Subsea Well Intervention Systems

Modified vessel fills gap between MSVs and MODUs for subsea intervention. The M.O.S.T. consortium (Weatherford, IPEX, Eboroil and Odin Energi) is working on new, non-traditional, vessel-mounted subsea well intervention technology. This article describes the latest step in this project, the acquisition of an existing vessel that will be modified and converted to function like a mini-drillship.

Lightweight well intervention system saves time, reduces cost and logistics for basic wireline and pumping. Authors from Acteon discuss how the use of a lightweight subsea intervention system has provided economic and operational benefits for test cases in the North Sea and offshore West Africa. Among three basic applications are well mechanical maintenance (change-out of subsea trees, gas lift valves, etc.; removal and replacement of wireline plugs and sleeves), rudimentary production enhancement (production logging, well shut-off and casing reperforation) and live well abandonment (full slate of functions).

Riserless Modular Subsea Well Intervention (RMSWI) system avoids "drive-off" conditions. "Drive-off" conditions occur when the surface vessel is forced (by weather or other reasons) to move away from its position over the well without first recovering the equipment attached to that well. The RMSWI system, as developed by Saipem America Inc. (Sonsub), prevents this problem by disconnecting the surface-deployed umbilical from the subsea equipment, leaving the lubricator and blowout preventer safely attached to the well. As told by Sonsub authors, this article describes early field-testing of the RMSWI design and the achieved performance.

 Production Technology

Realistic core testing improves acid treatment. Flow testing of standard core material assesses rock sensitivity to acid formulations. However, when cores are intentionally damaged with permeability-destroying rock flours and pastes, to simulate actual downhole conditions, evaluation of an acid formulation's ability to remove such damage becomes more realistic. Results show that the new testing protocol yields improved production. Authors from Chevron Energy Technology and BJ Services provide the details.

A simplified concept for water injection management: Voidage compensation. Water injection efficiency has only recently been viewed as an overlooked parameter to achieving improved oil production. There are several ways to measure it, but the focus has been on design and development. Surveillance is only now attracting the attention it deserves. The method presented here, by authors from ONGC, is unique, useful and easy, and can be very helpful in helping oil companies optimize their waterfloods.

A new approach for optimizing continuous gas lift systems. Gas lift systems are generally designed on black-oil models that do not account for the specific make-up of the oil being lifted. By taking an oil-compositional model approach, better field parameters can be achieved, providing improved oil production. Authors from the National Iranian South Oil Co. and the University of Alberta show the work, the results and comparison with field applications.

 Information Technology

High-performance computing is making its mark on the oil field. Cluster computing is taking the industry to levels of computing power that allow truly amazing amounts of data to be crunched. Microsoft tells the story.

Integrating all of the data for a large oil and gas company. An author from Anadarko describes the framework that allows the company to access and use its massive data store through one interface system.

 Seismic Market Report

In 1998-99, the seismic market, along with oil prices, crashed. It came at a time when many seismic contractors had ordered a lot of equipment, especially construction of seismic marine vessels at a cost of upwards of $100 million. They then were faced with overcapacity for many years. The last two years have seen a capacity expansion, and it has been accelerating. Is it overcapacity? Will history repeat itself? Will prices drop, or is the oil field no longer a cyclical industry? This activity-focused report, with an eye on technology, will provide insight into where the seismic industry's capacity, technology and perhaps prices, are heading.

 Deepwater Technology

Fast-tracking offshore projects: A new model for project acceleration via activity crashing, overlapping and substitution. Operators constantly look for reliable ways to manage both project time and budgets. Authors from Wood Group and COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, discuss the mathematical ideas behind the compromises and considerations to achieving fast, design-as-you-go success.

Deepwater heavy oil production challenges. Finding highly viscous oil in deep water adds another wrinkle to already difficult economics. Burial depths are usually shallow, while water depths can exceed 5,000 ft. Adding to the challenge, the reservoirs are usually formed by unconsolidated sands with low fracture gradients. Completion procedures and productivity optimization are discussed.

 New Bit Designs

New advancements in drillbit technology. This report on new bit technology describes what direction the bit manufacturers are heading. Keeping the bit on bottom, engaged, not slipping or allowing the drillstring to "wind up," are the challenges for today's bit designers to allow them to run faster, drill deeper and last longer. Specific examples from major bit manufactures illustrate the point.

 Petroleum Technology Digest

This highly useful feature is published in association with the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council. November's article shows how Raman spectroscopy can work in a downhole instrument, to measure gas concentration in the wellbore fluids. It can be particularly useful in assessing coal-seam potential for gas production, and has been used to analyze solution gas levels, critical desorption pressure and gas content in over 150 coal seams in various North American basins.

 5th Annual World Oil Awards

A special bound-in supplement that describes the winners of this year's awards in 11 categories:

The Innovative Thinkers Award
Recognizes an individual or group of individuals who have demonstrated thought leadership in the upstream petroleum sector.

The Health, Safety, Environment/Sustainable Development Award
Recognizes a leading operating company for its significant strides in protecting and enhancing the environment and communities where it operates.

Best Outreach Program Award
Recognizes the program that does the best job of teaching the general community about the petroleum industry.

Best Exploration Technology Award
Given to the best acquisition technology (including seismic and "pathfinder" technology, geochemistry and remote-sensing technology), or algorithm/processing technology introduced during the year.

Best Drilling Technology Award
Whether onshore or offshore, this award will go to the drilling innovation that had a significant impact on the industry.

Best Completion Technology Award
Recognizes the leading solution that provided a significant impact on the industry's completions.

Best Fluids Award
Whether for drilling or completions, this new award category will recognize a fluid with significant impact that was commercially introduced to the market during 2005/2006.

Best Production Technology Award
Recognizes a newly introduced program or solution utilized during the year that allowed an operator to effectively manage and maximize production.

Best Data Management Solution Award
Recognizes a data management solution that provided tangible results for an operator or service company.

Best Data Visualization Solution Award
Data visualization, storage and manipulation could be the next breakthroughs in achieving development, production and reservoir operational efficiencies. This award will recognize the solution that shows the greatest promise.

The New Horizons Idea Award
The winner of this award will be a start-up company, new product or a compelling idea that redefines the industry's thinking.