Middle East

• Region: All
• Topics: Integrity
• Date: Jan, 2023

Saipem, an advanced technological and engineering platform for the design, construction and operation of infrastructures and plants, has worked with MCS, an underwater technical and digital solutions company, to launch a new asset integrity management system.

As per the announcement on social media, ‘The PALM Suite’ (which stands for Platform for Asset Lean Management) is designed to support offshore energy operators with asset data management, risk assessment and inspections planning of offshore infrastructure across oil and gas, renewables, power and data networks.

According to Saipem, The PALM Suite unlock a new layer of service-oriented capabilities and leverages advanced features such as 3D reconstruction for subsea dimensional control and IoT data gathering. The collaboration brings together Saipem’s extended asset integrity expertise and subsea robotics portfolio with MCS’ data science and software competencies.

• Region: Middle East
• Date: Jan, 2023

Despite geopolitical developments such as the fresh Covid-19 wave in China and the outbreak of war in eastern Europe, there are positive indications that an assured oil and gas demand coupled with a stable oil price are setting the stage for a prosperous future for the Middle East’s well intervention industry.

From the explosion of Covid-19 in early 2020 to the Autumn of 2022, global uncertainty unsettled the stability of the oil and gas industry and led to wide fluctuations for the oil price. Within this period, the price ranged from as low as US$21.44 (WTI) to as high as US$122.11 per barrel (WTI) before settling at around the US$80 mark at the end of 2022. As the industry heads deeper into the new year, many commentators are bullish that, partly due to cuts to production by OPEC+, the oil price will stabilise and could even surpass the US$100 mark once again – Morgan Stanley, for instance, has forecasted the Brent oil price to hit as high as US$110. More conservatively, the EIA has suggested the Brent crude oil spot price will average at US$92, which is still a healthy number for those working within the industry.

The EIA has also indicated that while oil demand will remain lacklustre in Q1 2023, it will begin to regain meaningful momentum in Q2 2023 and is likely to go beyond 2019 levels in the process. From a longer-term perspective, OPEC’s 2022 World Outlook 2045 has identified fossil fuel’s continued prominent role within the energy industry for the next two decades and forecasts oil retaining a 29% share in the global energy mix by 2045 with gas holding 24%.

These trends spell happy reading for the oil and gas companies operating within the Middle East and North African region who will have to continue working to increase oil production over the years to meet blossoming demand. However, the environmental concerns have not passed them by and most operators within the region are also incorporating stringent climate objectives to help mitigate their emission output.

So how will these organisations balance the tightrope of greater production and less climate impact? Well, while a number of initiatives are being pursued to help reduce emissions to justify further drilling, one answer lies in well intervention which offers production rate enhancement without the need for further wells to come online. Indeed, with the oil price looking so healthy, there is expectations that the region’s intervention market will rapidly grow over the short- to medium-term as operators have the cash to explore the option. There are more than 10,000 offshore wells throughout the region (on top of the onshore well count that is much higher), according to Rystad, and these have an average well life of 16-21 years, above the global average of 10-15 years. Well intervention, which offers the opportunity to revamp the production rates of ageing, flagging wells, is therefore emerging as an attractive solution to tick all boxes.

Read the full, free-to-read report, including an exploration of the factors shaping business objectives from those operating within the well intervention market.

• Region: Middle East
• Topics: Integrity
• Date: Nov, 2022

Clariant Oil Services, a leading supplier of specialty oilfield production chemicals and services to the oil and gas industry with product offerings in enhances oil recovery, offshore and deep water, well services additives and more, has expanded its presence in EMEA with the launch of a state-of-the-art facility for advanced oil and gas solutions.

Clariant made the announcement alongside the return of ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi which is taking place from 31 October – 3 November. The EMEA Technical Centre is located in the Dubai Science Park (DSP) in Dubai, UAE, and will leverage the latest technologies and more sustainable oilfield chemicals.

