Advanced Technology

Leonard LeBlanc
Houston

Expert-on-line, remote maintenance reaching stride

The use of satellite video and data transmission to move images and information makes it possible to trouble-shoot problems and maintain equipment without having to transport experts out to remote sites. For several years now, Wartsila of Finland has had the ability to tap into individual diesel engine data monitors around the world, trouble shoot a problem, and move replacement parts to the location from the nearest supply facility. If a video of the problem area is needed, then the images can be transmitted. If a site engineer needs a parts catalog on line, that can be brought on-line, occupying just a portion of the video picture.

Emergency medical care is another beneficiary of satellite video consultation. Video images with attached vital signs of patients or injured persons can be transmitted to physicians at medical facilities thousands of miles away. This allows the best medical help to be brought on line quickly.

Manufacturers are beginning to send equipment and systems out with condition monitoring computers built-in. At any point in the preventative maintenance cycle or following a problem, on-site workers can plug a device into the computer to spool the real-time or accumulated data and transmit to a service center where experts are standing by.

The process frequently eliminates the initial service call, allows untrained workers to assist in trouble shooting, and sends the repair crew to the site with the right replacement parts and equipment.

Mapping subsalt pore pressure volumes

The ability to map pore pressure volumes under salt bodies is extremely important to hydrocarbon prospecting for two reasons: (1) It helps decide whether subsalt hydrocarbons are present before drilling an expensive well. (2) Drillers can prepare the correct fluid system, casing location, and bottom hole assembly for the subsalt lithological regime.

Most of the costs incurred when drilling a subsalt well take place when the drill bit emerges from the salt body and penetrates the pressure regime immediately below it. Diamond Geophysical Research of Tulsa says it has found a way to mitigate those costs through mapping of the 3D pore-pressure volume, allowing the prediction of the pore pressure and lithology. (See article on page 64 of this issue.)

Water oxidation under study for CO₂ injection stream

Current methods of using carbon dioxide (CO₂) for enhanced recovery injection require piping the gas from a well producing CO₂ or transporting it in tankage. If not available nearby, then gas, water, or steam was considered. Weismantel International of Kingwood, Texas may have a method of producing it at the wellsite with reasonable economy.

The firm is studying the use of supercritical water oxidation to develop CO₂, using a small portion of the output from an oil, gas, or gas liquids well to sustain the operation. Oxygen is injected into a reactor with a carbon-hydrogen-oxygen compound, producing water and CO₂ with 99.99% efficiency.

Virtual reality used to inspect riser tunnel under Troll

Using a simulation program and a live remotely operating vehicle, Norske Shell will use virtual reality to inspect parts of its riser tunnel system at the base of the Troll gas platform. The risers enter the platform at a depth of 620 ft. through long risers. The remotely operated vehicle will be guided by the software through the tunnel area, and the live film will be superimposed on a computer generated model of the tunnel. The result will be a graphic replica of the site and the exact location of leaks or other problems.

Lower cost surface hardening developed

The difficulties of surface hardening programs involve the high cost or use of costly heavy metals or anticorrosive alloys. On pipe and bit surfaces that wear quickly, surface treatment can become too expensive. Sandia Laboratories (Los Alamos, New Mexico) and Cornell University (New York) have developed what they claim is a low cost surface treatment program.

The method uses high-energy, pulsed ion beams to deposit energy to the top 2-50 micros of a material. The ultra-high-wattage power lasts 0.1 microseconds and melts the top layer. The melted material cools in microseconds, providing a beam deposition rate of 120 times per second.

AT Briefs. . .

3D depth slice from pore-pressure volume for pressure-transition mapping. [Courtesy Diamond Geoscience Research Corp.]
An electric water-oil separator that uses pulsed DC rather than AC current (electro-pulse inductive coalescer) to handle water ratios as high as 75% has been developed by Bradford University (UK).
A photoacoustic monitor to measure oil content ppm in produced water discharge has been developed by the Heriot-Watt University's physics department, Napier University's electronic engineering department, and Speyside Electronics, all of Scotland.
Reservoir simulation software to model gas and condensate flows and the changes in permeability during production is under development by AEA Technology of Didcot, UK.
A extrudable polypropylene syntactic foam coating (carizite) that can maintain insulating properties for pipelines exposed to temperature extremes has been developed by Shell Chemicals UK.
A field testing system that can measure hydrocarbon contamination in soil in less than 30 minutes has been developed by Shell Research (Sittingbourne, UK).
A production flow transported, battery-powered detector that uses 896 transducers to detect cracks in pipelines as small as 0.5 millimeters has been developed by Pipetronix (Karlsruhe, Germany, Fraunhofer Institute (Saarbrchen, Germany), and Fraunhofer Technology (Stuttgart, Germany).
A zirconium tungstate ceramic (tungsten, oxygen, zirconium) that shrinks steadily up to a temperature of 1,000 degrees C has been developed by Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, New York).
A simulation program to predict the probability of failure of a pipeline corrosion control system (cathodic protection and coatings) has been developed by Cranfield University (Bedford, UK).