New and Innovative Technologies From the ATCE Exhibition Floor: A Sampling

Each year, SPE ATCE offers attendees the chance to experience firsthand the development and commercialization of new upstream technologies. Hundreds of exhibitors will showcase their tools and technologies at the conference. Here's a sampling.

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Each year, the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition offers attendees the chance to experience firsthand the development and commercialization of new upstream technologies, a reflection of SPE’s mission and commitment to its members. This year is no exception, hundreds of exhibitors will be on hand to showcase their innovations and demonstrate techniques that provide attendees a professional advantage. A sampling of this year’s exhibitor offerings includes innovations in pipeline monitoring, perforation, electric submersible pump (ESP) packers, rotary steerable systems (RSS), and artificial lift technologies.

Tomographic Technology

Harnessing the power of tomographic technology, Rocsole’s Deposition Watch Pipe Sensor sees deposition inside a pipeline, delivering inspection accuracy to reduce production loss and optimize pigging and chemical injection. The sensor monitors deposition and slug flow inside process pipes in real time and without using a radioactive source, and can perform conductivity measurements beyond the deposition layer. The system accurately measures buildup of many types, such as paraffin wax, hard scales, and hydrates. Its benefits include reduced deferred production, decreased downtime resulting from optimized pipeline pigging cycles, cost savings owing to the use of optimized use of deposition inhibitor chemicals, and prevention of pipeline blockages. The sensor uses a non-nuclear tomographic technology enabling real-time imaging of process pipes and tanks. Process imaging and measurement is performed by Rocsole's pipe sensor, which is simple to install and requires a minimal amount of maintenance. The sensor is available in a range of sizes. Rocsole is located in Booth 2375.

Select-Fire Perforating Gun System

Hunting’s H-1 perforating system provides operators with an advanced select-fire perforating gun system that has no wires from gun to gun, fewer connections, no exposed detonating cords, and real-time shot verification. It eliminates the potential for pinches or nicks in the lead wire, reduces the risk of O-ring seal-point failures, and provides more precise operational confirmation downhole on the gun string’s status, which reduces lost time to misruns. The design eliminated 18 lb of loaded weight per gun, and the toolstring was shortened to allow more guns to be run per stage. One operator has completed over 3,300 stages totaling more than 16,000 H-1 guns with zero failures. By comparison, a successful run rate for conventional gun systems is one failure for every 200 stages. The service company/operator also reported an 80% decrease in gun loading time, 66% elimination of seal connections, and the replacement of three wire connections with the H-1 system’s simple cartridge insert. Hunting is located in Booth 1328.

Retrievable ESP Packers

The portfolio of Octopus retrievable ESP packers from Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), is designed to provide a one-stop solution. Beyond maintaining dependable isolation, ESP packers should provide two things: flexible feedthrough configurations for different production enhancement programs, and reliable run-in and retrieval. With V3-qualified seal elements and streamlined designs that reduce hang-up risks, the packers provide liquid-tight protection and trouble-free run-in and retrieval. The multistring ESP packer has a wide cross section to accommodate a multitude of configurations. The slimhole (SH) ESP packer—a concentric ESP packer built for slim ID casing and liners—expands ESP deployment options to challenging well depths and geometries. The Octopus SH ESP packer’s construction has been streamlined to reduce part count and complexity, featuring a single, solid mandrel and a hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber sealing element to minimize potential leak paths and ensure a premium connection below the seal. BHGE is located in booth 1637.

RSS Tool for Unconventional Wells

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) has introduced the VectorEDGE RSS, a product of its ReedHycalog portfolio. It is the first RSS tool designed for performance vertical, lateral, and 3D profile drilling in unconventional wells. The tool is a simple, cost-effective, 3D push-the-bit RSS that provides full directional control of the wellbore under full rotation of the drillstring. The system has various configurations with different toolface settings (1° increments) and aggressivity settings (1% increments) for directional adjustment. The system also has a closed-loop control system, which is capable of making automatic adjustments to maintain the current wellbore inclination or continuously seek vertical. It is available in a 6½-in. size, which is suitable in 7⅞- to 8¾-in. hole sizes. NOV is located in booth 2463.

Cloud-Based Product Management

Paradigm introduced a cloud-based production-management solution called Paradigm k. This solution is a collaborative toolbox for production and reservoir engineers to support field operations in maintenance and management of the well system. Paradigm k integrates oilfield data with production and reservoir engineering fundamentals to enrich production datasets and forecast future performance, from the reservoir to the well to the surface. It applies fast and rigorous reservoir physics to real-time decision-making by use of advanced computational mathematics. The technology provides speed and a holistic view of physical measurements and critical production performance metrics at the resolution of individual wells. This helps detect production issues before they transpire, and enables proactive production management at the speed of modern oilfield operations. Paradigm is located in Booth 3163.