All electric winch
NOV ASEP Elmar, a manufacturer of wireline pressure control equipment and winches, has launched the NOV ASEP Elmar e-drive, an electrically powered winch expected to set a new standard in wireline logging and slickline activity.
The e-drive is a fully electronic truck-mounted or offshore winch system controlled by the NOV ASEP Elmar SmartMonitor, designed to operate without a diesel engine, and capable of remote operation worldwide.
The unit can deliver all the functionality of the standard NOV ASEP Elmar K-winch units, controlled by information from Well Profile Prediction software.
Downhole assistance
Baker Hughes has inaugurated several new downhole products and services enhancing, respectively, artificial lift, drilling, zonal isolation and fracturing.
The Centrilift Vision realtime artificial lift system collects data from artificial lift operations, furnishing information necessary to optimise production and minimise field downtime. Centrilift Vision features include fuzzy logic alarming, daily exception reporting, and advanced key performance indicator tracking.
The Hughes Christensen Quantec Force line of polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits feature newly engineered stabilisation technology and nextgeneration cutters for higher penetration rates, increased bit life and reducing costs in a wide range of drilling environments. The new PDC bits also use a newly engineered and highly wearresistant cutter line, each suited to the formation being drilled.
The Baker Oil Tools MPas packer system provides openhole annular isolation, eliminating many operational, production and remedial problems associated with cement jobs. The MPas-e Remote-Set Packer system with eTrigger technology allows selective zone isolation in open holes in extended reach wells. Run on production casing or liner string, the MPas packer, plus the uniform production profile created by Baker Hughes’ BOT Equalizer inflow-control devices, enables flow in the annulus to be efficiently managed.
Moreover, Baker Hughes and BJ Services have launched IntelliFrac, an integration of state-of-the-art fracturing and production enhancement services from BJ with advanced microseismic services from Baker Hughes. This combination facilitates monitoring of fracture dimensions during stimulation treatments, permitting real-time control of fracture operations. During hydraulic fracturing, the IntelliFrac service monitors and measures the microseismic events that indicate key fracture properties, including azimuth, height, length, volume and complexity of the induced fractures.
Wireline retirement assurance
Sandvik Materials Technology has come out with a new, portable wireline wrap and torsion ductility tester that combines ease of use with consistent repeatability for oil and gas industry slickline optimisation.
The process of wrapping a line around its own diameter exerts extreme pressure on the outer fibre of the line, making reduced ductility immediately apparent. The Wraptor allows for safe, controlled wire test of up to 1m (3ft) in length for a 0.125in line and more for a 0.108in line, meaning the surface area tested can be up to 100 times greater than the alternative method of knotting the line, greatly reducing the danger of lowering a brittle line.
Wrap testing is recommended for testing ductility in stainless and alloy wirelines, while torsion testing is best for carbon steel wirelines. This is due to the structural differences of the steels, stainless steels being anisotropic, ductile in one direction, while carbon steels are isotropic, ductile in all directions.
The Wraptor comes with all necessary accessories including chuck, bushing and wire guide for wrap tests, and spindle and chuck for torsion tests.
Gas leak detection simulator
Gassonic lays claim to having developed the world’s first gas leak simulation tool for ultrasonic gas detection. According to its developers, the new simulator, which can be accessed in a trial version on the company’s website www.gassonic.com/ simulator, makes it possible to experience the advantages of implementing ultrasonic detectors for quick, highpressure gas leak detection in challenging offshore conditions.
The system responds to the distinctive ultrasound created by the leak. Gassonic, part of the General Monitors group, says its detectors pick up gas leaks at the speed of sound without having to wait for the gas to accumulate and physically enter a point sensor head (conventional point detector) or within a narrow beam (open path gas detector). The acoustic detection method is thereby unaffected by unknown factors such as wind conditions, gas dilution, and leak direction.
Intelligent drilling
Schlumberger and National Oilwell Varco (NOV) have formed IntelliServ, a 45:55 joint venture to provide highspeed drill string telemetry systems to improve the efficiency and safety of oil and gas operations.
