The Parker LORD Noise, Vibration and Harshness Division of Parker Hannifin Corporation, the global leader in motion and control technologies, has developed a proprietary flexible design tool that quickly and easily provides new gimbal assembly designs for offshore oil rigs and intervention vessels.
Parker LORD gimbal pads and assemblies are designed under strict process and quality controls to ensure each part performs consistently. Parker LORD engineers can accurately and dynamically model the stiffness of any gimbal system in any plane of rotation. Using the new flexible design tool, they can now provide a new gimbal assembly design – specifically for the customer’s needs – in minutes or hours instead of the weeks or months previously required.
“We provide innovative solutions by listening to our customers and leveraging nearly a century of experience,” said Scott Reinbold, Lead Engineer, Parker LORD and Designer of the tool. “Our ability to customize offshore oilfield solutions using new tools and capabilities raises the bar and changes expectations. Previously, it was unheard of to be able to make changes on the fly. With this new tool we can collaborate with customers and update designs in real time to adapt to changing project parameters.”
The flexible design tool introduces a process that is unprecedented for the oil and gas industry, creating solutions through working closely with the customer, rather than only using existing catalog parts. Traditionally, the customer and supplier might have limited interaction during the ordering process. Using this flexible design tool, placing an order becomes a collaborative partnership where Parker LORD engineers and the customer work together to solve problems. Additionally, the tool can accommodate design changes dynamically, allowing for multiple design versions.
The gimbal assembly design process considers all aspects of the part including angles, planes of rotation and elastomer selection. The resulting reduction in design time will help to lower costs, reduce maintenance and increase safety.
Once the design is finalized, Parker LORD can use advanced modeling techniques to predict the gimbal system performance characteristics and provide a safe operating envelope for various angles and loads, enabling the end user to optimize operations offshore.
Learn more about the new Parker LORD flexible design tool at https://www.lord.com/industries/oil-and-gas/offshore/drilling-rigs/gimbal-bearing-assemblies-and-pads
Across three packed, entertaining days, attendees of the Offshore Well Intervention Latin America 2021 conference were treated to a host of presentations and panel sessions featuring industry experts exploring the latest trends, technologies and opportunities shaping the region’s offshore oil and gas industry.
The shift to reducing carbon emissions and increasing longevity of wells is being embraced by operators across the world and it is no different in Latin America. Speakers at the conference discussed how this was a region well positioned to take advantage of the blossoming well intervention and P&A markets and acknowledged the cascade of associated new technologies which have found a home in the region’s waters.
Offshore Network has selected and reported on key sessions from across the conference, which you can find below:
-Secure and efficient P&A of Wells: Artur Barbosa, Business Development Manager at Archer, gave a presentation on secure and efficient P&A of wells, which focused on the company’s Stronghold Barrier setting and Barrier Verification systems, part of its suite of recovery and P&A solutions.
-Sand control simplified: Bhargava Ram Gundemoni, 3M Global Solutions Specialist, showcased how operators can enhance their oil and gas production and how better sand control can lead to better productivity and profitability.
-Accurate tube integrity diagnostics using ‘pulse’ electromagnetic technology: Maxim Volkov, the Principal Domain Champion at TGT Diagnostics, spotlighted how ‘tube integrity diagnostics’ are pivotal to successful well operation, and how ‘Pulse’ electromagnetic (EM) technology can deliver the most accurate metal wall thickness measurements in all completion types, including specialised alloys with high chrome and/or nickel content.
-Bringing RLWI to Brazil: Martin Tardio Velasco, Regional Subsea Services and Wellheads Director at Baker Hughes, led a panel of experts to explore how the uptake of riserless light well intervention (RLWI) in Brazil could be developed, what benefits it could bring to the industry there, and what are the obstacles standing in the way.
-Challenges to integrity and future transformative technologies: Representatives from MADCON Corporation, EV, Quartic Advisory, Petrobras and PetroRio made up a panel to discuss the past, present and future of well integrity and transformative technologies in the pipeline.
-Brazil ripe for well intervention wave: A panel of industry professionals discussed how the Brazilian market is responding to an international drive to well interventions and decommissioning activity.
-Driving forward P&A in Latin American waters: Industry experts explored how new technologies and techniques for cost-effective and efficient decommissioning processes could be deployed, while ensuring compliance with P&A regulations.
A panel session on P&A and Regulation at the OWI LATAM virtual conference explored how new technologies and techniques for cost-effective and efficient decommissioning processes could be deployed, while ensuring compliance with P&A regulations.
The session was moderated by Carl Roemmele, Subsea Intervention Director, Baker Hughes. Speakers were Carlos Eduardo, Manager – Technology and Reliability Subsea Wells, Petrobras; Marcelo Matos, Wells P&A Technical Advisor, Petrobras; Joao Guandalini Batista, Wells Technology R&D Manager, Repsol Sinopec; and Katherine Beltrán Jiménez, Research Scientist, NORCE.
Eduardo started by outlining the “strong, robust” processes whereby Petrobras evaluates new technologies to address problems and challenges, with KPIs to determine which to develop and proceed with. The company works with research departments such as NORCE, other service companies and operators to develop these technologies and test them in the field. He added that there is considerable scope for developing new technologies to enhance P&A activities and speed up processes, given the challenges of P&Aing Brazil’s subsea wells, many of which are old.
Being in close contact with the market as well as operators is key to keeping on top of new developments, he said. “We need market knowledge; research departments such as NORCE are key to improving our activities.”
