases the general resolution,
and especially improves the denition of salt bodies and sub-salt
reections.
The structural reservoir analysis strongly benets from the
high resolution of CRS imaging, and from the local optimisation
of the CRS imaging parameters. Coherency measures from
CRS images show a signicant noise suppression revealing
the fault systems in noise zones. A similar noise suppression
is observed in CRS-AVO analysis, which allows to expand
AVO to deeper targets and noise zones especially in land data.
Further CRS tools are available, thus composing a complete
processing chain from initial CRS residual statics until the nal Figure 11. Conventional AVO (top) versus CRS-AVO (bottom): product
CRS reservoir studies, a chain that is steadily expanded by new section of AVO intercept and gradient across a gas storage with
developments. O T indication of gather locations A, B, C of Figure 10.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
37
<COVER STORY>
38
move to
A
F
or more than 50 years, drillers have utilised technologies that enable them to drill
directionally and through difcult formations. While the benets provided by these
technologies are extremely compelling, the rate of innovation remains surprisingly
slow. A study conducted by McKinsey & Co. estimates the average time from idea to 50%
market penetration is over 30 years for oileld technologies in general, compared to less
than seven years for consumer products.
39
drill through both soft and hard formations, while eliminating testing its PDC drill bits, with each step of the process analysed
extra trips for bit changes. through the lens of industry needs.
Manufacturing techniques
Drilformance uses a methodical approach to manufacturing,
keeping unique processes simple and streamlined. Fewer
steps, systematic processes and rigorous quality control ensure
delivery of uniformly high quality bits with dependable eld
reliability and predictable results.
Utilising manufacturing techniques from the aerospace
industry, each Drilformance PDC bit is milled from a block of solid
steel, providing maximum structural integrity and a high degree
of elasticity to reduce bit chatter and eliminate shing jobs due
to broken blades. Drilformance bits have an extremely short
make-up length, and incorporate a patent-pending make-up
system that eliminates the need for a welded shank behind the
bit, further reducing make-up length while increasing structural
integrity. Each bit is machined to the same tight tolerances and
precise pocket accuracy, ensuring consistent eld performance.
Proprietary manufacturing processes enable higher blade
standoff, increasing the junk slot area for better hole cleaning.
Fit-for-purpose manufacturing processes also help the bits stay in
gauge, eliminating reaming operations that waste rig time.
Figure 1. Drilformance Acel DrillTM PDC bit system.
Dynamic force balancing
Bit stability and control is enabled by tightly integrated bit
frame components. Drilformance proprietary engineering
and manufacturing methods uniquely address common PDC
usability issues such as stick-slip, bit-whirl, and non-uniform
weight distribution across a breadth of dynamic environments.
This attention to detail in development and manufacturing
produces PDC drill bits that allow operators to achieve total
depth (TD) in signicantly less time and, as some of the cases
below illustrate, with only a single drill bit.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
40 June 2011
In another area of the same
trend, the operator typically
required three to ve production
bits to drill to TD. After selecting
Drilformance PDC solutions, the
rst well took two production
bits and 200 hours of drilling
time, compared to 343 hours
on a previous well, resulting in
savings per well estimated at over
US$ 200 000. Additional wells have
realised similar performance gains.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
41
providing the optimal angle of attack for the cutter edge.
Drilformances Cryo Edge PDC cutters consist of a single
piece of tungsten carbide substrate bonded to a high quality
PDC compound. Cryo Edge is a combination of proprietary
manufacturing process and materials, which include a
precise angular micro-bevel applied to each cutter before
insertion into the bit pocket. This calibrated displacement
impacts the shear potential of each cutter, permitting a
more aggressive prole to maximise depth of cut with each
revolution.
Cryo Edge
The principle behind the architecture of the cutter is to www.energyglobal.com/sectors
minimise fracturing and increase thermal resistance by
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
42 June 2011
Charles Douglas and Josh Passauer, Smith Bits,
a Schlumberger company, USA, consider a new bit optimised for shale,
saving significant rig time in the Haynesville Play.
I
n the fast-paced drilling industry, performance is king. Increasingly, challenging demands are placed on
drill bits. And why not? After all, they are the tip of the spear.
Bits are required to drill faster, last longer, and produce better quality boreholes than ever before. But
these attributes dont come easy. Formations are increasingly complex; targets are deeper, hotter and
harder to reach.
The recent nationwide shale play is spilling across our borders as North American operators are
proving the value of shale drilling, and worldwide plays lie just around the corner. Yet while huge
shale gas reserves potential beckons operators, there is a constant push for greater efciency to
minimise costs. Natural gas is a commodity, and as a result, operators cannot independently
raise prices to offset costs. With prices set by local markets, the only recourse to
improve protability is to attack costs. In the mature arena of well construction,
cost reduction is a tough challenge and even signicant investments in
technology often result in marginal gains. Nevertheless, every so
often, perseverance and innovation are rewarded.
43
experience and learnings from thousands of wells drilled to
date. They considered the operators needs together with the
geomechanical scenarios they faced. While understanding
that there probably would not be one solution that ts
all situations, they were able to isolate the predominant
impediments to shale drilling and borehole quality and address
them.
The following drilling characteristics of the majority of
shale wells were identied:
x Over the past few years, shale well profiles have shifted
from vertical to horizontal.
x Drillers generally use different bits to drill the vertical
section, the build (or curve) section and the lateral.
x Most shale wells are drilled using positive displacement
mud motors and are completed using hydraulic fracturing.
x Effective borehole cleaning is a must, especially in the
lateral section.
x Bit vibration must be controlled to optimise drilling
efficiency and bit longevity as well as to avoid damaging
LWD/MWD equipment.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
44 June 2011
We have shrunk the world...
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gauge cutters. Bit vibration is the principle cause of excessive both the curve and lateral, giving up performance on one section
cutter wear and poor drilling efciency. or the other depending on the bit chosen.
Spear bits proved to achieve target build rates in the To maximise sensitivity to the operators needs, Smith Bits
curve section by facilitating good tool face control, and fast placed an Advanced Services Engineer (ASE) in the operators
penetration in the lateral while maintaining desired direction and ofce as a technical advisor to provide recommendations
inclination. In addition, the hydraulic enhancements made to the and support to the operator. ASE engineers have access
bit design meant that the blades and nozzles did not pack up to Smith Bits proprietary engineering tools to assist in
with shale during drill pipe connections. recommending the ideal bit and provide operational expertise
With its short make-up length to ensure desired dogleg for each particular application. The practice of placing technical
severity, the new bits have successfully been run under the specialists within operating companies is widespread. Logging
following operating parameters with varying BHA congurations: and pumping services engineers have proved their value through
x PDM speeds ranging from 0.52 rev/gal. to 1.02 rev/gal. deep domain expertise for many years. It follows that drilling
x Motor bend angles ranging from 1.5 to 2.6. experts will provide similar benets. Working with the operators
x Flow rates ranging from 200 gal./min. to 260 gal./min. drilling engineers and well design specialists, Smith Bits
x Weight-on-bit ranging from 2000 lbf to 20 000 lbf. engineers selected two offset wells belonging to the same
x Drilling fluid weights ranging from 14.5 lb/gal. to 17.0 lb/gal. operator and with formation characteristics as close to those of
the case study well as possible to test the new SDi611 Spear bit.
Haynesville shale well example To ensure the best match between the well design and
A typical Haynesville drilling program calls for drilling and geomechanical constraints imposed by the formations to be
wireline logging a vertical or directional 9 7/8 in. intermediate drilled, a DBOS* drill bit optimisation system log plotted from
section to the casing point using water-based drilling uid. The the best available data, including lithology and mineralogy, and
uid is then displaced with oil-based mud for drilling the curve unconned compressive strength of the rock is often used. This
and lateral sections. Since bottom-hole temperatures takes into account both the curve section and the lateral, and
are severe, the use of rotary steerable systems (RSS) and shows engineers that the bit will perform well in both sections
logging-while- drilling (LWD) tools is limited and PDM steerable and can help facilitate the decision to drill to total depth without
motors are primarily used to build and drill the curve section and a bit trip.
lateral. The rst offset well was drilled using three PDC bits of
Up until now, operators have been faced with a dilemma. another manufacturer. It kicked off at 10 500 ft and drilled curve
Previous bit designs were either optimised for the curve section and lateral to a measured depth of 16 324 ft. Penetration rates
with strong build tendencies and directional-friendly steerability for the three bits were 23 ft/hr, 39 ft/hr and 31 ft/hr respectively.
or they targeted the lateral section with fast, aggressive Offset well number two kicked off at 10 455 ft using the
penetration rates. To get the best performance, a bit trip Smith Bits SDi513 Spear bit for the curve and drilled 1012 ft;
was required so the best bit could be used for each section. then switched to another manufacturers PDC bit to drill 479 ft.
Alternatively, the operator could elect to use the same bit for To complete the lateral, the SDi513 bit was used and drilled
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
46 June 2011
Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain
S oc i e t y of Pe t r ol e u m E n gi n ee r s
www.MEOS2011.com
Organisers
NEW DA fawzi@aeminfo.com.bh
TES
ANNOU Worldwide Co-ordinator
NCED
meos@oesallworld.com
Conference Organisers
spedub@spe.org
on the case study well. Total savings
were estimated by the operator at
US$ 365 000.
