Middle East

Expro has launched Galea, the world’s first fully autonomous well intervention system, designed to maximise production while reducing intervention costs, HSE risks and environmental impact.

Galea replaces larger, conventional and more labor-intensive wireline rig-ups for a range of slickline operations such as solids removal, plug setting/pulling and logging surveys. It can be configured in a variety of operating modes to suit a range of applications onshore and offshore.

Max Tseplic, Expro’s Vice-President of Well Intervention, explained, “Galea maximises production while reducing operational overheads by using an intelligent, autonomous system to perform a variety of slickline operations.

“Frequent, routine interventions typically involve significant manpower and equipment, which are costly. Planning these operations is often restricted by the availability of hardware and crew. The environmental impact of regular interventions, and the movement of vehicles and equipment, are also significant, as is the HSE risk to crew in travelling to and from well sites and performing operations.

“Galea eliminates these challenges by removing the movement of people and equipment to the well site for each intervention. Remote control and 24/7 monitoring reduce HSE risk and allow production to continue in inaccessible areas. The reduced environmental impact of using Galea helps asset managers comply with environmental regulations.”

In fully autonomous mode, Galea deploys a tool string into the well either at regular intervals or as defined by the well conditions. In semi-autonomous mode, Galea performs a pre-programmed intervention sequence, initiated locally or remotely. A small, self-contained intervention package permanently located at the well site eliminates the need for a wireline unit or truck.

In manual mode, Galea enables quick rig-up intervention compared to conventional operations. When not in use, the system occupies a fraction of the well site or deck-space required for a standard slickline winch unit and PCE package.

Galea also has several fail-safe features to ensure containment and eliminate potential wire-breaks during operations.

3D at Depth Inc., an expert in commercial Subsea LiDAR (SL) laser technology has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent No.11,125,875 (“Underwater Optical Metrology System”).

The claims of the newly issued patent are directed towards systems for determining the location of underwater objects, making measurements between objects, and facilitating the positioning of objects underwater using optical and acoustical metrology techniques.

Through the combination of optical and acoustic technologies, 3D at Depth’s LiDAR can be used across the life cycle of the field from installation to decommissioning. The granting of this new patent benefits 3D at Depth in ensuring that its Subsea LiDAR (SL) technology and solutions continue to lead the field in providing precise measurement in underwater metrology while expanding and future proofing applications in the subsea LiDAR market. The patent award is part of a larger portfolio that demonstrates 3D at Depth’s achievements and contributions in developing subsea and surface measurement solutions to drive innovation and support customer requirements.

Carl Embry, Chief Executive Officer, 3D at Depth, stated “The award of this patent reinforces the strength of our technical service offering. In order for our clients to provide safe and reliable operations, they require accurate measurements and monitoring of their underwater assets. By using our survey services along with our advanced subsea LiDAR (SL) laser systems, we can reliably provide them with precise, repeatable and millimetric 3D point clouds, thus ensuring fast, accurate measurements”.

“Since we first commercialised subsea LiDAR in 2014, minimising time and increasing efficiencies for our customers’ offshore operations was a key driver in our innovations,” stated Neil Manning, Chief Operating Officer, 3D at Depth. “Our Subsea LiDAR’s field-proven benefits are now used across the energy and maritime sectors from offshore oil and gas to nuclear and renewables. These patents remain a cornerstone of a new generation of optical survey subsea measurement technology.”

Global completions specialist Tendeka has secured more than US$30mn worth of international contracts within the last quarter, for implementation over the next three years.

This is in addition to long-term work it has secured with operators for its swellable packers and sand and inflow control technologies across key energy hubs, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), North Sea and Australasia.

Tendeka is also delivering its first significant FloSure autonomous inflow control devices (AICDs) campaign in the USA, following a successful trial earlier this year.

To support the inflow control of wells, Tendeka has installed more than 50,000 FloSure AICDs around the world. The field adjustable FloSure AICDs preferentially chokes unwanted produced fluids whilst promoting production of oil from the entire length of the well, leading to greater recovery, lower water cuts and less gas production.

Deployed as part of the lower completion using zonal isolation packers to divide the reservoir into compartments, the AICD can be integrated with sand control screens for soft formations.