He added that the focus of the company’s development portfolio has been on technologies for well construction rather than P&A. “We need to think more about P&A; we as operators have to establish what our challenges are and where we want to go.”
Marcelo added that there are synergies to be explored with other operators given that they face common challenges in P&A. However he felt “industry can’t wait for the operators to take the lead in development; services suppliers need to play a key role and take the lead, discussing with operators their needs.” He commented that P&A activity in Brazil has been increasing in the recent past due to Petrobras activities and the entry of other operators into the market and the country has a good record in terms of successful P&As.
Batista stressed that P&A is a “multibillion liability for operators; we are hungry for solutions. We are working together to establish partnerships; we need to be more collaborative.” Repsol Sinopic is involved in P&A activities in Brazil in partnership with one of the operators, he said. He agreed that service companies need to be more proactive in bringing new technologies to operators and sponsoring feasibility studies and research to assist with the international approval and regulator approval process.
Roemmele raised the question of how receptive operators are to new technologies versus tried and tested technologies. Eduardo agreed that introducing new technologies is a step-by step process, given the risks compared with established technologies. Jiménez commented that the two main challenges with testing new technologies are ensuring that new technologies comply with market regulations, and finding operators to test them. NORCE tries to ensure that when testing new technologies the risk is reduced to the operator, she added.
Gamechanging technologies
Asked which technologies would be gamechangers for P&A, Jiménez highlighted three specific topics that are leading development. “The first is logging; there is a big trend for logging tools and processing of logging and data interpretation and diagnosis; the second is rigless P&As; and the third is new materials, for example new cement recipes, polymers, nano materials.”
Marcelo highlighted the benefits of a risk-based approach to P&A. “We have a very developed engineering process, and today we can have a better understanding of the risks,” he said. This could enable operators to challenge the validity of prescriptive regulations and requirements, a “hot topic for operators”, he added.
Discussing new and alternative materials, Eduardo said Petrobras is actively exploring and testing new methods and materials, but underlined the need for research to ensure that their longevity could be relied upon.
Marcelo added, “Alternative materials are already a reality; they are not widespread in the industry but some operators are using new elements when they need to or at the end of a qualification process.” He highlighted a case in the Gulf of Mexico where an operator had to execute a P&A using resin. “We are seeing increasing utilisation of bismuth alloys as a barrier.” He suggested that the usage of alternative materials could be accelerated. However, Jiménez pointed out that new materials could be more expensive.
Turning the discussion to total cost of field ownership, a current focus for the industry, Roemmele asked whether there is a vision for the future of P&A at the well drilling stage.
Jiménez underlined the “change in mentality” needed in drilling for abandonment. “We need to think about the abandonment phase at the well drilling stage, not just about getting the well to produce quickly,” she said, suggesting that the design of wells could be changed so that it is easier to abandon at a later stage. She expressed the hope for “more disruptive change in the way we abandon wells” and more new technologies implemented in the field.
Marcelo said that Petrobras’s vision of the future is of a “self abandonable well, where the completion would carry the materials and technologies required for you to just push a button, and achieve a permanent barrier.” This would mean the P&A cost for the well would be zero, but “there is a long road before we achieve that.” Marcelo foresaw a step change in P&A cost reduction thanks to new technologies and techniques.
Critical role of data
Eduardo raised the challenge posed by the possibility of changing regulations in the future, and it was felt that data and digitalisation has a critical role to play in this context. “If regulations change, we can use data to design a new reality,” said Batista. He explained how Repsol is embedding sensors in the well to monitor conditions and provide data, leading to a predictive approach for well integrity and enabling a true risk-based P&A design.
“More sensors equals more data equals easier decisions,” said Roemmele, pointing however that access to data is often a challenge, and data is not always transferred when ownership changes.
Roemmele raised the issue of carbon capture and storage (CCS). “Could this be a future opportunity and do we have enough knowledge to use some of these wells to reverse the flow?”
Batista underlined the link between P&A and CCS issues and challenges, and felt geothermal offers particularly strong potential. However he urged a cautious approach; while the idea of re-using the well is attractive, and would effectively reduce P&A costs, it could pose engineering challenges; efforts would be needed to ensure the integrity of the well, after years of use, possibly in difficult conditions, would be up to supporting a new application. “More data and more interventions are needed to better understand the real condition of the well,” he suggested.
Echoing this caution, Marcelo questioned whether a well built for a different purpose with different technologies 25 to 30 years ago would be usable for the next 30 years or more, and whether CCS made sense in the Brazilian scenario, given the location of fields in deep water far from shore. Jiménez agreed a regional approach is needed, commenting that while Norway, with its focus on reducing emissions, is leading CCS research, the infrastructure needed to compress and transport CCS may not make sense in Latin America. She further pointed out that further research is also needed on the behaviour of CCS and its reaction with cement.
Summing up, Roemmele concluded that Brazil and Latin America already have a good record in terms of successful P&As, and that openness to new technologies and techniques, supporting new research, risk-based modelling, sharing data and collaboration between regulators, operators and service companies are key to successfully driving forward P&A in the future.
During a virtual webinar at the OWI LATAM 2021 conference, Maxim Volkov, the Principal Domain Champion at TGT Diagnostics, spotlighted how ‘tube integrity diagnostics’ are pivotal to successful well operation, and how ‘Pulse’ electromagnetic (EM) technology can deliver the most accurate metal wall thickness measurements in all completion types, including specialised alloys with high chrome and/or nickel content.