The hub will give customers in major oil producing countries access to Clariant’s global innovation team and address three competencies: corrosion, fluid separation, and flow assurance.

“The EMEA Technical Centre brings autonomous application testing facilities to the oil and gas industry, doubling throughput and allowing customers to swiftly realise performance and cost-driven solutions,” said Zied Ghazouani, Head of EMEA, Clariant Oil Services. “Clariant will deploy novel solutions to protect the integrity of customer assets, ensure continuity of production, and enhance asset productivity, while not losing sight of sustainable development goals.”

Clariant is committed to using its world-leading expertise to help customers achieve their sustainability transformations across every phase of the oil and gas lifecycle. Earlier this year, Clariant Oil Services launched the D3 PROGRAM to introduce more sustainable solutions to the oil and gas industry. The initiative helps operators reduce carbon emissions and enhance safe operations, while avoiding disruptions to ongoing operations.

• Region: Middle East
• Date: Sept, 2022

Thunder Cranes, a leading provider of portable, modular, offshore rental cranes with a dynamic lift capacity ranging from 2 to 60 tons, has re-opened its operations in the Middle East with a base in the United Arab Emirates.

The company’s temporary installation cranes are designed to be versatile and adaptable, with a number of tie-down scenarios, on-deck placement configurations, and boom-length options to choose from.

The cranes allow clients to efficiently and cost-effectively support P&A, well intervention, facility engineering and decommissioning jobs, without compromising safety, time, and performance.

Previously Thunder Cranes had operated in the region with a base in Dubai from 2009 to 2019. The newly re-opened office and yard facility will enable Thunder Cranes to more effectively serve the UAE and Middle East moving forwards.

Dinesh Arumugam, CEO of Thunder Cranes, said, “As a market-leading provider of portable-modular offshore rental cranes, Thunder Cranes is committed to helping customers in the UAE and across the region with cost-effective and efficient lifting solutions to support offshore projects.”

• Region: Middle East
• Date: Aug, 2022

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has announced a US$1.17bn contract for the hire of thirteen self-propelled jack up barges to drive offshore operational efficiencies and support the expansion of its crude oil production capacity to five million barrels per day (mmbpd) by 2030.

The five year contract was awarded by ADNOC Offshore to ADNOC Logistics and Services (ADNOC L&S). Over 80% of the award value will flow back into the UAE’s economy under ADNOC’s In-Country Value (ICV) programme, supporting local economic growth and diversification.

The 13 self-propelled jack up barges are multi-purpose assets that enable rig-less operations and maintenance with single point responsibility proved by ADNOC L&S, enabling efficiencies. The barges, which will be deployed across ADNOC’s offshore fields, are equipped to support a wide scope of operations, including project work, maintenance and accommodation.

Ahmad Saqer Al Suwaidi, ADNOC Offshore CEO, said, “This significant award to ADNOC L&S will help deliver our production capacity expansion in the offshore and directly support ADNOC’s strategic growth objective of 5 million barrels of oil production capacity by 2030. ADNOC L&S have a proven track record in the industry and their best in class expertise, together with the ready availability of the self-propelled jack up barges, will help us drive efficiencies and flexibility while cementing ADNOC’s position as a leading low cost and low carbon energy producer. Critically, the award enables very high ICV, which can stimulate new business opportunities to support the growth and diversification of UAE’s economy.”

Speaking on the contract, Captain Abdulkareem Al Masabi, ADNOC L&S CEO, said, “We are extremely proud to continue the decade’s long relationship between ADNOC Offshore and ADNOC L&S. We are committed to continuing to seize growth opportunities and deliver more value to ADNOC and this announcement is another milestone in that journey.”

The self-propelled jack up barges will be hired along with manpower and equipment. The barges will be utilised for rig-less well intervention and pre- and post-drilling operations, as well as for topside maintenance and integrity restoration activities at our offshore assets.