Since the case study well was
drilled, the operator has been
increasing its use of Smith Bits Spear
bits in the Haynesville.
No silver bullet
Drilling the shale plays is not a simple
task. Each play must be carefully
studied to determine its geomechanical
properties and formation parameters
so the optimum bit can be selected.
The fundamental design parameters of
the new Spear bits address the most
challenging aspects of curve and lateral
shale drilling, maintaining a high rate of
penetration while delivering an accurate
Figure 4. Comparison of case study well with two nearby offset wells of the same operator
wellbore trajectory and a good quality
highlights single bit run performance of the Spear SDi611 bit (left) in a record-setting run for
borehole so subsequent completion
Haynesville horizontals.
activities can proceed without
problems.
The Smith Bits Spear design can
4552 ft to total measured depth of 16 498 ft. Penetration rates be tted with premium ONYX* PDC cutters for hard rock
for the three bits were 14 ft/hr, 10 ft/hr and 31 ft/hr respectively. drilling applications. Many years of experience have shown
The case study well was kicked off at 10 720 ft and was that bit selection is a science. There is no one-type-ts-all
drilled entirely with the SDi611 Spear bit to a total measured situation. Drilling engineers nd that they obtain the best
depth of 16 783 ft. A single bit was used. Penetration rate was performance when the bits are carefully matched to the well
49.7 ft/hr; a Haynesville record. There are a few faster lateral design and the geomechanical constraints presented by the
runs, but so far none have been able to drill both the curve and formations to be drilled. O T
the lateral at that rate.
Considering both the penetration rate gains plus the References
elimination of bit runs a total of 124 hours of rig time was saved * Mark of Schlumberger.
www.energyglobal.com/events
D R I L L B I T
SOLU T I O N S r y Products,
; C e nt u
ppliers vide detail
s
Leading su V ar el, p ro
hole and
NOV Down ill bit t ec hnologies.
dd r
of advance
DRILLER: EQUIPPED
Jack Castle, Century Products, Inc., USA, details the companys range of drilling tools.
T
odays competitive environment demands constant Milled Tooth (MT) bearing design to perfectly attack the various
creation and improved application in all areas of formations drillers encounter.
the drilling arena, especially in the magnum size bit A six-point stabilisation feature is standard on the Rock Bit
range. Century Products, Inc. is a US-based manufacturer line (Figure 1). This allows for better stability, which results in
specialising in the development of magnum smoother running parameters and less vibration
sized drilling tools. High quality, durable bits to help reduce other potential downhole failures.
that offer a high rate of penetration and on Three interchangeable jet nozzles are extended
target steering performance is the focus of to aid in the stabilisation as well as provide
Centurys R&D. exceptional hole cleaning abilities.
The industrys attention has been directed The Hole Opener line incorporates
towards the development of the smaller, PDC stabilisation features as well, which results in
bit range. Century is lling a void by offering a well-balanced tool machined to exacting
a complete range of drilling tools for borehole tolerances. A rebuildable design allows for
enlargement from 16 in. 72 in. With two multiple cutting structures to be inserted into
complementary product lines, Hole Openers one body, transforming an otherwise disposable
and three cone Rock Bits, engineers are piece of equipment into an asset, (Figure 2).
provided with custom designed options to These stabilisation features are critical
choose from so drilling plans do not have to be when drilling with larger diameter drilling tools.
modied. Inherently these larger sized tools experience
The Hole Opener line covers from Figure 1. 36 in. Magnum Rock Bit. severe vibration and have difculty maintaining
20 in. 72 in. and the three cone Rock Bit line minimal borehole deviation. Borehole
ranges from 16 in. 36 in. Both are available in enlargement tools that fall within this range
IADC codes ranging from 1-1-5 to 5-3-5 and feature the highest require a dedicated engineering effort to ensure optimal drilling
load and energy bearing seal combination in the industry. performance, which yields a high ROP with minimal vibration.
They are available with Tungsten Carbide Inserts (TCI) or a As a technology leader, Century continually strives to optimise
49
drilling performance while lowering xShirttail/leg protection. Hard facing
the cost per foot through innovative along with carbide inserts blanket the
advancements to the larger size shirttail and leg, providing superior
drilling tools. wear resistance.
xInterchangeable jet nozzles.
Design features Interchangeable jet nozzles with
The correct bit choice is an integral carbide jets from 8/32nd to 24/32nd.
component in the overall drilling An improved hydraulic design
performance achieved. There are four has also been incorporated, which is
different bearing sizes to choose from, especially effective as the size of the
12.5 in., 16 in., 22 in. and 26 in. and hole increases. For example, a 72 in.
three different cutting structures to hole equals 1.05 yds3 of rock for every
select, incorporating TCI Conical and foot of penetration. This is equal to the
Chisel proles as well as Milled Tooth. volume of 67.71 ft of an 8 - 4 in. hole.
The following information provides an Designs must be modied for magnum
overview of innovative features built size products to address these
into each bit used on the Hole Opener increased volumes.
and Rock Bit lines to eliminate When these bearings are
common problems drillers encounter teamed with the latest innovation
out in the eld: in bit designs, you have a winning
combination. These bits are designed
Century high load/high to handle the tough, hard over thrust
energy bearing formations from Canada to Columbia,
Figure 3 features: and the sharper, abrasive formations
x Extreme Pressure (EP) lubricant in the Middle East. This high energy
and dual reservoir system. bearing design is also suited for the
Century Products Cutters use longevity required in the North Sea.
the latest in synthetic grease. As much as three times the bit life
This, along with the compensator versus non-sealed products can be
design, ensures proper circulation expected.
is maintained under the most
stringent applications.
x HSN O-Ring Seals: largest Case study
seal area in the industry. HSN xLength: 7456 ft River Crossing.
Material is utilised for its wear, xCountry: Quebec, Canada.
heat compression and chemical xPipe: 20 in. steel.
resistance properties for the xBore size: 30 in.
O-Rings. It has a service range
of -40 to +325 F. For the high The Canadian Province of
energy required, Century has Quebec, in the French speaking city
designed and utilises the largest
of Trois Riviers, 88 miles northeast
cross section O-Rings for longer
of Montreal on the banks of the
seal life.
St. Lawrence Seaway, served as the
x Crowned roller bearings. Premium
setting for the 7456 ft River Crossing
crowned roller bearings are
Figure 2. 24 in. Century Hole Opener. Project of The Year in 2006.
used, which gives the bearing
the capability to withstand the A 12.5 in. pilot hole was drilled with
extreme high loads. the intersect method which employs
x Ball bearing cone retention. Ball two drill rigs that start from opposite
bearing cone retention is provided ends of the project site and meet
as the most reliable method of somewhere in the middle. In effect,
cutter retention in the industry. one drill provides the pilot bore for the
x Premium silver plated floating other.
bearing system. Fully floating Once the pilot bore was completed,
thrust bearing system allows for a 30 in. Century Hole Opener with
Figure 3. 22 in. replaceable arm and cone assemblies.
reduced frictional heat build-up 5 22 in. TCI (Tungsten Carbide Inserts)
to ensure lower operational
cone was attached to the drill system
temperatures under high-energy
to handle the one pass ream. With the
operations. This design facilitates the longer bit life that
larger cones, the 30 in. Hole Opener was able to reach down to
Centurys reputation has been built around.
the 12.5 in. pilot hole.
x Gage row protection. Double the number of tungsten
carbide inserts that actively cut the gage diameter and The larger cones enabled the drilling company to skip a
assists in maintaining tight tolerances and extending in-gage reaming pass and complete the borehole in considerably less
bit life. time. The majority of the drill was mainly drilled through bedrock
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
50 June 2011
that ranged in compression strength from 4000 to 8000 psi. Century Hole Opener as opposed to running two passes
Both shale and limestone rock were encountered. to open the hole to 30 in. Due to the unique design on
The reaming process took 400 hours at an average RPM the Hole Opener Bearings and Seals, the Century Hole
of 30 and weight on bit between 145 000 165 000 lbs. Opener easily achieved 180 hours of operation in the
The reaming process was cut in half by using a single hole. O T
T
he drilling of deeper oil wells is rapidly becoming
more commonplace in todays oil and gas industry.
Hydrocarbon sources are less and less at our ngertips,
leading the industry to develop new and more sophisticated
technologies in order to reach these distant resources. This in
turn brings its own challenges, and certainly demands its own
solutions (Figure 1).
NOV Downhole has introduced the ReedHycalog
TitanUltra drill bit product line designed to overcome
the unique challenges of large diameter drilling. Due to the
substantial difference between bottomhole assembly (BHA) and
hole diameter, extremely high forces can be generated. Lateral
and torsional vibrations amplify the magnitude of these forces,
affecting ROP and directional control, and can ultimately
destroy the bit and downhole tools. Furthermore, bottomhole
cleaning and the risk of hole washout make optimal hydraulic
design essential for improving borehole quality and drilling Figure 1. The ReedHycalog TitanUltra product line from
performance. NOVDownhole is designed to overcome the challenges of
Reecting the design focus on the four fundamental areas of large-diameter drilling with a design focus on improved stability,
improved stability, rate of penetration, durability and steerability penetration rates, durability, and steerability.
to maximise performance in large diameter applications,
lThe nozzle configuration is primarily focused on minimising
TitanUltra bits have set world records in deepwater projects
the erosion of the borehole. This erosion is usually a major
offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, Australia and Russia. problem in large hole applications, where the nature of the
lithologies drilled tends to create hole washouts.