On the importance of wall thickness measurements, Maxim explained that such figures can help deliver a safer and more precise calculation of burst pressures for tubing and perhaps more importantly, casings. Well operators need to maintain wells within the ‘Maximum Allowable Wellhead Operating Pressure’ (MAWOP), and calculating the most accurate burst pressure figures are key to achieving this.
In terms of conventional technologies, such as multi-finger callipers, flux leakage tools, ultrasound inspection, and older EM tools, there is a general lack of accuracy or capability to assess casing behind tubing. This is traditionally solved by pulling the tubing out of the well using expensive rig or hoist operations to expose the production casing as the primary metal surface. This obviously disrupts well operations and requires significant resources and energy utilisation.
New electromagnetic surveys provide a more efficient solution, and are able to supply wall thickness estimations of multiple casing strings up to 20” diameter, to an acceptable level of accuracy.
‘Pulse’ technology
The ‘Pulse’ platform is one of four technology platforms that make up TGT’s ‘True Integrity’ diagnostic system. Pulse is used by analysts and operators to provide an accurate barrier-by-barrier assessment of up to four concentric tubulars from a single through-tubing deployment. And unlike conventional systems, it works in all completion types, including dual string and corrosion resistant alloys.
Pulse combines advanced electromagnetic sensing and measurement technology with powerful modeling and analysis capabilities. Pulse features multiple coil sensors, each optimised by length and geometry to engage with a particular tube size. This enables it to assess the electromagnetic signature of each tube and establish wall thickness variations.
Using electromagnetics to diagnose the condition of multiple tubulars is the most reliable solution currently available for tube diagnostics. The technique is sensitive to metal only, and is free from scale or cement influence, helping it provide a reliable wall thickness assessment where the other technologies fail.
Also, EM diagnostics can be deployed while the well is active, with minimal impact on operations and cost.
Pulse deployment
Pulse can be deployed in multiple configurations with multiple sensors optimised for different tubing and casing scenarios. Short sensors can target tube diameters up to 4 1/2", with long sensors targeting up to 13 3/8" in diameter, and extra long targeting up to 20".
Coils transmit a repeating EM pulse and record the electromagnetic response, with each coil sensor capable of registering responses from different layers of casing and tubing in the well.
Multiple coil sensors are optimised to scan a different radius, enabling operators to determine which layer is being affected by corrosion and to what degree.
Pulse diagnostics delivers accurate results up to ±0.25mm for first tube, ±0.75mm for second, ±1.5mm for third, and ±3.6mm for the fourth metal barrier.
The utilisation of Pulse technology is helping the industry to keep wells safe, clean, and productive.
At the Offshore Well Intervention Latin America conference, a panel of industry professionals discussed how the Brazilian market is responding to an international drive to well interventions and decommissioning activity.
David Carr, Senior Vice-President at Helix Well Ops (UK) Ltd, opened the session with a video discussing the recent developments in the international offshore community. He noted that despite the last 12-18 months being one of the most challenging in living memory, well intervention activity has suffered less than most and, according to RigLogix, in a period where drilling activity reduced by almost 35%, well intervention activity only declined by around 21%.
On top of this, Carr continued, there have been positive signs from within the industry with companies such as Harbour Energy, Equinor, C-Innovation and Petronas planning or conducting significant intervention work. Carr added, “In Latin America operators have returned to profitability but drilling activity has not really increased ‒ partly due to the need to pay off debt and the turn to renewable energy. However, depleting reserves need to be replaced and intervention is the lowest cost and risk way of doing this. More and more companies are entering the riserless light well intervention (RLWI) space, resulting in more innovations arising in the market. Additionally, oil and gas regulators are gaining greater powers to enforce policies to maximise economic recovery and ensuring operators fulfil their decommissioning obligations.”
Lucas Mota, Manager of Financial and Physical Planning at Petrobras, noted that his company has made a strong statement in maximising their portfolio value with a focus on deep and ultra deep waters and already there have been key intervention targets identified in order to keep up with production targets. He added, “Petrobras has a strong workover portfolio so we are looking closely to new technology and opportunities to get the most out of our producing fields. The pandemic has affected the scenario for workover activities and we have seen reductions but we have gained back momentum and expect to be back to pre-pandemic levels starting in 2022. Being resilient, being cost effective, and introducing new technology will be paramount for making sure we meet production targets and keep extraction costs low.”
David Dempsie, P&A Task Force Leader of Global Drilling & Completions at Repsol, noted that in general terms operators are constantly looking for the “the best bang for their buck” and the benefits of intervention is we typically understand better objectives and targets and are therefore more sure of outcomes.
“To further increase production, the ability globally to drill becomes hard at times. Licences to drill take more time whereas interventions are faster to react and they align well with many regulatory requirements. Such a period of uncertainty with oil prices means relying on high cost drilling activities is not always appropriate anymore whereas intervention is much more cost effective.”
Providing a detailed update on the state of the offshore oil and gas market in Brazil, Mariana Franca Operational Safety & Environmental Superintendent at ANP, noted that even in the most challenging times, oil production has increased ‒ as was the case in 2020 which has been maintained across 2021. She noted that as a regulator, her company is working to incentivise operators to increase the recovery factor and that they have witnessed a decrease in drilling in this time. There are also hopes that plug & abandonment (P&A) activities will increase as operators take their liabilities more seriously.
A decommissioning wave on the horizon?
On the subject of P&A and decommissioning, Dempsie said that generally as the industry and fields of a region mature, the companies active in there mature. While there is a tendency to delay such operations companies can no longer afford to do so due to environmental concerns.
