EPMAG.

COM

JUNE 2018

Marine Seismic COMPLETING THE

Drillpipe

Sliding Sleeves
Enhanced designs increase
Surface Systems  well productivities

Unconventional
Report:
PERMIAN BASIN

Offshore Well
Intervention
AD
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION J UNE 201 8
VOLUME 91 ISSUE 06
WORLDWIDE COVERAGE

A H AR T E N E RG Y P U B L IC ATI ON www . E P mag . co m

MARINE SEISMIC COVER STORY: COMPLETIONS

58 Advances in 4-D towed-streamer seismic

62 Strategies for high-resolution towed-streamer

acquisition for shallow targets 32
Completing
DRILLPIPE the cycle
66 Drilling intelligently

SLIDING SLEEVES
70 Sleeve evolution helps minimize
stimulation risk, reduce costs

SURFACE SYSTEMS
74 Reducing topside complexity in offshore
gas conditioning facilities
34 Elevate well performance with
through-barrier diagnostics
OFFSHORE WELL INTERVENTION
78 RLWI gains 38 Leveraging statistical analysis for
economic efficiencies
80 Real-time intervention insights

82 Optimized epoxy resin for well intervention 42 Transforming well completions

through AI

UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:
INDUSTRY PULSE
86 PERMIAN BASIN
8 Safety training should be
standard at every company
Sustaining the industry’s health
10 through innovation sharing

WORLD VIEW

14 Chevron touts both

Permian, deep water

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
Securing the software-driven
24 fully networked digital oil field
Driving the adoption and the
28 future of operational excellence
 DEPARTMENTS AND COMMENTARY

AS I SEE IT
Offshore charts new course 7

MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Keep on trucking 16

DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES
Efforts quickly accelerate in the Guyana-Suriname Basin 19

COMPLETIONS & PRODUCTION

Meeting production expectations 21

OFFSHORE ADVANCES
Robots poised to change the face of offshore operations 23

SHALE SOLUTIONS
A clearer picture of fracture networking emerges 46

OFFSHORE SOLUTIONS
Smarter subsea standardization 50
Offshore project updates at OTC 52

OPERATOR SOLUTIONS
Automation, monitoring system used to manage wellsite operation in real time 54

TECH WATCH
Setting a new standard for SSSVs 90

TECH TRENDS 92

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS 100

ON THE MOVE/INDEX TO ADVERTISERS 102-103

LAST WORD
Taking up the mantle of technology leadership 104

COMING NEXT MONTH The July issue of E&P will focus on shale technologies. Other
features will cover emerging shale plays, drillbits, hydraulic fracturing, production optimiza-
tion and FPSO advances. The unconventional report will focus on Canada. As always, while
you’re waiting for your next copy of E&P, be sure to visit [Link] for the latest news,
industry updates and unique industry analysis.

ABOUT THE COVER A new day dawns on a multistage fracturing

operation in the Permian Basin. Left, a pressure control head is landing
on top of the upper lubricator package at 2,500 m (8,202 ft) water depth.
(Cover photo courtesy of BJ Services; Left photo courtesy of TechnipFMC;
Cover design by Felicia Hammons)

E&P (ISSN 1527-4063) (PM40036185) is published monthly by Hart Energy Publishing, LP, 1616
S. Voss Road, Suite 1000, Houston, Texas 77057. Periodicals postage paid at Houston, TX, and additional
mailing offices. Subscription rates: 1 year (12 issues), US $149; 2 years (24 issues), US $279. Single cop-
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 ONLINE CONTENT JUNE 2018

ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS Subscribe at [Link]/subscribe

Lime Rock Resources completes three extended-reach

Bakken wells
According to IHS Markit, Lime Rock Resources has completed three
extended-reach horizontal Bakken producers in the Murphy Creek Field
area in Dunn County, N.D. The wells were drilled on the company’s
Rebsom lease on a common drill pad in Section 11-143n-95w, and all
three completions bottomed to the south in Section 23-143n-95w.

UKOG discloses Upper Kimmeridge Limestone test results

UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) announced Upper Kimmeridge
Limestone test results from #1- Broadford Bridge in petroleum exploration
and development license 234 located in West Sussex, U.K. Electric logs
and core samples in Kimmeridge 4 and 5 zones indicate a naturally
fractured reservoir and potential oil pay.

Legacy Reserves Operating announces N.D. discovery

According to the Rocky Mountain Oil Journal, Legacy Reserves
Operating LP recently announced a new pay discovery in Golden
Valley County, N.D.

AVAILABLE ONLY ONLINE

Big oil diversifies in renewables push

By Velda Addison, Senior Editor,
Digital News Group
The focus comes as the world looks
toward cleaner sources of energy,
including natural gas, as demand grows.

Oil, gas exploration activity

picks up, but concerns remain
By Velda Addison, Senior Editor,
Digital News Group
Exploration is expected to rise this
year with activity centered on the
Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and
Atlantic margins, a report showed.

Energy Capital Conference: silica

or silicon?
By Paul Hart, Editor-in-Chief,
Midstream Business
Artificial intelligence could have a
greater impact on the business side
than hydraulic fracturing.

Energy 2040: Oil, gas will still be in

high demand
By Paul Hart, Editor-in-Chief, Midstream Business DOWNLOAD
THE APP
The world’s energy business—on both the supply and
demand sides—will change drastically by 2040, but oil
and gas will continue to be dominant energy sources
even as renewables proliferate.
 As I
1616 S. VOSS ROAD, STE 1000 JENNIFER PRESLEY SEE IT
HOUSTON, TEXAS 77057 Executive Editor
P: +1 713.260.6400 F: +1 713.840.0923
[Link]
jpresley@[Link]

Executive Editor JENNIFER PRESLEY Read more commentary at

Chief Technical Director RICHARD MASON [Link]
Senior Editor, Exploration RHONDA DUEY
Senior Editor,
Senior Editor,
Digital News
Digital News Group
Group VELDA ADDISON
VELDA ADDISON
Senior Contributing
Senior Contributing Editor,
Editor,

Offshore charts new course

Offshore
Offshore JUDY
JUDY MURRAY
MURRAY
Associate Editor,
Associate Editor,
Production Technologies BRIAN WALZEL
Production Technologies BRIAN WALZEL
Assistant Editor ALEXA WEST
Assistant Editor ALEXA WEST Knowledge sharing ensures the offshore oil and gas
Group Managing Editor JO ANN DAVY
Group Managing Editor,
Associate
Print Managing Editor
Media ARIANA
JO BENAVIDEZ
ANN DAVY
industry is leaner and meaner in 2018.

I
Associate
CorporateManaging Editor
Art Director ARIANA
ALEXAHURTADO
SANDERS
spent the first days of May on the show floor at the 2018 Offshore Tech-
Senior Graphic
Corporate Designer
Art Director FELICIA
ALEXAHAMMONS
SANDERS
nology Conference (OTC) in Houston. Overall, the upbeat mood of the
Vice President
Senior Graphicof RUSSELL
Publishing FELICIA
Designer LAAS
HAMMONS event ensured that I witnessed more smiles than frowns, engaged in more
Editorial Advisory friendly hugs of “good to see you made it this year” and heard more dis-
Senior Vice President, Media Board
RUSSELL LAAS
cussions about future projects than forlorn sighs of resignation to it being
CHRIS BARTON
Editorial Advisory Board
Wood another down year in the market.
CHRIS BARTON It goes to show that the offshore industry long ago embraced the old prov-
KEVIN BRADY
Wood erb about how a “smooth sea never made a skillful sailor” and has weathered
Highway 9 Consulting
yet another market storm by adjusting its sails.
KEVIN BRADY
MIKE 9FORREST
Highway Consulting Events like OTC make it possible for energy professionals to meet and exchange
Consultant ideas and opinions that are necessary to advance scientific and technical knowl-
MIKE FORREST edge for offshore resources and environmental matters. Offshore E&P operators,
GARRETT FRAZIER
Consultant
Magnum Oil Tools service companies and vendors embraced the lessons shared and the technology
GARRETT FRAZIER strategies demonstrated at previous OTCs to not just survive but emerge trans-
DICK GHISELIN
Magnum Oil Tools formed from the rubble of 2014’s great storm of a market crash.
Consultant
The offshore E&P industry entered 2018 leaner and meaner, with a big
DICK
OLGAGHISELIN
KOPER
Consultant jump in project sanctions in 2017 but also a big drop in average project size
Battelle
and capex, according to a recent Wood Mackenzie analysis. Cost reduction
PETER LOVIE
PETER LOVIE efforts have been successful as project footprints have been reduced through
Peter
Peter M
M Lovie
Lovie PE
PE LLC
LLC fewer wells, smaller facilities and the subsea tiebacks.
ERIC
ERIC NAMTVEDT
NAMTVEDT As a result, the projects are smaller, with an average capex to develop major
Namtvedt Energy
Namtvedt Energy Advisors
Advisors projects (commercial reserves more than 50 MMboe) sanctioned in 2017
DONALD PAUL
PAUL falling to $2.7 billion from an average capex of $5.5 billion for those projects
DONALD
USC
USC sanctioned over the last decade, according to the analysis.
In the days leading up to OTC, Shell Offshore Inc. announced that it and
KEITH
KEITH RAPPOLD
RAPPOLD
Aramco Services its partner Statoil USA E&P had made the final investment decision for the
deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM) project at Vito.
EVE SPRUNT Featuring a new simplified host design and eight subsea wells with deep in-well
Consultant
gas lift, the Vito Field is expected to reach peak production of approximately
SCOTT WEEDEN 100,000 boe/d, according to a press release. Vito will be the company’s 11th
Consultant deepwater host in the GoM and is scheduled to begin producing oil in 2021.
The estimated breakeven price for the project was pegged at less than $35/
TOM WILLIAMS
RPSEA bbl, according to the release. This reduced breakeven was made possible
through cost reductions of more than 70% from the original concept, the
release noted.
Offshore E&P survived the storm through adaptation, collaboration, inno-
Vice President,
EditorialEditorial
DirectorDirector vation and standardization and now enters a period of rebuilding and growth.
PEGGY WILLIAMS
Becoming leaner and meaner won’t happen overnight,
Chief Financial Officer but through the continued sharing and disseminating of
CHRIS ARNDT knowledge, the journey will certainly be memorable.
Chief Executive Officer
RICHARD A. EICHLER
7
industry
PULSE

Safety training should be standard

at every company
New online options ensure greater access to training.

among the global workforce. MIST covers nine basic

John McDonald, OPITO
safety elements that all offshore workers are liable to be
exposed to during their working life.

T he Piper Alpha disaster on July 6, 1988, revolution-

ized the energy industry’s approach to safety. Com-
panies and organizations across the sector have pulled
These include an introduction to the hazardous
offshore environment, safety observation systems, risk
assessment, permit to work, platform integrity, manual
together to develop and improve training and internal handling, working at height, mechanical lifting and
processes to ensure that each worker goes to work safely control of hazardous substances.
and returns home safely. Leading-edge standards such as these have been
Training personnel so they know how to react to an developed by OPITO on behalf of the sector, before
incident is vital. Training an entire workforce to the and following Piper Alpha, and they are reviewed by
same standard, so they have trust in those around them, industry forums on a regular basis to ensure they con-
is imperative. It should be a given that people have tinue to meet best practice.
confidence in those they operate next to no matter how There are now 114 OPITO standards in place that
long they have been in a role, whom they work for or are recognized and adopted around the world, ranging
their breadth of experience. Having the tools, belief from emergency response training to workplace com-
in oneself and competency to react in an environment petence assessment standards for safety critical roles.
where a simple human error could result in the most However, the sector is forever evolving, and to keep
serious of consequences is paramount to a safe working up with change and ensure people remain safe and
environment. While there have been various incidents equipped, there is much work ahead of us.
over the past three decades since Piper Alpha, none has Oil and gas companies continue to push the limits
resulted in such a devastating, singular mass loss of life. of design to maximize production including deeper
OPITO, as the custodian of the energy industry’s train- wells and taller offshore rigs. These advancements
ing, emergency response and competency standards, has require sharp, meticulous attention to detail and
seen more than 250,000 personnel trained every year workplace safety.
around the world to its standards, facilitated by one of The sector also has rapidly invested in new technol-
the 200 approved training companies in 45 countries. ogies and processes well beyond what could have been
The sector has long realized that while individual imagined 30 years ago. Change is progress and the
companies always will do what they need to do to stay future sustainability of the sector not only follows this
in the game, in a high percentage of cases a shared but must embrace it at every level to reduce the likeli-
approach best serves the working community. This is hood of incidents.
especially true in areas such as the creation and imple-
mentation of common training standards. Online training
The landscape is shifting with an increase in the use
Training standards of artificial intelligence, digitalization and automated
The unique hazards and special work circumstances processes. In some instances, these innovations will help
on oil and gas sites require specific training. Minimum reduce human risk. For example, drones are carrying
Industry Safety Training (MIST) and its international out inspection campaigns on offshore assets.
sister-standard IMIST are successful safety critical Personnel training can be carried out in many ways:
courses undertaken by the sector. formal classroom training, daily safety huddles and
Before MIST was developed and rolled out in 2008, online learning can be added to the way safety criti-
personnel around the world were trained to varying cal training is delivered. The digital transformation
degrees of understanding, creating a lack of consistency of the classroom element of the Basic Offshore Safety

8 June 2018 | [Link]

 industry
PULSE

Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) suite with the next generation who are growing up with tech-
(including tropical and with compressed air breath- nology in every area of their lives.
ing apparatus) is a long-term, industry demand-led Adopting common global standards and engaging the
initiative to create a change in workforce training essential support to apply them is a challenge, and the
through innovation. ability to achieve this goal lies firmly at the feet of the
More than 150,000 people went through the orig- industry. The positive news is that there were 315,513
inal three-day primary emergency response BOSIET OPITO certificates achieved last year, and 14 organiza-
training last year. The training is widely regarded in tions received OPITO approval for their internal compe-
the industry as the must-have certification to enable a tence management systems demonstrating their organi-
worker to go offshore. The course includes helicopter zation’s commitment to safety and workforce capability.
survival, emergency first aid, sea survival, firefighting The sector must continue to keep its focus on the
and lifeboat training. safety, skills and competence of its workers across every
The digital development, which dramatically reduces region. Consistency and an embedded, strong safety
the course duration, followed calls from the sector for culture is the best approach to cementing continuous
regulated online learning with world-class credibility safe operations for the workforce.
that delivers efficiencies both to the individual learner
and the companies involved. Have a story idea for Industry Pulse? This feature looks at
The theory element can be carried out at any time, big-picture trends that are likely to affect the upstream oil
from any location and at the trainee’s own pace. It is and gas industry. Submit story ideas to Group Managing
Editor Jo Ann Davy at jdavy@[Link].
a perfect example of a modern approach fully aligned

[Link] | June 2018 9

 industry
PULSE

Sustaining the industry’s health

through innovation sharing
Technology transfer programs can fill the R&D need for small to midsize companies.

established more than 20 years ago by the U.S. DOE

Brian Walzel, Associate Editor, Production Technologies
to provide a forum for transfer of technology and best
practices within the producer community. The council

T he concept of technology transfer is a bit nebulous—

one person sharing a new system, tool or idea with
another. This being a new challenge to the oil and gas
provides training and workshops throughout the U.S.
where oil and gas operators are producing.
Recently, Viscomi partnered with Lanny Schoeling,
industry is somewhat of a misnomer; even the earliest oil author of the original methodology at the University of
men passed along the latest innovations with each other. Kansas, and Tom Williams, RPSEA president, to expand
But, at least according to one recent report, market upon the work conducted in the 1990s and update its
dynamics have created a gap between the forward-think- methodologies for today’s more challenging operating
ing and planning oil majors and the smaller operators environments with his SPE paper.
without the means for R&D. “Our objective was to set the course for companies to
In his recent SPE paper, “Development of a Technology continue to take advantage of technology and best prac-
Transfer Model in the 2020 Era for the Oil and Gas tices in ways that optimize operations, improve economics
Industry,” Jeremy Viscomi, vice president of global mar- and secure production far into the future,” Viscomi wrote.
keting at Premier Oilfield Laboratories, wrote, “In the Concurrent to Viscomi’s efforts, RPSEA published its
last few years the landscape of the oil and gas industry own R&D plan this year in “Keeping It Going for the Long
has changed dramatically in relation to technology. Many Haul—The Easy Stuff Is Gone,” authored by Williams.
operators, out of necessity, have adopted a manufacturing Both RPSEA and Viscomi noted that technology
or mass production mentality regarding their wells while transfer programs would be most beneficial to produc-
disregarding optimization and the use of technology for ers that often have limited technical staff with little to
long-term production.” no R&D budget available to explore new technologies.
“In our attempt to address the needs of the modern
Early tech transfer oil and gas operator, considerations had to be made for
According to Viscomi, well abandonment was a com- many operators who do not have or have limited access to
mon problem in the early 1990s, an issue recognized by industry research labs, government funding and university
researchers at the University of Kansas. Those research- programs,” Viscomi said. “IPAA [Independent Petroleum
ers developed and outlined a model for independent Association of America] describes these operators as those
operators to embrace and utilize new technology with producers who do not have more than $5 million in retail
the goal of reducing well abandonment and increasing sales of oil and gas or do not refine more than 75,000 bar-
oil production over the long term. rels per day of crude oil during a given year.”
The idea of knowledge-sharing soon grew outside The updated methodology published by Viscomi
the realms of higher education through the creation of featured five components that he said operators can
organizations like the Research Partnership to Secure use for quick access to technology without significant
Energy for America (RPSEA) and the Petroleum costs while increasing oil production and lowering
Technology Transfer Council (PTTC). operating expenses:
RPSEA is a nonprofit, national consortium based on 1. “Technology leadership guided by industry to initi-
a private-public partnership model that has worked ate and manage the technology transfer process;
with industry, academia and the U.S. Department 2. Problem identification activities that help create
of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology a two-way dialogue between industry and a leader-
Laboratory. The consortium, founded in 2002, advo- ship organization;
cates technology transfer of R&D information and 3. Documented demonstration projects rooted in
has managed more than 170 projects. The PTTC was problem identification activities;

10 June 2018 | [Link]

 industry
PULSE

4. Focused technology workshops that disseminate Proprietary protections

demonstration project findings; and Although the concept of technology transfer among oil
5. Regional resource centers with outreach resources and gas companies inherently benefits those that don’t
serving as local and online repositories for easy possess the ability to develop their own technology, most
access by industry.” companies are protective of their intellectual property.
Meanwhile, the RPSEA plan was written to allow the Faig Alizada, writing for the international law firm
organization and its stakeholders to prioritize RPSEA’s Grata International, identified the challenges in sharing
focus while providing a road map for industry and technology and innovations while at the same time pro-
policymakers to work together to address challenges tecting intellectual property—the industry secrets that
through research and technology transfer. The RPSEA make each company and its operations unique.
report also includes a summary of technology transfer In “Protection of Know-how in Oil and Gas Technology
efforts designed to enable and enhance the sharing of Agreements,” Alizada referenced the example of publi-
industry innovations and research findings. cally disclosing the individual components of hydraulic
The organization’s efforts for conveying the fracturing fluid in response to public concerns over the
industry’s innovations to end environmental impact of hydraulic
users includes monthly reports, fracturing operations.
project updates and reviews, “Oil and gas companies have
workshops, and presentations at Transferring program resisted disclosure of the exact
public meetings at all stages of results to smaller, composition of fracking on the
an ongoing project. grounds that these mixtures are
“When a project reaches com- independent trade secrets,” Alizada noted.
pletion, successful examples and operators requires a “Creating a fracking fluid mix-
case studies generated during the
course of the project are the basis
different approach than ture that produces the desired
results is an extremely compli-
for formal technology transfer that utilized for cated task. Without effective
efforts,” the RPSEA report stated. ultradeepwater and trade secret protection, public
Among the specific technology disclosure would allow imitation
transfer approaches incorporated onshore unconventional and reverse engineering of highly
into the RPSEA program are operators. proprietary information.”
• “The engagement of Program Alizada recommended compa-
Advisory Committee and nies consider “know-how agree-
Technical Advisory Committee ments” that determine the scope
members in needs assessment, project selection and of the information being protected and disclosed. In
ongoing project review, which RPSEA said promotes addition, he noted that a company’s intellectual property
ongoing interests in developing projects and facili- committee should decide whether to pursue a patent or
tating field tests and demonstrations using producer a trade secret protection for a particularly innovation.
wells, data and facilities; “For example, some things, such as databases, are
• A continuing commitment to enhance the function- not patentable and thus must be maintained as a trade
ality and value of the RPSEA website by adding rel- secret,” he wrote.
evant, value-added data and information regarding But as Viscomi and RPSEA noted, sharing such infor-
the organization’s individual projects; and mation and technology works for the greater good of
• That the R&D contracts awarded include require- the industry, keeping it healthy for the future.
ments for the expenditure of funds allocated to “Our goal is to stand on the work of programs
technology transfer in accordance with the pro- such as PTTC and RPSEA, utilize their successes
gram-level plan.” and expand them into a methodology that embraces
Both Viscomi and RPSEA realized that technology emerging communication technology and takes
transfer efforts are not a one-size-fits-all concept. technology beyond 2020,” Viscomi said. “The strate-
Transferring program results to smaller, independent gies and techniques are not limited only to indepen-
operators requires a different approach than that uti- dent producers. Market conditions urge all produc-
lized, for example, for ultradeepwater and onshore ers to explore emerging technology to improve pro-
unconventional operators. duction and optimize each well.”

12 June 2018 | [Link]

world
VIEW

Chevron touts both Permian, deep water

The oil major sees deep water as a material part of its overall upstream portfolio.

Emily Patsy, Associate Managing Editor, capability needed to be successful in the Gulf of Mexico
Digital News Group [GoM],” he said.
This year alone the company plans to invest $8 billion

M assive opportunities in shale plays within the Perm-

ian Basin might have lured most companies faced
with lower-for-longer oil prices to abandon offshore, but
in U.S. operations with a majority of that allocated to
the deepwater GoM and Permian Basin. Still, the last
two years have been tough for the industry, with a lot of
not Chevron Corp. companies choosing to exit deep water.
“For us, it’s not either offshore or the Permian—it’s “Deepwater offshore projects will have to generate
both,” Jeff Shellebarger, president of North America competitive investment returns at the lower end of
E&P at Chevron, said in Houston during an Offshore the price environment in order to be viable and to
Technology Conference breakfast session on April 30. continue to attract that investment capital,” Shelle-
Shellebarger, who called the Permian one of the big- barger said. “All this is possible. We are working on
gest challenges facing the offshore business, said the that as an industry to meet those investment chal-
nature of offshore—especially deep water—is it takes lenges through efficiency, through technology and
long-term commitment and the financial wherewithal to through standardization.”
invest across the cycle. Earlier this year Wood Mackenzie forecast a comeback
Further, it takes considerable size and scale to manage for deepwater GoM with expectations of record-breaking
the risk and to generate profit, which Shellebarger said production in 2018.
Chevron has in both the Permian and deep water. “Although deepwater Gulf of Mexico has taken quite
“At Chevron, we see deep water as a material part of a beating over the last three years, the industry has
our overall upstream portfolio, and as such we have clawed its way back to being competitive by significantly
put together the size, the scale and the organizational cutting costs, improving efficiencies and tightening up

Jeff Shellebarger, Chevron’s president of North America, shared his insights on the company’s deepwater and Permian Basin portfolio
at the 2018 Offshore Technology Conference. (Photo by [Link])

14 June 2018 | [Link]

 world
VIEW

the supply chain,” William Turner, Wood Mackenzie’s in water depths of 1,600 m (5,249 ft). Production from the
senior research analyst, said in a January report. project was previously expected to start in late 2015 but
Turner said he expects production of oil and gas in was delayed due to failed installation in May 2015.
the deepwater GoM to reach an all-time record high in Shellebarger said Chevron also continues to invest in
2018 with about 1.9 MMboe/d predicted (80% oil), sur- brownfield opportunities and is participating in the Mad
passing the previous record in 2009 by nearly 10% and Dog Phase 2 project with first oil expected in 2021. In
representing 13% growth year over year. the long term, the company announced two new “very
Shellebarger said he shares that optimism. promising” discoveries—Whale and Ballymore, he said.
“For me personally I think that’s absolutely true and, “Between the resource potential, terrific discoveries, the
as a company, Chevron remains committed to being a size and the scale, the cost of efficiencies that we have and
long-term player in multiple deepwater basins around can achieve, and the fact that we’re effectively managing
the world,” he said. through the low-price cycle and achieving this step change
So far this year in the GoM, Chevron has seen first of cost and efficiencies, you can see why I remain optimis-
production at its partner Hess’ Stampede project in tic on the future of deep water, whether it’s in the Gulf of
January and successfully installed a Big Foot tension-leg Mexico or other basins around the world,” he said.
platform in February. Chevron reported on April 27 first-quarter 2018 earn-
Chevron plans to start drilling from the Big Foot plat- ings of $3.6 billion, up from $2.7 billion a year ago. Its
form in the next two to three months and expects to see upstream earnings also improved, rising to about $3.4
first oil from that project by the end of the year. Big Foot billion from $1.5 billion. But, similar to Exxon Mobil,
is located about 360 km (224 miles) south of New Orleans downstream earnings were down.