The JV is anticipated to accelerate development and delivery of intelligent drilling solutions through the expanded use of the IntelliServ Broadband Network, a patented technology that provides high resolution data in real-time to and from the bottom of oil and gas wells as they are being drilled.
IntelliServ will also provide along-string evaluation services to enable real-time monitoring of drill string conditions, and the capability to actuate downhole tools on-demand. The current speed of 57,600 bits per second is reckoned by the JV partners to be up to 20,000 times faster than the transmission speed available using conventional mud pulse technology.
The visualization game
Landmark has launched GeoGraphix Discovery 3D software, a Microsoft Windows PC-based offering incorporating interactive visualisation tools from Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console and the 64-bit capabilities and performance of the new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.
Employing this new member of the GeoGraphix product family, Discovery 3D software users will have an immersive, game-like experience when developing geologic interpretations.
Landmark considers that geologic interpretations developed using the GeoGraphix Discovery workflow, and visualized in realtime through Discovery 3D software, translate to an enhanced, more complete understanding of the geologist’s work, improving models in a real-world, 3D earth model domain.
Laser volume tracker
FARO Technologies, a provider of portable measurement and imaging solutions, has released FARO Laser Tracker ION, its latest 3D measurement system featuring advances that include the distance measuring system Agile Absolute Distance Meter (ADM).
ION replaces conventional tools such as tape measures, piano wire, plumb bobs, and theodolites, useful in such applications as alignment, machine installation, component inspection, tool building and setup, and reverse engineering.
The ION has improved volumetric accuracy by 27% over the previous model to 0.002in (0.049mm) at 10m, extended the measurement diameter range 36% to 110m, and reduced weight 12% to 17.7kg.
The patented ION feature Agile ADM allows high density scanning without reliance on an interferometer.
Complex reservoirs simulated
Schlumberger and Chevron Energy Technology Company have released Intersect, a software enabling simulation of large complex reservoirs and highly heterogeneous systems, the result of collaborative research and development since 2000.
Intersect can run large and diverse models, rapidly simulating tens of millions of cells, and accurately model complex geology and wells, inclusive of detailed reservoir characterisations with minimal or no upscaling.
The software also supports sophisticated field management, handles thousands of wells in mature fields, as well as simulating all fluid types and recovery processes in a single simulator. Advanced production controls enable flexible operational field management.
The Intersect software will be progressively released, enhanced by the experience of early adopters in challenging multiple reservoir applications.
Decisions expedited
Schlumberger has released Merak Enterprise Planning (MEP) software, a nextgeneration technology enabling dynamic oil and gas business planning, including event-driven or evergreen plans.
Answers to complex business questions for improved decision making are quickly obtained through the combination of Microsoft’s enterprise software platform and the industry knowledge and expertise of Schlumberger.
MEP employs an oil and gas data management cube to align strategy with plans and budgets, simultaneously integrating reserves, production and financial data.
Hot spots revealed
Dampney Company offers Thurmalox 260 TIC, its series of protective coatings that give a visual warning that a pipe, vessel, reactor, transfer line, and similar equipment is overheating due to failure of refractory linings or the bypassing of hot gasses.
The Thurmalox 260 TIC coatings change colour at predetermined temperatures, indicating where corrective action is required, in intervals from 25°-50°F, depending upon formulation, and are also available in colours that change permanently at preset temperatures from 400°- 650°F.
Self-priming and VOC compliant, Thurmalox 260 coatings come in yellow, blue, red, and violet, suitable for application by spray, brush, or roller, and also afford corrosion and weathering resistance and UV stability.
ROV training enhanced
VMAX Technologies, part of the Triton Group, has launched Project Simulator Version 1.6 for full field simulation and visualisation, bringing another dimension to remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pilot training and mission planning through the use of trainee task logging tools and an expanded suite of generic training scenarios including a jacket survey situation using nondestructive testing tools. It also includes a number of on-line training videos to teach developers how to create field level scenarios in-house.
Project Simulator V1.6 and the enhanced scenarios are now a standard part of the training courses offered by Triton Group members and affiliates in Houston, Singapore and Aberdeen. AOG
Issue: November/December 2009