“As confidence grows and the number of P&A operations increase, it has an effect on operators and service providers to do more. When this happens, abilities increase and costs decrease. The appetite is starting to be there. Overall, this has somewhat been kicked down the road but it can go no further. People need to understand they have reliability to do better.”
“In Brazil the deepwater elements pose unique challenges but subsea contractors confidence builds the more work that is performed and this will allow greater progression and natural growth will come as one operator to another does more. P&A, when I arrived in the market, was something for my grandchildren but it has crept up. It is a market which will grow as Brazil invests and will strengthen operators to create a more sustainable business plan.”
To encourage more activity of this type, Franca stated that new well integrity management system regulation was published in 2016 which addresses P&A obligations as before it was old fashioned. With the new system, they are aligning Brazilian regulation with best practices. Now, for example, liabilities are harder to be extended and there is a maximum period of three years for well to be idle without monitoring well integrity.
Building on these comments, Mota said that for his company decommissioning and enhancing production is of paramount importance. They have a five year plan amounting to US$4.6bn and more than half of that is being spent on well intervention costs with around 500 well interventions planned in the next ten years. They are also targeting efficiency in these activities. The company currently has achieved 40 days per abandonment well and is aiming to reduce this to 30 days per well.
Reducing costs
One of the main issues relating to P&A, decommissioning and well intervention is they can carry weighty costs for operators. The panellists addressed this concern, noting some trends which could reduce costs and encourage more of these activities in Brazil.
For instance, Mota noted that RLWI is being taken up more around the world and is a method which can bring reductions ranging from 40-50% in time and costs. There is a lot of interest in this in Brazil and from his company.
Dempsie added that collaboration is key to this and many operators are looking to work together on P&A and intervention campaigns to capture value on these necessary operations. He said, “This has worked well globally under various guises and it suited the economic needs of many organisations.” Rig clubs, for example, have been looked at elsewhere and could really help companies share risks and shoulder costs in Brazilian waters.
Additionally, as the panellists touched upon, the continued development of new technology is enabling operators to better understand when wells require P&A and intervention work and is allowing them to carry it our more safely and for less money. This will only encourage those active in Brazil to pursue such activities more aggressively.
Offshore Well Intervention Latin America 2021 bought together a number of industry specialists to discuss the past, present and future of well integrity and transformative technologies in the pipeline.
Representatives from MADCON Corporation, EV, Quartic Advisory, Petrobras and PetroRio joined the panel to tackle the current challenges and transformative technologies that could rise to meet them.
On the key challenges facing well integrity, Ivo Foianini, Business Development Manager at EV, explained, "Overall, the issue of the use of cement has always been a problem. The way wells have been designed in the oil field has been a problem for the focus of either remediation for well integrity or abandoning wells. Cement is a great product to hold structural integrity and withstand the passage of fluid, but being able to properly place it behind pipe and detect where it is behind pipe is difficult. It remains a challenged route.”
"The other problem, as I see it, is corrosion. We use two components that don't age well- cement and steel. People have tried to reinforce steel with a lining, casing or resins, but, in general, we're using 20th century technology for the 21st century. We need to find ways to support them with better products or use new products from the future."
Vincent Stephane Geyl, Well Integrity Advisor at Quartic Advisory, added, "What I see as a technical challenge is data gathering. Conducting sufficient testing, gathering trends and analyses and combining them, is still a challenge.”
"All this data, designs, analyses and tests feeds into decision-making. The focus on making good decisions is much higher, but making decisions based on all the data is harder."
Jorge Ricardo Siqueira, Well Integrity Consultant at PetroRio, continued the discussion as the panellists turned to the innovative technologies to help combat the above problems and ensure well integrity in the long-term, the panel discussed designing wells for abandonment. Offshore areas in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico are in the midst of a plug-and-abandonment wave, with post-plug wells not leaking after abandonment being at the forefront of many modern wells' designs.
Foianini explained, "It's an excellent idea- designing wells for abandonment. It gathers the well integrity aspect in it from a high level perspective. Operators don't have to deal with as many well integrity variables, because they're designed to be abandoned in the future."
Geyl continued, "New materials are the way forward- cement is just the lack of a better option. We've seen the deployment of bismuth in the North Sea as a barrier, putting minerals and elements as a barrier. There's a lot of work around exothermic reactions, to melt rock and casing to create a barrier.”
"One of the things I find so challenging is using the formation as a barrier. The solution is varied- using rock to seal is one of the best approach but it is tricky to demonstrate that each rock formation is sufficient enough to act as a barrier. We've seen efforts to recreate and re-mineralise formations within the well, but it's far ahead, in the future."
Bruce Trader, President of MADCON Corporation, contributed, "One company we're working with are a resin manufacturer in Louisiana. Resins have been considered for a while but they're working with the weight and density to improve the cost effectiveness."
"We are discussing how to use salt and rock as a barrier- it's not easier, but we are discussing it in Petrobras and with our clients- the challenge is to be sure we're doing it in a safe way," concluded Daniel Muller, Manager of Well and Subsea Integrity at Petrobras.
As part of the Offshore Well Intervention Latin America conference Martin Tardio Velasco, Regional Subsea Services and Wellheads Director at Baker Hughes, led a panel of experts to explore the uptake of riserless light well intervention (RLWI) in Brazil could be developed, what benefits it could bring to the industry there, and what are the obstacles standing in the way.
Setting the scene
Velasco opened the session with a short presentation on current state of the RLWI market and the offshore industry in Brazil. He noted that, according to Rystad estimations, the break even price on downstream projects had dropped to US$50 per barrel, down 10% in the last two years. In Brazil specifically, the break even price had dropped 30% in 2014-2018, falling a further 15% since then. Lower break even prices favour less drilling and maximising production from existing wells and this reduction has also largely been driven by innovations within the oil and gas industry.