Stability: ultra-stable bit designs lIncreases directional ability in large hole diameters.
The new concept of stability developed for the TitanUltra
products, goes beyond the development of the cutting Durability: more durable bit designs
structure itself. It also considers new techniques developed for x Bit wear and impact force prediction: proprietary
other critical parts of the design such as the bit body and the mathematical modelling ensures designs that resist external
forces and formation abrasiveness.
secondary components.
x Finite Element Analysis (FEA): advanced structural integrity
x Cutting structure designs: proprietary mathematical
simulations provide reliable bit body structure design to
modelling enables the design of extremely high laterally and
overcome the most demanding drilling situations.
torsionally stable cutting structures.
x Blade global asymmetry: the difference in the angle between
each one of the design blades, has proven to increase the Steerability: directionally compatible bit designs
bits ability to mitigate externally created lateral vibrations featuring the semi-active gauge
and diminishes build up of whirl energy magnitude. x The TitanUltra designs can be run on bottomhole
x Secondary components: new Torque Fluctuation Controllers assemblies that include push or point the bit rotary steerable
(TFCs) smooth out torque spikes that may be encountered systems (RSS), as well as mud motors. Field testing has
during drilling. demonstrated its directional reliability response in all
applications. TitanUltra is the first known 24 in. or larger
ROP: aggressive bit designs PDC bit that has drilled more than a 15 inclination on an
x New cutting structure layout: unique cutting structure RSS through salt lithology in the Gulf of Mexico.
spacing and exposure allows maximum ROP while drilling
x This new technology incorporates a new gauge
smoother and longer intervals.
configuration, the Semi-Active Gauge, which gives the bit
x Hydraulic design: hydraulic modelling enables designs ability to achieve moderate dog legs and maintain verticality.
that efficiently clean the hole and maximise ROP. Other Overall, it has delivered superior borehole quality in these
achivements with the new hydraulic design include: large diameter drilling applications.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
51
The TitanUltra product line has demonstrated great
success in deepwater applications while drilling lithologies
such as salt and sedimentary, interbedded formations.
Extensive eld testing over the past year led to three
world records in some of the most important deepwater
applications worldwide, such as the Gulf of Mexico, Russia
and offshore Australia.
Proof of performance:
x The 17.5 in. TitanUltra bit set a single-bit run world record
in a section of the worlds longest well offshore Russia,
drilling a total length of 14 603 ft at a rate 149.2 ft/hr.
x In the Gulf of Mexico, a TitanUltra bit set a world record
for the longest 24 in. PDC section, drilling 4645 ft at
Figure 2. 26 in. TitanUltra World Record ROP. Bit Dull Grading: 107 ft/hr. This application was also the first known 24 in.
1-1-CT-N-X-I-NO-TD, Offshore Australia. or larger PDC run that drilled more than a 15 inclination
on a rotary steerable system through salt lithology in the
Gulf of Mexcio. Low vibration was registered and the bit
Performance advantages was dull graded 1-1-WT-A-X-I-NO-TD.
Conventional thinking has held that an increase in blade count x The most recent world record was set in Australia, where
leads to a decrease in ROP. However the TitanUltra product a 26 in. TitanUltra bit set an ROP world record by drilling
lines specially designed cutting structure layout provides 3304 ft at the rate of 144.35 ft/hr, cutting 12 hours of
performance advantages to increase ROP while using higher drilling time and saving the customer approximately
blade counts. US$ 500 000 in rig costs alone, (Figure 2). O T
S
ervice companies in the oil and gas industry are toughness and abrasion resistance to enhance and improve the
constantly evolving through deployment of new development and selection of PDC cutter technology for drilling
technology to their customers and it is no more evident applications.
than in the highly competitive drill bit industry. Companies work
diligently to have a ow of constant technology development Cutter toughness
deployed to the eld. Varel International continues to be a Cutter toughness is the ability to withstand the effects of drilling
leader in the eld, where rapid evolution of drill bit technology, dynamics. Toughness is related to the strength of the
drill bit applications and erce competiveness keep things very diamond-to-diamond bonding created during the
interesting. High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) sintering of the PDC
The company is in the forefront of drill bit and PDC cutter cutter. Historically, test methods in the industry have been
technology with research and design facilities both in the US qualitative and have fallen short of providing effective data for
and in Europe and is represented in all of the primary oil and gas eld cutter selection.
basins worldwide. To better measure cutter toughness, Varel has developed its
In just the past year alone, Varel has made strides in both patent pending Acoustical Emissions Toughness Test
PDC and Roller Cone drill bit technology. Along with (AETT). AETT quantitatively assesses the strength of the
supporting its legacy lines, the company has been on the diamond-to-diamond bonding. With this test a load is applied to
forefront of PDC cutter testing and cutter qualication, as well the cutters and increased at a constant rate while an acoustic
as delivering custom roller cone solutions for specic customer sensor detects acoustic emissions from microcracking in
applications. the diamond table. Measuring the energy released during
microcracking yields a concrete assessment of the PDC
PDC cutter technology toughness.
Multiple types and grades of PDC cutters can be cross
Cutting edge testing technology cutter qualification compared according to their resistance to load induced
In order to achieve success, the company has recently microcracking yielding a highly predictive valuation of impact
introduced its testing and qualication standards. Building upon toughness.
already successful PDC product lines such as Diamond Edge
bits, Navigator bits and the ToughDrill series, Varel has Abrasion resistance
developed and deployed two patent pending PDC cutter Abrasion resistance is the cutters ability to stay sharp as it
testing technologies. These innovative tools measure cutter drills. The primary drawback of traditional abrasion tests is
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
52 June 2011
the lack of an accurate simulated geological environment. Performance examples
Current tests use a homogenous rock structure, which does not In a recent performance review for drilling in Offshore Southern
calibrate how moments of high impact energy affect a cutters Thailand, Varel designers delivered proof points of the
abrasion resistance. Varels second patent pending test, the effectiveness of Vulcan cutter equipped PDC drill bits. Overall
BimodalAbrasive Rock Test (BART), is a laboratory abrasion these bits were able to withstand the highly abrasive formations
resistance test which employs an engineered rock sample they encountered, including formations with abundant dolomite
with highly abrasive cement cast around upright layers of high stringers.
compressive strength granite to measure a cutters abrasion Specifically, two separate seven-bladed Navigator series drill
resistance. The two rock samples create a load/unload cycle bits earned top remarks from the drilling engineer in charge as
to simulate interbedded formations and formation transitions. the best bit for the deeper section. The first bit drilled through
By recreating this environment, BART provides a more suitable the hard and abrasive Benjarong Formation to TD of 12 215 ft,
measurement of abrasion resistance correlating to field delivering superior footage and ROP when compared to closest
performance and yields a quantification of a specific cutters offsets.
applicability to transition drilling. Due to the excellent post-run condition of the drill bits
When used in combination, AETT and BART testing regimens cutting structure, it was quickly rerun completing 1782 ft for a
promise to significantly accelerate cutter development by
speeding the qualification of new cutters and by providing more
accurate quantification of prototype cutter attributes. These
processes aide in the development of new cutter technology and
in the selection of the best existing technology.
These breakthough standards and testing technologies
have led to the establishment of two classes of Varel qualified
PDC cutters: Thor and Vulcan class cutters. The Thor
class cutters are engineered to be more impact resistant than
standard cutters to address the challenges specific to hard rock
applications and interbedded formations. Conversely, highly
resistant to abrasion and the heat of drilling, Varels Vulcan class
cutters are applied in the hardest and most abrasive drilling
applications.
Thor cutters
The company deploys its Thor class cutters to meet the
challenges associated with interbedded lithology and high
impact drilling applications where cutter toughness is required. Figure 1. 8.5 VRP 713PDGX Post Run: the second drill bit
Drilling through transitional zones often produces significant performance featured (the 8.5 in. VRP713PDGX bit) is shown here
after two complete runs, the most recent to section TD in a formation
drill string vibrations. With maximum diamond particle size
consisted of hard and abrasive dolomitic cemented sandstone,
distribution and optimal sintering, Thor cutters have increased
dolomitic limestone and dolomite stringers with UCS up to 35 kpsi.
toughness while maintaining thermal mechanical abrasion
resistance. Before a cutter can enter this classification, it
undergoes a battery of tests and evaluation techniques.
With Thor cutters, the foundation of the cutting structure is
protected, leading to increased ROP and extended drill bit life in
hard-to-drill applications.
