Frank Hartley, Houston
T-3 Energy designs double ram subsea BOP
T-3 Energy Services Inc. has designed and manufactured the T-3 Diamond series model 6012 subsea double ram blowout preventer fitted with subsea compact tandem booster bonnets and casing shear bonnets. The prototype has completed evaluations and factory acceptance testing.
The company says this is the first of four sets of subsea compact tandem booster bonnets for shearing sealing rams for the T-3 model 6012 subsea BOPs scheduled to be shipped.
T-3 Energy designs double ram subsea BOP.
This subsea BOP is available in an 18 3/4-in. (48-cm) bore size and is designed for 10,000 psi working pressure blowout preventers with hydraulically actuated mechanical locks, as well as T-3 proprietary compact tandem booster bonnets and blind shear rams.
“In conjunction with the support of major drilling contractors, we have designed proprietary products ... which add a subsea line of products to our traditional surface drilling products,” says Gus D. Halas, T-3 Energy’s chairman, president, and CEO. “This period of time for T-3 marks a defining moment for us.”
Roxar launches subsurface modeling solution
Roxar has launched its next generation structural modeling solution, which includes an intuitive user interface, new fault and horizon modeling tools, and improved 3D and integrated simulation gridding.
The company says that the suite of structural modeling tools, which will be fully integrated with the IRAP RMS reservoir modeling program, enables users to reduce the time required to build a structural framework, to create high quality grids for reservoir modeling and simulation, and to improve simulation results for accurate predictions of production.
According to the company, the structural modeling tools also enables a wide range of antithetic and synthetic fault intersections to be modeled, including Y faults, lambda faults, K faults, as well as crossing conjugate or X faults. Fault truncations can be automatically and interactively defined in 3D.
Horizontal wells also are addressed. These wells often contain limited well picks, resulting in horizon surfaces erroneously crossing the horizontal section of the well. The structural modeling can use the information from a zone log to control the horizon surfaces and to ensure that the structural framework honors all the information from horizontal wells, without pseudo data.
The company explains that poor field development planning as a result of incomplete structural models can affect the operators’ return. In the North Sea, for example, reserves have increased or decreased by more than 50% in about half the fields. This has led to drilling 60 to 80% more wells than originally anticipated in the field development planning process, directly affecting the financial return of each project.
“Increasing operators’ ability to build or update structural reservoir models accurately and rapidly is one of the most significant productivity enhancement opportunities available in reservoir management today,” says Gunnar Hviding, Roxar CEO.
Red Spider launches intelligent downhole flow control product
Red Spider Technology has a new intelligent downhole flow control product named electronic remote equalization device (eRED). The downhole intervention tool is designed to maximize production and recovery rates in that it can be opened and closed repeatedly after deployment. This allows the operator to perform applications without further interventions.
The company says the eRED features user-programmable electronics and sensors that allow the operator to customize the tool to the demands of the situation. It also has onboard data analysis capability. This allows it to differentiate between actual commands and changes caused by natural fluctuations; as a result, the valve should not open unless instructed.
“The eRED will open only when specific criteria are met - it monitors external factors such as increasing hydrostatic pressure and recognizes the difference between these and the operator’s directions,” says Gary Smith, marketing manger. “It remains unaffected by pressure from below the barrier. If conditions in the reservoir change, the device adapts to these and remains operational, even if the user is unsure of the potential pressures in the reservoir below.”
The device incorporates Red Spider’s rotational ball valve technology with a sealing mechanism that reduces the possibility of the valve being forced open by external pressures.
It can be used for a variety of purposes including completion deployment, packer setting/TCP gun firing, and zonal isolation. It is suitable for extended reach or horizontal wells where the retrieval of a carrying device may prove to be a problem. It also can be shallow-set for tree testing and change out, or deep-set for packer setting and tubing testing, the company says. It also allows the operator to pressure test the well prior to fracing or a simulation operation.
“The eRED device can be run in either the open or closed position,” says Smith. “The tool would be run closed typically, acting as a retaining barrier capable of containing pressures of up to 7,500 psi (52 MPa) in either direction, but it can also be run open and programmed to close when specific criteria are met.”
BJ updates Dyna-Coil injection systems
BJ Services has released a new line of Dyna-Coil capillary injection systems. The artificial lift technology uses small diameter capillary strings through well tubing to feed specialty chemicals, water, and solvents to aid production. The capillary strings can be run to depths of 22,000 ft (6,705 m).
According to BJ Services, more than 7,000 capillary strings using Dyna-Coil technology have been installed throughout Canada and the US, including Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
The product features InjectSafe wireline retrievable or tubing retrievable SCSSVs (surface-controlled subsurface safety valves). Both designs allow operators to feed chemicals through a capillary system without violating the integrity of the SCSSV.
“Using this system offshore we can economically treat a number of production-related issues,” says Umberto Micheli, region manager of Europe and Africa for BJ Services’ well services division. “For example, wells with liquid loading, salting, scaling, or hydrate problems now can be treated with precision, at the perforations, without pulling the tubing to install a capillary string.”
Hybrid membrane technology improves drilling efficiency
Total Separation Solutions (TSS) has specified DuPont Hybrid Membrane Technology (HMT) media for filters used to clean oil field completion fluids. TSS, whose investors include Shell Technology Ventures, provides products and equipment for increased productivity and environmentally responsible processing of oil field fluids, the company says.
“The DuPont HMT nanofiber has two advantages over existing filtration media,” says Kevin Smith, founder of TSS. “First, its flow rate allows completion fluids to be pumped at a higher rate, and time is money on an offshore rig. Additionally, these fluids are often contaminated and you need 0.5 micron filtration to remove particles. Although there are other 0.5 micron media in the marketplace, what they provide in filtration, they sacrifice in flow rate. DuPont HMT has been shown to offer the best combination of filtration and flow rate.”
According to the company, this filter media is comprised of continuous sub-micron polymeric filaments.
