The answer to innovation, reliability, and economic solutions for the future of the oil & gas industry.
Adoption Of New Technology In The Oilfield
I, like many, am a keen advocate of new technology. At GEO PSI we pride ourselves on the continual improvement of our products, and being at the bleeding edge of technology that helps provide our users access to data that is higher quality, more reliable, and more easily accessible.
However, while some new technologies enter the market and make a huge impact, others flop… Why is this?
No matter how fascinating a new technology appears, it takes a long time to run trials, gain a decent run life, etc… Then after all the kinks are worked out, you still need to become mainstream and classed as a product that is tried and tested if you have any chance of making it in the oilfield.
Historically, the oilfield has been notoriously slow to adopt any change. Whether or not stubbornness or ignorance play a part, the fact still stands that leading the charge on a new technology can be expensive if you swing and miss.
Because of this, oilfield technology today looks very similar to the technology from a decade or two ago. In some cases, this means companies are able to run equipment that is proven, reliable, and cost-effective. However, in other cases, it means a hesitancy to adapt has resulted in a loss of production and efficiency from using outdated tech.
This can clearly be seen in some of the outdated downhole monitoring equipment that’s still being used today (if any) and is especially apparent in the ESP world.
What Was True Then Is True Now
Early on in my career when I first went offshore in the North Sea I remember being told:
“The more jewelry you put downhole, the more likely something is to go wrong”
My colleague drove home the idea that adding fancy tech for the sake of fancy tech opens you up to more failures and costly problems. I think there was a lot of truth to that statement then, and I think it is still true today.
The idea that “less is more” when it comes to running equipment downhole certainly makes a lot of sense to me, and is a philosophy that has driven product development in the pursuit of ultimate reliability.
In a recent discussion with our Chief Technology Officer, and genius behind GEO PSI products Fred Zillinger re-ignited this mindset.
Figure 1: Fred Zillinger – Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
During this discussion, he pointed out the essential ingredients required to ensure success.
- It needs to be economical
- It needs to be simple
- It needs to solve a problem
- It has to work reliably
It is that simple. Almost…
Re-Imagining Proven Technologies
In some cases, rather than pursue ground-up new technologies at great expense and a high degree of risk, there may be opportunities to re-imagine existing technologies.
With a world-class engineering group, some creativity (and a bit of magic) its possible in some cases to take a technology platform that has already been used, has already been proven, and already works, and re-imagine its application and integration into the system as a whole.
We have already utilized this philosophy in our innovative GEOTRU downhole gauges. The great success of this product is a testament to the value of this philosophy.
The GEOTRU system offers gauges that can operate in conditions up to 300°C and can provide data of unparalleled quality and resolution.
This allows operators to make critical decisions about their wells and is the most reliable downhole gauge system on the market. Due to our innovative approach of re-imagining and repackaging proven technologies, we are creating new solutions for applications that were never before possible.
Our GEOTRU gauges are just one example of re-imagining an existing technology and applying it in a way never before thought of to create an extremely capable and reliable platform.
Beyond that, there are other existing technologies that are well utilized and well-proven in the oil and gas industry that could be given the same treatment. They can be re-imagined, re-packaged, and brought to market economically with confidence.
For us at GEO PSI, we have had our eye on the ESP sensor
Re-Imagining The ESP Sensor
At GEO PSI we specialize in providing the world’s best downhole monitoring solutions. Every product has been painstakingly tested and refined, and each GEO PSI tool has reliability woven into its DNA.
Over the past two years, we have quietly dipped our toes into the ESP market. We have developed preliminary tools with the intent of better observing the market, understanding trends, and better identifying the needs and gaps of the ESP world.
Looking at the history of ESP gauge development, very little has changed since the early nineties. When you compare that to how computing and mobile phone technologies have evolved since then you start to get an idea of how behind the times it really is.
Many of the recent changes to ESP monitoring have been more VSD related than from the sensor itself.
Figure 2: ESP Gauge Development Timeline Graphic
While we can’t share everything yet, we are about to completely change the dynamics of the ESP market…
Our first re-imagined ESP products will be launching very soon, and we recommend you sign-up to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn so you can be the first to hear about them.
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If you would like to know more about how we are re-imagining products for the future of the oil and gas industry or have any questions about our existing solutions, we encourage you to contact us.