[Link] | June 2018 15

 market
INTELLIGENCE

Keep on trucking
Truck driver shortage threatens the pace of Permian oil production growth.

well 62% over the last three years. Permian sand use,
Richard Mason, Chief Technical Director
which is projected to reach 15 MMtons per quarter this
year, is transported by truck to a typical well at an aver-

C ould a shortage of oilfield truck drivers collide

with rising Permian rig count—already at an all-
time high for horizontal work—and ever-growing vol-
age rate of 400 truckloads every 10 to 15 days.
If one assumes, using [Link] data, the Permian
has 12 new horizontal wells completed daily, this
umes of sand per well and greater volumes of produced amounts to roughly one truck trip every five minutes
water (both of which use trucking for conveyance) to for sand, which is separate from transportation related
slow the rate of regional oil production? to ferrying flowback water to water disposal facilities.
That is the white paper thesis originating from BP Add it up, and it amounts to approximately 7,000
Capital Fund Advisors, the investment fund backed trucks on the road daily in the Permian, Rodgers said.
by legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens. BP Portfolio One can see the magnitude by driving down U.S.
Manager Trip Rodgers suggested that the regional Highway 285 in Reeves County, Texas, or State
trucking issue is more nuanced than generally Highway 302 west of Kermit, Texas.
understood and creates an additional bottleneck Meanwhile, Permian crude is bumping into pipe-
that may restrict the rate of domestic oil production line constraints—takeaway capacity—in the first half
growth and contribute to a commodity price hike of the year, which is evident in rapidly widening
with global implications. regional differentials.
Those nuances include Pipeline takeaway con-
n New transportation regulations are
an aging workforce cou- straints are projected to
pled with a barrier for
exacerbating the Permian trucking continue deep into 2019.
entry of younger replace-
labor shortage. Rail and trucks will bridge
ment workers in the form n Permian oil production growth is the gap until new pipe-
of commercial driver colliding with takeaway constraints line capacity arrives, but
license-related age require- at midstream and lease level. both alternatives add cost.
ments, the filtering effects The truck driver short-
n Takeaway issues could stretch deep
of drug testing and the per- age grew more acute
ceived health penalty associ-
into 2019. with implementation in
ated with a mostly stationary December 2017 of stricter
job that combines long hours and truck stop food. Hours of Service rules backed by electronic logging
Skeptics say solving oilfield labor issues is a matter device requirements to supplant the old manual entry.
of wages. Regional help wanted advertisements for Estimates suggest the change will reduce driver avail-
Permian truck drivers are topping $100,000 annually ability to 11 hours per day and a weekly cap of 70 hours
with bonuses. Still, that is easier said than done. U.S. before the driver must take a mandatory 24-hour break.
unemployment recently fell below 4%—full employ- Bottom line? Regulatory and recruitment head-
ment traditionally to classic economists—and is under winds are hitting oilfield trucking in a time of rising
2% in Midland, Texas. In 2017 demand for truck driv- demand and, combined with pipeline takeaway
ers nationwide exceeded supply by more than 50,000 constraints, they may constrain the rate of increase
positions, and the driver shortage has risen to the top for crude oil production, capping potential domes-
of concerns for trucking companies nationwide. tic growth at 600,000 bbl/d to 900,000 bbl/d of oil
“It’s a recruitment issue that is difficult to solve,” on an annual basis versus analyst projections of 1
Rodgers told E&P. MMbbl/d of oil or more.
The transportation labor crunch is hitting just as U.S. As Rodgers said, “People have extrapolated higher
oil production—and its demand for labor—is rising. production growth. That’s easy to do in an Excel
Permian E&P companies have increased sand use per spreadsheet. It’s not as easy to do in the field.”

16 June 2018 | [Link]

 drilling
TECHNOLOGIES

Efforts quickly accelerate in the

Guyana-Suriname Basin
The promise of big discoveries offshore South America is set to continue for years to come.

T he first rule of puzzle assembly is to start with the

edges and work in, flipping pieces this way and
that, until the snap of snug fit indicates correct piece
JENNIFER PRESLEY
Executive Editor
placement. When looking at a world map, it is easy to jpresley@[Link]
see how South America and Africa were once part of a
larger whole. Read more commentary at
By working the edges of each, offshore E&P dis- [Link]
covered vast reservoirs of oil and gas off the coasts of
Angola and Brazil. Major oil discoveries in offshore
Guyana in recent years have led to increased interna- tial to extend its existing 90 MMbbl of remaining
tional investment in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. onshore reserves.
According to a 2012 U.S. Geological Survey report, Some 109 MMbbl of oil from Paleocene- and Eocene-
the basin holds an estimated resource aged reservoirs in the onshore Canje For-
potential of 13.6 Bbbl of oil and is ranked mation has been produced over the last 35
second in the world for prospectivity years by the NOC. The offshore remains
among the world’s unexplored basins. virtually unexplored, with 26 explora-
Attendees at a recent Offshore Tech- tion wells drilled over a 130,000-sq-km
nology Conference (OTC) industry panel (50,193-sq-mile) area. Of those 26 wells,
discussion were transported to the lush only 14 have been drilled in water depths
forests of the region as they learned how greater than 20 m (65.6 ft), he noted.
16 years of patience, perseverance and a The NOC has identified and ranked 15
dry hole led to the eventual discovery at prospects, some stacked, in water depths
Liza-1 by Exxon Mobil and its partners of 5 m to 30 m (16.4 ft to 98.4 ft) off-
Hess and Nexen in 2015. shore. The company has plans to drill a
“In May 2015 the Liza well came in. It 10-well exploratory campaign from April
was an incredible well, and it has only 2019 to December 2019, he said.
gotten better,” said Erik Oswald, vice Tom Ketele, nearshore The Liza story demonstrates the impor-
president of exploration, Americas, Exx- drilling project manager tance of not walking away after the first
onMobil Upstream Research Co. “It is a for Staatsolie, updated dry hole, according to Bob Fryklund,
huge deal and a great thing for Guyana.” OTC panel attendees on chief upstream strategist at IHS Energy.
Four Liza wells later, along with dis- Suriname’s planned 10-well He noted that Guyana is an emerging
coveries at Payara, Snoek, Pacora, Tur- exploratory drilling producer while Suriname is just entering
bot and Ranger in the Stabroek Block campaign for 2019. the offshore.
between 2015 and 2018, have resulted (Photo by Prospects abound in both locations, but
in estimated potential resource reserves [Link]) a big question that remains in the discus-
in excess of 3 Bbbl for the operator and sion is how far the Guyana-Suriname Basin
its partners. extends across the border into Suriname.
The potential for Suriname is significant according “Guyana and Suriname represent two different spots
to Tom Ketele, nearshore drilling project manager for on the ‘proof of concept’ model for
Staatsolie, the Suriname national oil company (NOC). frontier development,” he said.
He shared with attendees how the country is looking “There are plenty of opportuni-
to develop its ultrashallow nearshore resource poten- ties in South America.”

[Link] | June 2018 19

 completions &
PRODUCTION

Meeting production expectations

Study shows improvements might be needed in appraisal programs.

T o produce the record amounts of oil the industry

is currently seeing, it takes a pretty good idea of
what lies below the surface as well as a solid plan to
BRIAN WALZEL
Associate Editor,
produce all of those hydrocarbons. But despite com- Production Technologies
panies pumping out record amounts of production, bwalzel@[Link]
at least one study claims operators aren’t hitting their Read more commentary at
expected production targets. [Link]
In a recent study of 70 worldwide onshore and
offshore projects, Westwood Global Energy Group
reported that half of oil and gas fields are not the field comes onstream, which is typically many
producing to expectations because of unexpected years after its initial appraisal. Misunderstanding the
reservoir issues and 70% of the fields studied with subsurface and its potential recovery “could have a
limited appraisal were found not to perform to the catastrophic impact on production performance,”
development plan. The report stated that “most Westwood reported.
of the subsurface risks identified could have been Of the 70 fields studied, 43 demonstrated deviations
mitigated before the start of a project with more in reserves and/or production of greater than 10%
effective well appraisal.” above or below the plan at the sanctioning part of the
Westwood benchmarked the appraisal programs project planning, according to Westwood.
of 70 producing fields to understand how produc- Sayavedra cited the importance for a company
tion performance is related to the effectiveness of to have a “look-back” process on its field appraisal
appraisal in reducing subsurface uncertainties, the program that would enable them to test those initial
study reported. assumptions through such mechanisms as a peer
Westwood said the lesson learned with the report is review. However, such mechanisms aren’t possible
the importance of a quality well appraisal strategy and for many operators.
its impact on field performance. “A lot of organizations don’t have that infrastruc-
Halliburton’s Leo Sayavedra, director of mature ture in place,” he said. “If you’re a midsize oil com-
fields consulting and project management, said in pany, once you come up with a field development
an exclusive interview with E&P that there is “some plan and the well test information comes in, maybe
truth” to fields underperforming or not performing as some of it will be used and it will help with perhaps
expected, a result of several potential factors starting how you structure the completions or where you
with the recent downturn and subsequent across-the- land the wells. But you’re likely not going to have a
board funding cuts. rigorous peer review process where you have senior
“What you find is there are cutbacks in capital and geologists and reservoir engineers who are really try-
resources, not just for future projects but the ongoing ing to question the assumptions that were made ini-
development of projects,” he said. “Where you have tially just because there’s not enough organizational
senior personnel who can independently model these will to do it.”
fields out and produce the predicted forecasts, you’ve As the industry continues its climb out of the down-
got less of those people. They have been counseled turn doldrums, companies have been focused on
out of their organizations for cost reasons or there improving drilling and completions efficiencies. But
hasn’t been enough work to do at that particular time. if production rates are, in fact, not meeting expected
The quality of your models of production forecasts predictions, those same efforts that
suffers as a result of that.” have led to lower development costs
As Westwood noted in its study, the effectiveness might find their way to figuring out pro-
of a field appraisal program is only apparent once duction challenges.

[Link] | June 2018 21

 offshore
ADVANCES

Robots poised to change the face

of offshore operations
New technologies are rapidly taking on traditionally ‘human’ tasks.

A utomation has been part of offshore operations

for decades. Dynamic positioning was introduced
on a drillship in the 1970s, and equipment like the
JUDY MURRAY
Senior Contributing Editor,
iron roughneck, which today is commonplace, has Offshore
been around since the 1990s. Over the years, the jmurray@[Link]
industry has gradually adopted a range of onboard Read more commentary at
automated functionality that has enabled greater effi- [Link]
ciency and enhanced safety.
Today robotics is taking automation to the next level.
In about 18 months, a group that includes Total, Eelume describes the vehicle as a modular combi-
The Oil & Gas Technology Centre, Austrian manufac- nation of joints, thrusters and various payload mod-
turer Taurob and the Technische Universitaet Darm- ules. Sensors and tools can be mounted anywhere
stadt (TU Darmstadt) in Hessen, Germany, intends to along the flexible body. A dual-arm configuration is
introduce a mobile robot for autonomous operational achieved by mounting tooling in each end and form-
inspection of offshore platforms. ing the vehicle body into a U-shape. One end of the
The idea was conceived by Taurob and TU Darm- arm can grab while the other end carries out inspec-
stadt, which collaborated to win Total’s Autonomous tion and intervention tasks. The unit also can be fitted
Robots for Gas and Oil Sites (ARGOS) challenge in with a camera on one arm to provide a view of tool
2017. The prototype, which received ATEX certifica- operations being carried out on the other end.
tion—meaning it conforms to the The snake’s design is such that,
ATmosphere EXplosible directive once the unit is deployed, it can
for equipment working in flammable Robotics is taking remain permanently underwater,
environment—can perform visual automation to the ready to perform intervention tasks
inspections, read dials, and measure that normally would require mobiliza-
gas concentration, temperature and next level. tion from the surface.
level gauges and valve positions. It is Meanwhile, a robot developed by
mobile enough to move through nar- Stavanger-based Robotic Drilling Sys-
row pathways, travel up and down stairs and detect and tems AS, which was acquired by Nabors Industries Ltd. in
navigate around obstacles and humans. 2017, reportedly automates all pipe and tool operations.
In the next year and a half, the ATEX-certified, auton- With a 1,500-kg load capacity, the fully electric robot
omous robot will be enhanced, and an additional two can pick up and lay down drillpipe, execute tripping,
versions will be developed with more robustness, greater bottomhole assembly placement and plug and aban-
reliability and improved functionality. The resulting donment operations and handle completion compo-
devices, which will be deployed on an offshore platform nents, casing, tubing, liners and screens.
in the North Sea for the first offshore trial, are intended These capabilities are impressive, and they represent
to be simple enough for workers to operate without the only a few of the many robotics initiatives underway.
need for onsite robotics experts. Advances like these are increasing efficiencies, mini-
Another robot that also is at the prototype stage is mizing human intervention and dramatically improving
a “snake,” developed by Eelume—a company estab- safety. And in the process, they are
lished in 2015 as a spinoff from the Norwegian Uni- creating an offshore environment
versity of Science and Technology—in cooperation that soon will bear scant resemblance
with Statoil and Kongsberg Maritime. to the one that exists today.

[Link] | June 2018 23

 digital
SOLUTIONS

Securing the software-driven fully

networked digital oil field
The first step in winning the cyber threat war is being prepared.

Key sources of cyberattacks

Duncan Greatwood, Xage
Where are cyber threats coming from? Unfortunately for
the oil industry there is a broad range of potential attackers

M oving beyond the previous generation of analog

technologies, today’s oil field of networked wells
is quite different. Companies deal with the complexities
and types of attacks. Attackers include vandalism threats as
well as highly motivated state actors with direct economic
interests in disruption, looking for a vulnerability and
of a web of wells connected to separation tanks, storage choosing the right moment to attack. Or competitors may
tanks, control centers and groundwater wells across simply be trying to steal commercial secrets from the field.
large territories. Cybersecurity has leapt from being barely on the oil
To facilitate better operational efficiency, greater and gas operators’ radar to becoming a major opera-
visibility and improved human safety, the digital oilfield tional challenge. Yet, too many oil and gas companies
concept emerged. New networks were created to enable are still taking a somewhat laissez-faire approach, as if
automation and operator visibility. The digital oil field they are still working with small closed network islands
became software-driven across the entire service trajec- and fixed-function controllers. Meanwhile, the inter-
tory, delivering major operational improvements but section of more infield automation, more networking,
also creating new and possibly catastrophic cybersecu- IoT adoption and more aggressive attacks have exposed
rity risks that must be addressed. major security issues, and companies need to step up
their efforts to match the scale of the threats.
Powerful trends
Given the way large and small oil and gas companies Battle plan
are networking more and more equipment for wired Cybersecurity actually has a repeatable recipe. Step
and wireless connectivity, with applications accessible one involves identifying and locking down assets
on laptops and smartphones, there is an upward jump deployed in the field so attackers cannot use unap-
in the sheer quantity of networked devices, as the proved devices as a launchpad for their attacks. In
industry moves away from small islands of “air gapped” other words, companies must have a secure way
connectivity. Also joining the network are more sensing of holding the inventory of accessible systems, of
equipment and visual recognition applications to help enforcing access control and enabling restricted
detect spills or production shutdowns. Looking at the policy-based enrollment and management.
ever-growing network and the proliferation of Internet Step two focuses on device passwords, making sure that
of Things (IoT) devices, two powerful trends are com- all passwords are so complex they cannot be guessed,
ing together in digital oilfield security. keeping those device passwords securely in the edge and
As networks get bigger and more complex, it only having technicians use personal credentials—not hard-
takes one action to cause exponential trouble. A single coded device passwords—to access data, remote terminal
laptop in the field with malware can be leveraged by units and other devices. This personal “role-based access
hackers into the means to launch attacks across the control” also can enable secure remote access and con-
entire infield network. The bigger the networks, the trol of infield systems.
harder they are to protect at the network boundary. Oil Step three addresses securing legacy systems. Security
and gas industrial networks are becoming as open and should be added in such a way that if a legacy system
exposed as conventional IT networks. They must be is hacked, fingerprint changes can be recognized and
protected on the basis that attackers will eventually find attackers can be blocked from issuing damaging con-
ways to access the network and might be able to find trol instructions and prevented from infecting other
vulnerable networked devices to form the basis of an components. Given the vulnerabilities of many existing
initial compromise. SCADA, human-machine interfaces (HMI) and remote

24 June 2018 | [Link]

 digital
SOLUTIONS

elements to the entire spectrum (i.e., across many

nodes) of the field.

The big picture

A typical oil and gas company may have hundreds
or thousands of assets in the field, a wide-ranging
array of devices from controllers to HMIs spread over
multiple geographies and territories. Consequently,
there’s a major problem with tracking all these assets
and creating an inventory of the assets and software
applications allowed to interact with each other.
Making the solution more complicated is the evolu-
tion of various technologies and equipment resulting
in a hodgepodge of protocols. For historical reasons,
many do not have any authentication or control built
in, which means the equipment and software are
interacting without explicit access control. To solve
that problem, gateways are deployed around the
edges in the oil patch, the control centers and by tank
sites to manage access between the various control-
lers, sensors, applications and users—giving the oper-
ator the ultimate control over data exchange in the
field to improve security and availability.
A key cybersecurity point is that companies should
implement application-level security for their sys-
tems as contrasted with pure network-level security.
Application-level goes beyond network security in
controlling who can do what, which devices can
“talk” to each other and which applications are
Xage’s Edge security system provides a blockchain-protected security allowed to issue instructions for certain devices.
fabric that creates a distributed, redundant and tamper-proof ecosystem Operators should not be satisfied with security that
to enable multiple vendor and multiple customer authentication and access breaks down as soon as the network is breached.
controls for protection of deployed SCADA systems.
(Source: Xage) Looking ahead
What are key cybersecurity takeaways for companies?
terminal units, real access control with explicit authori- Security for oil and gas is different from traditional
zations is required for legacy equipment and protocols. security models. It focuses on authentication, trust and
For example, when software needs to interact with a access control between devices, applications and users
controller in the field, it should be required to prove in the field and utilizes a distributed security approach
its identity before being able to access that controller. with no single point of failure.
This has become increasingly important with more soft- Companies must recognize that large security risks are
ware-to-machine interaction in a world oriented toward real and protection requires more aggressive approaches,
interconnecting and automating various elements with regardless of how near or far a potential threat may have
distributed intelligence. appeared until recently. Companies also must recognize
Step four involves constructing a system that has no that highly automated IoT approaches are not consumer
single point of security failure. Otherwise, if hackers science fiction but are quickly taking hold in oil and gas.
can gain control of a HMI, for instance, they can con- Companies are discovering that yesterday’s security
trol the entire system and easily access new systems to approaches simply will not serve today’s automated
attack. System construction must best ensure that if any world. As a result, they need a new approach to get pre-
aspect does get compromised, the operator can prevent pared for the huge operational benefits that IoT can
the attack from spreading beyond those compromised bring—without the potentially catastrophic risks.

26 June 2018 | [Link]

 digital
SOLUTIONS

Driving the adoption and the future of

operational excellence
An industry survey shows increasing use of digitalization to ensure smoother operations.

strategic manner. According to the survey, enhanced

Scott Lehmann, Petrotechnics
key performance indicators and metrics (51%) and
improved prioritization and planning (49%) are the two

D igitalization is the engine fueling the growing adop-

tion of operational excellence (OE) in hazardous
industries. As part one of Petrotechnics’ Operational
areas where digitalization is creating the biggest impact
within organizations.
However, viewing digitalization as a silver bullet is a mis-
Excellence Index (OEI) survey evidenced, technology take. It is dangerous to point analytics at disparate data
is at the heart of a rapidly accelerating effort to deliver and apply machine learning with the expectation that
unparalleled transparency, efficiency and intelligence actionable insight will be the result. As the nature and use
into operational decision-making. of technology accelerate, obstacles to progress arise.
Part two of the OEI examined the evolution of digi- The rate of digitalization in hazardous industries
talization in OE. To provide a window into the applica- has some observers worried if people can keep pace.
tions, attitudes and benefits, Petrotechnics has captured According to respondents, steep learning curves (19%)
the insights of oil, gas and petrochemical industry pro- and data overloads (18%) are the top challenges that
fessionals. While being at various stages of their digital digitalization poses for operators. Adding in the poten-
transformation journey, the experiences of the respon- tial for disengaged workforces (14%), 51% of respon-
dents reflect a firm belief in digitalization to enable and dents recognized significant challenges in embracing
transform organizations’ OE frameworks. digitalization. This comes as no surprise as workplace
The momentum toward OE adoption in hazardous culture was ranked as the single biggest barrier to
industries is building, and digitalization is playing a advancing OE in part one of the 2017 OEI survey.
vital role. More than 73% of companies surveyed noted Beyond these concerns, newer applications, predic-
that digitalization is helping accelerate their ability to tive analytics, machine learning and others, have the
deliver sustainable OE. potential to disrupt long-standing models of operation.
Naturally, this breeds a sense of uncertainty among
Rate of digitalization individuals, ranging from job security to fears of Big
Many companies have made great strides integrating Brother monitoring through mobile device GPS loca-
dispersed operational data, business processes and, tion tagging helping to increase resistance.
importantly, people’s roles to create the foundations
of an enterprisewide OE framework. Companies are Enhancing decisions
looking to digitalization to manage OE in a proactive, In reality, digitalization is meant to enhance, not replace,
the human element of decision-making. It is the smart
combination of human and sensor-derived inputs to
provide the right information at the right time to make
better, more informed decisions.
Data are a prime example. The reality is there is
too much data and not enough context and insight.
So, how can the data work to deliver meaningful and
actionable insights?
It requires unlocking meaningful relationships between
previously disparate data sources. Technology is a tool. It
is not the answer. Analytics is key, but it is only as good
Digitalization will significantly improve OE in oil and gas as the data input. Expecting analytics to provide insight
operations. (Source: Petrotechnics) magically and then connect the dots is a first-class ticket

28 June 2018 | [Link]

 digital
SOLUTIONS

with 65% of respondents either deploying or planning to

deploy predictive analytics. The use of mobile workforce
applications (35%) and smart sensors (37%) is expected
to rise, as real-time visibility and frontline productivity
remain high on the list of operational priorities.
Cutting-edge digital technologies such as the Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) platforms (53%), artificial
intelligence (AI) (39%) and machine learning (49%) are
not just on the OE horizon but are already seeing mod-
est adoption by respondents. However, the usage of IIoT
platforms and AI will increase nearly three times (280%)
with machine learning (200%) close behind. The future
of digitalization lies in creating even deeper levels of
intelligence to enable a more predictive and prescriptive
Digitalization enables operators to forecast with great accuracy when approach to operational decision-making, which is at the
equipment maintenance may be needed. (Source: Petrotechnics) heart of OE.
More than 83% of organizations agree digitalization
to the trough of disillusionment. A “common currency” is enabling a single, shared view of operational reality.
such as the risk that connects data to operational reality By bringing together disparate data and creating an
is fundamental. In this way, organizations can understand integrated view of all operational activities and risk,
what is happening, when it is happening and where it is companies realize greater levels of transparency, effi-
happening on the asset. ciency and performance.
Operators can forecast with great accuracy when Likewise, 81% highlight real-time visibility of asset risk
equipment will need maintenance. It provides real-time as a significant benefit of digitalization. The connection
insights into what is happening on the plant, even pre- between risk control systems and frontline operations
dicting risk. This intelligence enables informed deci- is enabling proactive risk management, loss prevention
sions and elevates operational performance, safety and and enhanced safety.
efficiency enterprisewide. Companies also are feeling the benefits of digitalization
Part one of the 2017 OEI survey revealed a gulf between of strategic management and the deployment of oper-
organizations whose senior leaders champion OE and ational resources. Prioritization and planning and the
those who do not. However, for digitalization to become establishment of more impactful metrics are the areas
embedded in organizations, senior leaders must lead from where technology is having the greatest impact on OE.
the front and effectively communicate the benefits across The shift from real time to the predictive management
their businesses. More importantly, they must be proactive of OE reveals the areas where the future potential of
in demonstrating how digitalization is part of a wider strat- digitalization is greatest. Organizations anticipate a 209%
egy to ultimately enhance the way individuals and teams growth rate in the use of advanced analytics to better
operate—dispelling people’s fear of change. understand where and how to improve operational pro-
cesses. Respondents expect a vast uptick in the use of dig-
Adoption of digital OE ital twin technology (222%) to create virtual replicas of
Given that companies are in different stages of digital operations to run more detailed operations simulations to
OE adoption, it is no surprise that the majority of organi- improve maintenance strategies, uptime and reduce risk.
zations rank the use of more mature point applications. With strong leadership, silos can be broken down and
Enterprise asset management (84%), asset performance operational models can evolve. This empowers individ-
management (69%) and operational risk software (61%) uals with actionable insights they can use to enhance
are at the top of the list of technologies currently used decision-making and ultimately generate stronger busi-
or planning to be used. The emphasis on these technol- ness outcomes.
ogies signifies many organizations are just establishing As the impacts and business benefits continue to stack
their OE foundation. up, the momentum toward widespread OE adoption
At the same time, early OE adopters are ramping up only increases. The only choice left for companies in
their use of more cutting-edge technologies to build on hazardous industries is whether they are willing to pay
initial successes. Deriving insight from data is a key focus, the price for waiting any longer.