All requirements of the services have been unified in line with ADNOC’s approach of centralising procurement and operational logistics management. This provides ADNOC Offshore and its strategic partners with operational flexibility while enabling cost efficiencies and single point responsibility by ADNOC L&S.

The award underpins the continued investment and development at ADNOC Offshore and ensures the responsible acceleration of growth and greater value for the UAE, ADNOC and its strategic partners.

• Region: Middle East
• Topics: Decommissioning
• Date: July, 2022

James Fisher and Sons plc and Abu Dhabi’s NMDC Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on key projects and opportunities in the oil and gas sector as well as decommissioning, offshore wind and marine civil construction industries worldwide.

The two entities will develop a series of collaborative joint ventures and consortia to deliver major projects across multiple sectors, markets, and geographies. This will enable them to expand their capabilities jointly in areas such as offshore wind, turnkey oil and gas decommissioning, and accelerating the energy transition, a top priority for most nations today. They will bring their combined client base significant cost and operational efficiencies as well as additional choice in the market.

The initial focus for the partnership will be on diving opportunities within the Middle East region through James Fisher’s subsidiary James Fisher Subtech and the NMDC Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC).

Eoghan O'Lionaird, Chief Executive Officer of James Fisher and Sons plc, commented, “By leveraging NMDC’s extensive engineering capabilities, offshore asset base and financial strength, coupled with James Fisher’s geographic breadth, established market position, and specialist knowhow in decommissioning, diving, offshore wind and the energy transition, our alliance will allow us to co-develop more efficient and cost-effective solutions and capabilities to create value for customers at a scale and breadth that we could not do alone.”

Yasser Zaghloul, Chief Executive Officer, NMDC Group, added, “NMDC is focused on strengthening global partnerships as part of our strategic vision and to build on our credentials as a global energy and marine dredging EPC major. Over the past months, we have built our geographic footprint considerably. The partnership with James Fisher will drive collaboration in the oil and gas sector, including decommissioning, as well as the offshore wind and nearshore civils markets.

"We will share, in particular, our collective strengths and expertise to support the energy transition agenda. In addition to drawing on our substantial engineering and fabrication expertise, we can bolster James Fisher’s service capability through our extensive asset portfolio that includes a fleet of 22 offshore vessels.”

• Region: All
• Topics: Integrity
• Date: June, 2022

With around 32% of wells suffering from well integrity issues globally (according to a previous estimate from the Society of Petroleum Engineers), CRA-Tubulars is preparing to enter the market with its Titanium Composite Tubing (TCT) technology to provide a unique, cost-effective and reliable solution that will help tackle this constant headache for operators.

Speaking to Offshore Network in an exclusive interview, Joost de Bakker, CEO of CRA-Tubulars, noted that while this issue has consistently been a thorn in the side of operators around the world, it is one that has been somewhat swept under the rug or at least not given the attention and investment it deserves. Traditionally, capital has been spent on short term, cheaper solutions and then the life-cycle is dealt with as it comes – with tubulars often replaced every couple of years. Now, however, this narrative is changing and many large oil companies are starting to change their philosophy to be more prepared early on and spend less on their wells in late-life.

“Volume wise, populations are increasing and wells are producing less. Because of this, the strategy of working over wells is becoming more unmanageable. In addition, HSE considerations are pushing companies to be more responsible when managing their assets from both a human and environmental perspective,” de Bakker remarked.

CRA-Tubulars’ TCT addresses these issues by offering a robust and highly corrosion-resistant solution for the global oil country tubular goods (OCTG) market. The product offers corrosion-free completion (titanium) with carbon fiber and aerospace epoxy superior tri-axial strength of the OCTG. It is API-5CT and NACE MR0175/ISO 15156 compliant, has a max operating temperature at 140⁰C and an 18,000 PSI burst. This cost-effective solution therefore offers significant advantages of the more traditional duplex or nickel alloy tubulars which are susceptible to corrosive elements and Stress Cracking Corrosion (SCC).