Testing
Before a cutter is qualified for Vulcan classification, it is Figure 2. The Acoustical Emissions Toughness Test (AETT)
subjected to a rigorous cutter testing methodology; key to quantitatively assesses the strength of the diamond-to-diamond
entering this class is a high score in the thermal abrasion test. bonding in PDC cutting elements.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
53
cumulative footage of 3261 ft spanning two runs and an ROP Drilling with this large diameter bit in the top hole section
that was 122% higher than the closest competitive offset. is a more efficient solution. The bit saves the operator time and
A second bit, used in hard and abrasive dolomite money through a reduction of tripping to change bits and the
cemented sandstone, dolomitic limestone with multiple need for hole enlargement tools, said Harrington.
dolomite stringers, was also noted for its durability and This bit features an advanced cutting structure with
longevity. While this 8in. VRP713PDGX delivered similar optimised row placement, tooth spacing and cutter geometry
footage to its non-Vulcan equipped counterparts, the post-run for increased drilling efficiency. These attributes also work to
condition and the estimated 79% increase in ROP, once again minimise tooth wear and prevent cutter tracking in a wide variety
made this bit a success. A second run with this same bit in a of formations and conditions.
separate section delivered a run to TD in the same unforgiving The colossal bit was constructed following strict
formation type. manufacturing processes that are designed to be robust and
repeatable. These processes are constantly monitored and
Pushing the limits with 44 in. steel-tooth roller continuously reviewed to provide the drilling industry with
cone drill bit ever-increasing value.
Varel has recently expanded the Jumbo bit product offering Harrington concluded, The cutting structure on this bit was
to include additional sizes, cutting structures and bearing engineered for specifically for operators purpose. The inaugural
options for specific top hole requirements. The company has run of this innovative product is scheduled for mid-2011. O T
completed a massive 44 in. steel-toothed roller cone bit for the
oil and gas industry.
The bit, which weighs in at more than 6000 lbs and is more
Energy Global
than 22% larger in diameter than any previous roller cone bit, Bringing you the power of information
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
54 June 2011
S
ince the 1972 Stockholm United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
environmental pollution has been considered as a major concern for all industries. Across
the globe, a number of governments and regional economic integration organisations
have since established programmes for identifying and assessing substances that could cause
long term harm. This harm is dened as substances that are resistant to degradation and
accumulate in living organisms where they produce undesirable effects above a certain level
of concentration. These Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) or Persistent, Bio-accumulating,
Toxic substances (PBTs) are classied using a variety of tests and are subject to regulations
concerning their use. These tests are dependent on the nal destination of the chemical, and
knowledge of how the environment will be impacted by its presence is paramount. Once
identied, classication depending on specic criteria can be achieved. For example:
x The OSPAR (Oslo and Paris) Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment
of the North-East Atlantic, aims to prevent further pollution by continuously reducing
discharges, emissions and losses of hazardous substances (identified by PBT criteria), with
the ultimate aim of achieving concentrations in the marine environment near background
values for naturally occurring substances, or close to zero for man-made substances.
x The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA defines two sets of criteria for
PBTs. Fitting into one of which means emission must be controlled, and the other, for it to
eventually be banned.
55
xx The Canadian Government has a screening process that which would then disappear completely! A survey of the
places substances that are persistent or bio-accumulating currently available products shows that although this target
and inherently toxic into three categories depending on the has not been met, some products are definitely moving in
outcome of further screening. the right direction.
Unfortunately the hunt for low harm (i.e. biodegradable)
inhibitors has meant that less effective products are sometimes Biodegradation
selected due to their perceived green qualities. This is in Biodegradation is a natural process by which organic
spite of the fact that this lower efficacy may actually result in substances are decomposed by micro-organisms (mainly
increased chemical discharge back to the environment. In an aerobic bacteria) into simpler substances such as CO2,
ideal world a very small amount of chemical would be used water and ammonia. At the moment, evidence of partial
degradation is enough to meet most criteria and avoid
categorisation as a PBT or POP.
For measuring biodegradability, the most recognised
tests are the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) series and include purely
laboratory-based tests, as well as simulation and field-based
tests.
The closer a test mimics the environment the less
control there is in place and therefore the less reliable the
data is.
In the laboratory tests, every chance is given for degradation
to occur utilising high levels of test substance or, a low ratio
of test substance to biomass with a long adaptation period,
and a simplified environment. Simulation tests are a good
Figure 1. Schematic demonstration of the differences between central point with external factors, such as temperature and
laboratory tests and field tests. pH, controlled but a more realistic environment.
Within OECD guidelines a series of tests can be
undertaken as follows:
Ready/ultimate tests
These are rigid screening tests with a high level of test
substance (2 to 100 mg/L). They are laboratory tests,
however, a positive test means that ultimate biodegradation
in the environment will occur. A failure does not mean that
the chemical will not biodegrade at all, so instead inherent
biodegradability tests may be performed.
Inherent tests
These tests have a high capacity for degradation with long
exposure times and a high biomass to substance ratio,
thus giving the substrate the best chance. Again, this is a
Figure 2. Calcium Carbonate Threshold Test - percentage inhibition at laboratory test with a controlled and synthetic environment.
specified dose level. A positive result will demonstrate the substrate is inherently
biodegradable, but a negative result can still not rule out
Table 1. Inherent biodegradability of commonly used scale inhibitors degradation in its final environment.
and the new green inhibitors
Inhibitor type Acronym Inherent biodegradability result*
Simulation tests
Phosphonates PBTC 17% in 28 days These tests use a low concentration of the chemical and
ATMP 23% in 28 days are performed in an environment that closely mimics the
HEDP 33% in 28 days real world. A positive result here strongly suggests that
Polyacrylates PAA 10% in 35 days a chemical will biodegrade in the natural environment. A
Phosphinopolyacrylates PPCA 0% in 35 days
negative result will give an indication that the chemical is
likely to be persistent.
Polymaleic PMA 18% in 35 days
By following this process of beginning with the ready
Terpolymaleic MAT 35% in 35 days
biodegradability tests and moving down the chain, a good
Sulphonic acid co-polymers SPOCA 7% in 28 days (OECD 306) understanding of how a substance will behave in the
Polyaspartate PASP 83 - 87% in 28 days environment can be obtained. When this information is used
Carboxy methyl inulin CMI >20% (OECD 306) in combination with the toxicity and bio-accumulation data,
Polycarboxylic acid PCA 68.6% in 28 days (OECD 306) the impact of releasing this chemical into the environment
Maleic acid polymer MAP 54.9% in 35 days can be assessed with a high degree of confidence. However,
* OECD 302B test unless otherwise stated.
determining if a chemical biodegrades is only half the story,
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
56 June 2011
Scale formation
Scale is formed by the increasing concentration of
scaling cations, such as calcium and barium with
scaling anions, such as carbonate and sulphate.
Once the concentration of ions exceeds
super-saturation levels, nucleation will occur, which
leads to precipitation. What happens at the surface
of this crystal depends upon the rates of formation
and dissolution of the scale. Generally the rate of
formation is greater, thus leading to growth of the
crystal. These crystals can then clump together to
form larger crystals that will eventually block the
system. There are three mechanisms by which
inhibitors can work to prevent the catastrophic
build up of scale; at the nucleation stage, at the
growth stage and nally the deposition stage.
Threshhold inhibitor
The inhibitor binds with the scale forming ions, but
unlike chelants the bound ions must be available
to interact with their counter ions. This disrupts
the ion cluster at the early equilibrium stages of
crystal formation, thus disrupting them before they
reach critical size for nucleation. As a result the
ions dissociate releasing the inhibitor to repeat the
process.
Growth inhibitor
This slows the growth of the scale by blocking
the active edges of the crystal. Once the inhibitor
has bound to the lattice, the crystal will form
Table 2. Calcium Carbonate Dynamic Scale Loop Test water chemistry Pilot Cooling Tower Evaporative Unit Test
Ion Concentration mg/L This is designed to test both the threshold and dynamic
Calcium 350 inhibitor mechanisms against calcium carbonate under heat
Magnesium 56
transfer conditions.
Sodium 10 077
Calcium Carbonate Jar Test
Potassium 283
Here air bubbling is used to facilitate CO2 removal, which
Barium 50
moves the equilibrium towards carbonate formation, thereby
Strontium 50 increasing the test severity by raising the pH of the test
Bicarbonate 1000 solution.
Chloride 16 058 A solution containing calcium chloride and
Sulphate 0 magnesium chloride is mixed with an equal volume of
TDS 27 924
a solution containing sodium carbonate and sodium
bicarbonate, which already contains the additive to be
pH 7.8
tested. The air bubbled solution is heated at 70 C (158 F) for
30 minutes, after which time the solution is ltered and the
Table 3. Barium sulphate test water calcium remaining in solution determined by EDTA titration.
Ion Concentration mg/L The higher the amount of calcium retained in solution the
Calcium 636 greater the scale inhibition ability of the product.
The results expressed as percentage inhibiton against
Magnesium 634
dose level are given in Figure 2. At 1 and 2 mg/L dose
Sodium 14 760
level HEDP and ATMP are clearly the most effective with
Potassium 446
PCA and MAP being the best amongst the green scale
Barium 120 inhibitors. Once a 4 mg/L dose level has been reached,
Strontium 190 a number of inhibitors are capable of 100% inhibition of
Bicarbonate 0 calcium carbonate including PCA and MAP but PASP only
Chloride 26 930 reaches an 80% level. This may seem like quite a high gure
Sulphate 530 but unless 100% is reached calcium carbonate will form and
ultimately greatly reduce the efciency of the plant.
TDS 44 246
pH 5.5
Pilot Cooling Tower Evaporative Unit Test
This dynamic test is designed to provide a realistic measure
of an additives ability to control calcium carbonate
deposition. The Pilot Cooling Tower Evaporative unit has
constant make-up but has no blowdown, so the system
water concentration increases with time as evaporation
occurs. The system water is circulated over a 316 stainless
steel heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is heated
by passing hot water through the tube. The surface
temperature of the heat exchanger is approximately 70 C
(158 F). The evaporative region maintains bulk water
temperature at 40 C (104 F), by passing air counter current
to the water ow in the cooling tower. The higher the calcite
saturation index (SI) that can be reached, the more efcient
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of PCT with conditions of operation. the inhibitor. A schematic diagram of the equipment used is
given in Figure 3. Initial dose level of additives is 10 mg/L as
solids.
