Drilling & Completion Tech Digest

New seismic sensing technology improves lower-noise data acquisition

Shell and HP have announced a breakthrough in the capability of their jointly developed inertial sensing technology to shoot and record seismic data at much higher sensitivity and at ultra-low frequencies. The new onshore wireless seismic acquisition system is designed to provide a clearer understanding of the Earth’s subsurface.

The sensing technology has been demonstrated to have a noise floor – a measure of the smallest detectable acceleration over a range of frequencies – of 10 nano-g per square root Hertz (ng/rtHz), which is equal to the noise created by ocean waves at the quietest locations on Earth as defined by the Peterson Low Noise Model. The tests were conducted in the seismic testing vault at the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory facility in New Mexico.

At the test facility, HP was able to compare the seismic response of the new sensor side by side with a USGS reference sensor when an earthquake occurred in the Gulf of California during the testing period. The signal from the reference sensor was matched by the new sensor down to 25 mHz, verifying the sensor’s response at low frequencies.

The seismic system uses the breadth of HP’s technology development capabilities, as well as Shell’s advanced geophysical expertise in seismic data acquisition systems and operations.

The system will be delivered by HP Enterprise Services and the Imaging and Printing Group. It is based in part on the sensing technology codeveloped by HP Labs with IPG and Shell research in seismic network design.

Transocean drillship drills in 10,194 ft of water

Transocean’s ultra-deepwater drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 has set what the company believes is a world record for the deepest water depth by an offshore drilling rig of 10,194 ft while working for Reliance Industries offshore India. The rig, owned by a joint venture with Quantum Pacific Group, surpassed Transocean’s previous record of 10,011 ft of water, set in 2003 by the Discoverer Deep Seas working for Chevron in the US Gulf of Mexico. The record comes approximately a year after the Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 was placed into service under a five-year contract. The vessel is equipped to work in water depths up to 12,000 ft.

Chesapeake reaches milestone in natural gas fleet conversion

Chesapeake Energy recently completed Phase One of its program to convert the company’s entire corporate fleet of 4,200 vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG) by 2014. The first phase involved converting Chesapeake’s fleet in Oklahoma was completed when the company’s 800th natural gas vehicle entered service in April. The company believes it will save at least $11 million a year once the entire fleet has been converted. The price of CNG has remained steady at $1.39/gal equivalent in Oklahoma. The natural gas-powered truck fleet will be used by field operations teams overseeing drilling programs in the Anadarko Basin in western Oklahoma.

Mobile wastewater treatment unit deployed in Marcellus region

Aquatech has deployed its MoVap unit, designed to meet wastewater needs in oil and gas operations, on a field in Western Pennsylvania. When fully treated with a proprietary solution, water can be reused or returned to the environment in compliance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.

The unit is designed to reduce the volume of wastewater laden with high total dissolved solids from hydraulic fracturing operations. Its  on-site treatment capability makes it possible to know where the wastewater is going and how the water is managed throughout its lifecycle, said Chuck Kozora, regional business development manager for Aquatech.

The technology can be used in conjunction with other mobile and modular treatment solutions from Aquatech.

Because the unit is mobile, it can be transported to virtually any well pad. The company provides on-site and remote monitoring of water treatment operations. Globally, the company treats over 600,000 bbl oil and gas field produced water per day.

15 innovations to receive 2011 OTC new technology award

Fifteen technologies will receive the 2011 Spotlight on New Technology Awards on 2 May at OTC in Houston:

• Baker Hughes’ Kymera hybrid bit technology combines the cutting superiority and continuous scraping of diamond bits and the strength of roller-cone bits.

• Baker Hughes’ GeoFORM conformable sand management system uses Morphic technology to reduce rig time, personnel and HSE exposure without the need for pumping a gravel pack.

• Canrig Drilling Technology’s SureGrip ball-and-pocket gripping technology uses spherical balls in tapered pockets to replace die slips and minimize handling impact.

• Halliburton’s CleanWave water treatment service enables treating flowback and produced water to make it suitable for reuse in fracturing fluids or other drilling and production processes.

• MyCelx Technologies’ clean water technology system removes low-level hydrocarbons and WSOs from produced water. Units range in size from 1,000 bbl/day to 250,000 bbl/day.

• National Oilwell Varco’s ShearMax low-force casing shear rams can reliably shear tool joints, as well as casing, when combined with 5,000 psi and 22-in. operator.

• PG Pump Solutions and Techni’s PG-MAPS is a compact, lightweight pumping system for all liquids using a software-controlled, linear-actuating system with permanent magnet motor.

• Reelwell’s Multi-Gradient System uses a high-density fluid in the wellbore annulus above the bottomhole assembly and a lighter active circulating fluid that enables MPD operations with zero surface pressure in the well annulus.

• SBM Offshore’s COOL Hose is a flexible cryogenic floating hose for the offshore transfer of LNG.

• SBM Offshore’s High Voltage Electric AC Swivel allows high-voltage electric power to be transferred from shore to FPSOs or from FPSOs to subsea equipment.

• Schilling Robotics and FMC Technologies’ Heavy-Duty ROV provides increased reliability and availability through an integrated design philosophy for all major subsystems.

• Schlumberger’s Dielectric Scanner Multifrequency Dielectric Dispersion Service offers a new petrophysical measurement. Interpreters can estimate pore fluid and rock textural information with great accuracy, independent of pore fluid salinity.

• Schlumberger’s SonicScope multipole sonic-while-drilling service is a new LWD service that provides multipole measurements to deliver compressional and shear data in all environments.

• Twin Filter’s Dynamic Centrifugal Coalescer improves produced water separation installations.

• Weatherford International’s Deepwater Closed-Loop Drilling System leverages proprietary algorithms to detect minute influxes or losses and provides real-time data so decisions are based on actual surface data.

Electro-Magnetic MWD system steers Rocky Mountain well to 13,065 ft MD

Sharewell Energy Services has completed the drilling of a well in the Rocky Mountain area with ElectroTrac, its proprietary Electro-Magnetic Measurement While Drilling (EM MWD) system, to a depth of more than 13,000 ft – a record depth for Sharewell’s EM MWD technology. The system steered and surveyed the well to 13,065 ft MD (12,902 ft TVD), accumulating 700-plus circulating hours without failure. This was accomplished without the use of repeaters or hard wiring.

The system was developed with initial funding from a US Department of Energy grant as part of the Deep Trek Initiative. Conventional EM MWD systems have depth limitations due to their inability to generate the required amplitude necessary to penetrate the increasing overburden of the surrounding geology, and/or detect and adequately filter the ambient noise. Sharewell is operating its EM MWD system in multiple reservoirs/basins, including the Eagle Ford, Barnett, Marcellus, Fayetteville, New Albany Shale, Antrim Basin, San Juan Basin, Piceance Basin and Uinta Basin.