Combined, these factors make an ideal setting for RLWI, a method of intervening subsea wells bringing operation efficiency, lower rates and overall much lower costs compared to semi-subs.
Velasco commented, “RLWI vessel days are rising across the globe. Brazil, however, is still somewhat of a virgin territory for it. We see a huge opportunity there and we think the market will change in that direction. The country has around 600 christmas trees installed outside of the last ten years and the significant age leaves room for both enhancement and P&A, especially from RLWI vessels.”
Switching to RLWI
Matthew Vick, Senior Subsea Wells Engineer, BP, noted that he had noticed a real shift to riserless in the last three/four years and his company had been making use of this method in regions such as the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and Angola as the relaxed cost pressures (and the speed of mobilisation) makes it a much more economical solution.
He added that working in Angola would be similar to Brazil as there was a lack of expertise around RLWI. To patch this hole in the talent pool, BP took supervisors from the region to GOM to gain experience with the equipment.
Vick commented, “Most of the skills we need are available in the country from wireline tubing to pumping etc ‒ this is the standard bread and butter. It is just a small piece around well control equipment which is the last step. It takes some time to build that on experience but you can get there by identifying key individuals and building their experience in other regions.”
Echoeing these sentiments, Colin Nicol, Senior Operations Leader, Baker Hughes, said, “It is hard to take on new technology in less mature regions and sub-Saharan Africa is a good example. There are experience gaps, onshore and offshore so you need to identify the prevailing skills similar to the ones you need and identify the core people to train. We work with regional people but it has also be necessary to supplement them with senior personnel from GOM etc. Ultimately, we want people from the region to be comfortable with the assets prior to it arriving and make it sustainable in order to bleed back the amount of experienced people we need to parachute in. At some point you can then step away and make the region self-sufficient for RLWI operations.”
Velasco added, “There is a wide talent pool in Brazil and it has usually been quick to set up new technology. An example is the evolution of deepwater where it is now exporting talent for deepwater operations and I see similar potential with RLWI.”
P&A opportunities
Another opportunity for RLWI comes in the form of vessel availability. Nicol noted that the renewable market is gradually eating into the vessels used by the oil and gas industry and are using them on long term contracts. Particularly popular is larger vessels with bigger decks and high capacity cranes. With competition over rigs bound to drive prices higher, many operators may well turn to lighter vessels in order to enhance production on their assets or fulfil their obligations around P&A.
Continuing on the topic of P&A, Velasco commented, “In Brazil we still have some room to catch up in terms of P&Aing wells, a lot often get delayed. We foresee that with new regulations inbound this work will start picking up.”
The panellists noted that this trend could spell further opportunities for RLWI in Brazil as lighter vessels are able to perform such operations more efficiently and quicker, resulting on cost saving on what is traditionally an expensive venture. Additionally, RLWI capabilities are rapidly advancing. New technology allows RLWI to perform lower completion abandonment, cut and prep for pulling tubing and even tools to allow cement barriers to be placed across multiple annuli, making them a more viable option to rig based vessels.
Enhanced HSE
With ageing wells in Brazil also comes the problem that many were not designed to support the weight of some of the newer rigs entering operations. This can cause potential problems if the stress cannot be supported, a challenge much less severe to RLWI vessels.
Vick added that there are many other HSE advantages of utilising RLWI over rig-based operations. He noted that, for instance, on rigs personnel are much more exposed to hydrocarbons, often around ten metres from potentially flammable gas etc. Whereas on RLWI the well is isolated to the tree itself and the only hydrocarbons coming to surface is when taking the lubricator out or residue gas from testing. This is a big HSE risk reduction and improvement in personnel safety.
Maggie Demicco, Manager of Business Development & Product Management at Parker LORD, sat down with Offshore Network to discuss how the company’s flexible joint product line, a solution typically reserved for drilling applications, is bringing value to the well intervention market.
While engineers at Parker LORD have predominantly focused their efforts on drilling applications (with products such as telescopic joint packers which are all certified and fielded on many rigs around the world), Demicco described how the company has ventured into the well intervention market, spearheaded by their flexible joint solution. Demicco stated, “This really came about by accident in some ways. Flexible joints are very common in drilling applications but had not been used in intervention applications.
“This particular unique application has a high pressure rating, higher than most flexible joints used in drilling applications. We also envisioned a solution that was compact as intervention vessels are smaller than drilling rigs and this is why it is helpful to have the flexible joint 2 metres high or less as opposed to say 5 metres or more for a stress joint. In doing so you are able to handle higher pressures with a more compact package in that case."
Demicco also described how, with flexible joints installed at the top, operators impart less of a moment on the entire riser system. Flexible joints accommodate any angular offset, much like a ball joint, so less moment is imparted into vessel structure and riser. This allows for benefits such as being able to operate more on the edge of where you could before with a stress joint, such as further off station or in rougher weather.
So far, Helix has fielded three units of this solution, the first two went into service as early as 2017, the third in 2018, and it is also being utilised in a subsea mining application, to enter service next year.
Unlocking value in challenging environments
While the flexible joint can bring benefits in the form of cost saving and safety benefits HSE, it also opens up new opportunities for operators and service providers which were previously restricted by stress joints.