30 June 2018 | [Link]

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

A new day dawns on a multistage fracturing

operation in the Permian Basin. (Source: BJ Services)

32 June 2018 | [Link]

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

COMPLETING THE

Enhanced designs increase

 well productivities.

Brian Walzel, Associate Editor, stated. “Operators and service companies

Production Technologies continue to experiment with and tweak
completion designs, usually resulting in

I f necessity is the mother of invention,

then the oil and gas industry has effec-
tively reinvented itself during the course of
positive outcomes. The use of greater
sand (proppant) and water (fluid) vol-
umes has paved the way to productivity
the past few years. Faced with a precarious gains in multiple plays and is probably the
future as the price of oil bottomed out at single largest contributor to recent pro-
$26/bbl in 2016, oil companies went back ductivity advances.”
to the drawing board to ensure their sur- This month’s E&P cover story focuses
vival. Once the difficult cuts were made, on advancements in completions and
producers and service companies turned the types of systems and tools that are
to operations in search of efficiency gains, enabling producers to set production
and those gains and improvements were records. TGT Oilfield Services reports
found across the board with enhanced on how creating reservoir profiles can
drilling precision, more accurate reservoir enable better well and field management
analysis tools and better well design. decisions, while Liberty Oilfield Services
But no other factor has led to the shares how physics-based multivariate
oil production renaissance more than analysis helps optimize completions.
enhanced completion designs. In fact, in Finally, Quantico pushes forward the
a November 2017 report by The Oxford trend toward digitalization by addressing
Institute for Energy Studies, authors how subsurface artificial intelligence sys-
Trisha Curtis and Ben Montalbano said tems can transform well completions.
completions that feature increased uses It remains to be seen what, if anything,
of proppant and higher fluid volumes are might limit completion efficiencies, but
the primary reason for record production. industry innovators are seizing the oppor-
“As important as drilling efficiencies tunity market conditions have afforded
and precision are, the most meaningful them. The features in this month’s cover
advances made during the downturn are story give an inside glimpse into a few of
related to completion designs,” the report those innovations.

[Link] | June 2018 33

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

Elevate well performance with

through-barrier diagnostics
Creating reservoir flow profiles can enable better well and field management decisions.

contained within it existed for millennia in a state of rela-

Ken Feather, TGT Oilfield Services
tive equilibrium. However, when the human-made tubu-
lars, cement sheath and other well completion elements

A completed well is a sophisticated industrial-scale

plumbing system, designed to transport fluids
between subsurface reservoirs and the surface safely,
were “fused” with the subsurface by the well construction
processes, this stasis was dramatically transformed into a
complex and turbulent dynamic state.
productively and profitably. Injectors transport fluids This fusion between the human-made materials of the
one way, and producers transport more valuable fluids well completion and the natural materials of the earth,
the other. together with the dynamic interplay that now exists
between the two, is what TGT Oilfield Services calls the
Well system fusion “total well system.”
Before the insertion of this grand plumbing scheme into The well system includes that previously elusive volume
the earth, the targeted subsurface reservoir and the fluids of earth that exists beyond the wellbore, in the outer

FIGURE 1. Through-barrier spectral diagnostics in this injection well revealed that target reservoir A3 was only receiving 25% of injected
water. (Source: TGT Oilfield Services)

34 June 2018 | [Link]

periphery of the well completion and the cement sheath
that surrounds it—the so-called “well-to-reservoir interface.”
Understanding the behavior of fluids here, and spe-
cifically the “flow” of fluids, is crucial to understanding
the productive behavior of the entire well system. This
is one reason why TGT Oilfield Services developed
through-barrier diagnostics, which reveal flow behavior
throughout the well system, from the wellbore through
the completion and to its outer extremities where it
connects intimately with the reservoir.

An imperfect world
In a perfect world, the well completion behaves accord-
ing to its design and transports the right fluids to and
from the right place in the subsurface. Moreover, in the
same perfect world, the reservoir surrenders or receives
the right fluids, and the total well system delivers safely,
productively and profitably according to plan.
However, imperfections corrupt this ideal relation-
ship and forces conspire to undermine the system.
Imperfect cement seals, degraded packers, worn out
valves, corroded pipe, near wellbore fractures and other
barrier failures collude to open unwanted flow paths
throughout the well system. As a result, essential fluids
are diverted, sustained annulus pressures can danger-
ously manifest and, ultimately, producers or injectors
will not behave as expected or underperform.

Water destination
A classic example of this occurs in injector wells. Petro-
leum and reservoir engineers determine that if water is
injected at a particular pressure, then subsurface target
zones will receive a certain volume of water over time. If
the predicted flow rate is not observed, then either some-
thing is wrong with the assumptions and calculations or
something is wrong with the well system—or both. Even
worse, the predicted flow rate might be within range, but
the water might not be reaching the target. The latter
scenario is particularly insidious because it may be weeks,
months or longer before an alarm is raised.
TGT has diagnosed thousands of injector wells and,
in the majority of cases, has revealed unwanted flow
paths behind the production casing, under- and over-
performing target zones, and “thief zones” that effec-
tively “steal” water from its intended destination.
Consider the injection well case shown in Figure 1.
Conventional borehole flow diagnostics using production
logging techniques (PLTs) tell the operator that most of
the injected water is reaching the top half of the target
reservoir unit (A3), and the rest is entering the lower
half (far right track labeled “borehole flow profile”).

[Link] | June 2018 35

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

FIGURE 2. Through-barrier spectral diagnostics in this production well showed that more than 60% of produced water was not coming
from the perforated reservoir unit. (Source: Kuwait Oil Co./TGT Oilfield Services/SPE-187561-MS)

However, through-barrier spectral diagnostics by TGT downhole locate flow activity by capturing and analyzing
reveal the true picture of what is happening with the well the characteristics of sound energy generated by pressur-
system. In reality, only 25% of the injected water is entering ized fluid passing through well system restrictions, such as
the target reservoir unit. The rest is channeling upward cement channels and reservoir entry points.
to a shallower unit (A2) from 210.3 m (690 ft) to 158.5 The position and relative intensity of the resulting spec-
m (520 ft), probably though an imperfect cement sheath tral signature indicate the precise locations of flow activity
behind casing. A smaller amount is channeling downward. (see the middle track of Figure 1 labeled “spectral injec-
This is a serious issue from both a well and reservoir tion”). This information is then used together with other
management perspective. Not only is the target reser- well system data to guide a powerful and unique flow
voir not receiving enough water to fulfill the field injec- modeling engine that transforms precise thermal profiles
tion strategy, but 75% of the injected water is being into flow rates. The result is a behind-casing reservoir flow
wasted and potentially causing water breakthrough profile, which can be used in combination with the bore-
issues at other wells, compounding the loss. This essen- hole flow profile to enable better well management and
tial information directly impacts well performance and field management decisions (see right-hand track labeled
potentially fieldwide management decisions. “reservoir flow profile”).
Well barrier imperfections exist in all well types, so
Harnessing acoustic, thermal energy similar “unwanted flow path” scenarios exist in produc-
TGT’s spectral diagnostics harness acoustic and thermal tion wells too.
energy to locate and quantify fluid flow behind well barri-
ers, thereby providing a complete picture of flow dynam- Water source
ics and pathways throughout the well system. High-fidelity The case shown in Figure 2 is a deviated production well
sound recordings and processing technology deployed exhibiting a very high water cut of greater than 90%.

36 June 2018 | [Link]

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

Identifying the source of high water cut is one of the had good mechanical coverage and a good bond with
most urgent priorities for petroleum and reservoir engi- the casing, the cement was not providing a hydraulic
neers to resolve. seal. This specific aspect underlines the importance of
Whereas the PLT-derived borehole flow profile can verifying both barrier condition and barrier sealing per-
only measure flow entering the wellbore in front of the formance when deciphering flow dynamics around the
perforated interval (A2), the spectral signature map well system and eliminating unwanted flow.
indicates significant flow activity behind casing at sev-
eral other producing intervals, namely A3, A4 and A5, Completing the picture
and to a lesser extent at A1. Given that these intervals Conventional technology, such as PLTs, helps opera-
are known to be water-filled, the operator can confi- tors understand flow dynamics within the wellbore.
dently conclude that more than 60% of the produced However, this information does not always align with
water is coming from these zones. Knowing the exact what is happening beyond the wellbore—beyond cas-
locations of the source, the operator can take appropri- ing and cement at the reservoir interface. Evaluating
ate action to seal off the unwanted flow paths. the well system with through-barrier diagnostics is the
only way to understand what is happening in the well
Good bond, bad seal system. Armed with a complete picture, the operator
In the case study, the operator concluded that water can confidently make better decisions to ensure the
from these zones was channeling through an imperfect well system delivers the right fluids to the right place,
cement sheath. Even though the azimuthal cement map safely and profitably for the entire productive life of
and cement bond log indicated that the cement sheath the well.

[Link] | June 2018 37

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

Leveraging statistical analysis for

economic efficiencies
A study of the Middle Bakken showed how physics-based
multivariate analysis helps completion optimization.

Leen Weijers and Mike Mayerhofer, The other analysis method involves “smart” physical
Liberty Oilfield Services models, in this case calibrated fracture and reservoir mod-
els, which can be run to determine production sensitivities.

C ompletion strategies have differed depending on

the area in the Williston Basin. What works best
to lower dollars per barrel of oil? A new statistical anal-
The advantage of the first method is that informa-
tion for thousands of wells can be included, whereas
calibrated modeling is generally only conducted on a
ysis methodology, based on completion and produc- few wells. In this analysis, it was decided to combine the
tion data available in the public domain, was applied strengths of both methods and include well-understood
to Middle Bakken wells in the Central Basin to answer physical relationships for common completion parame-
this question. ters to improve the “dumb” MVA and make it smarter.
In general, two types of analysis are used to determine
what makes a better well. One is “dumb” statistical anal- Differences in models
ysis methods such as multivariate analysis (MVA), which There is only a subtle difference between a linear MVA
can help find “accidental” relationships between well model and the new physics-based MVA model that has
production and completion. Petrophysical parameters been developed. In a linear MVA, some production met-
also can be used in this method. Lolon et al. (2016) rics (e.g., 365-day cumulative oil production) is simply
described a MVA methodology that divides a dataset in a linear function of a variety of completion and petro-
a testing and training portion to achieve analysis results physical parameters. In the physics-based model, the
that are independent of the selected data. The analy- linear functions for completion parameters have been
sis showed that multiple linear regression techniques replaced with relationships derived from calibrated frac-
were the best approach. Despite the complexities of the ture/reservoir modeling.
workflow for the use of these models, they only uncover Figure 1 shows a plot of 365-day cumulative oil pro-
independent relationships between parameters without duction normalized per lateral foot versus proppant
providing a physical reason regarding why there might mass per lateral foot and versus fracture stage inten-
be a relationship. sity. Middle Bakken production datapoints, as well

y=2.5011In(x) - 7.2255

y = -4.267In(x) + 27.705

FIGURE 1. The model results showed increasing incremental oil production as fracture spacing was reduced. (Source: Liberty Oilfield Services)

38 June 2018 | [Link]

as the linear and
physics-based rela-
tionships that best fit
these data, are shown.
The physics-based
function that approx-
imates the results
best in this area with
significant fracture
height growth is nat-
ural-log based, which
provides the trans-
formed relationship
of proppant mass per
lateral foot in the
subsequent MVA sta-
tistical models. FIGURE 2. This evaluation shows dollars per barrel of oil as a
Figure 1 also shows function of stage length and proppant mass. (Source: Liberty
the results of the Oilfield Services)
reservoir modeling
sensitivities of 365-day cumulative oil production normalized per foot of
lateral versus fracture spacing. Note that fracture or fracture-entry point
spacing (number of perf clusters or sleeves per stage) is not readily available
in the public domain. Therefore, stage spacing, stage length (foot/stage) or
number of stages is used as a proxy for fracture spacing assuming that more
fracture stages along the lateral will result in a higher fracture density along
the wellbore. The model results show increasing incremental oil production
as fracture spacing is reduced.
Once a MVA production model has been created, a fracture pricing model can
be applied to determine how production changes as a function of completion
cost and to determine which completion parameter provides the best bang for a
completion buck. Contrary to common financial analysis using dollars per barrel
of oil for the lifetime of the well (EUR), this financial analysis is conducted only
with known production data (e.g., 365-day cumulative oil production). The bene-
fit of this is that type curve assumptions do not have to be considered.
Figure 2 shows an evaluation of the impact of two physics-based completion
parameters used: proppant mass and stage intensity. The hybrid physics-based
MVA model predicts a production increase that at some point stops offsetting
the increase in cost, thus leading to higher dollars per barrel of oil. The lowest
point in the valley of the dollars per barrel of oil curve, therefore, gives the
optimum proppant mass. The minimum dollar per year price of $39/bbl is
achieved at about 750 lb/ft of proppant mass in this example.
The dollars per year barrel of oil sensitivity to stage spacing appears to be
weaker and exhibits a minimum about 61 m (200 ft) (50 stages for 3,048-m
[10,000-ft] lateral). However, the sensitivity to pump rate is quite strong and
does not exhibit a minimum dollars per year barrel of oil within the range.
Dollars per year barrel of oil are minimized with an increase in pump rate up
to a physical maximum of about 100 bbl/min.
The results for the dollars per barrel of oil optimization extrapolated to
three and five years are shown in Figure 3. The minimum dollars per barrel
of oil shifts toward larger proppant mass or treatment sizes as a larger time

[Link] | June 2018 39

FIGURE 3. The minimum dollars per barrel of oil shifts toward larger proppant mass or
treatment sizes as a larger time frame is considered. (Source: Liberty Oilfield Services)

frame is considered. The optimum $5/year/bbl is achieved by increasing

treatment sizes by about 400 lb/ft to 1,140 lb/ft of proppant mass (27 bbl/
ft of clean fluid) compared to the one-year optimum. The shift to larger
optimum treatment sizes for a longer producing period occurs because the
well cost remains fixed while the production benefit with increased treat-
ment sizes becomes larger in the long term. This would imply that pumping
at least 1,000 lb/ft of proppant mass with 20 bbl/ft of clean fluid would still
result in improved economics for short-term five-year production metrics in
the Williston Central Basin provided there are no other limitations such as
tighter well spacing and associated interwell communication.

Conclusions
A hybrid MVA model with transformed completion parameters based on
physical relationships results in more realistic predictions of well perfor-
mance as a function of these completion parameters. The MVA model indi-
cates that for both the Middle Bakken and Three Forks the most significant
completion parameters in order of importance are proppant mass per foot
of lateral, pump rate, average pumped proppant concentration (fluid sys-
tem) and stage spacing. The analysis methodology has been extended to
other U.S. liquid-rich basins.

References available.

[Link] | June 2018 41

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

Transforming well completions

through AI
Subsurface AI systems can help maximize efficiencies.

the challenges of “sparse data” in the subsurface, where

Barry Zhang, Quantico Energy Solutions
significant expenditures and risk have historically made it
the Mount Everest that AI will need to climb.

F or the past several years, the accepted approach for

devising an optimal completion program was based
upon a combination of deterministic fracture modeling
Subsurface-focused AI is engendering a powerful
transition to address the needs of modern day shale
development. The expensive, time-consuming paradigm
reinforced with empirical validation such as tracers and of collecting direct downhole measurements to model
microseismic surveys. This approach requires costly and the explicit physics behind the reservoir is undertaking
time-consuming tests that often might not adequately a gradual yet palpable pivot to a statistical, implicit phys-
uncover the complex relationships of parameters that ics-driven approach. When implemented properly in
drive unconventional reservoir production, such as the combination with traditional geophysical constraints, sub-
impact of fluid chemistries and thin laminations on a surface AI provides an accurate statistical solution that is
fracture treatment. based on the intrinsic physics of a reservoir without the
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been applied with great expense or time of a classical deterministic approach.
success over the past five years within the oil and gas
industry, but primarily in use cases where extraordinary Fracture design evolved
volumes of data have been available to train AI. A unique The early days of shale development incorporated
set of data science tools have been developed to overcome software technologies and workflows borrowed from
conventional reservoirs, including
fracture simulations, extensive
rock laboratory testing and natural
fracture models. Over time, the
industry has pivoted to a statistical
approach using cluster analysis
tools such as Spotfire to ascer-
tain treatment design and stage
spacing. These software packages
were powerful but could lead to
misleading results. These packages
also were hampered by sparse,
inaccurate public datasets and
limitations of analysis to a handful
of intuitive—yet not necessarily
causal—relationships, such as the
impact on production of proppant
size, fluid volume, etc.

FIGURE 1. The results of this case show

several stages of a nonuniform perforation
geometry based on minimum horizontal
stress calculated from synthetic logs
derived using a neural network.
(Source: Quantico Energy Solutions)

42 June 2018 | [Link]

 The next generation of statistical tools for fracture design will employ AI in
a tightly coupled manner with static models and geophysical understanding.
High accuracy predictive models for fracture design, and ultimately produc-
tion, will draw upon AI to perform quality control on poor data, provide syn-
thetic formation properties in the absence of sufficient direct measurements,
uncover causal relationships and generate optimization curves for trade-offs
between fracture intensity and net present value (Figure 1).
The latest AI techniques from the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency around explainable AI (XAI) will start seeing adoption in the oil and
gas industry. One of the first applications is fracture design, where XAI can
help identify the optimal design and relative importance of various reservoir
and completion parameters. Operators will be able to focus time and allocate
completion budgets to the most important value drivers.

Subsurface-focused AI is engendering
a powerful transition to address the
needs of modern day
shale development.

Subsurface AI
Quantico began specializing in applying AI for the subsurface in 2012 and
has generated sonic and density logs from the existing data process. These
AI-based well logs have been utilized in real time to improve drilling efficiency
and geosteering and in the post-drill mode for completions. They have been
qualified by a supermajor to generate the same accuracy as a repeat run of an
LWD tool in deep water. Advanced AI workflows also have been developed
for seismic data to exhibit high-resolution static models to map log properties
through the entire seismic volume (Figure 2).
It is known from AI-based logs and direct measurements that the rock prop-
erties at a pilot well are dramatically different relative to the rock 2,134 m
(7,000 ft) down the lateral.
Various operators have mapped the formation to see significant stress vari-
ability both across a given lateral and across multiple laterals in the same pad.
An operator in the Permian Basin’s Wolfcamp Formation asked Quantico
to provide an economic completion solution to place perforation clusters
for each stage. Quantico provided geomechanical logs derived from the
well’s drilling data, allowing the operator to reduce the time to achieve the
designed injection rate by an average of 11% in each stage. Because the frac-
ture stages were located in zones of similar stress, the fractures in each stage
initiated nearly simultaneously across the perf clusters as shown from the
treating plots. Production was 27% higher for the optimized well compared
to a nearby offset well.
More recently, completions engineers have focused on not only the pro-
duction drivers for optimized completion placement but also the opera-
tional and cost efficiencies. The risk of a fracture hit—which may be caused
by uncontrolled fracture growth at a low-stress perf cluster before fractures
start at the adjacent clusters—was minimized. By combining fracture stages

[Link] | June 2018 43

 COVER STORY:
COMPLETIONS

FIGURE 2. The AI-based inversion can map the geomechanical properties across the 3-D seismic volume with 10-ft resolution to
improve the completion design. (Source: Quantico Energy Solutions)

in sections where the rock is conducive, operators can parameter to get right in the Permian Basin, whereas
save hundreds of thousands of dollars per well from fracture design is more important in the Bakken. Both
reduced wireline, millout and fishing operations costs. reservoir properties and fracture design are important
The AI solution also can save operators 80% on forma- decisions to optimize, but such XAI workflows can reveal
tion evaluation costs compared to the cost of running the relative importance of various parameters. This not
conventional openhole logging tools. only helps prioritize operator resources on focusing on
Quantico has employed AI techniques on more than the low-hanging fruit but it creates a coherent audit trail
100 U.S. land wells and, in every instance where a to shine a light inside the proverbial black box. It is of
geometric offset well was available for comparison, the the utmost importance for AI projects to be able to iden-
optimized placement was shown to increase production, tify the major value drivers for a fracture program to gar-
generate smoother fracturing jobs and lower overall ner cost efficiencies as quickly as possible. The alterna-
operational costs. In such cases from the Permian Basin tive scenario is an open-ended data science experiment.
and Bakken, the optimized completion yielded between Whether the decision is about treatment design or
10% and 40% improvement in production rates com- stage placement, at its core AI is about creating a frame-
pared to geometric completion designs. work for bridging the statistical world of implicit physics
with the explicit geophysics. Such a framework will need
AI insights into reservoirs to rely on specialized subsurface AI workflows that can
The next generation of AI tools will reveal greater make reliable use of sparse, poor quality public datasets
insights around fluid chemistries, proppant types, in combination with proprietary datasets such as vertical
pumping rates and volumes to deliver 90%-plus accu- and horizontal logs, core, seismic and fracture data.
racy in production predictions based on proprietary The next generation of subsurface AI tools is a natu-
and public datasets. ral evolution of fracture design from traditional cluster
Quantico’s XAI can make use of more than 1 million analysis to more powerful predictive models that will
well logs from public databases as well as proprietary help the industry allocate fracture budgets and, per-
well logs, drilling data, pressure pumping data and haps equally importantly, help completion engineers
seismic volumes from operators to predict production. identify the most influential and malleable parameters
Consistent with empirical observation, the XAI has to devote their attention to so they can maximize com-
found that well placement is a much more important pletion efficiency.

