Mission Certainty and Operational Efficiency Transforming the Energy Industry

Operators in well-intervention are changing their operations, compelling equipment manufacturers and service providers to seek new solutions.

FREMONT, CA: Experts and organisations are still identifying the mid and long-term outlook associated with economic recovery due to the pandemic and the impact that has on global energy demand. Few companies demand oil and gas, the commodity pricing and activity levels within the industry and their influence on investment in the sector. Improvements in the cleanliness of fossil fuel energy have become an important issue with hazardous carbon-neutral targets set by numerous companies and governments, especially with the help of technology.

In well-intervention, as operators challenge themselves, equipment manufacturers and service providers seek solutions with a lower environmental footprint. Reliance on oil and gas exploration and production and the maintenance and eventual P&A of well infrastructure will continue. Well-intervention technologies and techniques play a critical role in this that will grow through the transition.

Mission Certainty

The current well-intervention industry is free from trial and error. Operators now require an increased level of certainty on intervention operations to better estimate the associated resources, time, and costs and assess the NPV for capital budgeting and investment planning, thereby determining the profitability and viability of a project. Robust planning enhances the optimisation and selection of solutions. Detailed job program design, including HAZOP analysis for expected challenges, combined with thorough pre-job system integration testing, has become mainstream in well-intervention. Furthermore, improvements in downhole tool design with higher levels of instrumentation, coupled with a surface to downhole data communications, enable in-well visibility of tool status and real-time tool adjustment control during operations.

Electric-line logging on coiled tubing and slickline, sensor instrumentation and its real-time connectivity are available on several powered mechanical intervention technologies deployed on electric line and coiled tubing. Distributed fibre optic measurements from the line are one instance where the deployment method has become instrumented.

Operational Efficiency

Another major trend is eliminating the need for sequential tool deployment when executing multiple tasks, often required in well-intervention programs. This creates significant operational efficiency gains. Sensor instrumentation, open system architecture design and real-time connectivity are helping this combinability within and across organisations. This leads to tool integration, simultaneous task management, and single-run or multi-function execution becoming the norm. Additionally, this combinability also provides better real-time verification of task completion. Examples include administering a plug set, pipe punch, or pipe cut P&A operation with one run-in hole.

Additionally, a calliper device is integrated with a completion manipulation tool string to improve the actuator tool's stroke position and force measurements, delivering completion component status information pre-and post-shifting. Some operators demand personnel multi-skilling and service company integration, although this is not a new goal. Service companies are increasingly partnering to provide an optimal intervention solution through an integrated delivery model. The integration of human resources and technology is taking place among smaller niche technology providers and regional and global service organisations.