Meeting market demand

Explaining the company’s history, de Bakker said, “We were officially founded in 2019, however, this is a natural succession from a team of inventors and engineers who have been working in this field for more than 20 years. Composite and non-metallic tubulars have been developed a lot over the last 20-25 years but one area that could never be truly tackled was downhole corrosion due to direct contact with a reservoir and the corrosive elements such as CO2 and chlorides for example. Composite materials are not very good at performing as a barrier in this context and meeting the standards of barrier philosophies, hence the design with a Titanium liner acting as a permeation barrier to overcome this. The idea for our company and product came out of decades of experience and an intent to rectify this.”

CRA Tubulars are therefore fast-tracking the TCT to commercialisation as a replacement for nickel alloys which are traditionally used for the most challenging well conditions globally.

“At this point in time we have built and tested prototypes. Based on that and modelling we can build on the decades-long experience of defence and aerospace development because we are using the same materials that have been used for aerospace applications – essentially we have repurposed aerospace technology and turned it into a tubular form to meet the requirements of the harsh downhole conditions in oil and gas, CCUS and geothermal wells.

“We therefore do not need to test extensively ourselves as it has already been proven how the materials interact and perform in similar conditions (in terms of temperature and pressure) to how we are using them in downhole solutions. You could almost say that we have patented a fighter jet in tubular form for downhole applications and using it to meet the demands of the oil and gas community.”

With the prototypes been built and tested to extreme conditions, the next step is certification. For this, the company has found an international operator who is supporting it financially and technically in taking the product through this process. In addition, CRA Tubulars is working with several partners to do field testing by putting pieces of TCT in their completion strings. By doing so, the company hopes to build confidence in their product to ultimately benefit the community when the first commercially presentable product is supplied (which is expected by the end of the year).

Looking ahead to this time, de Bakker discussed what markets the company will first be targeting. He said, “At the moment, we are very much looking at competing directly with the nickel alloy market. This is a market worth several billions of dollars in sales per year and when you break these down you can see the majority of oil and gas nickel alloy use is in the Middle East (it covers about half the global market because of the high volume of wells and often very sour conditions). However, we don’t want to stick to that area alone.”

While the critical market is oil and gas corrosive belts, de Bakker suggested, there are also new areas such as carbon capture storage (CCS) which the TCT could thrive in. “Many oil and gas companies are looking to use their old assets for this purpose and the CO2 and other elements could prove problematic for nickel alloys and carbon steel pipes. We are getting a lot of interest from companies in this market who are looking to build their future CCS portfolio, predominantly from North America, Western Europe and Australia.”

In recognition of this, de Bakker noted that the company has recently been awarded a Shell GameChanger contract for certifying TCT for applications in CCUS. The funding is for applications in CCS and Hydrogen. A representative from Shell GameChanger commented, "The Shell GameChanger programme offers the Shell organisation and the industry a reliable and cost effective alternative to conventional technology and contributes to an affordable and reliable low-carbon energy system – CRA Tubulars is part of this with their TCT technology."

Perfect timing

It appears that TCT could not be hitting the market at a better time. First and foremost, the economic squeeze caused by the pandemic is forcing oil and gas companies to pay closer attention to their finances. TCT in the long-term will save capital as the long-serving solution will mean wells can continue to produce for longer and at higher rates without requiring workovers.

Additionally, as de Bakker explained, because of the global political instability, the price of competitor product metals (such as nickel) has dramatically increased whereas CRA-Tubulars’ product markets are much more stable.

“Finally, in the Middle East there is a general push for developing a broader supply chain. A steel plant can cost up to US$150mn for nickel alloy products whereas a factor for ours, capable of producing 50 wells worth of material per year, would cost around US$8mn dollars. For competitors therefore it is more likely that manufacturing locations will be set up and distributed across the world (which brings additional costs and can take a long time) whereas we can have manufacturing fragmented where it is needed. This is very attractive from an in-country value perspective.”