44 June 2018 | [Link]

 shale
SOLUTIONS

A clearer picture of fracture

networking emerges
An approach seeks to develop a better understanding of completion designs in the natural
fracture network of the Permian Basin’s Wolfcamp Formation.

deeper Delaware sub-basins, the formation is geologi-

Mark Warren, ProTechnics, a division of Core Laboratories
cally dominated by silty shale (mudstone) interbedded
with detrital limestone. Originally deposited during the

D espite the slight downturn in activity observed

in the beginning of the first quarter of 2016, the
Wolfcamp Formation of the Permian Basin appears to
Permian Period (299 million to 280 million years ago),
the formation has been uplifted, resulting in numerous
faults and natural fracture networks.
be back on a record-setting trend in the first quarter While this natural fracture network is characteristic of
of this year with issued permits to be at or near 2,000 the Permian Basin overall, and specifically the Wolfcamp
wells. Whether from new operators entering the area Formation, the significance and severity vary when mov-
or seasoned Permian players developing acreage, this ing throughout the formation. Some areas will have very
increased activity is met with a variety of challenges for few effective natural fractures while other areas see high
all operators. One of those challenges is the effect that permeability streaks or faulting (generally characterized
the existing natural fracture network will have on com- as a darcy level of magnitude higher than the target inter-
pletion design and ultimately production. val). High concentrations of natural fractures, commonly
The Wolfcamp Formation is primarily a basin referred to as swarms, are generally characterized as one
structure located in West Texas and extending into natural fracture per 6.1 m to 9.1 m (20 ft to 30 ft) laterally
the southeast portion of New Mexico. As part of the over a 60.9-m (200-ft) interval.
Permian Basin, it is estimated to cover 1 million acres The key is understanding the effect of those frac-
at a depth of 2,133 m to 3,657 m (7,000 ft to 12,000 tures and the impact they will have on the completion.
ft). Comprising primarily the shallower Midland and Though operators are adjusting to the new price envi-
ronment and pushing the
envelope, a focus on cost
Easting efficiency and profitability is
Northing stronger than ever. The goal
is not simply just production
growth anymore. In today’s
market where the empha-
sis has shifted to return on
invested capital, operators
True Vertical Depth

must quickly gain an under-

standing of the unique factors
Sta
impacting costs and produc-
Sta ge Northing tion in their acreage and then
ge 8
7
quickly make informed deci-
sions to maximize profitability.
Easting
Strategic approach
CASE 1 To assist in the determina-
tion of the effects of the
FIGURE 1. The geometric stage spacing across the entire lateral for Case 1 with the recovery fracture network, successful
percentage at 104 days of sampling shows a single-well fluid flowback comparison of water versus operators have proactively
oil tracers. (Source: ProTechnics) addressed natural fractures

46 June 2018 | [Link]

 shale
SOLUTIONS

by utilizing diagnostics when developing drilling and sive completion costs while maximizing the amount of
completions programs. stimulated reservoir volume.
ProTechnics has established the approach of part-
nering with oil and gas operators to develop strategic Informed decisions
diagnostic plans, addressing specific challenges when FlowProfiler water and oil tracers are used as a means of
hydraulically fracturing wells. When designing comple- simultaneously evaluating both fracture fluid cleanup
tions around natural fractures, the company pairs its and hydrocarbon production over time. Unique tracers
Global Technology Team’s basin experience of 1,600 injected with each fracture stage are sampled during flow-
wells in the Wolfcamp Formation alone with each oper- back and production, providing a quantitative dataset from
ator’s specific field knowledge to implement an optimal which to quickly evaluate the effectiveness of the comple-
diagnostic plan. tion design in a brief period of about 30 to 60 days. The
A strategic approach typically starts with evaluating use of fluid tracers has greatly increased the understanding
the current or anticipated drilling program and comple- of geologic trends within the Wolfcamp Formation as it
tion design. Evaluating core data, formation targets or pertains to natural fractures or faults and how to effectively
problems encountered during drilling, such as fluid loss, consider them when designing completions.
provides an understanding of the reservoir description Initial completion designs utilized in the Permian
to consider when designing the completion. Then lever- Basin called for geometric stage spacing across the full
aging basin knowledge and trends, optimal completion lateral without any consideration of natural fractures
design and a diagnostic program can be developed. This or faults that intersect the wellbore. Cases 1 and 2 show
approach shortens the learning curve to eliminate exces- the effect that faults and high permeability streaks have

[Link] | June 2018 47

 shale
SOLUTIONS

show faults intersecting the

wellbore at approximately
90-degree angles, in other
True Vertical Depth

instances faults crossed the

wellbores at more obtuse
Sta Sta angles and required varied
ge ge
14 16 standoffs from the faults and
greater influence in the sub-
sequent stages on either side
Easting of the faults. Understanding
the nonproductive intervals
across the basin is critical
CASE 2 to shortening the learning
curve, maximizing stimulated
FIGURE 2. Case 2’s strategic approach eliminated the nonproducing interval with recovery percentage pay while improving opera-
at 31 days of sampling. (Source: ProTechnics) tional efficiencies.

on the well performance when ignoring or designing The road forward

around natural fractures, respectively. As operators continue to understand the effects of
Case 1 is an example of the typical response observed natural fractures, learnings are not just applied to
when the fault intersected the well at roughly 90 degrees, single-well applications but are progressing to field-
dissecting the wellbore between Stages 7 and 8 in this case wide development.
(Figure 1). As evident in the data presented throughout In underdeveloped areas, some operators are find-
the sampling of the well, the operator had nonproducing ing a benefit to the natural fractures. ProTechnics
intervals where the fault intersected the wellbore, result- developed an application for identifying and targeting
ing in neither water-based nor oil-based tracers giving any these natural fractures through an engineered comple-
indication of fluid entry. tion design using SpectraStim proppant tracer data in
As fault trends became evident across the basin conjunction with a SpectraScan spectral gamma log.
areas, operators began to exclude those stages from Depending on the area and data analysis, how to best
their designs in areas known to have nonproducing target the natural fractures to maximize stimulated
fault trends. Case 2 is a prime example of a typical reservoir volume varies from perforating at the frac-
design that had a known nonproducing trend (fault) tures to targeting an optimal distance nearby. In other
across the middle of the drilled lateral (Figure 2). instances, the application is used as a measurement of
Case 2 had a fault intersecting the wellbore at roughly reservoir quality to better understand the impact differ-
a 90-degree angle in the vicinity of what would have ent reservoir descriptions have from well-to-well or in
been Stage 15 midway through the lateral. Based on layer-to-layer communication.
trends for the area, an optimal standoff distance was In more developed areas, operators are beginning to
applied to the design, skipping the faulted interval focus on the effect of natural fractures in parent-child well
while all remaining stages were stimulated with the interactions. With the presence of natural fractures being
standard design. As the well was opened to flow, the a given, the question becomes, “What do we do about it?”
remaining stages indicated good productivity and dis- Additional pressure mitigation techniques include far-field
played no adverse effects from the known fault. diversion as well as programs for determining when to
Ultimately the lessons learned from strategically shut in offset wells during infill programs.
designing completions around existing natural frac- As more data become available and a clearer picture
turing led to abandoning stages across known faults emerges of the impact natural fractures may have in
where zero or very minimal production had been each area across the basin, operators are beginning to
observed. The result was lowering completion costs characterize problem faults and developing infill pro-
by the equivalent of two or three stages, or $300,000/ grams around them. Knowledge is extended from a
well at current prices, without sacrificing the ultimate localized, single-well application to a broader pad and
recovery on an overall lateral-foot basis. While it is also field development, driving operational and production
important to note that the two case wells presented decisions for fracture order and pressure mitigation.

48 June 2018 | [Link]

 offshore
SOLUTIONS

Smarter subsea standardization

An enhanced subsea system enables capital-efficient, flexible field development.

In today’s challenging climate, it is the low cost and

Tom Bryce and Ian Donald, Enpro Subsea
faster business models that will determine sanction
or nonsanction in marginal developments. In some

L ow-cost standard hardware with short lead times has

long been a holy grail for the subsea industry. There
have been numerous global, regional, industry and oper-
instances, the specification of the basic tree or manifold
simply grew until all the extras were included back into
the new standard so that the same piece of hardware
ator-led initiatives to standardize specifications, inter- could be used in multiple fields. While this resulted
faces, materials and even terms and conditions, all to in incremental cost and schedule improvements from
reduce project costs and time to delivery. Some of these common manufacturing and production operations, it
have been successful, others less so. was a far cry from the low-cost basic standard the indus-
It is not unusual for the functional design specifica- try needed. However, as the proverb says: “You cannot
tion of a project to start off as a simple, quick, low-cost have your cake and eat it too.” Similarly, the industry
standard. However, by the time the requests for quota- cannot have future-proofed contingency solutions and a
tions land on suppliers’ desks, all the bells and whistles, low-cost basic standard infrastructure. Or can it?
extras, add-ons, redundancies and contingencies are in These were the challenges facing an operator in the
the specification. Gulf of Mexico (GoM) in 2016 when it approached Enpro
Subsea. The proposed project
was to tie back a new produc-
tion well via a single 3.2-km
standard XT
Standard standard
(1.9-mile) spur into an exist-
manifold

ing subsea flow loop in the

Mississippi Canyon.
Enpro Subsea was invited
to propose a design for a
fast-track solution making
Smart Standardization use of the operator’s existing
Re-deployable FAM subsea solutions deepwater infrastructure and
PT
surplus inventory of multiven-
dor subsea hardware. For the
project to remain competi-
tive, the operator gave a chal-
OEM independent/standardized hardware
lenging 12-month deadline
FAM Hub FAM Hub for the project, from sanction
FAM Hub
standard XT
to first oil.
with FAM standard
manifold The unique nature of the
with FAM
well spud location, existing
Multiple enhanced production options can be delivered using FAM technology. (Source: Enpro Subsea) infrastructure and established
facility operating procedures,
Procurement decisions are made regarding the life created various potential life of field production issues for
of field development requirements with limited data Enpro to consider when designing its system, including
from only a few appraisal wells. It is easy to understand • Flow assurance: Production chemistry and uneven
why hardware can become overspecified, based on a seabed topography required a flow assurance
projection of what the operator might need to address strategy to successfully manage and mitigate the
regarding all perceived contingencies at some time in potential for hydrate formation within the single
the future. spur flowline. The traditional solution would be

50 June 2018 | [Link]

 offshore
SOLUTIONS

to extend a pigable loop, but this would make the

project uneconomic.
• Metering: The operator needed multiphase flow-
meters and water cut meters on the project to detect
water breakthrough, which would influence the flow
assurance strategy to prevent hydrates in a flowline
spur during shutdowns. The multiphase flowmeters
also would enable the production engineers to use
the instantaneous flow rates to optimize and maxi-
mize the production out of the individual well.
• Fluid intervention: Although not needed imme-
diately, the operator wanted the capacity to allow
hydraulic intervention and well stimulation operations
into either the pipeline or the reservoir in later field
life to enable maximized recovery from the asset. The
technical challenges included the preference to use
existing components from different hardware manu-
facturers with differing hub connector designs.
A flow assurance (chemical injection) FAM was installed on a
Enhanced subsea system subsea flowloop manifold. (Source: Enpro Subsea)
Enpro used its patented flow access module (FAM)
technology in the project. The system is an enhanced module at the manifold and the hydraulic intervention
subsea architecture that enables capital-efficient, flex- module was supplied for deployment when required.
ible field development. It specifically allows operators
to locate project specific production technologies onto Smart standardization
standard stock subsea hardware. It consists of a FAM hub The FAM technology is not limited to brownfield appli-
located within the jumper envelope and a separate FAM cations. In 2017 another operator adopted FAM as one
that houses the production/technology hardware (i.e., of the key enablers of a full-field deepwater development
meters, valves, pumps and instrumentation). strategy. The three-year program includes the installation
By decoupling the core subsea architecture from the of FAM hubs on all new well jumpers while in parallel
enhanced production, the FAM technology has several implementing an upgrade program, enabling them to
advantages over standard methods. With a broad range of reintroduce strategic flexibility and development options
FAMs available, it is possible the modules can be deployed into their legacy subsea infrastructure. The operator is
at any time in field life. Due to concurrent engineering, initially using FAM for metering and well stimulation
operators can place long purchase orders for basic infra- operations but may consider single-well pumping and
structure at a very early stage of the project. The FAM high-integrity pressure protection systems in the future.
technology can be installed at either end of the jumper FAM technology enabled the GoM operator to “have
or flowline at the christmas tree, pipeline end manifold, their cake” with multiple life of field enhanced produc-
pipeline end termination or a simplified manifold. tion solutions available to them in the future and “eat
As FAM technology is an open standard, it can be it” by their use of existing standard low-cost stock infra-
used with multiple original equipment manufacturer structure. Enpro calls this smart standardization.
connectors (collet, clamp, vertical, horizontal) and Since the first FAMs were deployed in the GoM in
both rigid and flexible jumpers. Stackable FAM hubs 2016, more than 35 have been adopted globally, with
allow tie back to previously congested and fully allo- repeat clients in multiple regions, proving all the right
cated manifold slots. Also, FAMs are retrievable inde- ingredients are in place for anyone who wants a slice.
pendently of the jumper.
The GoM operator used two FAM hubs (one at either Have a story idea for Offshore Solutions? This feature
end of the 3.2-km flexible pipe tieback) and three individ- highlights technologies and techniques that are helping
ual FAMs for metering, flow assurance and fluid interven- offshore players overcome their operating challenges.
Submit your story ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann
tion, respectively. The metering module was installed at
Davy at jdavy@[Link].
the christmas tree end of the flowline. The flow assurance

[Link] | June 2018 51

 offshore
SOLUTIONS

Offshore project updates at OTC

Shell shares Malikai update while Exxon Mobil offers Hebron report.

design and development plans over the course of the

Brian Walzel, Associate Editor, Production Technologies
three years after the time of discovery in 2004.
“It was a struggle right from the beginning to make

T his year’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC)

held in early May in Houston featured several ses-
sions that allowed major offshore operators to offer
the economics work,” Adrian said. “Given the chal-
lenges, it’s not surprising the main driver of the proj-
ect was cost.”
updates on some of their most notable projects. Shell Among the challenges Shell faced during the design
representatives shared details on the company’s Malikai and installation of Malikai were the removal of the
project located offshore Malaysia, and Exxon Mobil tension support buoys (TSBs), difficulties with simulta-
offered a glimpse into its approach in building and neous operations and butterfly valve operations, which
locating its Hebron project offshore Eastern Canada. Adrian said did not work as they should have during
offshore operations.
Malikai Ultimately, Shell opted to reuse eight TSBs from
Shell provided a wide-ranging summary of its Malikai the company’s Mars B project. Adrian said the Malikai
project, which was Malaysia’s first tension-leg platform project was ultimately delivered on time and on bud-
(TLP). The project began production in 2014 and has a get, resulting in Shell’s first TLP outside the Gulf of
peak annual production of 60,000 bbl/d, according to Mexico (GoM).
Shell. The presentations highlighted Malikai’s cost-effec- Alvin Ratnasingam, technical safety engineer, reviewed
tive platform design, its recognized safety program and the safety achievements during the construction phase
the design and operation of its coupled mooring system. of Malikai. For Malikai, the hull and topsides were con-
Edmund Adrian, TLP manager, discussed the initial structed separately over a three-year period requiring more
overview of the Malikai project, touching on the various than 18 million man-hours and 4,000 workers, he said. As
the safety engineer for the Malikai proj-
ect, Ratnasingam said his team adopted
a “Goal Zero” campaign to identify and
minimize safety issues. Among the chal-
lenges Ratnasingam and his team identi-
fied were dropped object hazards, working
at height, hot works, confined space and
health issues.
“Goal Zero was a journey from the
start of construction to the end to
ensure that everyone goes home safely,”
he said.
Ravikiran Kota, senior naval archi-
tect, discussed the design and opera-
tion of the coupled mooring system for
the tender-assisted drilling program
at Malikai. Kota explained that among
the challenges Shell faced in drilling
Malikai were complex seabed condi-
tions, which included several areas of
In 2015 Shell’s project team jacked up the topsides to skid them onto the platform legs in shallow gas and a “significantly large”
the fabrication yard at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. According to Shell, the “superlift” was the biosensitive area in which Shell was not
world’s highest jacking and skidding operation for a platform of its scale. (Source: Shell) allowed to drill.

52 June 2018 | [Link]

 offshore
SOLUTIONS

Kota said a key element of the success of the drill- ing a topsides deck weighing 65,000 tonnes. The Exxon
ing program was the implementation of single-casing Mobil team explained how the GBS was designed to
combo top tensioned risers. withstand sea ice, icebergs and wave events, as evi-
In addition, Kyle Hyatt with Heerema Marine Contractors denced by “wave-slamming steel” having been installed
shared details of the efforts to transport and install Malikai, on the underside of the topsides to reduce the impact
for which Heerema was contracted. For the project, of large-scale waves on the facility.
Heerema deployed its new deepwater construction vessel Karl Wolfe, topsides project manager, said the GBS
Aegir, a single-crane vessel. was the largest single-shaft base ever constructed, rising
Hyatt said Malikai was the first TLP installed with a 122 m (400 ft) and featuring 52 well slots.
single-crane vessel. Among the issues that were over- Wolfe described the many technical and executional
come in the transport and installation of the Malikai adversities the project team had to overcome: icebergs,
TLP were installation tolerances of the TLP itself, which strong winds, freezing sea spray, sea ice and viscous oil.
were based on GoM conditions, Hyatt said. He said the field’s API gravity presented a separation
The Malikai project also required the use of divers complication, which required the application of new
to complete the TLP installation, he said. Some lessons technologies to improve separation processing. Wolfe
learned on the project, Hyatt said, were that the TLP said among the technologies implemented to improve
size and environmental conditions should be taken into separation were electrostatic coalescers and enhanced
consideration. In addition, he said a diverless instal- digital capabilities as a result of the installation of
lation of the TLP should be considered early in the fiber-optic cable.
design phase of offshore projects. The different components of the Hebron platform
were constructed at various sites around the world,
Hebron including Korea and NL. Wolfe said the transportation
Exxon Mobil representatives discussed details of its and integration of the various components required
Hebron project during a near-capacity OTC session. specialized jacking towers more than 70 m (230 ft)
The company’s Hebron project is located 350 km (217 high. At the time of the topsides float in December
miles) offshore Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) in the 2017, it was the heaviest float in history, Wolfe said.
Jeanne d’Arc Basin and began production in November However, the float was delayed six months because
2017, despite the field being discovered in 1980. Session of extreme sea ice and eventually was transported on
speakers addressed the multitude of logistical challenges May 5, 2017, across a 700-km (435-mile) route. Finally,
the project overcame throughout the lifetime of its devel- on June 14, 2017, the platform was set into place within
opment, construction, transportation and installation. 1 m (3 ft) of its target location. Wolfe said Hebron
According to Exxon Mobil, the Hebron field holds more achieved first oil a month early and, since the initiation
than 700 MMbbl of recoverable reserves. of production, it has surpassed 4 MMbbl of oil to date.
Vincent Cornaglia, senior reservoir geoscientist, said Justin Haddock, safety, security and health manager,
it took 20 years and six wells to fully appraise the field, discussed the widespread efforts Exxon Mobil enacted
and first oil wasn’t struck until the early 2010s. During to ensure the safety of the more than 17,000 workers
the exploration of the field, five pools were discovered on Hebron throughout the life of its construction and
with “Pool 1,” located in the Ben Nevis reservoir, con- transportation. Haddock said safety teams worked to
taining 80% of the field’s resources, he said. break down communication barriers between craft
Cornaglia said Exxon Mobil’s development plan workers and management while regularly and often
focused on Pool 1 using a waterflood drive and a sand conducting “cultural surveys.”
and gravel completion method. The drilling campaign “When we started, we decided we would deliver the
began last year, with the first producer having been safest project in Newfoundland’s history,” he said.
drilled in the Pool 1 reservoir. Cornaglia said the well’s “That was something a lot of people did not believe
IP rate was 28,000 bbl/d. was possible.”
Today Hebron features three oil-producing wells in 1,400
m (4,593 ft) with the third producer having been com- Have a story idea for Offshore Solutions? This feature
pleted “just a few weeks ago,” Cornaglia said. The project’s highlights technologies and techniques that are helping
ultimate targeted depth is 1,500 m (4,921 ft), he said. offshore players overcome their operating challenges.
Submit your story ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann
The Hebron platform was developed using a stand-
Davy at jdavy@[Link].
alone concrete gravity-based structure (GBS) support-

[Link] | June 2018 53

 operator
SOLUTIONS

Automation, monitoring system used to

manage wellsite operation in real time
The need for more data processing capability and communication flexibility has led to
the development of hybrid technology to do more for less.

Sid Shetty, Smart Pumper Automation

S tarting and stopping a pump is never a productive

option. Before the introduction of the Smart Pumper,
companies had to continuously evaluate output potential
and then redefine how to operate because of the dynamic
nature of reservoirs. Fluid entry simply changes over time
for a multitude of reasons.
Automating artificial lift systems with the Smart
Pumper to pump based on real-time fluid level to the
desired target will deliver a continuous pumping oper-
ation that matches inflow perfectly with pump output
automatically changing over time. This enables those
who manage wells to manage a larger number of wells
more effectively. Field tested by national oil compa-
nies and water authorities, the method of pumping is
proven to connect, protect and optimize from as far as
Suriname and Trinidad to West Texas.
The scalability and flexibility resulting from merg-
ing multiple technologies into a universal platform,
the Smart Pumper enables asset managers to control
and monitor assets worldwide. This is accomplished
through six forms of communication that are built in
to manage all forms of artificial lift and facility control
from anywhere in the world.
Through the application software provided, users
can define screens, define and change operational
parameters and set up Google-sourced field mapping. The solar-powered Smart Pumper monitors reservoir levels, flow
Authorized users can view the current status of their rates and controls an electric downhole pump in a water well in
facilities, wells and inventories at a glance. The Smart the Permian Basin. (Source: Gravity Oilfield Services)
Pumper processor provides real-time decision process-
ing at the site to control several aspects of an oper- mon practice of adding chemical using the traditional
ation, and data logs a comprehensive and extensive timer method is an added waste of chemical and cost.
sensor array for analytical work and reporting. The The Smart Pumper, while controlling the artificial lift
single-box platform provides an end-to-end solution pumps, can control multiple chemical injection pumps
replacing the ad hoc approach of the past. in sync and in harmony with the artificial lift device to
The use of chemicals can be a significant operating maintain precise injection required based on real-time
expense for both the water and oil producers and is one output. Users will never waste a gallon again, and they
of the largest uncontrolled expense. The cost to supply will be able to monitor tank inventory, receive alerts
chemicals and refill tanks can quickly add up to tens of for low-level restocking and confirm delivery quantity.
thousands of dollars each month. Factor in the com- Simultaneously, the Smart Pumper monitors and reacts

54 June 2018 | [Link]

 operator
SOLUTIONS

and sales. Its operators appreciate

having parameters set to protect
their pipelines through monitor-
ing intake and discharge pressures
and seeing their reservoirs and
tanks levels in real time. As one of
the largest water producers in the
Delaware sub-basin of the Permian
Basin, the company understood
these requirements well. The com-
pany is responsible for supplying
clean water to more than 10% of
the customers in that area.
The system installs quickly and
within minutes through its six
forms of communication that are
built in with selectable options. It
provides users with a secure inter-
face to manage any asset and con-
trol any variable frequency drive
from anywhere. Data are stored
on a server and/or in the cloud
in a structured query language
format to provide authorized per-
The Smart Pumper controls an electric generator and three transfer pumps on a well site in the sonnel access and use through a
Permian Basin (Source: Smart Pumper Automation) single portal.

to 38 different definable inputs to reduce HSE risk and Results

operational expenses. In the water application, the Smart Pumper gathered
and provided the company with current, daily, weekly
Case study and monthly flow rates and cumulative start dates, and it
Smart Pumper Automation’s latest project in West Texas separates all of the data by and from sources. If demand
involves water resource management for a major water peaks, the user can remotely activate water wells and
service provider. In August 2017 the company posted a transfer pumps located at reservoir points where they
request for qualifications for an advanced water auto- have established inventory. Reports that would take the
mation system to help improve its accounting of water better part of a week to create and several more days to
production, detailed inventory from multiple locations, validate can now be produced in a few minutes. The
gather meter data from all sources and delivery point, increased level of insight helps the operations managers
which was critical for the company and its stakeholders. incorporate production metrics into business plans to
At the close of the bid round, the company chose the give feedback to system technicians based on real-time
Smart Pumper and the integration team. After a month data to more quickly resolve issues to improve opera-
of testing the first installation, the scope of work has tions and thereby become a more reliable source for
expanded to 90 different royalty and royalty-free water supply to users.
sources pumping across miles of pipeline as the platform
has proven to be an advanced tool, meeting and exceed- References available.
ing the company’s needs and requirements.
The customized view asset page helps the company Have a story idea for Operator Solutions? This feature
visualize the status of all its assets and save its operators highlights technologies and techniques that are helping
a tremendous amount of time through remote control. upstream operators overcome their challenges. Submit
In addition, the company’s accounting department now your story ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann Davy at
jdavy@[Link].
relies on the monthly reports on metered production