For instance, Demicco commented, “If you have an intervention vessel or rig doing riser-based interventions in deeper water, say 900 metres or more, you’ve got a longer riser and that inherently is more flexible by being longer. In such applications there is less of a need for flexible joints. But if you are in shallower water like 300 metres or less, the riser is a lot shorter so it is more rigid in nature. If you have a stiffer riser system, you put more stress into the wellhead itself at the bottom and into the vessel at the top. In that case flexible joints can provide a lot more benefit with those shorter, stiffer risers if installed at the top and the bottom.”
Demicco added that the flexible joints are even more beneficial when placed at the top and bottom of a riser. Such an advantage could be incredibly useful in regions such as the North Sea which does not only have shallower waters but also rougher sea conditions and a lot of very old wellheads which have undergone multiple interventions over the years. Demicco noted, “Having a flexible joint here would help reduce the stress when you’ve got older wellheads you don’t want to replace, ensuring the field will keep producing.”
While companies such have Helix have not yet incorporated this, Parker LORD sees this as the next step which could provide even more flexibility to potentially expand operation limits even further.
Safety first
At Parker LORD, HSE is considered paramount and reducing risk is inherent in the solutions they offer, as is the case in the flexible joint.
Demicco noted, “One feature of our flexible joint is that it has two separate flexible elements, based on the different way we approach flexible joint design. One flexible element is doing the work of a seal bearing, sealing against intervention fluids. The other one is designed to handle the riser loads and the bending moments. However, while each is designed to do its primary function, if something was to happen, and a seal bearing were to fail, you have the load bearing as a secondary sealing mechanism.
“There is also a sensor between the two barriers to measure the pressure in the cavity which should read as zero in normal operations. If the pressure increases in that cavity, it the sensor will alert you if a failure has happened in the seal bearing, and then you can change it out when you have a convenient opportunity in operations. We consider that a dual barrier, a belt and suspender approach.”
Other solutions on offer
Also on the menu for well intervention operations are Parker LORD’s customisable Gimbal Bearing Assemblies, which, as Demicco outlined, have a similar story in that they were in use on drilling rigs. These are used while running a riser, below the spider and accommodate the vessel motion and support the load of the riser along with whatever equipment is connected.
Demicco said, “If you want to have a Gimbal on an intervention vessel you are often constrained on space so you can’t use an extremely large and stiff 72 inch 1.8 metres wide Gimbal in that case. This is another story where we took a product successful in drilling applications and modified it for an intervention application. Whether more space constrained, required lower stiffness, or the angles are different from drilling application, our engineer from that product line came up with ingenious design tool to take customer inputs for each application and quickly revise the equipment to adjust the parameters on the fly with for the customer.”
Opportunity on the horizon
Demicco added that the company is continuing to explore solutions across the sector, including within the well intervention space. She said, “We know how to design elastomer parts and mitigate shock and vibration. We are talking to customers to find out what their big issues are in those spaces and we typically try and target the problems other people can’t solve, have failed to solve, or unwilling to solve for whatever reason. When we talk to customers about their problems we are asking: Is there some elastomer product that’s failing too quickly and you want to extend the life or are you trying to solve a problem in a non-elastomer way? Is there some other solution we can design using elastomer to solve the problem?"
In regards to the flexible joint, Demicco added that the next step is to get this more widespread, as the hard work has been done. “We have set up this market-based product and the big initial step and cost (getting the mould to manufacture the moulded flexible elements) has been taken. We’ve got that and once we’ve validated that design to the API standard, established our manufacturing processes, that’s really the most important thing. After that it is easier to modify and package those flexible elements differently depending on the customer application. We have the mould, have capacity on the equipment, now just a matter of finding people willing to adopt it and working with them to make modest tweaks to suit their application.”
Maggie Demicco handles Product Management and Business Development for the Oil & Gas business unit of Parker LORD. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Babson College.
Tracerco, part of Johnson Matthey Plc, will provide asset integrity data for an operator in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to extend the life of over 18 risers.
Tracerco will deploy Discovery, a subsea computed tomography (CT) scanner designed for external scanning of pipelines and which operates along the same general principles as CT scanners used in hospitals.
With environmental concerns posing question marks over continued drilling in the longer term, many operators are keen to ensure that their fields are capable of producing for a much longer period of time, a phenomenon buoyed by new methods of oil and gas extraction allowing them to do so. As such, operators are looking for methods to monitor and verify their risers’ condition to ensure ongoing integrity and extend their operational life.
For life extension, regulators typically require a physical inspection to ensure the condition of the riser and CT, a technique to accurately and non-intrusively see through an item, can provide this information.
Technologies using CT, such as Discovery, provide operators with valuable inspection data on the entire pipeline, spanning the range from product to coating and all areas in between.
It is a non-intrusive external scanning technique and is easily capable of scanning through several inches of pipeline steel with no requirement to remove any protective coating, regardless of thickness and material.
Jim Bramlett, Commercial Manager North America for Tracerco, commented, “Tracerco was the first company to develop a subsea CT system and still holds the fundamental patent for the concept of subsea CT scanning dating back to 2011. Over the years since, Discovery has incorporated numerous additional patented innovations for optimising the system.”
Discovery will be used to inspect the risers and determine whether they can be extended past their original design life by gathering real time data on a variety of integrity issues including pipeline corrosion, pitting and wall thinning. This will allow the operator to work with the local authorities to get their permit extended and potentially realise billions in continued revenues from the asset.
“Discovery provides the integrity insights to know the unknown enabling critical decisions regarding life extension to be made,” added Bramlett. “It does this while the risers are still in full operation. No need to interfere with production.”
MatthewsDaniel, a global leader in specialist services for the marine and energy industries and applicable insurers, will open a new office in Aberdeen to enhance its offering to North Sea clients.