Coming to the market

While de Bakker aims to bring a commercially presentable product to the market by the end of the year, he warned this is not a fixed point and, after that, volume manufacturing is of course a complex process and take time to deliver.

Nevertheless, the CEO is excited for the future and paid homage to his incredible team which has helped get TCT this far, and will no doubt help drive it in the future. Our founder has been in the composite business for more than 20 years and has built a team of shareholders which have a diverse field of experience. We have tried to attract the best in the field – for instance, our carbon fibre expert has a PHD in carbon fibre technologies and has worked extensively in the oil and gas industry for carbon fibre technology in downhole applications.”

De Bakker concluded with a nod to partners which he noted were incredibly important to how the company does and will work. “Independent parties have expertise and the critical structure that we, as a start-up, are lacking and will help accelerate commerciality for our benefit and the benefit of the end users.”

As demonstrated in September last year when the company received the global SPE ATCE rising star award for start up and new technology, CRA Tubulars is offering an innovative product that has the potential to offer so much value to operators. As a result, there is little doubt that many are keeping close watch of the company’s progress towards commercialisation and that it will lack suitors for potential partnerships in the future.

• Region: Middle East
• Topics: Decommissioning
• Date: Jun, 2022

Norwell Engineering, a global well engineering and project management firm, has secured a multi-million dollar contract to deliver an integrated offshore decommissioning project in the UAE on behalf of operator Sinochem Corporation (Sinochem).

Norwell Engineering will develop the abandonment strategy for Sinochem’s UAQ Gas Field as well as detailed well and facilities decommissioning planning, tendering and procurement services, logistics, marine support and operational execution.

Mike Adams, General Manager of Norwell Engineering, said the company partners with client decommissioning teams to address technical, safety, environmental and legislative considerations.

He commented, “While the decommissioning sector is heating up with several well engineering firms active in the space, our experience and technical focus across the entire field provides operators with a different perspective – reducing risks and identifying efficiency savings during every phase.

“The wells are the most complex and costly element of an integrated decommissioning scope and this is what Norwell has specialised in for more than 30 years. Together, with our subsurface partners, and growing topsides decommissioning team, we are in an excellent position to support clients such as Sinochem with end-to-end project management of their integrated decommissioning scopes.”

Sinochem, is a leading, state-owned, player in the global oil exploration and production sector. The UAQ Gas Field was the first offshore gas field independently developed and built overseas by Sinochem. As part of the integrated project, Norwell will be responsible for developing the abandonment strategy, as well as detailed well and facilities decommissioning planning, tendering and procurement services, logistics, marine support and operational execution.

Norwell will then deliver dismantling of the platform equipment before moving the platform onshore, where it will be handed over to the UAE government.

• Region: Middle East
• Date: May, 2022

At the Offshore Well Intervention Middle East 2022 conference, representatives from BP provided a detailed case study on their successful rigless abandonment of a well in Block 61, Oman.

Aala Abbas, Wells C, I & I Engineer at BP, opened the session by explaining the background of the operation. She noted that the well was drilled back in 2016, targeting the Amin formation and appraising the northern concession of Block 61. The formation is of tight gas which required hydraulic fracturing to produce, and the well was intervened post D&C immediately where the targeted zone was perforated and break down was attempted. This, however, was unsuccessful and, after attempts were made to re-stimulate in addition to extensive testing, the decision was finally made to permanently abandon the well as part of the oil and gas ministry requirement.

“Conventionally, wells P&A jobs are performed via a drilling rig which is very efficient, has a low-risk profile, is fairly straightforward but costly,” Abbas commented. “Hence, we looked into different methodologies and benchmarked them against the rig option which was projected to take 11 days and a cost of one [given as a comparative figure].”