Tendeka’s SwellRight Swellable Packers provide a permanent packer solution suitable for many applications where a pressure seal or zonal isolation is required.

Brad Baker, CEO at Tendeka, said, “To secure a number of multi-year, international agreements is always satisfying, but even more so with what the industry has been going through over the last 18 months. It has been an uncertain time for the sector, but due to the hard work of our team and our investment in technology, we have forged even stronger relationships with our global customers to enhance their operations.

“These wins for our sand and inflow control technology cements our position in the market as the industry leader of inflow control technology.”

Tendeka is also the developer of the PulseEight dynamic downhole reservoir management system, which is the world’s first re-deployable wireless completion with control, power, monitoring and communications already on board. 

Expro Group Holdings International Limited (Expro) has reported its financial and operational results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 with total revenue for Q2 2021 standing at US$176.3mn, compared to revenue of US$156.3mn in Q1 2021, an increase of 13% sequentially.

The company’s net loss for Q2 2021 was US$8.4mn compared to a net loss of US$20.4mn for Q1 2021. Adjusted EBITDA of US$26.3mn increased 58% sequentially, driven by higher revenue, a more favourable activity mix and lower corporate costs.

Mike Jardon, CEO of Expro, commented, “Expro delivered solid performance in the second quarter as our broad portfolio of services, global operating footprint and continued cost and capital discipline enabled us to effectively manage and mitigate ongoing industry headwinds related to the pandemic.”

Intervention leads the way

Jardon continued, “Thanks to the hard work, expertise and commitment of our talented employees, as well as our leading technology platform, we continued to advance our capabilities and deliver differentiated services and solutions that safely enhance our customers’ operational efficiency and improve the sustainability of both Expro’s and our customers’ operations.

“For example, Expro employed its unique CoilHose intervention system to initiate production by unloading heavy completions fluids from a highly deviated well in Asia. This solution successfully delivered both time and cost efficiencies to the client. Additionally, the compact system footprint and associated ease of logistics resulted in a significant improvement in the environmental impact of the operations as compared with traditional solutions.”

“Also during the second quarter, we achieved an industry first by deploying our unique Octopoda annulus intervention system to a depth of 300 metres in the C annulus of a well in Latin America. This system successfully introduced a plug in the annulus which restored casing integrity and enabled production to be safely resumed from the well. We are very excited about the potential of Octopoda as it will allow customers to, cost effectively restore well integrity, resume production and reduce fugitive gas emissions from wells,” Jardon added.

“In recent years, the majority of Expro’s business has been driven by our customers’ production optimisation efforts and their operational expenditures more so than their drilling-related activities and capital expenditures. As a result (and despite the possibility of continuing headwinds related to the pandemic), we currently expect at least modest revenue and margin momentum for Expro over the next couple of quarters, driven by an overall increase in international activity, and positive trends in well testing and production services and well intervention and integrity services, in particular. Beyond the next couple of quarters, an expected recovery in offshore development across geographies reinforces our confidence that Expro is well-positioned for sustained growth, which we believe will be driven by increasing demand for subsea well access services and more complex well construction services, respective strengths of Expro and Frank’s International with whom we announced a definitive merger agreement on March 11, 2021.”

Regional breakdown

The company report noted that their operations in Asia Paciifc were particularly strong primary driven by higher subsea, completion and intervention services revenue in Brunei and Australia. In Brunei, Expro is in the start-up phase of a multi-year well intervention campaign, while in Australia, results benefitted from a generally higher level of customer activity and higher well testing services revenue.

Revenue in MENA was driven by higher subsea, completion and intervention services in Qatar and Algeria. The year-over-year decrease in MENA revenue was primarily driven by lower well testing services revenue in Algeria and Egypt as a result of lower activity levels, partially offset by increase in subsea, completion and intervention services revenue from a new project in Qatar.

In North and Latin America revenue sequential improvement in was primarily driven by higher subsea, completion and intervention services revenue in Argentina, reflecting a strong recovery in activity following Covid-19 related project delays in 2020, and higher well testing services revenue in Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico, which were largely offset by lower subsea, completion and intervention services revenue in the Gulf of Mexico from lower customer activity. The year-over-year improvement in segment revenue was primarily driven by higher well testing revenues in Mexico, higher subsea, completion and intervention services revenue in Argentina and Columbia.