In Figure 4, PBTC shows what level a good calcium
carbonate inhibitor can achieve in this test. Its failure point
occurs at a calcite SI of approximately 200.
Of the green inhibitors, MAP exhibited the best calcium
carbonate control, reaching a calcite SI of 285. PCA also
fared well with a failure point at 240 calcite SI. Both of these
results are a signicant increase over that reached by PBTC.
PASP however gave a rather poor result failing at a calcite SI
of approximately 80. This is less than one third of the level
reached by MAP and PCA.
Oil industry
Figure 4. Percentage calcium carbonate inhibition versus When considering application in oilelds, performing both the
CalciteSaturation Index on an ICW rig. calcium carbonate and the barium sulphate dynamic scale
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
58 June 2011
loop tests is required to provide a good indication of inhibitor
performance in the reservoir.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
59
g h t o n :
S p o t l i
A L A N T S
A N T I S C
and
sia Millan
urd, Ka
Michael H air, Kemira, USA,
N
Dr. Mohan pliers view of
p
offer a su nd gas markets
.
ts in o il a
antiscalan
60
T
here was a time not long ago when the needs for However, there is still some debate over what
scale inhibitors were pretty well dened and the list determines toxicity. Testing in water represents a more
was not all that long. Manufacturers and suppliers sensitive environment to the dangers of a particular
had a basic sales relationship with the operators in order chemistry. Therefore, testing against certain sh and
to understand the needs in the eld. Products were aquatic invertebrates determines a level of aquatic toxicity
needed to stop barium sulfate and calcium carbonate and helps establish the minimum levels for discharge,
scale development in ambient to hot, brackish to brine particularly into a body of water. Biodegradation testing
type produced waters. In recent years however, the list of determines the time a particular chemistry will remain
conditions has grown in a surprising number of directions in, and be a potential threat to, the environment, with
and also includes a wider range of scales. Previously odd 28 days being a benchmark established initially in the
metal and mineral compositions like iron sulte or silica North Sea as an acceptable time period in most regulations.
scales are now fairly common. Reservoirs with mixed Bioaccumulation determines the ability of a species,
waters from water injection for pressure maintenance, again usually aquatic, to accumulate the chemistry within
waterood, or just disposal now create a world of scale its tissues. This test also taps into other work done to
headaches as the mix emerges from a producing well to determine any other physical, neurological, or genetic
ow along the seaoor at near freezing temperatures or at disruption effects from these chemistries. The result is
near boiling temperatures from land production comingling a set of data used most often by regulatory agencies to
with other production at an initial separation battery to determine the parameters and use limits around which a
further compound scaling tendencies. Throw in waxy chemical can be used in the eld. This data is also utilised
deposits and H2S or CO2 from more complex completions by internal HS&E groups to establish working parameters
and biolm, which becomes an active part of the scale itself and procedures for oileld workers who handle the
from either the reservoir bacteria or surface contamination, products on a regular basis and are far more likely to be
and the market for scale inhibitors takes on a whole different exposed than the general public. Levels of acceptability
meaning. And, of course, while being compatible with other usually emerge from the testing as some sort of black to
chemicals being added into the ow stream, the scale green designations either in these areas individually or
inhibitor needs to be environmentally friendly or green, collectively according to a formula. Improvement in any area
which often means different things to different people at of the testing that moves from one level to another higher
different times. This article attempts to take a look at the or better level without degrading results in another area is
issues in a broad sense and see what technology might be normally seen as a signicant improvement and rewarded in
available to help solve, or at least better dene, the resulting the ratings awarded.
needs that exist. With that background then it is easier to understand
that some aquatic toxicity is difcult to avoid with scale
Being green inhibitors. For most polymeric versions of scale inhibitor
Lets start at the end of the list with a discussion of what the molecule is too big to bioaccumulate in most species
it means to be green. It is a buzzword that has become so biodegradation is where you look to improve the
a part of our jargon overnight, being used by oileld, product in the short term. Kemiras KemEguard scale
environmental groups, media, and politicians alike, but control technology was developed to achieve the 60%
unfortunately each have a slightly different understanding biodegradability or higher guided by the Norway Sector
of what that means. To some it ideally means nontoxic, of the North Sea regulations, (see Figure 1). One new
but then there are those who point out that even drinking product in particular, KemEGuard 2593 has a standard
water in excess can have the disastrous result of drowning! biodegradation rate of 60% over 28 days as compared with
So use limits enter the picture with a debate of how an average of 8 - 10% for typical polymeric scale inhibitors.
much is acceptable with most recognising that minimum Thus, the new technology offers a greener option with
levels are desirable. In the oileld we know that some of similar performance for sulfate scale prevention compared
these chemistries we use can be harmful if misused or with its parent technology.
mishandled, and accidents and spills do occur, which With toxicity being such a concern though, there needs
cause the rest of us to be even more diligent in our use to be a way to keep track of the scale inhibitors in the
procedures. But we are also committed to producing system when squeeze treatments are used. Mass balance
needed oil and gas and that simply cant be done without is one way of keeping track of the products that go in and
the use of scale inhibitors at some level in the process. are produced back out of a production well. The problem
The idea then is to minimise the amount that must be used is that scale inhibitors are tough to measure, particularly
against performance while continuing to develop scale at low levels near the Minimum Inhibition Concentration
inhibitor technology and other chemicals that are less toxic (MIC) after a squeeze job when timing and accuracy can
and provide equivalent or better performance. be critical. This usually requires a sample to be caught,
61
transported, and analysed at a lab in a process that takes hours, if
not days to complete. And getting a read on just how much is lost
to the formation, how much is produced back quickly, and how
much really does the job is particularly difcult when all you have is
a snapshot in time.
Tagging
Tagging a molecule that is hard to nd or measure with something
you can easily monitor online is one way of keeping track of it
quickly and efciently. Using appropriately tagged scale inhibitors
offers a number of benets in addition to mass balance and
tracking without interference in performance from the tag
addition. This isnt a blend of scale inhibitors and something else.
Figure 1. % degradation (North Sea testing). Its an additional molecular structure thats manufactured into the
molecule, in one case into a sulfonated copolymer, in such a way
that the two cant be separated in the formation. Furthermore,
the tag is incorporated so that it is uniformly distributed in the
polymer backbone, and does not appreciably change the Mw
and distribution of the original polymer, so that the polymers
performance for scale prevention remains unchanged.
Blended products tend to adsorb at different rates with
reservoir rock or react with reservoir uids in ways that prevent
accurate production of the ratio that was injected resulting in
misleading data regarding the actual scale inhibitor. The same
is the case with polymers with tags that are not uniformly
incorporated into the polymer chain. A regimen of properly and
uniquely tagged scale inhibitors allows for online detection,
accurate trending of production levels, and better control of the
overall treatment, increasing the time between treatments and
allowing for better planning when a number of wells are treated
Figure 2. Iron contamination at 85 C/pH 5.8.
together. It is particularly advantageous when several wells are
comingled at a common production station.
Setting up online detection with unique tags in each well
would allow for optimum planning for both the production facility
shutdown and cost-effective group treatment of the individual wells
by accurately reading the trends in each well and anticipating the
most protable treatment point in the future for all the common
wells, all from a single point at the production station. Development
work is continuing, specically on the leading sulfonated
copolymer chemistry offered, and products are now being used in
eld trials. In the future, the applications for this chemistry will be
broadened beyond the offshore work where it is currently targeted.
Figure 4. Static barium sulfate inhibition efciency 4C, pH 6.5, Figure 5. Barium sulfate inhibition at high temperature.
50/50 Heidrun FW/seawater.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
62 June 2011
Performance issues KemGuard 2705 is the KemGuard 2708,
Beyond the convenience of tagging and which has equivalent scale inhibition
the benet of an environmental product,
a scale inhibitor still has to perform in
performance, is non-corrosive, is stable
to 175 C, and is approved for capillary Introducing
the reservoir with the reservoir uids and
additives into which it is injected. Additives
injection applications. The Rice University
study found the 2705 and 2708 to be the worlds
and environmental conditions can play
havoc with some standard products.
Typical polymeric scale inhibitors can
particularly effective against calcium sulfate
anhydrite scales. See Figures 4 and 5.
KemGuard scale control agent
fastest
be precipitated by methanol; common
antifreeze in the oileld. Iron levels can
therefore offers a single product that
works well across a wide range of
water-wet
affect a variety of scale inhibitors used.