“The second methodology was a hybrid option where the rig and rigless would be used. It would entail killing the well via coiled tubing before setting a plug and cementing the wellbore via a rig. The P&A job was expected to take approximately 12 days of operation at a cost of 1.23. This is quite high but would save rig time.”

“The other option, and the one we selected, was P&A completely through rigless. The well would be killed via coiled tubing before the setting of the plug and perforation above it would be conducted via E-line. It would then be cemented in the wellbore via the cement unit. The total duration of this methodology was approximately 22 days, and the planned cost was 0.73 with zero rig time. There were, however, disadvantages in it being non-standard, relatively higher risk profile and it was the least experienced method.”

The rigless operation, once selected, was divided into four main stages. The first was to isolate the reservoir by pumping cement via coiled tubing covering approximately 530 metres from the well TD to above the pay zone. BP then tagged the cement to confirm its placement and quality via coiled tubing and, post tag, they displaced the well back to one SG before inflow testing the plug and pressure that up to 8,000 psi. 

The next stage included setting a copperhead bridge plug across the packer to isolate the shallowest reservoir section and then pressure tested to 7,000 psi. Initially they ran with tubing punch but this was unsuccessful and so they ran with 2-7/8” perforating guns, perforating just above the packer to allow reverse circulation later for the cement job. The injection test was successful with a circulation rate of six barrels per minute.

Continuing the presentation, Sultan Al Abri, Wells C, I & I Engineer at BP, commented, “For the third stage we had to confirm that we had sufficient circulation of cement through the perforation and so, to stimulate that, we pumped a high viscous pill which confirmed the circulation and capability to receive cement through the perforations. After that, we reversed circulated the cement from the A-annulus up the tubing while applying positive pressure on the tubing to avoid having cement free-falling from the annulus. The cement was then given time to cure before running slickline tag to confirm the cement placement and the quality of the cement which was successful. 

In the fourth and final stage, the tree was removed, and the tubing and wellhead were cut using a thermal cutter at the surface. The remaining void, from tubing to the annulus side, was pumped with cement using a cement unit with a PVC pipe. After the abandonment the barriers in place included cement across the Amin formation, 15K copperhead bridge plug across the packer depth covering the shallowest reservoir, cement in A-annulus from packer to surface, cement in B-annulus from 13 3/8” shoe to surface, and cement in 4 ½” by 5 ½” tubing from the copperhead bridge plug to the surface.

This was a non-standard operation for the company, and they therefore had some challenges. These included:
• An inability to establish circulation through tubing post tubing punch as the punch tool was not fit for purpose. To remedy that in the future they would select a perforation gun instead. 
• Longer WOC duration as the shallowest section BHST was not incorporated into the lab test. In the future the company would therefore ensure lab tests would be performed in a more representative environment and the cement recipe would be optimised. 
• Incorrect pumped cement volume due to on site pre-job recalculation using incorrect capacities. This could be avoided in the future by ensuring all changes to the programme are managed by MOC process. 
• Inability to cut the tubing due to an inadequate gas weld cutter. The lesson learned from this was to use the plasma cutter for tubing cut. 

“Despite the challenges, we delivered the abandonment job with an extra one day than planned but with a 27% less cost than initially expected. For individual service lines we had well testing delivered at about 90% of the planned cost at eight instead of ten days duration; slickline was conducted at the right cost but took an extra half day; coiled tubing was delivered at 65% the planned cost and ran for three and half days instead of five; cementing was completed at about 60% of the projected cost at approximately the same amount of time; and tree removal took the same amount of time as expected,” Al Abri concluded. 

“The only service line that we exceeded the planned cost and duration was E-Line and that is attributed to the NPTs mentioned earlier where extra runs were required.”

• Region: Middle East
• Date: May, 2022

At the Offshore Well Intervention Middle East 2022 conference, Mustafa Adel Amer, Senior Petroleum Production Technology Engineer and Well Integrity Management at BAPETCO, guided the audience through an expert case study focused on well production and methane abatement.