David Cox, MatthewsDaniel CEO, commented, “We see this move as one that will enable us to not only better serve our valuable North Sea clients, but also grow the organisation in an important market.
“Aberdeen and the North Sea have a rich oil and gas history, and we are excited to play a part in the next chapter of that story as organisations look towards field and asset decommissioning, as well as renewable energy.”
Cox continued, “The focus of this new office will be on the execution of our North Sea and European marine warranty surveying (MWS) and risk assessment operations, with the region possessing the expertise required to deliver rapid solutions to our clients in this key offshore energy hub.
“These are exciting times for the North Sea, and opening this office is an investment in the industry and the skills that the workforce here have. I have no doubt our new office in Aberdeen will enhance our already strong relationships with our existing clients, as well as future ones.”
Staff will work alongside colleagues from Bureau Veritas and Bureau Veritas Solutions Marine and Offshore, giving them access to a greater depth of resources, including engineering and maritime assurance expertise.
MatthewsDaniel’s experts are world-renowned in conducting specialist technical reviews both onshore and offshore for critical project phases and activities, employing a well-researched and quality-assured approach to identify and advise on measures to mitigate and minimise risk.
At OWI EU Jonathan Owens, Director, Oil and Gas at Parker LORD, sat down for a virtual fireside chat with Neil Greig, Sales Manager at Helix, to discuss the blossoming relationship that has emerged between the two companies in recent years, culminated by Helix’s use of flexible joints, designed and manufactured by Parker LORD.
Owens opened the discussion by explaining how the relationship between the two companies began when, in 2017, Helix started implementing its Integrated Tension Frame (ITF) onto a number of its vessels. With this step, the company soon discovered that the frame required more flexibility and approached Parker LORD for a solution for their Siem Helix 2 vessel which was operating in Brazil and the Well Enhancer in the UK.
Going into more detail, Greig explained that across their assets they faced a challenge of sheer loading rather than bending. For the Well Enhancer, they developed a system to allow risers to run in relatively shallow depths (80m-200m) ‒ a compensated coil tubing lift frame or dynamic lift frame. This had two integral pistons forming part of the compensation system which worked to an extent but encountered issues with seal designs in the system and potential twisting of the frame due to side loading. A side effect of this was wear inside the pistons which ultimately resulted in the system not moving smoothly and a crabbing effect.
To mitigate these issues, Helix shortened the frame, rigidised it and replaced the two pistons with a single cylinder above, reducing the potential two fail points to one. Despite noticeable improvements, this was still not enough and it was at this point that the company decided to approach Parker LORD who advised the introduction of a flex joint to the system. Sitting just below the frame, this reduced the side loads going into it, everything moved in a smooth linear fashion and, after post job analysis, there was no sign of wear.
Owens took over and noted that additional, “Flexible joints at the top and bottom of a riser on a drilling rig and for diverter flexible joints are very common in drilling to reduce the side loads on the wellhead and accommodate being offset from the drill centre but is not so common on the intervention side. Typically stress joints are relied on for transition. The challenge with an intervention riser versus a drilling riser is obviously higher pressures, small footprints to bear the load of the riser weights, and intervention fluids like solvents.”
“So what we did was divide the work of the two flex elements, one called the load bearing, a flex element, to take the axial load and the fatigue aspects of the work; the seal bearing on the ID is a smaller flex element to handle the pressure and the intervention fluids. One advantage of doing that is we created a redundancy in the system because the pressure housing and the load bearing can take the 10,000psi operation pressure too, so you get a dual-barrier system.
Greig added, “The key point is that instead of using a stress joint which have to effectively be bespoke depending on well conditions, water depths, etc, the flexible joint has a wider range of operations without adjustments which makes it a more cost efficient option."
Entering shallow waters
The two speakers noted that with regions such as the North Sea, shallower waters makes it a much more challenging environment for riser-based well intervention operations and fatigue sensitive wellheads are often a key issue.
But adding flexible joints to the top and bottom of the riser, as Owens demonstrated, helps with the stiffness transition and reduces the loading onto the wellhead to avoid some of the challenging situations such operations can pose.
Greig said, “We certainly will rely on the flexible joint for the upper section as a practical solution to countering those high sheer forces and bending forces. In such environments everything is highly utilised so whatever solution you have in place it is critical you get it right. The flexible joint protects this equipment with the topside one and there is similar argument that you would be protecting the equipment subsea with the lower one. In deep water, such as 1300m, things are a lot more forgiving but it is a much more critical situation at 85m and we certainly wouldn’t be able to entertain them without the flex joint in the system.”
Ensuring safe operations
Following the discussion, Offshore Network spoke to Craig Tennant, Engineering Manager ‒ Riser Systems at Helix Energy Solutions for more on the company’s relationship with Parker LORD and the improvements the flexible joint has brought to their operations.
Tennant commented, “The flexible joint allowed for a small but useful increase in operating envelopes which allowed for safe operations. This is especially important for a failure scenario to ensure we can disconnect the riser before the vessel drifts off station and exceeds allowable structural limits.”
“We use the flexible joint for riser-based operations on the Q7000 and Well Enhancer with a similar set up to the Siem Helix vessels. The addition of the flexible joint on the Well Enhancer has reduced the transfer of loads into the Coiled Tubing Lift Frame with the aim to minimise bending stresses within the frame.”