Coretrax, a global well integrity and production optimisation leader, has moved to new regional headquarters as the business gears up for further growth and has supplemented by strengthening its senior leadership team.

New facilities for a new era

The company has consolidated its European headquarters into a new facility at Badentoy industrial estate, Aberdeen, which boasts 70,000 sq ft of offices, warehouse and yard space to support increased business demand across the region.

In the Middle East, following a period of sustained growth, Coretrax has doubled the size of its headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), after moving into a new DMCC office space in the city and an operations hub in Abu Dhabi.

Expanding the leadership team

Coretrax has appointed Keith Bradford as the new EARC Regional Manager, to be located at the new facility in Aberdeen. Bradford has more than 25 years worth of experience in the industry and joins the company from Varel Energy Solutions where he was most recently Region Director. Prior to this, he held the role of General Manager with Downhole Products. He will be responsible for leading Coretrax’s expansion across Europe, Africa, Russia and Caspian.

In the Middle East, Murray Forbes has been appointed as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, also bringing more than 25 years’ experience in well operations, technical support and product development. Forbes held several senior positions at major oilfield service companies and was most recently global sales director at Welltec. He will work closely with Coretrax’s global senior leadership team to drive and enhance the company’s current technology offering.

Forbes is supported by Bob Murdoch who has been appointed as Eastern Hemisphere Expandables Operations Manager. Boasting more 30 years’ experience in technical operations, Murdoch joins the firm from Halliburton where he was operations manager – liner hangers. He will be responsible for leading Coretrax’s fast-growing, expandable technology range in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Emile Sevadjian has also been appointed as Vice President of Expandables Engineering, having joined from Halliburton.

Kenny Murray, Chief Executive Officer at Coretrax, commented, “Our new, larger offices in Aberdeen and Dubai are a significant milestone for the business as we gear up for further expansion in the next 12 months. Despite the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic has presented, we are continuing to see increased demand for our technology and this is testament to the high-quality service our people consistently deliver.

“Our new senior appointments each bring substantial knowledge and experience to the business which will be vital as we implement our ambitious growth strategy. As the industry continues to focus on driving operational efficiencies and responsible oil recovery, we are ideally placed to support operations at all stages of the well lifecycle. We already have a healthy pipeline of work moving into the remainder of this year and I look forward to expanding our footprint across the oil and gas and renewable sectors in the coming months.”

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have announced an investment of US$763.7mn in integrated rigless services across six of its artificial islands in the Upper Zakum and Satah Al Razboot (SARB) fields to support its production capacity.

ADNOC Offshore has issued three contracts to Schlumberger, ADNOC Drilling, and Halliburton after a competitive tender process which will help see the company support its production capacity expansion to 5mnbpd by 2030.

The scope of the contracts includes coiled tubing services with thru-tubing downhole tools, stimulation services, including equipment and chemicals/fluid systems, surface well testing services, wireline, and production logging services and tools, saturation monitoring, and well integrity.

Ahmad Saqer Al-Suwaidi, CEO of ADNOC Offshore, commented, “These contracts are an important contributor to ADNOC Offshore’s plans to build our production capacity to over 2 million barrels a day in the coming years to support the ADNOC Group’s smart growth strategy. The award follows a highly competitive bid process, which included a rigorous assessment of how much of the contract value would support the growth and diversification of the UAE’s economy through ADNOC’s In-Country Value Program.”

The six artificial islands covered by the awards are Asseifiya, Ettouk, Al Ghallan, and Umm Al Anbar in the Upper Zakum field and Al Qatia and Bu Sikeen in the SARB field.

Halliburton’s joy in the Middle East continues

ADNOC’s announcement came within days of Halliburton revealing it has also secured a contract to provide production chemicals and associated services for a large IOC in Oman. Halliburton will supply a full suite of customised products along with specialised services to support the in-field chemical treatments across the seven-year contract.