Adel Amer began by explaining the latest goals set out to reduce methane emissions whereby, at COP26, more than 100 countries signed the global methane pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Methane emissions are now at the centre of climate discussions and the abatement of them is, and will become, key to the competiveness of fossil fuels in the future.

The upstream sector, Adel Amer continued, is assumed to contribute around 80% of the methane emissions in the industry, with the majority of this coming from venting operations. Given the global desire to abate methane emissions, it is therefore of paramount importance for operators to reduce this without affecting production rates.

In pursuit of this, Adel Amer presented a case study from his company which focused on treating liquid loaded gas wells in a method that reduced methane emissions and saved significant money.

Adel Amer said, “Liquid loading in a gas well is the inability of produced gas to produce the entrain liquids from the wellbore. Over time, gas velocity decreases and liquids in the well will impact the lift performance that reduce or even stop gas production.”

“Turner discovered the liquid loading could be projected by a droplet model illustrating when droplets move up or down depending on the velocity relative to a critical velocity.”

Adel Amer explained that is common to use VLP to diagnose liquid loading where, in practice, critical velocity is generally defined as the minimum gas velocity in the produced tubing required to produce with low probability of liquid loading risk.

“With the Turner approach, the droplets accumulate in the large ID section but bubble flow takes place at the very low gas flow rate, you need very low gas rate usually at the far left end of the VLP curve. In many cases you don’t see the size of liquid columns that you would expect to balance the drawdown when the well is shut in for cycles.”

Mustafa, in his presentation, presented technical analysis showed that wells that operate in their unstable, hydrostatic dominated, part of their VLP suffer from increased liquid holdup along the entire well.

“We therefore need to focus on increasing velocity across the entire well,” Adel Amer remarked.

In order to do so BAPETCO showed a solution performed on an old well located in an onshore gas field with over 10 wells suffering from liquid loading and run under manual unloading cycles. The well chosen was an old one, beyond 17 years of operation, which had a five inch completion. The task was to end the cyclic behaviour of wells to increase production and eliminate methane emissions.

Considering the context of the field and the company in terms of near wellbore damage after well killing and the well integrity manual that mandate having operable sub-surface safety value in all gas wells, the best solution as Adel Amer said, “was to run a velocity string without killing the well while maintaining the sub-surface safety valve operable and without reliance on a snubbing unit.”

They began by conducting surveillance to select the best candidate wells through in-house developed python code that analyse reservoir data, production data, well history, and well integrity history to gain insightful analytics of the well integrity failure history, potential gain, clearance of the well etc. They then selected candidates and examined the potential in terms of possibility of success and expected gain.

Once done, they went to the PIPESIM to model the surface network and make sure production gains coming from fixing the intermittency of the gas wells would not be constrained by network capacity or connection with other high pressure wells in the network. 

The modelling results indicated that inserting 2 7/8 inch completions reduced the risk of liquid loading over the completion string and maintained liquid loading velocity ration favorable for stable gas production.

In practice, to run the velocity string without killing the well, without snubbing units and while having operable sub-surface safety valve, the operating included:
• Rigless inspection of the existing five inch completion and settling an isolation packer with surge disk.
• Workover to run the 2 7/8 inch and set an upper packer below the sub-surface safety valve. 
• Rigless coiled tubing to unload the brine and break the surge disk. 

Adel Amer said, “This was completed successfully and the project converted the well from one with a fluctuation intermittent behaviour to a more stable state. The stability of production increased to 2.5MMSCF/D after applying the velocity string, up from a 1.5MMSCF/D the day before the project.”

The project helps to achieve various positive results including:
• Cost reduction: the cost of using workover rig to run the 2 7/8 inch tubing inside the existing 5 inch completion was only 10% of a snubbing unit with payback time of 5-6 weeks.
• Increased the gas production rate by 1.5 times and condensate production by 3.8 times.
• The monthly reduced GHG emissions per well is equivalent to 4.4mn miles of passenger vehicle emissions. 
• Reduced workload on production operations from elimination of manual unloading.
• Maintained compliance with well integrity standards.