56 June 2018 | [Link]

 MARINE SEISMIC

Advances in 4-D
towed-streamer seismic
New technologies enable better repeatability and imaging.

caused by changes in the reservoir. More importantly, the

Jo Firth, CGG
positions of the sources and receivers need to be repli-
cated as closely as possible to ensure that the same sub-

T ime-lapse (4-D) seismic is recognized as a key tool for

optimizing hydrocarbon production. Extraction of
hydrocarbons induces changes in the reservoir that cause
surface raypaths are recorded. High-end acquisition solu-
tions for 4-D have focused on source steering and, more
recently, CGG has developed integrated vessel and source
changes in seismic timing, velocity and amplitude, which steering to maximize repeatability. Advanced 4-D acquisi-
in turn affect inversion results. Monitoring these changes tion also needs to be complemented by the very latest 4-D
in the seismic signal by accurately repeating 4-D monitor imaging technology to deliver a complete solution.
surveys enables changes in reservoir properties to be
derived. This enhances recovery by enabling undrained Repeatability
volumes to be mapped and providing input to dynamic
Large-scale repeatability is achieved through 4-D opera-
geological and reservoir simulation models. Hydrocar-
tional planning, working with experts onboard to prepare
bon producers have recognized 4-D seismic as an eco-
and constantly update acquisition plans by taking envi-
nomic success, contributing directly to successful infill
ronmental conditions (current, tide, etc.) into account
wells and enhanced recovery techniques, such as gas
to position the spread and optimize streamer (feather)
injection and horizontal drilling, with the added value
matching. The geometry of the spread then is maintained
being several times the cost of the 4-D seismic data.
through streamer steering using equipment such as Sercel
For 4-D surveys to deliver these advantages, 4-D noise
Nautilus units, which also deliver acoustic positioning and
needs to be minimized to avoid obscuring differences
depth to ensure accurate positioning.
CGG’s integrated source and vessel
SOURCE REPEATABILITY DISTRIBUTION steering system consists of an automatic
25 steering assistant to position the vessel
so that the source is as close as possible
to the pre-plot position while maintain-
ing the integrity of acquisition geom-
20
etry. Residual crossline positioning
and short-period perturbations of the
source position caused by swell are con-
Percentage of shots (%)

15 trolled by the automatic source steer-

ing system. The system also controls
the shooting strategy and triggers the
10 source firing to respect in-line positions
rather than time intervals, correcting
for smaller scale errors such as the skew
of the sources. This automatic integra-
5
tion of the different parts of the system
has delivered considerable improve-
ments in repeatability over source steer-
0 ing only, let alone acquisition without
-30 -15 0 15 30 -30 -15 0 15 30 -30 -15 0 15 30
Crossline position error (m) any source steering at all, in the very
Even in challenging North Sea environmental conditions, source positioning repeatability is different environments of the North
dramatically improved by powerful integrated source and vessel steering. (Source: CGG) Sea and offshore West Africa. Advanced

58 June 2018 | [Link]

 MARINE SEISMIC

monitoring systems and onboard quality control (QC) sible and, in cases where there are already several mon-
ensure acquisition of the best possible 4-D data. itors dating back to the last century, would not really be
desirable as it would prevent the use of any advances in
Source signature acquisition technology, which might
In addition to repeatability of source deliver benefits in terms of band-
positions, it also is beneficial to mon- width, illumination or multiple atten-
itor the source signature to ensure it Advanced steering uation. Nevertheless, it is generally
is consistent throughout the survey. techniques can agreed that repeatability of the source
The stability of the source signature and streamer positions is of prime
in the changing sea environment is deliver very good importance and that these should
monitored via shot-by-shot near real- repeatability. be replicated as closely as possible.
time QC of the recorded near-field Acquisition of additional longer off-
signature. These recordings enable sets and broader bandwidths can be
far-field signature reconstruction using beneficial in providing a good basis
a proprietary inversion method for use in onboard and for comparison with the next monitor, even if the benefit
onshore processing, delivering more accurate designature for the current comparison may be limited.
and therefore better images.
Ideally, a 4-D monitor survey would be acquired with Multisensor streamers
exactly the same parameters and under the same condi- Multisensor streamers recently have joined the toolbox of
tions as the base survey. In practice, this often is not pos- broadband solutions, providing an additional option for

[Link] | June 2018 59

 MARINE SEISMIC

Well B Well C Well B Well C

3,500

Two-way travel time

in milliseconds
R1

R2

3,000

Conventional BroadSeis
If the reservoir is visible in the seismic, the 4-D signal (changes in the reservoir) will be better detected, especially where the 4-D signal is
explained by low-frequency changes. (Source: CGG)

broadband 4-D monitoring. These streamers use the same combined with better low-frequency content for quan-
hydrophone components as single-sensor solid streamers, titative inversion results.
whose low noise characteristics and precise low-frequency The enhanced low frequencies improve the charac-
response make them ideal for 4-D acquisition. Recording terization of reservoir heterogeneities and enable the
with multisensor streamers means that forward and back- detection of 4-D signal due to pressure and/or satu-
ward compatibility can be straightforward because the ration changes in a more quantitative manner. When
hydrophone data can be matched to the base survey while there are clearer images of the reservoir from low
the y and z accelerometer data can be used for multisen- frequencies at and between wells, 4-D signals will be
sor 3-D deghosting using advanced algorithms to match detected more readily, especially where the 4-D signal is
future surveys for true broadband 4-D seismic. However, in explained by low-frequency changes.
general, conventional base surveys are usually deghosted Advances in 4-D processing and imaging have been
using ghost wavefield elimination and matched to as broad geared toward optimizing the sequence for minimal 4-D
a bandwidth as the signal-to-noise ratio of the conventional difference. Corrections based on knowledge of the acqui-
data allow. The maturity of these algorithms allows the sitions, such as the sources and the water-layer velocities,
joint 3-D deghosting of base and monitor surveys (known are used to deterministically remove 4-D noise. Standard
as 4-D deghosting) and enables variations in the sea surface QCs are regularly augmented by reservoir-domain attri-
state to be handled fully. butes during the processing. The cost functions for 4-D
This technique results in acquisition solutions, both can be designed to further attenuate nonrepeatable
conventional and broadband, that are forward and noise while preserving coherent 4-D signals. Although
backward compatible with all other towed-streamer careful 4-D processing and imaging can help to amelio-
4-D acquisition techniques. Nevertheless, broadband rate challenges caused by lack of repeatability in acquisi-
acquisition remains the best system to enable success- tion, the closer the acquisition is matched, the better the
ful deghosting and to preserve the broadest possible 4-D signal and the lower the 4-D noise tends to be, reduc-
bandwidth for matching to future surveys. Broadband ing the chance of false signals. This is demonstrated in
4-D seismic can deliver enhanced reservoir modeling the extreme case where permanent installations of bur-
as all the benefits of broadband in 3-D also hold ied subsea cables are used for monitoring at frequent
true for 4-D. For example, sharper wavelets without intervals and deliver exceptionally high levels of repeat-
sidelobes provide a high-resolution 4-D signal with no ability for monitoring very small changes in the reservoir.
interference and masking of seismic detail. Ghost-free However, advanced steering techniques can deliver very
wavelets remove the imprint of the sea surface on good repeatability and, combined with state-of-the-art 4-D
the data and hence deliver more reliable amplitude imaging technology, provide reliable 4-D signals for res-
versus offset for accurate simultaneous 4-D inversion ervoirs where less frequent monitoring is required.

60 June 2018 | [Link]

 MARINE SEISMIC

Strategies for high-resolution

towed-streamer acquisition for
shallow targets
High-resolution data, dense spatial sampling and near-offset/near-angle
information are key elements for success.

Martin Widmaier, David O’Dowd and low target images with a spectral bandwidth of 2 Hz to
Carine Delarue, PGS 200 Hz. This processing solution provides near offsets
and reduces footprint issues to deliver improved angle

T he challenging combination of shallow water and

shallow targets cannot be sufficiently solved by the
application of conventional marine seismic acquisition
gathered for amplitude versus offset/amplitude versus
azimuth (AVO/AVA) analysis.
The P-Cable system was developed for near-surface
and imaging techniques. The need for temporal and imaging and consists of many very short and densely
spatial high-resolution imaging requires multicompo- separated streamers and a single source. A 16-m-by-
nent streamer acquisition systems as well as high-density 12.5-m (52-ft-by-41-ft) configuration provides good
spatial sampling. Typical surveys lack near offsets due near-offset coverage and a crossline bin size of 6.25 m
to relatively large minimum distances between seis- (21 ft). However, the lack of longer offsets and fold
mic source arrays and outer streamers and can result restricts the use of the data to shallow targets and does
in significant acquisition footprints at shallow target not enable full integrity imaging and AVO/AVA anal-
levels. While perfectly sampled data can be recorded ysis. In addition, the necessary sail line separation of
by increasing the acquisition effort, the cost and oper- 100 m (328 ft) makes data acquisition for larger areas
ational complexity will rapidly increase and become ineffective compared to a towed-streamer spread that is
the limiting factor. Several acquisition strategies have 12 m (39 ft) by 75 m with a nominal sail line separation
recently addressed these challenges in areas such as the of 450 m (1,476 ft).
Barents Sea.
Towing deeply to preserve bandwidth
Existing solutions for shallow-water acquisition Recent case studies have shown that seismic images
Recent PGS MultiClient 3-D campaigns in shallow-water of shallow plays can have a spectral content in the
areas were acquired with spreads of 10 and 12 dual-sen- range of 2 Hz to 200 Hz and higher. Towing stream-
sor streamers, with a 75-m (246-ft) separation and dual ers deeply can ensure the recording of a high-quality
sources (Table 1). These configurations were chosen as low-frequency signal, but deeper tow of hydrophone-
optimal trade-offs between geophysical illumination and only streamers sacrifices the integrity of the higher
sampling requirements for the exploration targets and frequencies. Multicomponent systems, with comple-
acquisition efficiency. The data were processed using mentary ghost responses, can be towed deeply without
separated wavefield imaging to deliver high-quality shal- compromising the integrity of the entire frequency

PARAMETER COMPARISON FOR TOWED-STREAMER ACQUISITION SOLUTIONS

Acquisition 2014/2015 High-density High-density P-Cable High-density
Triple Source
Parameters Dual Source Dual Source Triple Source Single Source Triple Source
Streamer Spread 12 m by 75 m 18 m by 50 m 12 m by 75 m 16 m by 56.25 m 16 m by 12.5 m 16 m by 37.5 m
Crossline Bin Size 37.5 m 12.5 m 12.5 m 9.375 m 6.25 m 6.25 m
Sail Line Separation 450 m 450 m 450 m 450 m 100 m 300 m
TABLE 1. For conventional acquisition, the sail line separation controls both cost and near-offset coverage. The sail line separation is
the same for the first four columns; however, the crossline bin size is reduced significantly for P-Cable and the high-density triple source
option. (Source: PGS)

62 June 2018 | [Link]

 MARINE SEISMIC

however, result in more sail

lines and increased turn-
around and cost.
In the context of the
shallow imaging challenge,
wider source towing may
be utilized to improve the
near-offset distribution for
streamer acquisition. In
the case of a dual-source
setup, widening the source
separation moves the two
seismic sources out of their
FIGURE 1. In this high-density streamer spread with varying cable length and separation, the combination centered locations behind
of both dense streamers (giving superior crossline sampling) and long offsets (required for accurate the seismic vessel toward
velocity model updates) provides the complete solution for shallow target imaging. (Source: PGS) the outermost cables on
their respective side of the
range and can significantly reduce deghosting com- spread. Widening the sources reduces the crossline
plexity and uncertainty. distance to the streamers in parts of the spread but
increases the crossline distance to the remainder.
Dense sampling and efficient acquisition With this configuration, larger areas can be popu-
Preservation of the recorded spectral bandwidth through- lated with near-offset traces compared to standard
out a 3-D imaging workflow requires denser crossline dual-source acquisition. In combination with the
sampling compared to what is usually acquired. A 12-m-by- crossline sampling provided by high-density acqui-
75-m configuration combined with a triple source would sition, this also provides a much-improved starting
provide a crossline bin size of 12.5 m. point for near-trace interpolation and regularization.
Modern high-capacity seismic vessels can tow many The same concept can be applied to triple-source or
streamers with a dense separation without sacrificing higher source count configurations.
efficiency. A 16-m-by-56.25-m (185-ft) spread reduces
the nominal crossline bin size to 9.375 m (31 ft, dual Further optimization
and triple source) and also improves receiver side sam- Seismic exploration surveys usually target more than
pling. By combining triple sources with a streamer sep- one specific geological formation and should provide
aration of 37.5 m (123 ft), a nominal crossline bin size a good image of the larger geological setting covering
of 6.25 m can be achieved, the same spatial sampling both shallow and deep structures. High-density acqui-
as P-Cable. sition (as required for shallow plays) is not as necessary
The introduction of additional sources can poten- for imaging deeper geological targets. However, imag-
tially further reduce the crossline bin size. However, ing and quantitative interpretation of deeper targets
additional sources may result in increased shot point requires longer offsets. As all seismic vessels have lim-
intervals (and reduced fold) or must be assisted by over- ited towing capacity and streamer inventory, streamer
lap shooting and source blending and deblending tech- spreads with varying cable length and separation can be
niques. These techniques may have an impact on image a pragmatic and cost-effective way to provide optimal
quality and quantitative interpretation when geological sampling in the shallows while also including longer off-
targets at several depth levels are being considered or sets for deeper velocity updates (Figure 1).
prestack data have to be analyzed. High-resolution data, dense spatial sampling and
near-offset/near-angle information are key elements for
Improving near-angle coverage success. Wide towing of sources along with variable
This approach provides improved spatial sampling, but streamer lengths can provide near offsets and high-reso-
the near-offset/angle challenge remains to be solved. lution velocity models that can deliver reliable imaging
An obvious way to improve the near-offset coverage is solutions to de-risk exploration.
to reduce the streamer count and thus the spread width
for the configurations previously discussed. This would, References available.

64 June 2018 | [Link]

 DRILLPIPE

Drilling intelligently
Drillpipe incorporates coaxial cable to enable data-driven decisions.

in the drillstring connections, enables bi-directional

Robin Macmillan and Robert Foster, NOV
data transmission between downhole tools and the sur-
face at speeds up to 57,000 bits per second (bps).

T he recent industry downturn has driven a demand

for predictable, repeatable drilling performance
and precise well placement, enabling increasing confi-
The data transmitted include high-frequency direc-
tion and inclination, temperature, pressure, and three
axes vibration sensors. These sensors are not restricted
dence in forecasting the commercial viability of geolog- to the near-bit location. There also are along-string
ical assets. This in turn has led to a need for real-time measurement sensors at regular intervals along the
downhole data of a quality and quantity sufficient to drillstring allowing visibility of, for example, annular
have a substantial impact on the ability to visualize pressure, which provides indications of hole-cleaning
downhole conditions. efficiency and allows the mitigation of problems such
Real-time data can be streamed through high-speed as pack-offs.
wired drillpipe (WDP) telemetry allowing operators to
make more data-driven decisions with clarity and confi- Automation platform
dence. The IntelliServ WDP includes a data connection When combined with NOV’s programmable automation
by incorporating a coaxial cable along the length of the platform NOVOS, this near-instantaneous transmission
drillstring from the rig to sensors near the drillbit. This of downhole data allows for the fine-tuning of several
high-speed data network, using inductive coils located critical operations. For example, constant vibration mea-
surements near the bit enable
a refinement of the tagging-
bottom procedure, which in
the past has been a source
of the challenging dynamic
conditions that can lead to
drillbit damage and downhole
tool failure.
Significant time is saved by
high-speed communication
with MWD/LWD tools and
rotary steerable systems, elim-
inating much of the lost time
it has traditionally taken to
communicate with these tools.
In addition to the benefits
of the standalone WDP net-
work, the platform also plays
a crucial role in being able
to drill automatically. NOV’s
control systems provide the
driller with joystick control
of the rig and the drilling
process. The driller has
An electronics technician prepares a NOV DataLink for assembly. DataLinks, which can be modified multiple responsibilities,
to include pressure sensors to support along-string measurement, add additional information for including the safety of the
wellbore stability and cuttings management. (Source: NOV) crew, which does not allow

66 June 2018 | [Link]

 DRILLPIPE

for undivided attention on the efficiency of the drill- Typically within the industry when drilling out of
ing process. the production sweet spot, it is technically possible to
This challenge has been addressed with the NOVOS directionally drill back into the production zone within
automation platform. Bringing together downhole sen- one 9-m (30-ft) single pipe. However, this would create
sors, the rig control system with the IntelliServ downhole a high dogleg in the wellbore and increase wellbore tor-
network connecting them, has enabled an advanced tuosity. It is more practical to complete this within one
closed-loop automated drilling system. In addition, an 27-m (90-ft) stand.
open architecture philosophy and a software devel-
opment kit allows third parties to write algorithms to Geosteering
control the system, which can, for example, enhance When looking at the average potential loss of production
drilling through downhole automated drill-off tests that over 27 m, it could be well over $200,000 over the life of
constantly analyze the efficacy of different combinations the well. Maximizing potential production demands pre-
of drilling parameters. cise well placement, requiring geosteering, which in turn
One NOVOS application being used is the Equivalent demands interpretation of geological data during the
Fluid Density viewer, which was designed to manage drilling process.
wellbore stability by utilizing the along-string measure- The use of WDP allows data from logging sensors to
ment’s for measuring annular pressure. This provides be streamed to surface providing, in real time, an image
the operator with the ability to view the cuttings trans- quality only previously seen in memory mode, which
portation along the wellbore and identify any zones that allows for much greater clarity for those with well place-
are accumulating cuttings or creating potential cutting ment responsibility. Geosteering without WDP is almost
beds. The network also can be used to communicate like driving in the dark without headlights. Geosteering
with third-party downhole tools and sensors. Controlling with WDP is like driving with headlights on and ensures
the drilling process using downhole data allows for a the operator can stay within the target zone by being
borehole quality that is very difficult to achieve using the able to steer in real time.
traditional inferred measurements at surface. When using mud pulse telemetry, it is typically 2 bps
to 12 bps and has a time delay in
downlinking data to the surface. With
WDP, there is real-time communi-
cation at internet speeds of 57,000
bps. This enables users to proactively
mitigate risks by providing accurate
geosteering, which helps avoid poten-
tial production loss.
This type of accuracy is even more
important as horizontal lateral
lengths in the U.S. unconventional
market continue to get longer. From
2016 to now, there has been a 40%
increase in horizontal lateral length
from 1,767 m (5,800 ft) to 2,438 m
(8,000 ft). At this pace, it could aver-
age 4,572 m (15,000 ft) by the year
2020. NOV is enabling and powering
the industry to ensure that operators
have the advanced technology
needed to achieve these longer later-
als. The industry once again is prov-
ing that the adoption of advanced
technology can enable companies to
Inductive coils within the IntelliServ WDP enable bi-directional data transmission between improve the efficiencies required to
downhole tools and the surface. (Source: NOV) drill a way out of a downturn.

68 June 2018 | [Link]

 SLIDING SLEEVES

Sleeve evolution helps minimize

stimulation risk, reduce costs
Advances in sliding sleeve technology drive efficiency and keep
pace with growing completion program requirements.

increase stage count, ball and seat size increments

Rodney Schnell, Packers Plus Energy Services
smaller than 1/16 in. were developed. An extensive
quality assurance/quality control program is a key com-

S liding sleeve completion technologies emerged as

multistage completions and horizontal drilling were
being combined to unlock millions of barrels of oil and
ponent in ensuring each sleeve functions as planned.
Using these smaller ball and seat increments, a
65-stage well using the Packers Plus StackFRAC HD-X
gas in unconventional resources around North America. system was successfully run in the Bakken in North
During the past two decades, as operators continue to Dakota using an average of 70,000 lb of proppant per
maximize recovery and increase stage counts and treat- stage at pump rates between 19 bbl/min and 30 bbl/
ment sizes, sliding sleeve technology has continuously min. All stages were stimulated in 2.5 days, with less
evolved to meet the needs of operators. From the early than 55 hours of total pump time.
days of single-digit stage counts for ball-activated com-
pletions to systems with more than 100 stages, capabili- Limited entry sleeves
ties and applications for the technology have advanced The benefits of reduced time and costs associated with
to include ball-activated cemented sleeves, hydraulically continuous pumping operations in ball-activated sliding
activated sleeves, coiled tubing (CT)-activated sleeves sleeves were soon adapted for cemented liner completions.
and sleeves activated using other methods. In conjunction with developing a sliding sleeve for
The latest round in sliding sleeve innovation could be cemented liner completions, the industry focused on
the most promising, providing operators with increased technology that allowed one ball to open multiple sleeves
stimulation efficiency, less intervention and risk during at a time—mimicking the limited entry treatment of plug
stimulation and reduced operating time and costs. and perf (PNP). Packers Plus’ TREX QuickPORT IV
sleeve represents an evolution of this sliding sleeve tech-
Ball-activated sleeve systems nology. The sleeve is simpler with fewer parts compared
Ball-activated sleeves revolutionized well completions by to previous limited entry sleeve designs and contains ero-
significantly reducing the time and costs through con- sion-resistant nozzles to facilitate an even distribution of
tinuous pumping operations. Using incrementally larger stimulation fluid into the entry points.
balls pumped from the surface, operators isolate and Recently, 80 Packers Plus limited entry QuickPORT
stimulate each stage without significant downtime spent IV sleeves were run in a single well by an operator in
between stages. This is achieved with the ball for the sub- the Permian Basin. In this well, four-sleeve clusters were
sequent stage pumped in the flush of the previous stage. installed for each stage with 20 stages for the deepest
The most commonly used size increments in ball- 1,189 m (3,900 ft) of a 3,719-m (12,200-ft) lateral in a
activated systems are 1/8 in. and 1/16 in. To further hybrid completion, with the remaining stages completed
using PNP. The QuickPORT IV limited entry
stages were stimulated in less than 70 hours
of pump time, saving the costs associated with
downtime as well as mitigating the operational
risk of intervention in the toe stages.

Hydraulically activated sleeves

Hydraulically activated sleeves, or toe sleeves,
Ball-activated limited entry QuickPORT IV sleeves at the toe are combined with are integral to sliding sleeve systems for the first
PNP as part of a hybrid completion. (Source: Packers Plus) stage of a completion. Without the first stage

70 June 2018 | [Link]

 SLIDING SLEEVES

opening to provide access to the reservoir, balls or other to simplify operations and minimize risk of the tool
tools cannot be pumped down for subsequent stimula- getting stuck. This shifting tool utilizes retractable keys
tion operations. Toe sleeves can be combined with other that engage with a profile to open and close the sliding
completion methods, including PNP, to eliminate a CT sleeve. The closeable functionality of the Quadrant
run to perforate the toe. sleeves reduces operational risk by enabling the subse-
Toe sleeves also have been designed for pressure test- quent stage to be opened after the previously stimulated
ing. Some areas in North America require the casing stage has been closed. This functionality also serves as
to be pressure tested, typically to the maximum antici- the mechanism for fluid diversion and stimulation.
pated operating pressure. Pressure testable toe sleeves
in the industry provide both single and multiple pres- Other sleeve activation methods
sure test options. The Packers Plus Toe-XT Hydraulic A new sleeve activation method that uses a latch-based
Sleeve uses a dual pressure cycle to enable a single tool pumped from surface is starting to gain traction.
pressure test to maximum casing pressure or tool capa- This method incorporates a full inside diameter (ID)
bilities, followed by a lower pressure operation to shift wellbore for no restrictions during stimulation to max-
open the sleeve, independently of stimulation opera- imize treatment rates, while retaining the continuous
tions without time constraints. pumping efficiencies of ball-activated systems and also
An operator working in East Texas used the Toe-XT providing the ability for high stage counts.
Hydraulic Sleeve to successfully pressure test the casing The Packers Plus Ultra-High Stage Count (UHSC)
at 11,450 psi, several weeks after the system was installed system began field trials earlier this year and uses a sleeve
and cemented in place. After bleeding the pressure activation tool pumped from surface to latch into and shift
back down to 0 psi, the sleeve was opened on the next a specific sliding sleeve in the wellbore for single-point
cycle for stimulation at a lower pressure of 4,850 psi, entry stimulation in either openhole or cemented liner
with 19 bbl of fluid injected into the formation. completions. A ball run in place with the sleeve activation
tool provides isolation for fluid diversion and stimula-
CT-activated sleeves tion. The balls and seats on the sleeve activation tool are
Sliding sleeve completion systems activated with a degradable, eliminating the need for millout.
shifting tool run on CT are another variation in sliding A 60-stage Packers Plus completion system was stim-
sleeve technology. These systems enable high stage ulated earlier this year in an extended-reach lateral,
counts, limited only by the reach of the CT. using 50 UHSC stages along with nine ball-activated
There are several service companies providing FracPORT sleeves and one Hydraulic FracPORT sleeve.
CT-activated sleeve technologies, typically using pack- All UHSC stages were successfully stimulated with a
ers on the shifting tool to activate a sleeve and then maximum treatment rate of 91 bbl/min and an aver-
providing isolation for each stage during stimulation. age 80 bbl/min. The well was stimulated with approx-
The Packers Plus Quadrant system was recently reengi- imately 551,840 bbl of fluid and 13.1 MMlb of prop-
neered without packer elements on the shifting tool pant. Completion of all 60 stages took approximately
10 days versus 35 for a prior PNP completion with
similar well parameters, saving expensive pumping
Frac
POR
fees and bringing the well on production more
T Sle
eve than 20 days faster.
Toe-X
T Hydra
ulic S
leeve
Conclusion
While a future with autonomous completion technol-
Quad
rant S ogy of downhole tools that can be operated from sur-
leeve
face and require no downhole intervention might not
Ultra
-High
S tage be that far off, in the meantime the latest sliding sleeve
Cou
nt Slee innovation using latch-based tools pumped from sur-
ve
face enables several stages to be stimulated using a full
ID and minimizing intervention. The technology also
Sliding sleeve options (top to bottom) include ball-activated, hydraulically facilitates continuous pumping operations, which offer
activated, CT-activated and activation with a sleeve time and cost efficiencies that are essential in today’s
actuation. (Source: Packers Plus) operating environment.

