Fourteen oil and gas operators, service providers and vendors have approved an updated recommended practice for electric intelligent wells.

The Intelligent Well Interface Standardisation (IWIS) joint venture project is led by OTM Networks, part of the R&D consultancy Sagentia Innovation.

It was formed to pursue standardization of certain features of intelligent well technologies, enabling interoperability between different vendors.

Participants in the joint venture are operators AkerBP, bp, Equinor, Petrobras, Shell and TotalEnergies; and suppliers Baker Hughes, Emerson, Halliburton, Metrol, SLB OneSubsea, TechnipFMC, Teledyne and Weatherford.

IWIS 2.0 updates the original recommendations to support increased take-up of advanced electric completions: these require more power and more intricate integration with subsea control and communication systems.

The new version includes recommendations for power, communications and mechanical interfaces, and various safety and redundancy suggestions.

Among the proposed changes is an IWE interface module, to be supplied by downhole equipment vendors. This would offer a standardised package for the larger, high-power interface electronics required by advanced electric completions, while also permitting greater design flexibility and simplifying integration and qualification.

The updated practice, which followed 18 months of collaboration, is intended to support future revisions to API 17F Annex G for electric completions.

It was also developed with a view to alignment with Subsea Instrumentation Interface Standardisation (SIIS) Level 3, which is being updated to level 3.1 and will include T1L Ethernet communications.

 “Creating common ground between operators and technology companies is really important,” said Shreekant Mehta, SVP, Energy Sector at Sagentia Innovation.

“By working together, they have developed recommended practice that reflects the realities of intelligent well applications, technologies and operating environments.

“IWIS 2.0 will help reduce duplication and integration effort, providing a practical route for new intelligent well technologies to work within evolving subsea architectures.”