Abel Amer concluded, “We now have a new way of dealing with intermittent gas wells which is less expensive, does not kill the reservoir and maintains an operable sub-surface safety valve. Even though liquid loading is a dynamic process, using PIPESIM provided very useful clue to estimate the liquid loading velocity ratio which was among the main design parameters.”

Abel Amer can be contacted through his LinkedIn profile here. 

• Region: Middle East
• Topics: Decommissioning
• Date: Apr, 2022

Marine and lifting equipment specialists Motive Offshore Group (Motive) and subsea and decommissioning equipment rental specialists Hiretech Limited (Hiretech) have joined forces to bring superior technology and service solutions to the Middle East.

Motive, with its UAE hub and existing catalogue of subsea marine and lifting equipment services, is bolstering its current suite with Hiretech’s extensive rental fleet of decommissioning and subsea technology, bringing much-needed consolidation and in-market offshore services support for the region.

Graeme Chalmers, Regional Manager Middle East at Motive Offshore Group, commented, “Having worked with Hiretech for many years, we’re thrilled to formalise our partnership. Harnessing our skills and insights, developed in-step with Scotland’s trailblazing strides in the oil & gas and offshore wind markets, we understand the importance of market consolidation when it comes to keeping costs low and are looking forward to offering greater levels of support from our Middle East base.

“2022 is a big year for Motive. This partnership marks the next stage of our journey, and we are looking forward to continuing to expand our global footprint through increasing sales by 15% in this key region.”

Along with the technology and equipment, Hiretech will also deliver a comprehensive training programme to Motive’s engineers and technicians, enabling seamless delivery of products and technical support.

Andy Buchan, CEO, Hiretech Limited, remarked, “Hiretech has historically served the Middle East region from the UK. This new Middle East partnership puts our equipment in country, significantly reducing mobilisation times and costs for our Middle Eastern clients, with the additional advantages of utilising the extensive commercial, logistical, technical and equipment support available from the Motive FZE team.”

• Region: Middle East
• Date: Apr, 2022

In a unique case study, Thunder Cranes has explained how it provided lifting support for coiled tubing operations in offshore Dubai, UAE, with cranes designed for portable use and ease of assembly & disassembly on offshore installations. 

During planning for the coiled tubing operations it was determined that there was insufficient space to accommodate all of the coiled tubing equipment on the platform deck that was located directly over the wells identified for intervention.

As a result Thunder Cranes needed to make use of an adjacent platform, located 50 feet away, and so the company designed a lifting plan using two cranes and both platforms to carry out the lifting support required for the project.

For the purposes of the case study, they were named "Platform A" and "Platform B" and the company provided a summary of the steps carried out:

• Using the existing platform jib crane Thunder Cranes lifted the component parts of the 20 ton crane (TC20) from supply vessel to Platform A.
• Once TC20 was rigged up and load tested it then lifted the component parts of the 90 ton crane (TC90) from supply vessel to Platform A.
• After the TC90 was rigged up it rigged down the TC20 and lifted all of the TC20 components from Platform A to Platform B.
• TC20 was then rigged up on Platform B.
• TC90 was able to pick up the coiled tubing reel, with a long enough boom to be able to hook to the coiled tubing pipe and pull it over from one platform to another to be run through the injector.
• Over on platform A, working in tandem with the TC90, the TC20 lifted, rigged up, and helped support the coiled tubing injector.

In the case, the company rigged up and load tested two days within seven days thank to the TC clamping method, the modular design of the cranes, and the highly experienced staff. 

In the project, TC20 and TC90 cranes enabled the coiled tubing work to begin ahead of schedule and was a safe & cost effective solution compared to alternative methods.