Exxon licenses Alternate Path technology to Weatherford

Aug. 28, 2013
ExxonMobil Upstream Research has awarded Weatherford International a limited international license to use the Alternate Path gravel packing cased and open hole completion technology.

Offshore staff

HOUSTON –ExxonMobil Upstream Research (ExxonMobil--NYSE:XOM) has awarded Weatherford International (NYSE:WFT) a limited international license to use the Alternate Path gravel packing cased and open hole completion technology.

The license allows Weatherford to produce and deploy Alternate Path technology for ExxonMobil affiliates around the world and for ventures in which ExxonMobil participates.

Alternate Path is a patented technology developed by ExxonMobil to improve the reliability of wells completed in sand-prone reservoirs. Alternate Path provides alternate flow paths, called shunt tubes in the downhole tool used for packing gravel in the producing sections of a well. Shunt tubes enable the Alternate Path packing operation to continue when sand prematurely blocks the well annulus, which would stop a conventional packing operation. The shunt tubes divert the gravel slurry around sand blockages and through distributed portholes to fill voids in the annulus until a complete pack is in place.

8/28/2013