72 June 2018 | [Link]

 SURFACE SYSTEMS

Reducing topside complexity in

offshore gas conditioning facilities
A smaller topside footprint is made possible with a single-unit system.

Shin-Geun Kang, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., and A typical liquefaction-ready specification in LNG
Twan Verweij, Twister BV production offshore limits heavy hydrocarbon gas
components to 2 mol% C4+ and less than 0.08 mol%

O ffshore oil and gas production facilities are becom-

ing increasingly complex, particularly in regard
to acid gas and sour field developments, EOR and LNG
C5+ content with a turbo expander or refrigeration
solution often used to achieve this specification. In
such cases, high-performance dehydration equipment
production. With advanced hydrocarbon recovery tech- is required to allow the turbo expander/cold box to
niques and transportation, the need for optimized con- operate at temperatures less than -30 C (-22 F), result-
figurations and processing to minimize plot space and ing in a sizable triethylene glycol (TEG) module to
weight while still meeting project goals is vital. meet less than 1 lb/MMscf of water content or an even
Gas streams, for example, can require several processing more cost-intensive molecular sieve unit.
unit operations, such as for mercury (Hg), H2S, CO2 and The dehydration module also requires ancillary equip-
water removal, hydrocarbon dewpointing and export line ment and filter packages to keep operations safe. In the
compression. These independent operations can quickly case of glycol regeneration, there is a need to keep emis-
come to dominate the facility’s topside architecture with— sions, operator exposure and foaming under control. Hg
in the case of FPSOs—the dimensions of the topside content also can become a potential metallurgical prob-
rather than the required storage capacity governing the lem for the turbo expander. All of these compromises
hull size. This negatively impacts project economics. add cost, weight and complexity to the FPSO.

Optimizing specifications, minimizing costs Keeping offshore operations to a minimum

It is undoubtedly more cost effective to maximize pro- The Twister Gas Processing System (Figure 1) is
cessing operations onshore due to the large supporting designed as a high-performance bulk separation sys-
infrastructure cost requirements offshore. tem that simultaneously dehydrates and hydrocarbon

H2S CO2

FIGURE 1. In this process architecture overview of traditional systems versus the Twister system, dashed ancillary unit operations in
the gas processing train are optional and to be added if required for field development economics. The Twister system offers the
freedom of choice to relocate these systems to an onshore facility. (Source: Twister)

74 June 2018 | [Link]

 SURFACE SYSTEMS

dewpoints gas without the need for chemicals or batch had a production capacity of 700 MMscf/d of gas, 10,000
processes. Benefits include dehydration and dewpoint- bbl/d of oil and 20,000 bbl/d of water (Figure 2).
ing performed in a single-unit operation. A reduction in The export gas export water content and hydrocar-
moving parts avoids the need for materials that impose bon specification was 7 lb/MMscf and 0.08 mol% C5+,
restrictions on the trace contaminants in the treated gas, respectively. To meet the hydrocarbon specification,
such as Hg, H2S or CO2. Additionally, the unit works as a however, the turbo expander requires 2 lb/MMscf to
closed system, meaning that contaminants have no pos- avoid hydrate formation, which reflects on the size and
sibility of escaping from the gas processing system. complexity of the TEG facility.
This allows the more cost-effective separation of con- The Twister system meets the export specification
taminants and removes HSE risks involved with environ- with 3 lb/MMscf (including an operating margin) with-
mental emissions. Finally, there are no supply-related out any plot space penalty while at the same time tar-
operating risks, with flow assurance issues simply man- geting for 0.11 mol% C5+ content as fit for purpose for
aged by temperature control. gas export to the onshore facility. The specified value
of 0.08 mol% also is attainable with the targeted value
Case study considered the most cost-effective offshore specification
In collaboration with Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), while still meeting project needs.
a case study was developed using Twister technology for Through reducing offshore technology complexity,
water and hydrocarbon dewpointing as a design alterna- the Twister Gas Processing System focused on export
tive to a TEG dehydration unit combined with a turbo gas properties and showed a significant bare equipment
expander-based dewpointing unit. The FPSO in question differential between the Twister technology and the

[Link] | June 2018 75

 SURFACE SYSTEMS

Equipment (MT) Plot space (sq m)

Dry weight (MT)
TEG+Turbo Expander
Ancillary vessels/filters 220 40
TEG system 315 87
Turbo expander package 217 19
Subtotal 752 146
Twister Gas Processing System
Ancillary vessels/filters 122 43.2
Twister SGS 12x 24 4.3
Hydrate separator 2x 30 14.8
Motor driven compressor 70 48
Subtotal 246 110
Total saving 65% 35%
FIGURE 2. This image depicts a gas FPSO general layout and equipment weight and space comparison for Twister. The gas
conditioning Module S7 can be replaced with the Twister Gas Processing System as highlighted. (Source: Twister)

TEG dehydration unit and turbo expander. Savings of the TEG turbo expander system of 95%, replace-
on equipment weight and space by Twister technology ment with the Twister Gas Processing System yields an
were 65% and 35%, respectively, while also delivering increase of availability of 3.2% to 98.2%. This additional
further benefits in reduced weight and plot space of uptime can be monetized through increased produc-
hull and structure, operability, tion revenues or used as flexi-
capex and opex. bility in sparing configurations,
SHI has investigated additional thereby reducing plot space and
architecture flexibility, alternative The need for optimized weight impact of the topside
sparing strategies and the oppor- configurations and even further.
tunity to relocate the Hg removal
unit to the onshore facility.
processing to minimize Conclusion
plot space and The respective 65% and 35%
Preliminary RAM study weight while still reduction in bare equipment
A sensitivity analysis for a reliabil- weight and plot space illus-
ity, availability and maintenance meeting project trates the potential for topside
(RAM) study was carried out to goals is vital. footprint reduction with the
determine the impact on availabil- Twister technology—especially
ity by varying equipment configu- important on FPSOs where
ration from a standard TEG turbo the size of the vessel is at risk
expander configuration. The top five contributors to of being dictated by the topside as opposed to the
availability losses in the standard offshore topside archi- required storage capacity.
tecture are hydrocarbon dewpointing, TEG regeneration, Employing a holistic approach to export gas specifica-
high-pressure and low-pressure separation and recom- tions and considering the application of Twister super-
pression and removal of Hg and CO2, in that order. sonic technology leads to significant advantages in off-
By focusing on the two largest contributors, the study shore topside impact and overall project economics
outcome showed that relative to the base availability while still ensuring project goals are met.

76 June 2018 | [Link]

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

RLWI gains
Riserless light well intervention technology is still talked about as if it’s a new technology, despite
the first campaign being run in 1987. The technology’s possibilities are ever-expanding.

Eddie Karlsen, TechnipFMC, and

Elaine Maslin, Contributing Editor

W ell interventions are carried out to increase

production from mature fields, for in-well main-
tenance, as preparation for permanent plugging and
abandonment or other rig work, and for bringing new
wells online. TechnipFMC has, mainly in the North Sea
and together with its alliance partners Island Offshore
and Altus Intervention, worked on more than 500 wells
and completed more than 3,500 wireline runs. A lot
more could be done. There were due to be more than
8,000 subsea wells globally by year-end 2017, with 2,700
in the North Sea, according to Bjarne Neumann, gen-
eral manager of global intervention, TechnipFMC.
There are 11 7-in. inside diameter subsea riserless
light well intervention (RLWI) stacks, five (soon to be
six) of which are owned by TechnipFMC, to perform
intervention on those wells. TechnipFMC’s RLWI stacks A pressure control head is landing on top of the upper lubricator
include a patented lubricator system for inserting down- package at 2,500 m (8,202 ft) water depth. (Source: TechnipFMC)
hole tool packages into the wellbore, under full pres-
sure and without taking hydrocarbons back to the ves- The efficiency of RLWI operations has been improving
sel. The system, and the ancillary communications and over the years.
controls equipment required, can be deployed from a “Back in 2005 it took about 17 to 19 days to carry out
vessel without the need for drilling or workover risers the RLWI work from a vessel. Today, these operations
and anchors. Deployment from a vessel and having less can be executed in 5 to 7 days,” Neumann said.
and lighter equipment reduces wellhead fatigue and However, TechnipFMC said it’s bringing more
time and risk related to running and retrieving a work- improvements to its latest stacks, based on learnings
over or marine riser, according to TechnipFMC. from the North Sea. The new generation stacks (4, 5
and 6) were all upgraded, including making them more
Stacking up experience modular for ease of maintenance.
TechnipFMC’s RLWI stacks, built in Norway, have been “Lessons learned from recertification proved that
used to complete more than 500 RLWI operations and we need to have more modular systems, so we can do
more than 3,350 wireline runs during the past decade. maintenance as we go rather than doing everything at
The company’s first-generation stack is operated on the one time,” Neumann said. “The recertification of accu-
Island Frontier, with second-generation stacks 2 and 3 on mulators, control systems and other components takes
Island Wellserver and Island Constructor, respectively. The a significant amount of time. Making these components
third-generation stack 4 is on Island Performer and started modular reduces the recertification time dramatically.”
its first operations in August 2017, working offshore
Australia, alongside a multiskidding system and modular Going deeper
handling tower. Stack 5 was completed at the end of The stacks can be used on subsea trees from any
2017, and TechnipFMC is in the final stages of selecting supplier using an interface adaptor. In addition, all
the vessel on which it will be deployed. Stack 6 will enter of the stacks from No. 2 and onward have subsea
the market according to market demand, the firm said. hydraulic power units and subsea hydraulic reser-

78 June 2018 | [Link]

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

voirs, which reduce the umbilical’s diameter and “It will be natural to further explore the possibility of
make them more robust. They also avoid having to conducting open water coiled tubing operations in sub-
pressurize hydraulic fluid on the surface to operate sea wells going forward,” Neumann said. “This will lead
subsea. Closed loop subsea hydraulics also increase to future savings and increased efficiency, especially in
response time, which becomes more important as the combination with P&A operations.”
water depth increases. New technologies will mean that even more work can
“In our view this is an enabler. Rapid response in case be moved from the rig.
of drift-off or drive-off or a well control event is crucial,” “We will see a continuing development of intervention
Neumann said. methods and robotic downhole tools that allow us to do
Stacks 4 to 6 also have had further changes to enable more in the well without the need for a rig,” he said. “As
deepwater operations. we move forward, we will increase our scope and build
“It’s a well-known and accepted way of intervention in our experience. It’s a very exciting prospect.”
the North Sea,” Neumann added. “But where it can be
a really big win is in deeper water.”
Stacks 4 and onward also have a lower circulation
module (LCM) installed. The LCM enables circulation
below the well control package and into the wellbore.
For temporary plug-and-abandonment (P&A) opera-
tions, the LCM allows pumping of heavyweight fluid
and cement slurry to kill and isolate the reservoir in the
lower abandonment phase to save time before perform-
ing the full abandonment, Neumann said.

Stack 4 goes to work

Stack 4, the first new generation design built, was qual-
ified and tested in the Gulf of Mexico down to 2,000 m
(6,600 ft) in spring 2016. It started its first commercial
work for Inpex offshore Western Australia on the Ichthys
Field (pulling plugs) in August 2017, on a 12-well project
that was completed by October 2017. Its next project
was offshore Western Australia for Woodside Energy in
the first quarter of this year as part of a three-year frame
agreement for RLWI and subsea services in the Greater
Western Flank Phase 2 development, 175 km (108.7
miles) northwest of Dampier, Western Australia.
But in addition to going into deeper waters, RLWI is
expanding in capabilities.
“We are about to close the gap between riser-based
intervention from a rig to do more operations through
riserless intervention than what we could do when we
started out,” Neumann said
This spans from an increasing amount of P&A work
to hydraulic pumping and pulling plugs as part of well
completion work, freeing up rig time for drilling work,
he added.

Open water coiled tubing

With the open water coiled tubing pilot hole drilling
performed by Island Offshore Subsea Services with the
vessel Island Constructor for Centrica, a new, game-chang- The lower stack hanging in the cursor frame prepared for deployment
ing opportunity has arisen. through the moonpool on the Island Performer. (Source: TechnipFMC)

[Link] | June 2018 79

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

Real-time intervention insights

Intervention system revives well production at reduced risks through data-driven decisions.

Lei Fang, Stuart Murphy and Erik Nordenstam, to provide real-time downhole insights to optimize well
Baker Hughes, a GE company intervention operations.
The system has downhole sensors that measure

W ith well complexity increasing and margin for

error shrinking, well intervention operations have
become more challenging, time-consuming and expen-
critical operating parameters including weight on bit
(WOB), torque, annular pressure, bore pressure, tem-
perature, bending, tool orientation and casing collar
sive. Conventional intervention approaches, which are location. It also includes a downhole power and bi-
largely experience-based and involve significant guess- directional communication system that powers down-
work, are often inadequate. The use of surface gauges to hole electronics and sensors and enables real-time data
measure weight, torque and pressure in deep and highly transmission. Its bi-directional communication system
deviated offshore wells typically do not reflect downhole includes downhole mud pulser and surface systems for
realities, which often lead to decreased operational effi- downlinking and decoding. In addition, the software
ciencies and increased risks. package processes and visualizes downhole data while
Because of these challenges, the industry realized subject matter experts are on 24/7 standby to review
that downhole intelligence was needed to maximize job data and provide technical support.
efficiency and consistency, reduce operational risks The system’s real-time WOB, torque, rpm and vibra-
and ultimately optimize production. In response, tion readings are designed to increase job efficiency in
Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), released its a range of intervention applications, including light-
xSight smart intervention services. The services pro- weight fishing and object retrieval, wellbore cleanup,
vide greater clarity and precision for intervention jobs milling and whipstock casing exits.
by delivering live downhole data, remote monitoring
and operations, real-time analytics, and digital data Case study
processing and visualization. In early 2017 an operator in the North Sea selected
xSight for a plug-and-abandonment (P&A) and slot
Comprehensive analysis recovery operation. The original well was drilled in 1990
This drillpipe-deployed smart intervention system com- and recently ceased production, and the intervention
prises a number of components that work in tandem operation was planned to drain remaining oil from
another target.
Several factors made this operation
high risk. A 95⁄8-in. casing installed
during initial well construction sub-
sequently leaked, and the currently
installed casing had a thinner wall (43.5
lb) than normal (53.5 lb). In addition,
casing wear was estimated to be 10% to
21% from the drilling phase of the well.
No casing tally was available from the
rig, and uncertainties in casing and liner
condition existed because of aging.
The well was deep and deviated, with a
95⁄8-in. casing shoe at 4,326 m (14,193 ft)
with a 65-degree inclination and a 7-in.
The BHGE xSight casing collar locator detects and visualizes casing collars in real time liner ending at 4,777 m (15,673 ft) with a
while running in-hole on drillpipe. In this application, the service identified casing collar 62-degree inclination, both of which fur-
locations in two intervals of 7-in. liner in real time. (Source: BHGE) ther increased the risks and uncertainties

80 June 2018 | [Link]

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

of the intervention operation. In 2013 a wireline-deployed window milling processes. During the process of orienting
bottomhole assembly (BHA) was unable to pass at a and setting whipstock as well as breaking the milling BHA
measured depth of 4,587 m (15,049 ft). If the whipstock free with the whipstock, real-time weight and torque data
casing exit operation could not be performed successfully were monitored and used to ensure successful execution.
in a 7-in. liner, a contingency target and well path would Operational parameters were adjusted during the run
not be available. based on real-time downhole insight, with monitoring and
BHGE deployed the smart intervention system in real-time advisory services from the remote operations sup-
four different runs to mitigate risks and optimize the port center. The milling operation went smoothly.
operation. The first run was dedicated to milling out
and retrieving the 95⁄8-in. production packer. In this
operation, a packer milling BHA containing the smart
intervention system was run in-hole tagging the packer
at 4,159 m (13,645 ft). During this run, downhole
WOB, torque and pressure were monitored in real time
to optimize the milling operation.
Milling started with a 80 rpm, 31 torque and 1 to 3
tons WOB. The pump pressure increased to 190 bar,
and WOB increased to 10 tons, which indicated mill-
ing of the packer element. Milling continued until the
downhole pressure readings detected total losses, after The xSight optimization service combines well intervention tools
which the pump was shut down and milling continued such as milling, fishing and wellbore cleanup with downhole
until the packer fell. Then the packer and tailpipe were bi-directional communication technology to provide real-time
pulled out of hole and magnets were used to fish out actionable data to the rig site. (Source: BHGE)
debris left in the 95⁄8-in. casing and 7-in. liner.
The next two runs, which were designed to drift clean Despite the challenging nature of the well and
the 7-in. liner, deployed the smart intervention system the various risks and uncertainties of the operations,
to log casing collars and to monitor downhole param- the smart intervention system provided timely and
eters in the event that obstructions were encountered. high-quality decision-making to be made throughout
Casing collars were logged in two intervals and in two the intervention, resulting in zero nonproductive time.
separate runs in the 7-in. casing to identify the optimal The casing collar locator service provided by the smart
depths for setting the production packer and whipstock. intervention system identified casing collar locations in
The two intervals were logged with similar operating two intervals of the 7-in. liner in real time. This led to
parameters: a logging speed ranging from 39.6 m/hr the decision of the proper setting depth for the whip-
to 60.9 m/hr (130 ft/hr to 200 ft/hr), with a rotation stock and production packer, saving two dedicated wire-
between 40 rpm and 80 rpm and a flow rate between line runs and multiple days of rig time in the process.
800 liters and 1,300 liters per minute. In addition, the system’s critical downhole parameters
Casing collars were identified during both logging improved efficiency and ensured success in casing win-
runs. The collar log in the lower interval—from 4,510 dow milling, which contributed to achieving the overall
m to 4,569 m (14,797 ft to 14,990 ft)—confirmed casing operational objective of reaching another target to drain
collars at depths of 4,522 m (14,836 ft), 4,534 m (14,875 additional oil because a contingency target could not
ft), 4,546 m (14,914 ft) and 4,558 m (14,954 ft). Based exist if the casing exit operations failed in the 7-in. liner.
on these data, a setting depth of 4,571 m (14,997 ft) was
considered optimal for the whipstock. During these two Conclusion
runs, WOB, torque and pressure readings were moni- As the xSight system continues to optimize intervention
tored in real time to optimize the 7-in. liner cleanout operations in challenging and risky wells, more operators
runs. While attempting to pass through a restriction at are investigating its applicability in their own fields. The
4,570 m (14,994 ft), the downhole WOB data helped delivered real-time downhole insights and ongoing migra-
the operator decide to pull out of hole and avoid dam- tion from experience-dependent execution to data-driven
age to the BHA. solutions promise to move the industry closer to its goal
The final run, a 7-in. whipstock casing exit operation, of executing well interventions with the highest degree of
used xSight to optimize the whipstock setting and casing precision, control and intelligence.

[Link] | June 2018 81

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

Optimized epoxy resin for

well intervention
A new multicomponent resin offers operators an alternative
method for well barrier creation and repair.

Travis Baughman, Wild Well Control

W ell interventions serve to address a wide variety of

objectives. In many cases, the intent is to repair
a failed barrier in the well, which is required to return
the well to production. The interventions discussed in
this article will reference occurrences where the failed
barrier is designed for pressure isolation and/or the
well conditions have changed resulting in unwanted
fluid communication within the well. These types of
interventions are usually casing/tubular leak repair,
annular or sustained casing pressure repair and forma-
tion abandonment.
Wild Well Control has engineered a new multi-
component epoxy resin called ControlSEAL that is
designed for oil and gas well interventions. The epoxy
resin maintains unique and compelling properties
that optimize this material for barrier creation and
repair, namely adhesion strength and resistance to
chemical degradation.