Miguel Gonzalez, vice president of Halliburton Multi-Chem, said, “We are excited to provide our production chemical expertise and management services to help our customer maximise their asset value in Oman. This collaboration aims to improve operational efficiencies and reliability by applying tailored solutions and close alignment between parties.”

Halliburton will manufacture key raw materials for the contract’s portfolio at the new Halliburton Saudi Chemical Reaction Plant. Opening at the end of 2021, the facility increases Halliburton’s capabilities to support Oman and the region.

The plant will have capabilities to manufacture a broad slate of chemicals for stimulation, production, midstream, and downstream engineered treatment programmes.

Global engineering company Aker Solutions has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with AF Gruppen, a leading contracting and industrial group, to merge the two companies’ existing offshore decommissioning operations into a 50/50 owned company.

With the signing of the letter, the companies plan to create a leading global player for environmentally friendly recycling of offshore assets. By joining and focusing their assets, the companies hope to unleash the decommissioning potential across the globe and make a significant contribution towards a sustainable and green transition of the offshore sector.

Kjetel Digre, CEO of Aker Solutions commented, "By combining Aker Solutions’ offshore, engineering and project execution capabilities with AF Gruppen’s decommissioning and construction capabilities, we aim to increase customer efficiency throughout the decommissioning process and maximise the total recycling potential.”

“The company will be uniquely positioned to offer integrated end-to-end services from well plug and abandonment to planning, removal, dismantling and recycling at its own environmental base. Sustainability and circular economy ambitions will be key focus areas for the new entity, and we see increased activity in the market for decommissioning and recycling moving forward.”

Amund Tøftum, CEO of AF Gruppen, added, "Our ambition is to establish a unique recycling player, positioned to offer a total decommissioning solution for the global offshore recycling market. The two parties have complementary strengths and capabilities, with potential to build a global offshore recycling powerhouse. Furthermore, the new entity will deliver on the green, circular ambitions outlined in the UN’s sustainable development goals.”

The two companies represent unmatched and complementary engineering and construction capabilities, offshore and onshore. Jointly, the two units brings extensive capabilities in running large-scale offshore projects, lifecycle and value chain competence and a broad global portfolio of customers and projects. The joint company will have an order backlog of approximately NOK2.5bn.

The transaction is expected to be completed during the second half of 2021 and is subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals by the Norwegian Competition Authorities (NCA).

Achieving a circular economy

Goal 12 in the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG) is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, in an urgent need to end our reliance on raw materials and achieve a circular economy. These goals will be met by viewing old structures as material banks of dynamic and valuable resources, rather than fixed and final objects. The recycling of steel from decommissioned oil platforms represents a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared with ordinary steel production in this way and will help to achieve this goal of the UN.

The unit aims to recycle as much of the materials from the decommissioned offshore platforms as possible. Reusing steel results in 70% less CO2 emissions than ore-based production, which corresponds to an emission reduction of 1kg CO2 per kilo of recycled steel. In 2020, AF Offshore Decom, a specialised contractor within AF Gruppen, demolished and facilitated the recycling of approximately 22,000 metric tons of steel, corresponding to a reduction of alternative CO2 emissions of 22,000 metric tons.

The decommissioning market

The offshore decommissioning market has a vast untapped global potential, with approximately 10,000 operational platforms. In the North Sea alone there is more than 900,000 metric tons of top deck expected to be removed during the period from 2020 to 2029. Based on today’s current annual decommissioning spend, it implies that it will take operators approximately 100 years to deplete liabilities for current assets. Thus, a further ramp up of pace is necessary, leading to a positive contribution to the demand for this type of services.

At the Offshore Well Intervention Middle East and North Africa 2021 virtual conference, Neil Ferguson, Business and Sales Development Manager, Well Intervention and Integrity at Expro, demonstrated Expro’s two latest developments in well integrity developed to unlock value for operators.

Ferguson began by noting that it is an exciting time to be involved in well integrity, an area which is attracting more interest from the industry each year. At Expro, ten years ago the main focus of the Well Intervention portfolio was production optimisation, whereas now 50% of its portfolio is well integrity related. To this end, Expro has recently introduced two new technologies to add to their product offerings to serve this market.

