PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY: Electronically controlled completion method monitors from a single line
The InCharge system, an intelligent completion method from Baker Oil Tools, electronically controls valves and variable chokes from a single line, plus it allows operators to monitor up to 12 zones in a single well. Although currently installed onshore Brazil, the system is undergoing preparations for deepwater application in 2002.
System make-up
The heart of the InCharge system is the RPI valve. The RPI chokes the production flow from the reservoir into the production tubing. Each of the RPI valves, which are the main components of the InCharge system, has onboard pressure temperature gauges. One gauge measures the tubing pressure, and one measures the temperature in the annulus, outside of the valve. Flow meters installed in the tubing continuously monitor the flow so that operators can accurately set the choke using real-time feedback from the position of the valve.
For example, if an operator wants five square inches of flow area, the system allows the exact flow to be set from a computer. There are onboard pressure sensors to adjust the valve to a specific draw down to allow the reservoir engineer to meet production goals. If an operator running a model needs a 221 psi draw done in zone No. 3, he or she can set the computer and adjust the valve until it is set exactly where it needs to be. Changes can be made from any location worldwide. This becomes an issue when wells go through different reservoirs at different pressures because the oil can be produced and co-mingled into one string to bring it up to the surface. This is a feature that had not been available before, said Kevin Jones, Senior Manager, System Development for Intelligent Well Systems Group at Baker Oil Tools.
There are several competing systems that use a combination of electronics and hydraulics through a subsea wellhead or subsea tree into the subsea architecture, making negotiations among vendors difficult, Jones explained. It can be expensive and time-consuming to sort out the specifics with vendors about the hydraulic and electronic lines. With the InCharge system, power and communications are both on a single electrical cable. Conventionally, industry standards use high accuracy quartz-based pressure temperature sensors. In standard methods, mechanically operated sliding sleeves are put in wells to manage production from different intervals, which require operators to go in with either slick lines or coiled tubing and physically shift the valve from one position to another. It is time-consuming and expensive to connect the well to the riser and run the slick line or coil tubing down to make the shifts. Therefore, operators find it more efficient to control the valves to change positions electronically from their computers.
Trial-run in Brazil
The InCharge system has been installed in a land well in Mossoró, Northeast Brazil for approximately four months, since rig costs for land wells are significantly lower than deepwater rig costs. If the system proves successful, it will be retrieved, inspected, re-addressed and moved to Macaé Rio de Janiero. Petrobras plans to have it run in a deepwater well sometime during 2002. However, installing this system in a deepwater well will be a challenge because it will be installed from a floating drillship. What most interested Petrobras in this development, besides its all-electric concept, was the ability to create settings through a single penetration in the wellhead, allowing installation in every subsea well with support for a pressure downhole gauge. Another attractive feature was the system's ability to be run together with any kind of artificial lift method and allow the production string to be replaced without being retrieved, a Petrobras representative said.
Future Contracts
No firm contracts have been formed concerning the InCharge system, other than the one signed with Petrobras. However, many companies have shown interest and have been communicating with the service company about the system for the last three years, since the development of the InCharge equipment. Interest has risen from companies in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the Middle East. Now that the trial-run has been successful thus far, many more companies have become interested, such as Norsk Hydro in Norway, Shell, and BP.
The project, which began five years ago, has been the largest research and development project within Baker Oil Tools. The system was developed in partnership with sister company Baker Atlas. Baker Atlas designed and developed the electronics and communications, while Baker Oil Tools designed the equipment, including the completion and mechanical components of the valves and the actuator sections.