Cement limitations Reservoir/Sand/

Cement usage is long-established in well construction. Proppant
However, the material, still widely used, presents limita-
tions in certain intervention type applications, including FIGURE 1. A conventional cement plug is unable to pass through
difficult fluid placement and insufficient barrier integrity. perforations, limiting the barrier to a tubular plug. (Source: Wild
In many intervention operations, flow paths are Well Control)
restricted, making fluid placement difficult. This might
be a function of working through completion tubing, allow the use of these large volumes, making the effects
small channels in annular spaces or permeable/uncon- of contamination more severe.
solidated formations. These restricted flow paths offer Barrier construction is much more than the compres-
two challenges to the use of conventional cements. sive strength of the barrier material as is commonly and
Cement slurries require a stable ratio of water and inadequately referenced when validating cements. The
cement held static at depth of interest to set and form material must adhere to its environment to create a
a solid material. In restricted geometries, this ratio can pressure seal, and it must remain adhered and compe-
be compromised as solids often separate from the slurry tent in the surrounding fluids for an extended period.
and cause blockages and/or pack-off. Cement also is Shear-bond testing confirms that cement systems are
highly vulnerable to the effects of contamination. This fundamentally insufficient adhesives. This lack of chem-
is mitigated in primary well construction with the use ical adhesion to wellbore interfaces only can be miti-
of large fluid spacer volumes and slurry excess. In most gated by increasing the surface area of the interfaces.
intervention work, the restricted geometries do not The friction pressure required to migrate past these

82 June 2018 | [Link]

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

unbonded interfaces creates the impression of a pres- of the slurry as the water is squeezed into the permeable
sure seal. The volumes to create this artifact often are formation and a pack-off occurs (Figure 1).
not feasible in many intervention treatments. This results in the barrier element, in this case the
Chemical exposure testing confirms that cements cement, existing only within the tubular. Barrier integ-
are highly susceptible to early degradation in the pres- rity relies on the cement to maintain a durable seal
ence of many common wellbore fluids. Long-term well across this limited surface area.
diagnostics in regions like the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) By utilizing ControlSEAL, the point of vulnerability
and North Sea continue to shed light on the severity is shifted by changing the barrier interface. The resin
of this characteristic. can be squeezed into the formation and used to phys-
ically change the permeability of the rock to zero. Not
Case study 1: Formation shutoff/ only has the bonded surface area increased exponen-
reservoir abandonment tially but this is accomplished with an impermeable,
Up until the recent improvements in shale fracturing high-performance adhesive that is naturally resistant to
technologies, traditional reservoir formations were corrosion (Figure 2).
most commonly composed of permeable rock. Though An offshore well in Central Asia had a relatively
permeable, the flow paths do not permit the flow of a large reservoir footage and sufficient production until
solids-carrying fluid like cement. For this reason, when increasing water cut continued to grow. The operator’s
cement is used in an attempt to abandon these forma- objective was to isolate the lower 50% of the reservoir
tions, regardless if the objective is abandonment or to permanently without compromising the ability to con-
mitigate water production, the solids are screened out tinue to produce from the upper portion of the forma-

[Link] | June 2018 83

 OFFSHORE WELL
INTERVENTION

Barrier Interface

Reservoir Reservoir
Pressure Pressure

Reservoir/Sand/
Proppant

FIGURE 2. Resin is squeezed through perforations without risk of bridging/pack-off (left), filling the porosity of both reservoir and proppant
(center). Proppant is consolidated, eliminating reservoir porosity (right). The barrier interface is now expanded within the formation and not
vulnerable to bond failure known to tubular cement plugs. (Source: Wild Well Control)

tion sands. Resin was pumped to the top of the forma- taining SCP either by perforating or section milling into
tion initially by using the bullhead squeeze method. annuli from the main wellbore or through the wellhead
Pumping was discontinued to allow the resin to free access valves. Though pressure communication exists,
fall to the bottom of the formation sand. Once the resin the injection pressure and rates into these annuli, as they
settled, the well was pressured again to squeeze the were previously cemented, are very high pressure and low
resin into only the desired lower portion of the reser- injectivity. Failure mechanisms with this profile often are
voir. Pressure was held following squeeze treatment to thought to be the cause of microchanneled and/or par-
allow resin to cure under static well conditions. tially de-bonded cement. Resin can be squeezed into these
This resulted in a 70% reduction in water production channels and used to adhere the previously failed cement
that was confirmed instantly. Though the water cut had to tubulars and formations without the pack-off and con-
increased gradually from this original reduction, it is tamination risk of cement usage.
believed to be a function of reservoir oil depletion and During an ongoing plug and abandonment campaign
not associated with the resin barrier integrity. in the GoM, after the final surface plug (cement) was
set, it was observed on a number of wells that gas bub-
Case study 2: Sustained casing pressure repair bles continued to migrate up through the casing annu-
There are a number of challenging issues associated with lus and intermediate tubular. Regulation in this region
sustained casing pressure (SCP). To clarify, SCP generally requires no observed gas flow for 30 minutes.
is referenced as reservoir and/or formation pressure that To eliminate the presence of gas flow (bubbles) and
is unintendedly present in a well annulus. Most wells have achieve compliance, a section mill was placed near
a number of annuli, and SCP can exist in any. In primary the top of the potentially failed surface cement plug
well construction, these pressures are supposed to be iso- to allow access to the annular and intermediate tubu-
lated to their respective depths in the well through primary lar. An inflatable packer was placed in the sectioned
cement barriers. Fundamentally, SCP in most wells exists milled area using a work string. A balanced plug was
directly as the response of a failed primary cement job. placed below the inflatable area using a small diame-
This can happen at any stage in the life of the well but ter tubing run through the work string. The tubing
often is found in later stages, suggesting that the cement was removed and pressure was applied to squeeze the
barrier would have failed over time or well function. resin plug into microchannels and existing fractures,
Repair efforts require hydraulic access to the annuli con- achieving the objective of eliminating gas flow.

84 June 2018 | [Link]

 UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:
PERMIAN BASIN

Permian Basin continues to lead US

production gains
Innovations in completions and the region’s high oil content factor into favorable
economics and output growth.

duction and completion trends at the AAPG Global Super

Brian Walzel, Associate Editor, Production Technologies
Basins Leadership Conference in March in Houston.
Sheffield said the Permian’s rig count had most of

T he Permian Basin continues as a change leader in the

global energy mix, leading North American oil pro-
duction and forcing OPEC to maintain its production
its increases in the first six months of 2017, which is a
component of the basin’s continued increase in pro-
duction. Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), stated
cuts designed to balance the worldwide oil market. in its monthly rig count report in May that the Permian
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration reached an all-time high in the number of operating
(EIA), oil production in the Permian increased 73,000 rigs with 463 as of May 11. However, there might be
bbl/d month over month between February and March. indications rig activity may be beginning to taper off
The EIA reported that the Permian produces 3.2 MMbbl/d, a bit. According to the BHGE rig count report, the
which makes it far and away the largest producing onshore Permian Basin has added 63 rigs this year, a drop-off
oil field in North America. from previous years. During the same time period last
Scott Sheffield, executive chairman of the board at year, from Jan. 6, 2017, to May 12, 2017, the rig count
Pioneer Natural Resources, discussed Permian Basin pro- grew from 267 to 357, an increase of 90.

Devon Energy has seen cost savings of $1 million

per well in the Delaware Basin through multizone
development. (Source: Devon Energy)

86 June 2018 | [Link]

 UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:
PERMIAN BASIN

“If you look at the month-to-month increase in pro- According to its first-quarter 2018 report, Pioneer
duction, most of the growth in the Permian was over expects to place about 45 Version 3.0+ completions
the last several months,” Sheffield said. “It went from online during the first half of the year. The company is
2.1 million barrels per day and finished the year at 2.8 planning to appraise three additional Wolfcamp D wells
million barrels per day last year. Most people have it with Version 3.0 completions this year.
growing at about [a rate of] 800,000 barrels per year.” Pioneer is forecasting production growth for the year
He said the Permian will steadily increase produc- in its Permian Basin operations to increase 19% to 24%
tion by about 19% each year through 2026, based on compared to its 2017 production rates, with “produc-
$55/bbl prices. tion currently trending toward the high end of this
“We know the rock is there and the oil is there,” he said. range,” the company stated in the report.
Addressing what factors have led the Permian Basin
Enhanced completion designs to offer the lowest breakevens, Sheffield said the play’s
Sheffield attributed the production growth in the Perm- output offers a high percentage of oil, thereby increas-
ian to improved economics from service cost reductions ing revenues.
and enhanced stage spacing designs. “Generally these wells are coming on somewhere
“We’re producing spacing between stages to 15 feet between 75% and 85% oil,” he said. “So you’re starting
[4.5 m] to 20 feet [6 m], down from 60 feet [18.2 m] to with a much higher revenue per boe.”
80 feet [24.3 m],” he said. Pioneer reported that its first Wolfcamp D wells with
Pioneer’s lateral lengths in the Permian have grown the Version 3.0 completions delivered 130-day cumu-
from 1,524 m (5,000 ft) and are now averaging 3,048 m lative production of 26,000 boe with an oil content of
(10,000 ft) with some out 6,096 m (20,000 ft), Sheffield 72% during the fourth quarter of 2017.
said. Enhanced completion designs have been a factor Sheffield also said lifting the export ban and pad drill-
in lowering breakeven costs for the Permian, which ing designs, which include increasing the numbers of
Sheffield said is about $19/bbl for Pioneer, including wells on a pad, also have contributed to low breakevens
drilling and development costs. The company has seen in the Permian.
increased drilling efficiencies recently as well. In addition, Sheffield touted Pioneer’s success in devel-
“It took us 15 days to drill a vertical well back six, oping the Jo Mill Spraberry reservoir, which he said the
seven, eight years ago,” Sheffield said. “Now it’s taking company began developing more than 40 years ago.
15 to 20 days to drill a horizontal well down 10,000 ft “Pioneer is finding tremendous success in the Jo Mill;
and out to 20,000 ft.” we’re probably the only operator that is going into the
In 2015 Pioneer, which is the largest acreage holder Jo Mill Spraberry,” he said. “We drilled 7,000 vertical
in the Midland Basin, implemented a completion opti- wells over the last 40 years … and now we’re making
mization program that combined longer laterals with some of our best wells going 10,000 ft with horizontals
increased stage lengths, more clusters per stage and in the Jo Mill section.”
higher levels of fluid volumes and proppant concentra-
tions. The company reported in its first-quarter 2018 Analyst reports
investor presentation that the objective of the program In a recent report by Wood Mackenzie, the analytics
was to improve well productivity by allowing more rock firm predicted Lower 48 crude production growth this
to be contacted closer to the horizontal wellbore. year will be approximately 1.1 MMbbl/d, with 80% of
By 2016 Pioneer was continuing its efforts to enhance that growth attributable to the Permian Basin.
its completion designs with its Version 3.0 completions. Jonathan Garrett, research director of Lower 48
Those designs featured proppant concentrations of about upstream oil and gas at Wood Mackenzie, said in the
2,000 lb/ft, fluid concentrations of up to 50 bbl/ft, 15-ft report that much of that growth will depend on how
cluster spacings and stage spacings down to 30.4 m (100 quickly and effectively operators develop and deploy
ft). According to its report, Pioneer placed 47 Version 3.0 new technologies that address key production issues.
wells on production during the first quarter of the year as “New technologies, such as diverting agents, micro-
well as 16 wells on production that utilized even higher fracturing, coil-tipping fracks and digitalization, all have
intensity completions, which the company refers to as the potential to increase production in the Permian,”
Version 3.0+ wells. The company reported that its Version he said.
3.0+ wells have “significantly outperformed” nearby offset One of the most prevalent risk factors to continued
wells with less intense completions. production gains in the Permian and elsewhere in uncon-

[Link] | June 2018 87

 UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:
PERMIAN BASIN

bbl/d in the Delaware and Midland, a level it expects to

increase to nearly 800,000 bbl/d by 2025. The company
reported that it is assessing potential additional Permian
stacked pay zones while investing $2 billion in infrastruc-
ture improvements in the region.
Cimarex reported in its fourth-quarter 2017 investor
report it has experienced improved well performance
through changes to its completion designs in the
Culberson area of the upper Wolfcamp. According to
the report, 15 wells with the new fracturing design have
averaged 30-day peak IP rates of 2,172 boe/d (52% oil),
a 30% increase in first-year cumulative production.
Under its previous completion design, Cimarex had
360-day cumulative production rates of about 500,000
Devon Energy is producing 6,500 boe/d in the Delaware Basin and said boe/d, the report stated. By implementing its improved
its production rate has increased as a result of its Anaconda project completion designs, the company’s rates increased to
near the Texas/New Mexico state line. (Source: Devon Energy) about 690,000 boe/d.
EOG Resources has cited continued improvements in
ventionals is the issue of parent-child well performance, production rates as a result of the company’s Premium
well-on-well performance caused by tighter well spacing. Well program it implemented in 2016. According to its
“Closely spaced child well performance presents not fourth-quarter 2017 investor report, EOG’s Wolfcamp
only a risk to the viability of the ongoing drilling recov- average six-month production on a 2,134-m (7,000-ft)
ery but also to the industry’s long-term prospects,” Wood lateral is nearly 1,200 boe/d. The company reported that
Mackenzie stated in its report. “Virtually every operator it is targeting well completion costs this year of $7.4 mil-
believes child well performance is a material issue, but lion, compared to $7.7 million last year in the Wolfcamp.
there is no consensus on how to best address it.” In addition to its improved well program, EOG has
The analytics company said this year will be one of installed infrastructure that includes water sourcing,
trial and error as a result of the wide range of develop- gathering and recycling capabilities as well as sand rail
ment techniques and views on optimal spacing opera- car unloading facilities.
tors choose to implement. Meanwhile, Devon Energy’s Anaconda develop-
Stephen Beck of Stratas Advisors noted in a recent ment—the company’s first multizone development in
report on Permian Basin production trends that rig the Delaware Basin—has led to cost savings of $1 mil-
counts there could plateau as operators continue to lion per well compared to traditional pad development
focus on optimizing completions. activity, the company reported in its fourth-quarter
“While additional growth in the number of rigs drill- 2017 investor report. Anaconda’s success has encour-
ing is feasible, incremental growth is more likely as aged Devon to plan six more multizone developments
operators shift their attention to optimizing the latest scheduled for this year. According to the report, about
well designs,” Beck said in the report. 70% of the company’s capital activity this year will be
Stratas estimated lateral lengths will increase by associated with multizone development projects.
roughly 25% this year compared to the recent stan- Another key multizone project for Devon is the
dards averaging just less than 1,828 m (6,000 ft). 11-well Boomslang project in the Thistle area, co-devel-
Using a new 2,133-m (7,000-ft) figure, Stratas esti- oping the Leonard Shale and the multiple Bone Spring
mated drillers will create between 12.1 MMm (40 intervals, according to the company’s report.
MMft) and 15.2 MMm (50 MMft) of new lateral foot- Devon’s latest Delaware production rate, according
age in the Permian this year. to the investor report, is 6,500 boe/d. The company
said its production growth in the region was driven by a
Permian operator updates ramp-up of the Anaconda project and several high-rate
Exxon Mobil reported in its fourth-quarter 2017 investor wells near the New Mexico/Texas state line.
report that it plans to ramp up its drilling program in State line activity was highlighted by six Bone Spring
the Permian and Bakken from 26 rigs to 36 by the end wells that attained 30-day IP rates of 1,750 boe/d at a
of the year. The company is producing about 200,000 cost of $5.4 million per well.

88 June 2018 | [Link]

 tech
WATCH

Setting a new standard for SSSVs

An industry partnership responds to changing industry needs with new SSSV design.

Andrew Buzinsky and Stephen Forrester, NOV; and Implementation of SSSVs grew, but it was not until the
Tom Hill, Tejas Research & Engineering Piper Alpha incident of the late 1980s that regulations
truly shifted. The explosion on Piper Alpha and result-

S ubsurface safety valves (SSSVs), which are standard

and often statutorily required in the oil and gas
industry for upper completions, were first developed in
ing oil and gas fires that destroyed the platform served
as the impetus for global regulatory mandates that
SSSVs be deployed in offshore wells.
the late 1930s. Operators sought to drill more high-pres- The watchword for the 21st century oil industry has
sure wells, often near populated areas or, conversely, been reliability, as offshore, deepwater workovers in
offshore or very isolated areas, making the need for many wells cost tens of millions of dollars. As such,
a device to protect the wells from uncontrolled flow reliability became the primary focus and mission of the
increasingly apparent. The need was made even more engineering team at Tejas Research & Engineering as
urgent by the fact that the uncontrolled flow could be it moved to design and deliver reliable, high-perform-
caused by accident or by damage to the surface equip- ing products. In the late 2000s the energy industry
ment, which at the time was quite common. and governments worldwide revisited the use of SSSV
By the 1970s three companies had established deployment requirements, which had not seen much
themselves as industry leaders as SSSV suppliers in change since the Piper Alpha incident more than two
the field: Otis Engineering (now Halliburton), Baker decades prior. The consensus was that when reliable
Hughes (now Baker Hughes, a GE company) and SSSVs are present, a blowout and oil spill are virtually
Camco Products and Services (now Schlumberger). impossible. Therefore, many governments, such as the

The Tejas Research & Engineering’s HP/HT testing facility is located in The Woodlands, Texas. (Source: NOV)

90 June 2018 | [Link]

 tech
WATCH

EU, now require SSSVs

in all wells—even
those on land.

New standards
Modern developments
in SSSV design have
sought to address the
industry’s challenges
and the issues that
arise in more com-
plex reservoirs and
harsher downhole Tejas’ model TRSV(E) SSSVs are tubing-retrievable, surface-controlled, normally closed devices installed in oil
environments through and gas wells to control tubing flow. (Source: NOV)
additional testing and
research to optimize the valves’ technical specifica- The TRSSSV series are API-14A V1 certified and adaptable
tions. While the basic functionality of the valves has to any standard or premium tubing thread. The system
not changed for some time, the standard to which the features a large fullbore, where the inside diameter (ID) is
valves are engineered and manufactured is now shift- equivalent or greater tubing than the tubing ID to which
ing, thanks in part to a new partnership between Tejas the SSSV is attached. Additionally, it has either flat flap-
Research & Engineering and National Oilwell Varco pers (23∕8 in. to 3½ in.) or curved flappers (4½ in. to 7 in.)
(NOV). It is a partnership bolstered by Tejas’ involve- and a single rod piston featuring nonelastomeric dynamic
ment on the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) 14A seals. The TRSSSV is available in either equalizing or non-
standards subcommittee. equalizing trims. The valve is controlled hydraulically with
NOV has built its portfolio of completion and pro- a ¼-in. control line in the well’s annulus, enabling valve
duction products and technologies since the company’s closure during an emergency shutdown.
acquisition of Trican Well Service’s completion tools The new safety valve builds upon lessons learned in
division in mid-2016. As the breadth of NOV’s comple- valve design over Tejas Research & Engineering’s entire
tions business expanded to include multistage fracturing history. Previous valves have achieved significant mile-
and multizone completions, among other disciplines, it stones—including one design that has more than 8,000
became clear that a missing link for upper completions valves in use without a single failure or degradation in
was SSSVs. The company partnered with Tejas Research performance. Completions have evolved since those early
& Engineering to commercialize a line of SSSVs repre- designs, and new valves need to withstand significantly
senting a new industry standard in design and reliability. higher temperatures, working pressures and setting
Tejas Research & Engineering sprang from the Camco depths as well as accommodate different diameters.
tradition that pioneered many pivotal developments in The new valve product line meets the rigorous quality
SSSV design. The R&D and engineering for safety valve standards outlined in API Specification 14A and tested
products are conducted in Tejas’ HP/HT facility in The beyond the specifications in Revision 12, including Annex
Woodlands, Texas, where SSSVs with pressure require- H, which specifically addresses the verification and valida-
ments of 25,000 psi and 260 C (500 F) are designed, tion requirements for use in HP/HT environments.
tested, qualified and produced. An evolution in safety valve standards means the indus-
try can be more confident that well control incidents will
New design not occur. As regulations continue to change and become
Tejas’ model TRSV(E) SSSVs are tubing-retrievable, sur- stricter, it is imperative that safety valves maintain their rig-
face-controlled, normally closed devices installed in oil orous quality and durability while being able to handle
and gas wells to control tubing flow. Metal-to-metal seals even more challenging well environments.
are used in 100% of Tejas’ tubing-retrievable product line,
which has products that are rated to 10,000 psig and are Have a story idea for Tech Watch? This feature highlights
suitable for temperatures up to 176 C (349 F) at moder- leading-edge technology that has the potential to eventually
ate setting depths. Higher temperature/pressure/setting address real-life upstream challenges. Submit your story ideas to
Group Managing Editor Jo Ann Davy at jdavy@[Link].
depths/slimline diameters are available for custom order.

[Link] | June 2018 91

 tech
TRENDS

Automated continuous circulation system and autopilot functionality. The system comprises several
reduces risk modular components to facilitate quick and easy mainte-
Halliburton has released the e-cd Plus system that auto- nance, even in remote locations. [Link]
mates and enhances continuous circulation connections
during drilling and tripping operations, according to a First-ever international database prevents
company news release. Continuous circulation provides natural gas infrastructure failures
the uninterrupted flow of drilling fluid into the well The first-ever database inventory of oil and natural
throughout the process of adding or removing drillpipe gas infrastructure information from the top hydrocar-
joints to the drillstring. After connecting the e-cd Plus bon-producing and consuming countries in the world is
system to surface control equipment, a proprietary soft- available online, according to a National Energy Tech-
ware remotely controls all steps of the flow diversion nology Laboratory (NETL) news release. The database
and side port connection process that is currently com- was borne from a massive information acquisition, evalu-
pleted via manual human operation. The overall system ation and resource integration project led by the Office
maintains a small footprint and can reduce the number of Fossil Energy’s NETL, which has released the database
of rig personnel required to safely provide continuous on the laboratory’s Energy Data eXchange (EDX). EDX
downhole circulation. The system also helps improve is an online collection of capabilities and resources that
success in challenging projects such as wells with narrow advances research and customizes energy-related needs.
pore pressure/fracture gradients by keeping bottom- The database, known as the global oil and gas infrastruc-
hole pressure and fluid properties constant, cooling ture (GOGI) inventory, identifies more than 4.8 million
equipment in HP/HT applications and providing con- individual features like wells, pipelines and ports from
tinuous wellbore cleaning by movement of cuttings in more than 380 datasets in 194 countries. It includes
extended-reach wells. [Link] information about the type, age, status and owner/
operator of infrastructure features. The GOGI inventory
Rugged, push-the-bit design delivers offers an economic, environmental, and health and
cost-effective wellbores safety tool for researchers, industry representatives and
Weatherford International Plc has commercially released government regulators to help prevent infrastructure
the Magnus rotary steerable system, which combines reli- failures, improve economics of energy production and
able, high-performance drilling with precise directional address fugitive methane emissions. [Link]
control, according to a company news release. The push-
the-bit tool is designed for deployment in nearly any New technology improves asset inspection
drilling scenario, including high doglegs. Key features of efficiency, reduces costs
the Magnus system include fully independent pad con- Clarus Subsea Integrity, an Acteon company, has intro-
trol, a fully rotating bias unit with minimal bottomhole duced the iCUE Digital Anomaly Detection App, a new
assembly (BHA) stabilization, real-time BHA diagnostics technology that provides rapid, accurate detection of
anomalies by reviewing inspection video footage of subsea
assets, according to a company announcement. It is the
latest addition to the company’s Digital Integrity Manage-
ment Services portfolio. By using the app to assess footage
of subsea risers, pipelines or moorings, for example, oper-
ators immediately receive a more accurate account of con-
ditions that might otherwise go undetected. In addition,
the speed at which it analyzes footage and identifies anom-
alies is at least 10 times faster than manual review, which is
significant when assessing whether an asset is fit for contin-
ued service or requires attention. To achieve this, the app
automatically carries out an engineering assessment of the
inspection footage. The app is based on machine learn-
ing and draws upon image analysis technologies. Clarus
trained the system with a machine learning algorithm to
The Magnus rotary steerable system is compatible with all accurately qualify an anomaly by using a structured dataset
standard drillbit designs. (Source: Weatherford) of positive examples of anomalies. [Link]

92 June 2018 | [Link]

 DOWNLOAD
THE APP

Service allows companies to view products New zone isolation technology for
before they are developed plug-and-perf operations
Subsea Technologies Ltd. has released a visualization GEODynamics has introduced a new technology in
service that allows oil and gas firms the opportunity composite plug systems called the EVOLV+FracTrap
to enable interdisciplinary teams to review, under- Zone Isolation System. The system provides ball retrieval
stand, assess and learn about the most complex of and composite plug technology in one tool that delivers
engineered systems before they even exist, according risk-free, ball-on-seat, plug-and-perf isolation solutions
to a company news release. Companies also can use
the 3-D animation service to create visualizations for
training, product development and optimization, and
other uses. [Link]

New intelligent wearables for industrial

field workers
Honeywell has released a hands-free, wearable Con-
nected Plant technology that allows industrial workers
to more safely, reliably and efficiently accomplish their
tasks in the plant or the field, according to a company
press release. Honeywell’s Skills Insight Intelligent
Wearables feature a head-mounted visual display that
responds to voice and brings live data, documents, work
procedures, and health and safety information into view. The EVOLV+FracTrap Zone Isolation System provides ball
The new wearable technology also connects field work- retrieval and composite plug technology in one tool.
ers with remote experts in real time and allows them to (Source: GEODynamics)
assimilate valuable skills and knowledge while working.
The company’s new technology uses the latest in hands- to operators. This combination makes water and time
free mobile computing, augmented reality, Industrial savings possible by eliminating traditional risks with
Internet of Things and mobility software. It combines the additional benefit that allows operators to test cas-
the RealWear HMT-1Z1 hands-free wearable computer ing pressure prior to perforating operations. The new
with Honeywell’s Movilizer platform, a cloud-based plug technology is optimized for the entire life cycle
workflow solution, to support field service operations, from run, set, test, hold and mill. The slip technology
specifically in hazardous locations. [Link] prevents presets, allowing indefinite hold time under
pressure. Having run ball-on-seat, operators are able to
ensure the plug has been properly set and sealed prior
to perforating operations. Then, once the hydraulic
fracturing procedure has been completed, the mule
shoe design provides positive lockup for drillout of the
plug. Consistent drill-out times for a fully composite
plug are between 8 minutes and 12 minutes with a favor-
ably sized debris matrix returned from cleanout opera-
tions. Depending upon well completion requirements,
the system is available in either composite or cast-iron
slip models. [Link]

New asset integrity management platform

reduces time to action
Stress Engineering Services Inc. has released NeoSight, a
new asset integrity management platform, according to a
Skills Insight Intelligent Wearables offer operators guided work press release. The primary goal of the NeoSight platform
instruction and procedures to facilitate field work. is to incorporate hindsight, insight and foresight into the
(Source: Honeywell) evaluation of asset performance and integrity for a range

[Link] | June 2018 93

 tech
TRENDS

of industries and applications. The platform leverages tions, according to a company press release. Resulting
and supplements new or existing digitalization efforts, in a collaborative effort with its clients, Enventure devel-
integrating directly with existing business systems in real oped the ESeal 3.0 to provide operators more options
time or near real time. This reduces the time to action when selecting among mechanical zonal isolation
from days or months to minutes. A physics-based digital techniques. Pairing this offering with its Engineered
twin model is built into each NeoSight tool, which accu- Liner Analysis, Enventure assists the operator when
rately simulates asset response. Digital twin models allow making data-based decisions about their refracturing
the integration of inspection, analysis and measured options. ESeal 3.0 provides 16% more tensile strength
data, providing important, previously unavailable insights to allow installations in the 107 C to 121 C (225 F to
into asset behavior. [Link] 250 F) range, and ESeal 3.0 RF-HT (radio frequency
high temperature) provides 40% more strength to allow
Newly developed load transfer hook installation in the 149 C (300 F) or higher range. Two
Cortland has launched a new load transfer hook, specif- successful field installations have been completed. Pro-
ically designed for the oil and gas and marine markets, duction results are pending. [Link]
according to a press release. The patented Selantic Hook,
first developed for a major operator in the Gulf of Mexico, Company launches automated OCV valuations
is compatible with synthetic fiber slings and will be used VesselsValue (VV), an online valuation provider, has
for load transfer and pull-in operations where a compact launched daily valuations for offshore construction vessels
rigging assembly is necessary. Transferring subsea loads, (OCVs). This completes VV’s expansion into offshore val-
such as risers, manifolds or flowlines, from pipelay and uation, which already includes all types of mobile offshore
construction vessels to floating structures such as FPSOs drilling units and offshore support vessels. OCVs add 2,000
over deep water is consistently a major logistical challenge, vessels to the VV database bringing the total number of
demanding versatile equipment and accurate techniques. offshore units assessed by VV to more than 11,000. The full
Selantic slings are known in the industry as a cost-effective offshore fleet is made available for VV’s clients through
and lightweight alternative to heavy chains and wire rope. the VV+ database, while all second-hand sales, newbuilding
They can be handled safely by personnel without the need orders, demolition sales and period charters are available
for power-driven assistance. Constructed from high-perfor- in VesselsValue Deals Database. [Link]
mance fibers, they are up to eight times as strong, weight
for weight, as wire rope, according to the release. The Stainless steel pump heads eliminate
slings can be fabricated to tight tolerances and to break- cleanup, disposal costs
strengths above 2,000 tons. [Link] Wanner Engineering Inc. has released its new Hydra-Cell
T100 Series high-pressure pumps featuring corrosion-
Companies join forces to launch wire rope resistant 316L stainless steel pump heads and an expanded
inspection system
Delmar Systems and Maritime Developments have
formed a joint partnership to launch LiveWire, a
solution for wire rope inspection and change-out ser-
vices, according to a company press release. LiveWire
is designed to cut time and opex for any client with
a large diameter wire rope. LiveWire will be based at
Delmar’s Port Fourchon, La., facility and will support
the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore crane and winch market,
including floating production platforms, drilling rigs
and construction vessels. The system is suitable for
onshore and offshore operations. [Link]

Expandable liners for zonal isolation in

high-temperature reservoirs
Enventure Global Technology has introduced the
next-generation ESeal 3.0 solid expandable refracturing T100 Series pumps can run dry without damage. (Source: Wanner
liner and the first two successful commercial installa- Engineering Inc.)