And while biolms can form with scales
temperature and brine conditions
in comparison to phosphate-based
wellbore
and complicate the treatment of both, the
biocides used to treat the bacteria may
and other common chemistries. For
carbonate scales speciality formulations
cleanup.
also contribute to the consumption or of organophosphates offer performance in
interference of the scale inhibitor within the similar temperature and/or brine condition
system. For this article well focus on iron ranges. While testing in specic brine
in the reservoir water, but pay attention compositions under specic moderate
to reactions of various kinds that might temperature conditions may pinpoint
interfere with the performance of a scale other chemistries that work similarly, brine
inhibitor under reservoir conditions. compositions rarely remain constant,
More often, dosage is pushed to bare particularly in reservoirs with active water
minimum to minimise the environmental injection. Having fewer products in the
and economic footprint, and that warehouse that work over a wider range
makes detection and monitoring more of conditions offers lower inventory costs
difcult. The low dosage also creates and faster response time when (not if)
an environment where the products are conditions change.
more susceptible to interferences from
additives or contaminates. Iron happens Summary
to be one of those contaminates that has The issues presented here are by no
come up in recent years in part because of means the denitive list, but are the
this change in dosage levels, particularly ones where progress appears to be
with phosphorous and polyacrylate based accomplished at this point in time.
products. As dosage falls to minimum Additive interference will continue to be
effective levels, iron appears to have a of increasing concern while reducing The DEEPCLEAN* pill combines
more signicant effect than rst thought. environmental footprint will be critical to solvents and surfactants to
Note in Figure 2 the effect of iron at very future products. In the opening paragraph create the worlds first double
low levels on a variety of chemistries. a basic sales relationship was mentioned emulsion cleanup pill.
Figure 3 then shows that some of that between suppliers and operations, but
The unique application of
effect is actually mitigated in phosphorous now it is incumbent on manufacturers
water-in-oil-in-water
products with higher levels of iron. Those and suppliers to introduce new products,
technology improves film
iron levels are likely to create other techniques, and applications in an effort
removal and droplet dispersion,
problems in the well however. Polyacrylates to offer new solutions to the needs
and can deliver water-wet
then tend to fall off in performance as that and issues in the eld in concert with
tubulars just six minutes
iron number continues to rise. Speciality operations and eld services. The growing
after contact, with lower
formulations with a unique polymer can complexity of the reservoirs, uids, and
chemical concentrations than
provide a synergistic effect in performance procedures in the eld demand a higher
conventional displacements.
through offering lower dosage at improved standard of involvement together at all
performance, which, in the end, is the levels of the supply chain in order to meet Avoid completion NPT and
overall goal of product improvement. the need. Manufacturers often have a future interventions, while
Last, but certainly not least is better understanding of the molecule protecting near wellbore
the physical environment in which itself and the ability to manipulate that reservoir permeability.
the antiscalant should work, looking molecule to achieve the desired effect.
specically at temperature and brine. Therefore, effective working relationships
Kemiras sulfonated copolymers chemistry or partnerships are an integral part of the
worked well from 4 C in a Scaled Solutions development equation to make sure what
study to 175 C at Rice University working is developed does the job. It is no longer
with barium sulfate scales in brines that, what do you have for me today, but what
in both studies, had moderate to severe can we do together to solve this problem
scale indexes. A further variant of the tomorrow! O T
www.miswaco.slb.com/deepclean
64
Siv Howard and John Downs,
Cabot Specialty Fluids, Scotland,
describe how cesium acetate
brine could make a novel
high performance drilling,
completion and workover fluid.
T
he success of cesium
formate brine as a
well construction and
workover uid1 has raised the
question of whether there might
be other cesium-based brines
with equally useful properties.
One candidate examined by
the research department of
Cabot Specialty Fluids (CSF)
is cesium acetate brine. The
results of CSFs initial tests
on cesium acetate brine are
summarised below.
65
It is possible to blend cesium acetate brine
with potassium acetate brine to make clear
acetate uids with densities between 1.40 g/cm3
and 2.30 g/cm3.
It is also possible to blend cesium acetate
and cesium formate brines to make clear
monovalent cesium brines with densities up to
approximately 2.4 g/cm3. This is a higher density
than can be reached with either of the two brines
on their own.
Boiling point
The boiling point of cesium acetate brine
increases with increasing density, reaching over
175 C at a brine density of 2.36 g/cm3 (see
Figure 4).
Figure 2. Density of a 2.246 g/cm3 cesium acetate brine as function of pressure for the Thermal stability
temperatures 600, 450, 300, 200, 100, and 40 F (315.6, 232.2, 148.9, 93.3, 37.8, Cesium acetate has been tested at temperatures
and 4.4 C). up to 232 C (450 F) for periods up to 90 days.
Fluid analyses, pH measurements, and density
measurements show only small changes in
properties at the highest test temperatures. It is
known that the primary products of the thermal
decomposition of acetate are methane gas and
bicarbonate. It was found that at temperatures
of < 200 C (392 F) no change in soluble
bicarbonate content could be measured in the
brine. At temperatures > 200 C (392 F) a slight
increase in soluble bicarbonate content was
measured in the brine, with a corresponding
small drop in pH. This increase in bicarbonate
content does not appear to affect the density of
the brine.
Elastomer compatibility
Five commonly used elastomers and two
plastics were tested for one and four weeks at
Figure 3. Water activity of cesium acetate brine as function of brine density. 180 C (356 C) and 230 C (446 F)
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
66 June 2011
in a 2.20 g/cm3 cesium acetate brine. The results of the test are The results of the testing are shown in Table 3. Neither of
shown in Tables 1 and 2. HNBR, VITONETP, and FFKM were the metals showed any evidence of localised corrosion,
not compatible with cesium acetate brine at 180 C (356 F) and SCC, hydrogen charging, or loss of ductility.
higher. AFLAS, EPDM, PTFE, and PPS appeared to be entirely 2. 30 day SCC study at 160 C (320 F) with a 145 psi CO2
compatible with cesium acetate brine for four weeks at these headspace. Four commonly used corrosion resistant alloys
very elevated test temperatures. (CRAs) were exposed to the buffered cesium acetate brine.
These were S13Cr-2Mo, 22Cr Duplex stainless steel -110ksi,
25Cr Duplex stainless steel 80 ksi, Alloy 718 nickel alloy.
Compatibility with metals Analyses of the samples at the end of the test showed no
Modern well construction and workover uids need to be
evidence of SCC.
compatible with the martensitic, duplex and high nickel alloy
3. SCC tests on MSS at 177 C (350 F) for 90 days with
steels commonly used in well tubulars and packers. These
145 psi CO2 headspace. Triplicates of 13Cr-2Mo-110 and
metals are susceptible to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC), 13Cr-0.6Mo-110 were tested in buffered cesium acetate
particularly at high temperatures and in the presence of acid brine. Analyses of the samples showed no evidence of SCC
gases (CO2 and H2S). Some are also susceptible to hydrogen or any other form for corrosion.
charging in service. 4. SCC tests on MSS at 177 C (350 F) for 90 days with
A lot of corrosion testing has been conducted on cesium 145 psi CO2 and 1.5 psi H2S headspace. Triplicates of
acetate brine: 13Cr-2Mo-110 and 13Cr-0.6Mo-110 were tested in buffered
1. Six month SCC study at 170 C (338 F) with 145 psi N2 cesium acetate brine. Analyses of the samples showed no
headspace. The metals that were tested were failures but some evidence of minor pitting/fissuring and
S13Cr -2Mo and alloy 718. SCC (C-ring and FPB and a small crack in one of the 13Cr0.5-Mo-110 samples. The
U-bend), hydrogen charging and weight loss tests were samples were stressed to 100% AYS at room temperature
conducted on both materials. An ambient temperature SSRT rather than at test temperature, which could have affected
test was conducted on S13Cr-2Mo after the fluid exposure. the result.
Table 1. Results of elastomer testing for 1 4 weeks in a 2.20 g/cm3 cesium acetate brine
230 446 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
June 2011
67
Table 2. Results of PTFE plastic testing for 1 4 weeks in a 2.20 g/cm3 cesium acetate brine
Temperature Youngs
Test material Exposure time Mass Volume Hardness
Plastic type mod TS (MPa) EAB
type [C] [F] [weeks] change [%] change [%] [Shore D]
(GPa)
0 0.0 0.0 63 1.4 21.8 227 OK
180 356 1 0.0 0.2 60 1.2 26.1 274
Table 3. Results of 4-point bend tests in cesium acetate at 170 C (338 F) for six months. N2 headspace
Coupled /
Specimen Test specimen description SCC Observations
uncoupled
Conclusion
Our preliminary investigations indicate that
Figure 4. Boiling point of cesium acetate as function of brine density. cesium acetate brine has the some desirable
properties that could enable its use as the basis
of well construction and workover uids. Its
compatibility with CRA, high nickel alloys and
some elastomers is a particularly useful feature.
Further testing is underway to complete the
denition of the properties of this novel uid.
O T
References
1. Downs, J.D, Turner, J.B. and Howard, S.: A
Well Constructed Chemical, Oilfield Technology
magazine, September 2010.
Figure 5. Freezing and crystallisation points of cesium acetate as a function of brine www.energyglobal.com/sectors
density.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
68 June 2011
g c h a ll e n g e s
A d d re s s i n
it h i n n ovat i o n
w
T
he industrys recent forays into unconventional One region that has necessitated handling HPHT
formations have presented challenges as never environments is the Haynesville and Bossier Shale
before in terms of dealing with extreme pressure plays in East Texas and North Louisiana. Dealing with
and temperature environments. These conditions frac gradients of 1.0 psi/ft (0.07 bar/ft) and bottomhole
have pushed uids, designs, and equipment to the temperatures exceeding 320 F (160 C) has provided
very edge of performance capability. This stress, valuable lessons on how to best accommodate the
however, has resulted in innovations that have made extreme conditions of these horizontal completions.
production from unconventional formations not Applying the knowledge and experience gained from
only feasible but also economically attractive. This already-developed HPHT regions can help both
article will review developments related to efciently operators and service companies take the steps
producing hydrocarbons from shale, tight sand and necessary to achieve early success.
heavy oil reservoirs.
