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Rigless Intervention System

BJ carried out a well-abandonment operation
for Chevron on the Garden Banks 191 platform
in the Gulf of Mexico. The Rigless Intervention
System was used to pull the conductor pipe.

BJ Tubular Services’ hydraulic Rigless Intervention System is a multifaceted system that reduces the time required to install conductors by preinstalling them before the arrival of the drilling rig. Hydrohammers are used to drive the conductors. The system also can be used for conductor extraction when abandoning multiple wells on fixed platforms. The system operates like a modular miniderrick. It can be broken down into sections that are transported by road and on average-sized supply vessels. The sections are small enough that a platform crane can lift them from a boat and assemble the system on the platform. Once set up, it performs tasks similar to those of a drilling rig, capable of lifting, pulling, driving, and running pipe. It can have a power swivel installed that extends these capabilities for well-intervention purposes. The 76-ft mast has a split block that is capable of lifting 250 tons. It can handle pipe up to 36 in. diameter, with all inner strings cemented inside the conductor. The system can remove conductors in sections as long as 50 ft.

For additional information, e-mail Kenny_watt@bjservices.co.uk.

Remotely Handled Perforating Systems

Halliburton’s Quick Torque Connector
system can be properly made up by
use of iron-roughneck equipment.

Halliburton’s Production Optimization Div. has developed the Quick Torque Connector system for the remote handling of tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP) systems on offshore installations. With these connectors, perforating assemblies can be picked up by the existing automatic rig pipe-handling system and properly made up by use of iron-roughneck equipment without the need for direct human intervention (Fig. 2). This technique increases personnel safety and eliminates assembly of the components on the rig floor. The system was used at Statoil’s Kristin field in the Haltenbanken area off Norway. It was used in combination with the G-Force internal-oriented perforating system to perforate Well P-2H. The system consists of connectors installed on the ends of each perforating-system section to isolate the explosives independently of each perforating-system assembly. The connectors have a common, self-aligning drillpipe thread that allows automatic or manual makeup. The bidirectional ballistics transfer occurs through a steel web, making the system self-contained for increased safety. Standard perforating procedures specify 100% backup of the perforating system on location during the Kristin operations (in this case, 300 to 600 m). This system’s self-contained explosive system eliminates the need for complete backup.

For additional information, visit www.halliburton.com.

LWD Porosity and Acoustic Service

Inteq’s SoundTrak service uses compressional-slowness
and resistivity measurements to predict pore pressures.

Inteq has launched two advanced logging-while-drilling (LWD) services: LithoTrak LWD and SoundTrak LWD acoustic. Both services offer accurate logging measurements in real time, providing rigsite personnel with critical measurements to enhance rigsite safety and optimize well placement as well as to offer geologists and petrophysicists log data needed for detailed post-well analysis. The LWD porosity service provides a wide variety of measurements enabling real-time applications. The azimuthal caliper enables borehole-stability evaluation to assist completion design. The LWD acoustic service now measures a wider range of compressional slowness in real time. The quadrupole measurements operational envelope was extended with the dual-frequency capability, enabling a direct acquisition of shear slowness.

For additional information, visit www.bakerhughes.com/inteq.

New Thermostable PDC Cutter

           ReedHycalog’s Raptor PDC cutters

ReedHycalog has introduced its Raptor cutters, the latest-generation thermostable polycrystalline-diamond-compact (PDC) technology. The patented design applies the company’s TReX technology to the complete outer surface of the cutter, whereas previous cutters have a thermostable PDC layer only on the front face of the cutter. Because there is more thermostable PDC with the new cutters, the cutter bits wear slower than previous bits. By keeping the cutters sharper for longer, the drill goes further and drills faster. When the cutter eventually wears, the formed wearflat has two diamond lips in the thermostable, ultrawear-resistant layers. One is formed in the front face of the cutter, exactly as with previous cutters. The second lip is formed in the layer that wraps around the outer circumferential surface of the diamond layer. The dual lips provide a very aggressive worn cutter, which helps to maintain high rates of penetration as the bit dulls.

For additional information, visit www.ReedHycalog.com.

Ultrasonic Viscosity Reduction

SulphCo Inc. announced that in-house testing in Sparks, Nevada, of its commercial-scale 15,000 B/D Sonocracking ultrasound unit has been completed. This unit is virtually identical in design to units planned for 210,000 B/D startup at the company’s joint venture in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The process uses high-powered ultrasound to desulfurize and hydrogenate crude oil. The technology upgrades sour heavy crude oils into sweeter, lighter crude oils, yielding more gallons per barrel of usable oil. The tests that were run on its 5,000-B/D unit (three units in full-scale operation) increased the API gravity of heavy Nevada crude from 22 to 30°API. The 22°API heavy crude had 45% residuum. After applying the process, the residuum was reduced to 15%. The reduction of residuum and increase in lighter oil represents an increase of 14 to 15 gal of diesel and kerosene after that crude oil is refined, according to distillation models. At the same time, viscosity was reduced by 25%.

For additional information, visit www.sulphco.com.

Reservoir-Performance Knowledge Base

Knowledge Reservoir has released its Reservoir KB Ver. 2.0, a Web-based, deepwater reservoir-performance knowledge base for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The GOM module incorporates information from 13 deepwater fields, comprising 314 reservoirs and 353 wells. These fields are in varying stages of development, with several of the fields sanctioned for development. The knowledge base includes substantial production data used to perform analysis of performance at field, reservoir, and well levels. Additional new features include improved material-balance and waterflood-performance modeling.

For additional information, visit www.knowledge-reservoir.com.

Cased-Hole Imaging

A cross-sectional image acquired with Schlumberger’s
Isolation Scanner, showing a 7-in. casing string
eccentered within a 9 5/8-in. casing. The SLG map
indicates that the medium between the two casing
strings is liquid.

An ultrasonic cased-hole imaging tool has been developed for enhanced cement evaluation that combines the traditional technique with a new ultrasonic measurement. Schlumberger’s Isolation Scanner technology uses a pulse/echo measurement and a flexural-wave attenuation measurement acquired with a flexural-wave imager (FWI). Uniting the two high-frequency measurements, based on the excitation of the thickness and flexural modes within the casing, circumvents limitations of current acoustic technologies to provide a comprehensive evaluation of low-acoustic-impedance cements and a characterization of the cased-hole environment. Both lightweight and contaminated cements have lower acoustic impedances, approaching that of liquid or mud, making their differentiation difficult or impossible. The pulse/echo and FWI techniques operate at sufficiently high frequencies to maintain the required azimuthal and vertical resolutions. The flexural measurement is accomplished by a pitch/catch configuration consisting of one transmitter that generates the flexural mode in the casing. The resulting flexural leakage then is measured over an interval between two receivers. Particle displacement and spectral characteristics give the FWI flexural mode the potential to probe the full annulus between the casing and formation radially, enabling imaging of the cement/formation interface. The annulus material is a solid, liquid, or gas, and the final output is presented as a solid/liquid/gas (SLG) map. The flexural waveforms also are represented as a variable-density log or polar movies to enable the radial scanning of the annulus to be visualized.

For additional information, visit www.SLB.com/understand.

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