On the solution opening opportunities in shallower waters, Tennant said, “Introducing a flexible joint alleviates the high reaction forces resisted at surface and improves our working envelope using the existing equipment. The flexible joint is one part of a suite of components and practices that allow us to achieve shallow water operations. Shallow water operations open up riser-based operations where previously only open water wireline operations were available. These are generally located around coastal UK, i.e. central North Sea, but open up potential worldwide such as Brazil and Australia.”
Tennant noted that his company have a campaign planned with Cooper Energy in 2022/2023 in Australia where the Q7000 vessel, with flexible joints on board, will be deployed. He added that it is likely that they will also be operating with riser-based systems in the North Sea next year with the flexible joint as an integral part of the riser stack.
Presenting in a virtual webinar at OWI LATAM 2021, Bhargava Ram Gundemoni, 3M Global Solutions Specialist, showcased how operators can enhance their oil and gas production and how better sand control can lead to better productivity and profitability.
Beginning the presentation Ram spoke about simplified sand control and the general key performance drivers in sand control selection which are reducing equipment and personnel footprint, risk reduction to enhance safety and durability and finally, operational excellence - for increased productivity and increased return on investments.
Challenges and current market needs
The general market needs are to increase productivity for less cost and achieve less risk to failure. Traditional practices used for the Sand Control Selection (SCS) process are based on mature technologies and methodologies that often fail to meet the key performance drivers. Mature technologies often rely on a metallic filter media which is used as the mechanical sand control barrier downhole. Metallics filter media metrologically has erosion limits that constrict the boundary condition of hydrocarbon productivity. If a more erosion resistant filter material can be utilised, the upper safe operational window can be extended limiting the risk of erosional failure and hot spotting of the downhole sand control system whilst optimising asset recovery where possible. In addition, offering greater longevity to downhole sand control through a material change reduces the reported millions of dollars companies employ in repairing wells with failed sand control.
Disrupting the traditional sand control approach
The solution is a change of metallic filter media to ceramic filter media of the screen. This has been achieved by integrating a full-body ceramic part in the form of rings on a pre-perforated base pipe on to which ceramic rings are stacked and hold with two end caps and with an external shroud on top. The stack of ceramic rings creates a slot opening which is designed for the application spec-in and the ceramic material at the inflow offers erosion resistance and therefore mitigating the hotspotting potential ‒ allowing the operator a wider operating window of productivity.
Ceramic Sand Screens have been proved by deployment in the industry both in green fields and in intervention wells, delivering operators Operational simplicity, Reduced HSE Risk at lower Capex delivering higher productivity. In some cases, Ceramic Sand Screens has been an enabling technology to unlock production potential with faster return on Investments.
Standardised field-wide approach with simplified stand-alone screen sand control
Ceramic Sand Screens unlocks the operator methodology to achieve a simplified and standardised sand control approach in wide range of reservoir conditions and well architecture as downhole sand control system in OH, cased hole on a rig or through tubing rigless applications. Ceramic Sand Screens have been deployed and delivered success in applications with homogenous, heterogeneous, well-sorted to poorly sorted, low to high fines reservoir of sand properties.
Uphole recompletion using ceramic sand screens in the Latin Americas.
Customer challenges:
The operator posed challenges such as recompleting an interval by installing a sand control through existing completion without the removal of tubing or utilisation of a” big rig”-side track. The well contained high gas rates, high flux velocity and impingement velocity through short net target zones which were expected. Non-uniform, unconsolidated sandstones, and aggressive nature of sand due to its morphology was also a critical factor in planning.
Solution:
A simple stand-alone screen solution to withstand high gas rates and across the perforations with cost-effective and deployment on a rigless wireline deployment method. The operator defined erosion testing to prove 200ft/s flux velocity prior to the sand pack.
Results and Value creation:
Adding more than 100mn scuffs per day (MMSCFD) to the asset from the zones left behind casing improved productivity and the results showed low skin of just one after 1.5 years of production and in some cases, zero skin was also recorded.
This application was further replicated in seven gas and two oil production wells with high production from short, perforated zones with flux velocity calculated to be 100 to 120 ft/s.
Low capex and high productivity: Marginal fields in Indonesia with ceramic sand screens
Customer challenge:
The operator had to deal with marginal reserves with stacked reservoirs - a challenging low-cost environment. The expected production rates from short, perforated interval leads to high flux velocity and under heterogenous sand particle distribution increases the risk to erosion failure. A downhole sand control solution required to address these challenges. A rigless deployable solution was critical to meet field economics.
3M solution:
Proven high erosion and hot spotting resistant ceramic screens enabled the operator to set the screens across the perforation zone deployed on slickline with one or two pup joints to space out the lower completion depending on perforation interval.
Value creation:
The operator achieved cost savings of up to 70% compared to the previous sand control approach. Diverging from traditional sand control methodology, embracing ceramic sand screens technology as a solution approach in a heterogenous sand particle distribution, not only drove savings on CAPEX but also enabled increase of reservoir deliverability by more than 200% of average cumulative gas produced, High erosion resistant screen properties were a key technology driver in this performance. With a more simplified and faster deployment methodology this approach has enabled the operator to maximise operational excellence in activating more wells in a year. Ceramic sand screens are now considered as standardised sand control technology and methodology within their assets.
As of August 31 2021, 3M has completed 115 installations for sand control with users consisting of 50% oil producers and 50% gas producers. According to 3M, the product also meets ISO 17824 / API 19SS Standards.
To learn more about Ceramic Sand Screens, visit https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/oil-and-gas-us/ceramic-sand-screens/
If interested in such a simplified solution to unlock the production potential assets by addressing sand control challenges, contact Bhargava Ram Gundemoni:
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