Fibre Optics Enabled Slickline

As Ferguson continued, fibre optics is nothing new to the industry and has, for many years, been permanently deployed in wells to monitor wells and identify problems. However, having this installed from the start of the well’s production is, for one, very costly (could amount to around US$500,000) and can also cause problems down the line. For instance, if an operator is relying on these fibre optics 10-15 years after installation the equipment may not function as effectively, with the fibre darkening for instance, meaning operators may not get the correct results they need when they need them.

Expro, therefore have introduced Distributed Fibre Optics Sensing (DFOS) Slickline which is able to be deployed into a well using a standard slickline unit. The DFOS Slickline service means that an operator only needs to deploy the fibre optics when and where they need it, rather than having it permanently installed from the start of the wells life. Expro has the capability to retrofit the fibre into the well for a few hours, get the required results and then it can be redeployed onto the next well – a development with the capacity to optimise capex at the start of a well’s life and opex throughout its life. The DFOS Slickline is capable of diagnosing a range of issues such as tubing to casing leaks, flow behind casing, gas lift valve leaks, leaks at packers, leaks at casing shoes, sustained casing pressure and sand protection.

Ferguson said, “One thing our solution partners worked hard on is our ability to process data on site. Traditional fibre optic can generate terabytes of data per day – we didn’t want to just hand our customers a hard disk of this at the end of the job, so having visualisation and analysis on site was very important to us. Therefore, as part of our offering, we reduce and streamline the data so it is easier to transmit and interpret – we can reduce 2.5 terabytes of raw data into a 30mb manageable file.”

To emphasise the capabilities of this technology, Ferguson demonstrated its use in some case studies. For instance, in the North Sea, DFOS Slickline was used to assist a customer suffering from a tubing to annulus communication issue. The DFOS Slickline was rigged up on the well and took just over 1 shift to perform a survey, before being pulled out again. DFOS Slickline has two embedded fibres; one for distributed temperature sensing mode and the other for distributed acoustic sensing mode, with acquisition from both fibres occurring simultaneously. While the DFOS Slickline was being pulled out of hole the data processing and visualisation task began, the DTS data processing and visualisation task taking just one hour, with the DAS data processing and visualisation task taking just three.

The well integrity issue was swiftly identified as a side pocket mandrel having a faulty gas lift valve leaving the operator free to pursue remediation activities immediately, with the intervention equipment still rigged up onto the well. In this way a customer’s shut in well (which was costing around 2,000 barrels per day in lost production) was swiftly restored to production. Because the DFOS Slickline is so efficient, the operator can go from deployment to remediation in the same intervention and campaign.

Octopoda

Ferguson then turned to the Octopoda Well Integrity Solution, featuring offerings such as line plug services, sealant services and wellhead multi-tools. The crown jewel, however, is the annulus intervention (AI) service, this innovative technology enables intervention into a live annulus with a hose, this to remediate well integrity issues by the pumping of fluids and resins.

In one case study that Ferguson outlined, Octopoda AI was run into the annulus to remediate a fluid barrier. The customer had issues with plugged bleed-off line due to a high viscocity mud in the B-annulus. A subsequent influx of gas into the B-annulus caused a problem which resulted in the well being shut-in. It was estimated that a traditional lubricate and bleed operation would take around 12 months to complete, so the customer called Expro, who was able to design a tailor-made solution with a 6mm hose and tailor made well spring tool to enable intervention into the B Annulus.

To remove the sustained casing pressure, the annulus fluid was displaced with 1.5SG brine. During the operation the annulus intervention system was deployed to a depth of 49m depth below the B-annulus gate valve, a total volume of 40,000 litres of 1.5SG brine was pumped, there were no spills or incidents reported, and the operation was successfully completed with the well flow being reinstated in 25 days.

Octopoda AI can be used in a variety of applications including the removal of sustained casing pressure, spotting of resin for casing integrity remediation, corrosive fluid displacement, preparation for P&A operations and environmental and groundwater protection. Ferguson stated that some of the benefits included cost effective well recovery by restoring well integrity, efficient footprint and personnel requirements, rapid mobilisation of the technology, and a reduced requirement for a workover rig or heavy duty equipment.