High pressure
Meeting HPHT challenges in shale Probably the most evident change when transitioning
formations to a high pressure reservoir focus is the increase in
The challenges in hydraulically fracturing high pressure, the hydraulic horsepower (HHp) needed to properly
high temperature (HPHT) formations will inevitably stimulate the reservoir (Figure 1). Since HHp is a direct
increase globally as operators work to produce function of pump rate and surface pressure, the same
hydrocarbons from deeper unconventional reservoirs. treatment design pumped under increased pressure
69
x Entry friction through perforations and near-wellbore
tortuosity.
x Pipe friction.
x Hydrostatic pressure created by the fluid.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
70 June 2011
fracturing. When designing treatment rates and volumes in Working under extraordinarily tight time constraints, the strategy
conjunction with perforation cluster placement, many operators was to re-engineer Halliburtons proven high density fracturing
maintain high injection rates per perforation cluster with lowered uid systemspecically its thermal stabilityto achieve the
friction pressure by reducing the number of clusters being required bottomhole treating pressure by taking full advantage
fractured per treatment interval. More fracture stages will, of the increased hydrostatic pressure of the weighted stimulation
however, have to be implemented under this strategy to maintain uid system.
an equivalent degree of reservoir coverage. There were excellent reasons to base this solution on the
proven high density fracturing uid system. This uid has been
High temperature successfully used since 2004 on numerous high pressure
Even though the Haynesville reservoir has bottomhole static deepwater Gulf of Mexico projects to perform some of the
temperatures ranging from 280 to 380 F (138 to 193 C), the industrys deepest fracpack treatments (SPE 11607).
temperature of the wellbore environment during treating is While the uid broke new ground in deepwater wells and
dramatically reduced to 150 to 160 F (65 to 71 C) by the possessed adequate density, it was not quite capable of
amounts of uid required to properly treat the unconventional handling the wells high temperature threshold of 375 F (191 C).
reservoir. Taking advantage of this cool-down effect is a Working with the original high density fracturing uid technology,
traditional engineering technique utilised by fracture designers. experts overcame the temperature obstacle by folding in
Often the uid volume in the early part of the fracturing stage chemistry from a separate proprietary high temperature fracture
will be increased to intentionally lower the wellbore temperature uid, which utilises an optimised carboxymethyl-hydropropyl gel
to a level where standard fracturing uid systems can perform (CMHPG) loading and a tailored oxidiser breaker system.
adequately. When stimulating unconventional reservoirs like the The remaining challenge was how to cut pipe friction to
Haynesville, completion design teams can take advantage of further lower wellhead pressure. After ne tuning of
cool down so that the materials used to create the fracturing the high density base uid formulation to a density of
uid system can be selected from materials originally intended 12.3 lb/gal. (1464 kg/m3), friction pressure was reduced by
for lower temperature environments. This provides greater delaying crosslinking action during pipe transit time to the target
condence in the performance of the uid while maintaining an zone. In addition, a microemulsion surfactant for improved uid
acceptable cost for the uid system. recovery in tight gas was added to the uid system.
Even after treating pressures are reduced as much as Finally, the new high temperature, high density uid system
possible and bottomhole treating temperature is lowered, was ready to run in the well. The graph in Figure 2 shows the
challenges continue in the HPHT unconventional reservoirs. expected uid performance in reducing the surface treating
Bottomhole temperatures exceed the limitations of many of the pressure as compared to a conventional high temperature
industrys formation evaluation technologies. Those that are fracturing uid.
available are in high demand and command premium pricing.
This technology and equipment shortfall can require operators to
make assumptions about reservoir quality along the laterals and
to work from estimates as to fracture placement and geometry
without conclusive information. This has led to production logs,
net pressure evaluation, and production comparisons across
various completions becoming some of the primary evaluation Low High
tools of the stimulation treatment and for optimising the
development of HPHT reservoirs. Viscosity Viscosity
Meeting HPHT challenges in tight gas
Around the world, operators face a myriad of major tight gas
challenges, but few rival a recent Saudi Arabia HPHT stimulation
situation: how to perform a proppant frac in deep, tight gas
sandstone formations at high bottomhole temperature.
In this case, well conditions of over 15 000 psi (1034 bar)
bottomhole pressure and 375 F (191 C) reservoir temperature
exceeded the operating limits of the fracturing equipment and
uid available. Halliburton experts quickly determined that
the most cost-effective solution was not to incur the time and
expense of bringing in specialised high pressure pumping
equipment, but to instead develop a specic fracturing uid that
would work with existing equipment to successfully handle the
extreme HPHT conditions. Lower surface treating pressures also Whatever viscosity you are dealing with
translates into safer operating conditions. and whatever uid Litre Meter has the
meter for the job.
Formulating a new solution
To derive the necessary uid chemistry and capabilities,
Halliburtons Saudi Arabia stimulation team collaborated with
Call +44 (0)1296 670200
experts at Halliburtons Duncan, Oklahoma, Technology Center.
www.whatowmeter.com
Monitoring the temperature prole of a well over its entire
producing zone via bre optic DTS enables more cost-effective
analytical methods versus other methods like thermocouples
which do not provide a distributed temperature prole along
then entire length. The bre optic DTS measurement provides
a much more representative prole of the subcool, reservoir
heterogeneities and changing production and injection
conditions over time that occur along the lateral.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
72 June 2011
UNDER
PRESSURE
ASAD MEHMOOD, WEATHERFORD INTERNATIONAL LTD,
PAKISTAN, DISCUSSES THE USE OF DRILLING CONTROL
SYSTEMS TO NAVIGATE NARROW PRESSURE MARGINS AND
ACCESS DEEP DRILLING TARGETS.
I
n 1998 an operator began drilling in a Pakistan eld, The formation consists of hydrocarbon-rich
but a high pressure sequence forced them to stop. sandstone and a mixture of limestone and inter-bedded
All available casing strings were consumed at a shale. The limestone is weak and vuggy, often leading to
measured depth (MD) of 3500 m; furthermore, managing costly mud losses. Furthermore, pockets of
the high levels of background gas and uid losses in the high pressure gas can require days to circulate out,
6 in. hole proved impossible. resulting in excessive non-productive time (NPT); a gas
Ten years later, a different operator decided to target slug in the rst well precipitated six days of NPT.
formations that had not previously been explored. The window between pore pressure and the fracture
They believed that managed pressure drilling (MPD) gradient in the formation is quite narrow
techniques coupled with the proprietary continuous (0.4 kg/cm2 equivalent mud weight). As such, a slight drop
circulating valves would enable drilling through the HPHT in equivalent circulating density (ECD) during pipe makeup
intervals to a deeper carbonate sequence. can lead to kicks, well control issues and borehole
The projected MD for the well was 5200 m. Drilling instability. On the ip side, the use of overbalanced
was originally to take place in two phases to overcome drilling techniques to prevent gas inuxes tends to yield
the limitations imposed by the pressure capacity fractures, lost circulation, formation damage and a low
(5200 psi) and certied maximum drilling depth (5000 m) ROP. The narrow gradient window has proven impossible
of the rigs mud circulation system. to navigate using conventional drilling technology.
73
Operational detail
x Rig-up for the MPD
operation entailed
installing the RCD,
adjustable choke manifold
and control unit for the
Microflux system, and
topping the last set of
stands with continuous
circulation valves.
x The platform incorporated
a top-drive system.
During drilling, mud
flowed normally through
the system and across
the top of the continuous
circulation sub. When the
sub reached the table, a
mud hose was connected
to its side port; the side
flapper valve opened to
allow mud to enter and
the flapper valve on the
top of the sub closed so
that the top drive could be
disconnected.
x Pumping continued
through the subs side port
until the next stand of pipe
was connected. Mud flow
was again routed through
the top drive system from
the top of the new stand.
The auxiliary hose was
Figure 1. This Microux display shows an inux that is being circulated out of the well during the drilling of the disconnected from the
8in. section. The increase in the outward ow-rate (red) shows the inux. The annular backpressure has been bottom sub, the side port
increased to compensate, as has the standpipe pressure. The system allowed the operator to continue drilling valve closed, and the sub
while handling up to 50% gas cut in the annular ow. was run in as part of the
drillstring.
Beneath the formation lies pisolitic limestone; this formation x The Microflux system helped the operators in several
had never been explored due to its depth and the difculty of ways during drilling. Combined with an auxiliary
reaching it. pump, it enabled them to maintain a constant level of
The operator overcame the obstacles to drilling the annular backpressure, which ultimately contributed to
well using MPD techniques. One of the technologies used increasing ROP. It also helped them manage transient
was Weatherfords Microux control system. The Microux conditions, such as pump-off, displacement of heavier
mud pills, deployment of mud caps, circulation of high
system monitors volume in versus out and controls annular
gas cut, plugging of nozzles at bit, and swab/surge.
backpressure. On the operation, the system proved capable of
Furthermore, it detected two major partial loss events
detecting and controlling an inux of less than 1.5 bbls within followed by influxes and allowed the influxes to be
2 minutes. circulated out without impacting drilling activities.