94 June 2018 | [Link]

 tech
TRENDS

choice of diaphragm materials, valve materials and actuat-

ing oils, according to a press release. With flow rates up to
26 gal/min (98 l/min; 891 bbl/d) and discharge pressures
up to 5,000 psi (345 bar), the T100 is designed for a variety
of applications including saltwater disposal, saltwater injec-
tion, bulk transfer and hydraulic lift in oil fields as well as
steam generation, reverse osmosis in water and wastewater
treatment, and mine dewatering. Hydra-Cell T100 Series
triplex pumps are packing-free and designed to replace
horizontal centrifugal pumps and packed plunger pumps
in oil and gas applications. Featuring a seal-less, multiple-
diaphragm design, T100 pumps eliminate hazardous vola-
tile organic compounds emissions along with cleanup and The next phase of the companies’ project will see the
disposal costs of packed-pump leakage. The design also development of a UAV for use in confined spaces.
eliminates the need for external lubrication and mainte- (Source: The Oil & Gas Technology Centre)
nance as well as plunger wear problems associated with
packing, according to the company. [Link] worked with industry partners to design the new UAVs to
meet specific requirements and tackle real challenges
Energy storage solutions bring clean companies face in the inspection of offshore facilities.
power offshore The live stream UAV provides a real-time, high-definition
A clean, reliable power supply is critical for offshore oil video stream and data transfer from offshore inspections
and gas assets. BlueVault, Siemens’ advanced lithium-ion to onshore teams. This can reduce the size of offshore
battery-based solution, is suited for both all-electric and inspection teams and significantly improve the speed and
hybrid energy storage applications, according to a press efficiency of reporting. The company’s ultrasonic testing
release. BlueVault is designed to help ensure continuity UAV delivers faster, smarter and repeatable nondestruc-
of power and to minimize CO2 emissions, with an end tive testing. Using electromagnets to lock onto a struc-
goal of a low-emissions platform. The battery is designed ture, the UAV uses less power, enabling longer flight
to maximize life, performance and safety. [Link] times and repeated readings at a single location.
Advanced cameras accurately position the UAV, and a
bespoke data management system provides clients with
instant access to results. Lastly, the UAV enables the 3-D
scanning of offshore structures to within 2-mm accuracy,
significantly improving the accuracy of re-engineering
projects by obtaining point cloud data from inaccessible
locations. ACE already has secured early-stage technology
trials with a number of major operators that will see the
new UAVs deployed on North Sea facilities. [Link]

Please submit your company’s updates related to new

technology products and services to Ariana Hurtado at
Siemens is applying its extensive electrification experience ahurtado@[Link].
in the marine industry to offshore oil and gas, with a focus
on reducing emissions and risk in particularly unforgiving
operational environments. (Source: Siemens)

Faster, smarter and more accurate UAVs

Air Control Entech (ACE) and The Oil & Gas Technol-
ogy Centre have launched three unmanned aerial vehi-
cles (UAVs), which aim to reduce offshore oil and gas
inspection costs by up to 50%, a press release stated.
Rather than modifying an existing design, ACE has

96 June 2018 | [Link]

 international
HIGHLIGHTS

2018. Cuadrilla will run an initial flow #6506/9-2 S. The appraisal well hit 62.5
1 Canada
test of both wells for about six months. m (205 ft) of gross hydrocarbon-bear-
Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd. has ing Garn reservoir. Gas also was logged
reported test results for its first Mont- in Ile. Testing has confirmed gas and
4 UK
ney horizontal well on the Beg Block condensate in a sand-rich reservoir.
in northeastern British Columbia. The Apache Corp. announced an oil dis- Drillstem testing is planned, which will
#1 well was drilled to 2,267 m (7,438 covery on Block 9/18a Area-W in the confirm potential recoverable volumes.
ft), with a 1,800 m (5,906 ft) true ver- U.K. sector of the North Sea. The
tical depth. It was tested flowing 1.9 #1 Garten’s exploration well is on
7 Norway
Mboe/d, 269,010 cu. m (9.5 MMcf) the Garten prospect and targeted a
of gas and an estimated 340 bbl of downthrown structural closure and OMV reported two discoveries at the
liquids. The liquids were 60% conden- encountered more than 213 m (700 Hades and Iris prospects in the Nor-
sate and 40% NGL. It was tested on a ft) of net oil pay in stacked, high-qual- wegian Sea Block production license
5/8-in. choke with a flowing pressure ity Jurassic-aged sandstone reservoirs. (PL) 644B. The Hades exploration well
of 1,625 psi. During an eight-hour The recoverable resource is expected #6506/11-10 was targeting Cretaceous
test, the well flowed approximately 1.7 to exceed 10 MMbbl of light oil. (Hades) and Jurassic (Iris). Preliminary
Mbbl/d of load water. cores, wireline logs, fluid sampling and
pressure data show that each well has
5 Norway
encountered gas/condensate-bear-
2 US
Lundin Petroleum AB announced ing reservoirs within both prospects.
QEP Resources Inc. has completed results from Luno II appraisal well The Hades test was drilled to 3,932 m
an extended-lateral Haynesville Shale #16/4-11 in production license 359 (12,900 ft) and encountered about 35
well in the Alabama Bend Field. on the Utsira High in the Norwegian m (115 ft) of gross gas/condensate
Located in Section 33-16n-9w of Bien- North Sea. The appraisal well is south of column within Cretaceous Lange, of
ville Parish, La., the #1 Ken Ryan the original Luno II discovery well and which 15 m (49 ft) are net reservoir
4-9-16H well flowed 934,739 cu. m/d is the fifth well on the Luno II oil dis- sandstones with moderate-to-good
(33.01 MMcf/d) of gas. Production is covery. The appraisal well encountered reservoir quality. Preliminary gross vol-
from perforations at 3,910 m to 7,104 a gross oil column of 22 m (72 ft) in Tri- umes of recoverable hydrocarbons at
m (12,827 ft to 23,307 ft). Gauged on assic sandstone with very good reservoir Hades are estimated to be 19 MMboe
a 32/64-in. choke, the flowing casing quality. The entire reservoir, including to 113 MMboe. The Iris test was drilled
pressure was 7,250 psi. The 7,144-m the water zone, consists of sandstones to 4,223 m (13,855 ft) and hit a 218-m
(23,437-ft) horizontal well bottomed with some conglomeratic sandstone (715-ft) sandstone interval in Jurassic
about 3 km (2 miles) to the south in intervals with a total thickness of about Garn, with a 93-m (305-ft) column of
Section 16-15n-9w with a true vertical 400 m (1,312 ft). Extensive data acqui- gas/condensate. Within the gas/con-
depth of 3,801 m (12,469 ft). sition and sampling have been carried densate column, net reservoir has been
out in the reservoir, including conven- estimated at 85 m (279 ft), consisting
tional coring and fluid sampling. Based of sandstones of moderate-to-excellent
3 UK
on these results, the gross resource reservoir quality. Pressure data indicate
Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. has com- range for the Luno II discovery is 40 that the Hades and Iris prospects are
pleted drilling a horizontal well at its MMboe to 100 MMboe. separate hydrocarbon accumulations.
exploration site at Preston New Road Preliminary gross volumes of recov-
in Lancashire, England. The #1-Pres- erable hydrocarbons for Iris are esti-
6 Norway
ton New Road well was targeting mated to be 19 MMboe to 132 MMboe.
Lower Bowland Shale at a depth of Faroe Petroleum announced prelimi-
approximately 2,700 m (8,858 ft) with nary results of the #6506/9-4 S Fogel-
8 Niger
an 800-m (2,625-ft) lateral. Fracturing berg appraisal well in the Norwegian
and testing are planned after drilling Sea. It was drilled to 4,738 m (15,545 ft) The first well of a three-well drilling
the second well, which also is target- and was targeting the gas- and conden- campaign has been spud by Savannah
ing Bowland Shale. The company has sate-bearing Middle Jurassic Garn and Petroleum at #1-Bushiya in Niger. The
applied with the government to frac- Ile to assess the lateral and downdip venture is in the R3 portion of the R3/
ture the first two horizontal wells in extent of the original discovery at well R4 PSC Area in the Agadem Rift Basin

100 June 2018 | [Link]

 international
HIGHLIGHTS

7
6

5
4
3
1

10
12

11
9

and will evaluate potential oil pay in #1X-Ibn Yunus in Egypt’s South Tcf). The company plans additional
Eocene Sokor Alternances and in Disouq concession. The well was drilling, testing and evaluation.
Eocene-Oligocene Upper Sokor. The drilled to 2,764 m (9,068 ft) and hit
assessed total mean, unrisked recover- 31 m (101 ft) of net conventional
12 Bahrain
able resource at Bushiya is 36 MMbbl gas pay in Abu Madi, which had an
of oil. The well’s planned depth is average porosity in the pay section Bahrain Petroleum Co. reported the
2,114 m (6,936 ft), with downhole of 28.5% with good reservoir qual- largest discovery of oil in the emirate
logging planned. ity. It will be completed as a pro- since 1932. The discovery is in shal-
ducer in the Abu Madi section and low waters off the West Coast in the
then tested after the rig has moved Khaleej Al Bahrain Basin. The cur-
9 Gabon
off location. After testing, it will be rent estimate of the Arabian Gulf
An offshore Gabon presalt discovery connected to local infrastructure. tight oil discovery is 80 Bbbl with
was announced by Eni at exploration deep gas reserves in the region of
well #1-Ivela. The well is in the Luna 283 Bcm to 566 Bcm (10 Tcf to 20
11 Ethiopia
Muetse (E13) Block in the Gabon Tcf). The currently producing field
section of the Lower Congo Basin Poly-GCL announced an oil and in the country is the Bahrain Field,
in 2,665 m (8,743 ft) of water. It was gas discovery in the Ogaden Basin which produces approximately 50
drilled to 6,200 m (20,341 ft) and in Ethiopia’s Ethio-Somali regional Mbbl/d of oil and about 28.3 MMc-
encountered a 78-m (256-ft) gross oil state. The company has been work- m/d (1 Bcf/d) of gas.
column. Additional testing is planned. ing to develop the Calub and Hilala
gas fields. An appraisal well target-
For additional
ing Calub hit additional gas reserves information on
10 Egypt
increasing the original estimate from these projects READ MORE ONLINE
A gas discovery was announced by 133 Bcm (4.7 Tcf) to approximately and other global
developments: [Link]
SDX Energy at exploration well 170 Bcm to 226.5 Bcm (6 Tcf to 8

[Link] | June 2018 101

 on the
MOVE

PEOPLE David Sterna has been appointed vice Encana has appointed Peter A.
president of marketing and commer- Dea, Fred J. Fowler, Howard J.
Mike Sommers has been appointed cial for Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. Mayson, Lee A. McIntire, Margaret
president and CEO of the Ameri- A. McKenzie, Suzanne P. Nimocks,
can Petroleum Institute, succeeding OEM HTL Group has Brian G. Shaw, Douglas J. Suttles,
Jack Gerard. named Bob Fogerty group Bruce G. Waterman and Clayton H.
technical director. Woitas to its board of directors.
Petroplan Group, an oil,
gas and energy recruit- Sun Coast Resources Inc., a whole- Acoustic Data, a provider of wire-
ment company, has named sale petroleum marketer, has less well technology, has appointed
Philippa Barnes CEO. appointed Michael Alanis assistant Mike Mannering as chairman of
director of emergency response. the board.
Øyvind Mikaelsen has been
appointed CEO of DeepOcean. Beach Energy’s Cathy Oster has Kensuke Togawa and Hiroyuki Mat-
resigned as company secretary, and suyama have been appointed directors
Lilis Energy Inc. has appointed Ron- Sheree Ford has been appointed com- of AWE Ltd. In addition, independent
ald D. Ormand CEO and chairman pany secretary and general counsel on nonexecutive directors David McEvoy
of the board. In addition, James W. an interim basis pending finalization and Karen Penrose have retired from
Denny III has been named executive of an executive search process. the company’s board.
vice president of production and
operations, and Michael G. Long Tendeka has appointed Oilfield Helping Hands has named
has been appointed a member of Paul Guilfoyle sales engi- William (Bill) Markus executive
the board. neer for Canada. director.

James Crowley has been appointed Philippe Salle of CGG has been Massterly, a com-
COO of State Gas Ltd. elected as chairman of the board pany specializing
of directors. in autonomous
BCCK Holding Co., a pro- shipping, has
vider of engineering, pro- The Petroleum Equipment & Ser- appointed Tom Eystø (left) manag-
curement, fabrication and vices Association has announced its ing director and Per Brinchmann
field construction services,2018-2021 board of directors: Chuck (right) from Wilhelmsen as chair-
has named Kevin J. Blount COO. Chauviere, Baker Hughes, a GE man of the company’s board.
company; Galen Cobb, Halliburton;
Maersk Drilling has Dan Domeracki, Schlumberger; Kirk Diamondback Energy Inc.’s
appointed Morten Kelstrup Shelton, NOV; Richard Alabaster President and COO Michael L.
chief commercial and inno- and Mark Wolf, TechnipFMC; Rod- Hollis has been appointed to the
vation officer. erick A. Larson, Oceaneering Inter- company’s board of directors. In
national Inc.; Paul Coppinger, Weir addition, Melanie M. Trent was
Wellsite Fishing and Rental Oil & Gas; Kevin Crowley, Forged added to the board as an indepen-
Services LLC has named Products Inc.; Robert Drummond, dent director.
Ryan Henderson executive Key Energy Services; Burk Ellison,
vice president. DistributionNOW; Larry Kerr, Gard- Wang Dongjin has been appointed
ner Denver; Dave Warren, Energy nonexecutive director and a mem-
Apache Corp. has named Ben C. Alloys; and Donald W. Young, ber of the remuneration committee
Rodgers vice president of treasury. Hoover Ferguson. of CNOOC Ltd.

Xodus Group has Damon Neaves has been appointed Tullow Oil Plc has named Dorothy
appointed Simon Allison nonexecutive director of Tap Oil Thompson independent nonexecu-
operations director for the Ltd., and Blaine Ulmer has resigned tive director and chair-designate of
Asia-Pacific region. as a director. the company.

102 June 2018 | [Link]

 on the
MOVE

MARKETING | SALES | CIRCULATION

Sembcorp Marine Ltd.’s board of offshore wind platforms, has opened a
directors has selected Patrick Daniel new office in Houston.
as an additional director as well as
an additional member of the audit Variable Bore Rams Inc. has opened a
Senior Vice President, Media
RUSSELL LAAS
and executive resource and com- new facility in Kermit, Texas. The facil-
Tel: 713-260-6447 pensation committees. In addition, ity is 836 sq m (9,000 sq ft) and spans
rlaas@[Link] Lim Ah Doo and Ajaib Haridass have across five acres of land.
retired as nonexecutive and inde-
Vice President of Sales
pendent directors. Offshore Technical Compliance (OTC),
DARRIN WEST
Tel: 713-260-6449
a provider of compliance-related ser-
dwest@[Link] COMPANIES vices, has opened a new office and train-
ing facility in Houston. The 585-sq-m
United States/Canada/ Statoil ASA has changed its name to (6,300-sq-ft) space includes the OTC
Latin America Equinor ASA. Solutions operations office and a train-
1616 S. Voss Road, Suite 1000
ing center for course offerings as well as
Houston, Texas 77057 USA
Tel: 713-260-6400 McDermott International Inc. has regional and international sales opera-
Toll Free: 800-874-2544 completed its merger with CB&I. The tions for OTC and OTC Solutions.
Fax: 713-627-2546 newly combined company will retain
the name McDermott and plans to ICR Integrity, a provider of integrated
Senior Director search for a larger Houston headquar- maintenance and integrity solutions,
of Business Development
HENRY TINNE
ters, leaving CB&I’s home base in The has opened new office and operational
Tel: 713-260-6478 Woodlands, Texas. facilities in Houston.
htinne@[Link]
InterDam, a supplier of fire- and blast- RigNet Inc. has acquired Automation
Director of Business Development resistant architectural products for Communications Engineering Corp.
DANNY FOSTER
refineries, oil and gas platforms and and Safety Controls Inc.
Tel: 713-260-6437
dfoster@[Link]
ADVERTISER INDEX
Sales Manager, Eastern Hemisphere
DAVID HOGGARTH
Tel: 44 (0) 7930 380782 Atlas Sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Intrepid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Fax: 44 (0) 1276 482806
BGP Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 IPAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
dhoggarth@[Link]
C&J Energy Services . . . . . . . . . IFC Liberty Frac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
CGG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Matrix Composites &
Advertising Coordinator
CAROL NUNEZ
DUG East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3 Engineering US Inc . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Tel: 713-260-6408 DUG Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Meritorious Awards for
cnunez@[Link] EAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Engineering Innovation . . . . . . . . . 4
EDF Trading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 NCS Multistage . . . . . . . . . . . . OBC
Subscription Services Essentra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Nissan Chemical America Corp . 13
E&P Enventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC NOV Completion &
1616 S. Voss Road, Suite 1000 E&P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 75, 85 Production Solutions . . . . . . . . . . 45
Houston, Texas 77057 Fairmount Santrol OptaSense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Tel: 713-260-6442
Proppant Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Otto Fuchs Drilling Solutions . . . 18
Fax: 713-840-1449
custserv@[Link]
Flotek Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Packers Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Frac Sand Supply & Repsol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
List Sales Logistics Conference . . . . . . . . . . 89 Rextag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
MICHAEL AURIEMMA Freemyer Industrial Pressure LP 67 Shale Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Venture Direct Gardner Denver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Stratas Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
212.655.5130 phone Geophysical Technology Inc . . . 63 Subsea Engineering News . . . . . 83
212.655.5280 fax Greatwall Drilling Co . . . . . . . . . 69 Tubacex Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
mauriemma@[Link] Halliburton . . . . . . . . . 39, 41, 43, 49 URTEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Hart Energy Conferences . . . .98-99 Varel International
Hunting PLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 25 Energy Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

[Link]
[Link] |
| June 2018
June 2018 103
 last
WORD

Taking up the mantle of

technology leadership
An industry alliance is blending specialist expertise and novel technologies to improve oil
and gas production performance.

small startups and/or university projects, often funded

Andy Hawthorn, XACT and Well Performance Network
by oil company investments, developing a new model
for technology required by the industry.

T he industry downturn in 1986 spurred the growth

of large integrated service companies. Prior to this,
R&D spending in large oil companies led to tool devel-
This already had started to be a model before the recent
downturn. The larger integrated service companies’ out-
put of new technology had slowed considerably, and many
opment and, in some cases, their own internal service smaller technology companies had begun to be acquired
companies. At times of financial stress and turmoil, after proving their technology. Manufacturing was then
cutting departments that were not actually involved in handled by the larger companies. Buying and developing
immediate return to the bottom line was a fast short- technology became a larger part of technology develop-
term solution. High-end research and experienced staff, ment in integrated service companies. The cost and time
generally on competitive salaries, were easy targets. involved in the R&D of companies’ in-house solutions
Large integrated service companies grew to fill this meant that only “sure win” solutions were considered.
technology void and occupied this technology leadership More agile engineering without the overhead of
position. The companies themselves significantly grew in larger companies, akin to Silicon Valley startups, may
the process, and R&D became a competitive advantage be the future. As these entities evolve, it will be inter-
for the largest of these companies with innovation mainly, esting to see how they navigate between the “super-
though not exclusively, tankers” of the large
driven by them. service companies.
Fast-forward to the An alliance was formed
recent downturn; we between three compa-
appear to see the cycle nies whose technologies
turning again. What was have surpassed “proving
once perceived as a tech- up” to become full com-
nological and economic mercial applications.
advantage is now a bur- Enventure, Tendeka and
den to the bottom line. XACT formed the Well
R&D projects and people Performance Network
were hit proportionally The combined knowledge, skills and technologies of the WPN help (WPN), which brings
hard. Coupled with this ensure a solution’s perfect fit. (Source: aommaneesri/[Link]) together a blend of spe-
is a lack of hiring similar cialist expertise and novel
to the 10 years after 1986, which led to a bimodal distri- technology to tackle production performance (either indi-
bution in the age of the working population. vidually or as joint solutions), a solution not provided by
This recent downturn already has led to a severe larger service companies. To continue the growth of this
reduction in the number of candidates applying for the model, other similarly innovative companies in the indus-
oil industry and petroleum-related degree courses. The try can join the network.
impact will take several years to overcome and will lead The combined knowledge and expertise of these
to another age and knowledge gap in the industry. companies can bring new technology, innovation
Who will take up the mantle of technology leader- and solutions to the market faster and more effi-
ship? Who will spur the industry to greater efficiencies ciently. Along the way, it may challenge the existing
and productivity in increasingly complex wells? The role of the service provider as we move out of the
answer appears to lie in collaborative ventures between industry downturn.

104 June 2018 | [Link]

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