By maintaining continuous circulation and controlling annular x Max drilling mud weight in the 8 in. section of the
and bottomhole pressure in the difcult section of the well, the well was 2.07 kg/cm2. The max recorded circulating
operator and Weatherford were able to maintain an average ROP temperature was 121 C (static temperature above
of 2.5 m/hr. The system effectively controlled background gas 165 C).
from the sandstone/limestone without causing lost circulation. x The technologies used on this operation supplanted
Drilling continued even while circulating out as much as 50% conventional mud-logging based flow out monitoring and
gas cut. trip/active tank recordings.
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
74 June 2011
TM
18 20 October 2011
All Russia Exhibition Center,
Pavilion 75, Moscow
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its kind in this region.
South
China
Sea
Mohd Hairi Abd Razak and Fuad Mohd Noordin,
Petronas, Malaysia, and Mohd Nur Afendy and
Rahmat Wibisono, Schlumberger, Yemen and
Malaysia, present an example of the planning
and execution of coil tubing (CT) operations
on platforms too small to accommodate
all the required equipment.
P
etronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd operates 13 oil and gas elds in
the South China Sea, located offshore the Malaysian state
of Terengganu in water depths from 65 to 80 m. The area
has more than 30 platforms, most with small deck space areas
and crane lifting capacity of only 5 t.
The elds began to experience increased sand production,
high water cut and larger skin factor. Well interventions and
treatments such as matrix stimulation, water shut-off and sand
cleanout were required to sustain production rates. CT well
intervention is the most effective method to perform the required
treatments; however, when platform space is limited, it is often
not practical to accommodate the required facilities onboard.
In addition, crane capacity may be inadequate to safely handle
the CT equipment. A solution is to deploy a minimal amount of
equipment on the platform deck and use a suitable vessel to
perform heavy lifting and other support for the CT operations.
77
platforms. Three options
were considered: lift boat,
work boat, and work
barge. The evaluation was
based on completing the
CT pilot project within
three months, chartering
the vessel on a spot basis
rather than a long term
contract.
A lift boat is a
self-propelled,
self-elevating vessel with
a relatively large open
deck. Like a jackup rig,
it is capable of raising its
hull clear of the water on
its own legs. This feature
means that it does not
require an anchor pattern
for stability and to maintain
a safe distance from the
Figure 1. Map of PCSB concession with insert of Malong and Penara Platform. platform. This saves the
cost of an anchor tug
handling supply (ATHS)
Table 1. Vessel comparison
vessel and avoids the
Lift boat Work boat Work barge
risk of anchors damaging
Anchor pattern Not required Required Required seabed equipment if
dragged by tides or
Anchor handling tug Not required Required Required
currents. A disadvantage
Soil investigation Required Not required Not required of the jackup system is
Deck space Yes Yes Yes
the necessity to conduct
a soil investigation prior to
Crane Yes Yes Yes installation.
Total project cost Most expensive Medium Least expensive Work boats are
commonly deployed to
assist CT operations
Pilot project in East Malaysia, and Petronas often uses them for workover
Petronas selected two small platforms for a pilot CT intervention operations. This option would require installation of an anchor
project. Platforms in its Penara eld are of a lightweight design pattern.
featuring a cable-guyed caisson monotower (Tarpon) and a Work barges with the same specications as work boats
topside deck with minimum facilities. First oil from the eld was were available at lower daily charter rate (DCR) and shorter
in May 2004, and peak production reached 12 000 bpd. The waiting times. Costs for the planned three month project were
selected platform had just 180 m2 of main deck and its jib crane evaluated for each of the three technical options. These included
had a maximum capacity of 5 t. ATHS vessel costs for the work boats and barges, crane costs if
The Malong eld was completed in March 2000. The quoted separately from the DCR, fuel, manning and bunkering.
selected unmanned minimum-facilities platform was a The lift boat was the most expensive option. Due to lower DCR
lightweight optimised jacket structure that supports conductor and faster availability, the work barge was the most
slots for production and water injection wells and is suitable only cost-effective option for the project that met the essential
for a jack-up drilling rig. The platform houses all the necessary technical and timing requirements.
production, well testing, water injection, pig launcher and gas
lifting facilities, and is provided with a life support system. It has Work barge assessment
650 m2 of main deck, but taking into account all the xed surface Throughout the operations, only the coil tubing injector head,
facilities, the operations area is insufcient for conventional CT jacking frame and CT control cabin would be erected on the
operations. In addition, the jib crane has a 5 t capacity, sufcient platform while the remaining equipment would stay on the barge.
only for lightweight wireline equipment. It was determined that the barge must have a minimum 500 m2
deck space without a crane, or 350 m2 with a crawler crane
CT support vessel evaluation installed. The heaviest equipment that required lifting to the
Petronas performed a detailed analysis to determine the type platform was the 12 t injector head and CT blowout preventer
of vessel that would meet the technical requirements and be (BOP) assembly, which required a crane capable of lifting 15 t
most cost-effective in supporting CT operations at the selected at 60 boom angle for safe operations. A 150 t capacity crawler
OILFIELD TECHNOLOGY
78 June 2011
crane with 150 ft (45.72 m)
boom was considered
adequate to meet the
requirements while
minimising the required
deck space. The barge
needed an eight point
mooring system to provide
improved stability and
facilitate faster disconnect
in the event of emergency.
Accommodations required
sufcient workspace for at
least 80 personnel.
Flowback handling
system assessment
The Penara work
programme required a
system to separate sand
from the return uid. A
sand lter system and a
cyclone sand separator
were considered. Sands
produced in Penara have
ne (10 - 40 micron) grain Figure 2. Equipment layout on the barge.
size. Filter systems cannot
separate such ne sand
and were not a viable Health, safety, and environment (HSE)
option; however, a centrifugal cyclone system would be able to assessment
handle them effectively. The monsoon season in the South China Sea area is between
The sand separator was hooked directly into the well, so October and March when there are often strong winds and
the platform shutdown system and surface safety valve (SSV) swells in excess of 6 m. It is usual to avoid operating during
had to be bypassed. To enable the owback handling system this season; however, due to other commitments, the work
to override the existing emergency shutdown device (ESD) and barge was only available in February. The HSE assessment
SSV, a dedicated SSV in the return line and separate ESD control determined that operations should only start in less than 3 m
panel were required. swell and 20 knot winds. Weather forecasts were updated hourly
To improve cleanup efciency, water-based gelling uid was to maximise the time available for crews to stop operations and
used to raise the viscosity of the injected uid. However, sand perform the necessary steps to move away from the platform.
separation is more efcient with low viscosity uids, requiring A special device in the CT reel was deployed during the project
a breaker solution to be injected before the separator, which is to allow emergency disconnect and immediate pull-away from
capable of destroying the polymer structure of the gel. Facilities the platform if forecasts indicated dangerous conditions within
were also required to store sand and liquid efuent. 3 hours.
www.energyglobal.com/sectors
Results: Penara Well 1 from the lower reservoir; however, leaks in the completion
Previous bullheading operations unsuccessfully removed wax tubing complicated these operations. The only way to effectively
from this wellbore, and another treatment to bullhead solvent squeeze water shutoff chemical was by conveying it with a
also proved to be ineffective. A high pressure jetting tool was CT multi-set mechanical packer. After setting the packer, the
used to pump different solvent uids, and was able to reach plug leak could be isolated, enabling the chemical to be squeezed
back total depth (PBTD). A nal slickline gauge ring run indicated into the lower operation.
that the wax had been successfully removed, and the well had CT operations in this well proved unsuccessful. Prior to
returned to oil production with encouraging results. reaching target depth, a sequence packer activation procedure
was performed to test its functionality and integrity. The setting
Results: Penara Well 2 sequence showed that pressure was holding during injection;
Bailer runs in October 2007 became hung at 2073 m and upon however, the unsetting sequence showed that the packer
retrieval to surface, the bailer recovered traces of sands. The CT could not be released from its position. High pulling force and
intervention programme of this well required sand cleanout from multiple packer manipulation were attempted, but after two
hung-up depth to PBTDan interval of approximately 935 m. days of trying, it was decided to release from the packer by
Bipolymer gel was conveyed by a special nozzle. In the event of activating an emergency disconnecting tool. The upper portion
hard sediment that was not removed by this nozzle, acid could of the disconnecting tool was retrieved to surface. Subsequent
be conveyed by a high pressure jetting tool. The programme attempts to sh the packer were unsuccessful, and it remains in
was executed as planned, with a CT rate of penetration between the hole.
1 - 3 ft/min. The separator worked effectively to capture
produced sands from the wellbore. A small pill of acid had to be Conclusions
pumped to enable the CT to reach nal cleanout depth. Rough This case study conrms that CT operations can be
weather led to one emergency disconnect, in which planned cost-effectively performed with the support of a work barge
procedures were successfully implemented. on platforms that cannot accommodate all of the necessary
equipment. Thorough planning is required to ensure that the
Results: Malong Well technical requirements of multiple types of CT intervention can
The production and intervention history of this well indicated be effectively delivered and that operations can proceed safely in
that it required water shutoff treatment to block water production potentially adverse conditions. O T
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AEE 2011 75 KUDU PUMPS 02
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