A look at how continued capital investment enables us to develop innovative solutions for unique customer problems.
In a previous blog post of ours titled Getting Off The X”: A Lesson in the Value of Movement, we put forward the idea that movement in business, or your personal life for that matter, positions you for an increased chance of success. Staying ‘Planted on the X’ allows the competitive context around you to adjust whilst your situational context stagnates.
Expanding Capability
Why do we bring this up in the introduction to this post?
Well over the past 18 months, we have been busy moving, adding significant manufacturing capabilities at our facility in Canada. These exciting new capabilities provide a unique platform for compelling new and innovative downhole monitoring solutions.
Some of these new manufacturing capabilities recently commissioned include:
- Tube Mills capable of manufacturing ¼” and 3/8” Capillary Line with a Wall Thickness up to 0.065”, in Stainless Steel 316L, Inconel 825, and Duplex 2205 materials
- Installation of a High-Temperature Extruder capable of insulating conductors and encapsulating Capillary Line or TEC up to 300°C. The TEC and Capillary Lines can be encapsulated in single or flat pack formats
- Commissioning of a Wire Winding Machine that bundles multiple cables or conductors into a single format for encapsulation or wrapping
The addition of these significant manufacturing capabilities allows us to focus on executing key objectives.
First, it enables further internalization and integration of our manufacturing capabilities, leading to greater supply chain optimization.
Secondly, these manufacturing investments ensure that we continue to innovate technically, allowing us to solve complex client problems in a cost-effective manner.
We feel that these significant investments will ensure we stay relevant in today’s competitive market.
To highlight how these new manufacturing capabilities can assist our customers, I’ll describe a recent solution we developed for a complex and challenging customer problem.
Addressing Unique Challenges
A Geothermal customer of ours in the Middle East was interested in deploying a downhole monitoring solution in an existing well. The well had already been drilled and cased, and due to the high flow rates, production would occur up the production casing.
While a Wellhead Suspended Monitoring Solution was suitable for this application, the challenge was that the customer required both downhole monitoring and chemical injection capabilities.
Running and suspending multiple cables from the wellhead provided numerous operational, installation, and lost-in-hole risks. The challenge for a successful deployment was to design an innovative “single-cable” solution that could deliver integrated downhole monitoring and chemical injection capabilities in a 260°C (500°F) environment.
The single-cable downhole monitoring and chemical injection challenge was overcome by utilizing the latest manufacturing capabilities and being innovative with our approach to solving customer problems.
Our solution was to integrate our 4mm Quadline TEC inside a 3/8” Capillary Line. This singular format removed the installation and operational complexity whilst negating the lost-in-hole risk. The 4mm Quadline TEC delivers power and a communication pathway for the GEOTRU 300 gauge, where the 3/8” Capillary Line provides the suspension mechanism and the chemical injection capability.
The injected chemical at the surface fills the annular space between the 4mm TEC and the Capillary Line wall, where it then exists to the wellbore at the Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA).
Figure 1: 3/8″ Capillary Tube with 4mm Quadline TEC Visualization
The electronics-free GEOTRU Downhole Monitoring Solution allows our customers to confidently acquire in-situ real-time production and reservoir data at wellbore temperatures up to 300°C. Our GEOTRU gauges deliver high-quality digital data without the requirement for downhole gauge electronics, which significantly increases system survivability in elevated temperature or high-vibration environments.
Figure 2: GEOTRU Guage vs Traditional Digital Gauge
The Wellhead Suspended Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) protects the Downhole Gauge and provides an anchor point for additional weight stem to assist with the run in hole process. For this application, the BHA needed to be modified to allow the chemical to exit into the wellbore. The modified BHA shown in the illustration below highlights the GEOTRU gauge within the BHA, with the chemical injection occurring via ports above the GEOTRU gauge.
Figure 3: GEOTRU 300 within Suspended BHA Chemical Injection cut-away visualization
Conclusion
To summarize the features and benefits of this innovative solution:
- Wellhead Suspended, rigless installation & deployment
- Semi-permanent installation can be pulled and redeployed at work over
- Lower operational and installation complexity compared to multi-cable systems
- Integrated “single-cable” downhole monitoring and chemical injection capabilities
- Acquisition of high-quality pressure and temperature data in 300°C (500°F) well conditions
We continue to execute our “investment to innovate” strategy, ensuring we continue to meet the customer demand for innovative solutions that solve their complex problems. Innovation is perpetual, and our engineering development pipeline is full of exciting new customer solutions that will make 2021 an exciting year for our customers and us.
If you would like to know more about our new capabilities, or how our deep vertical integration has enabled the development of groundbreaking products please contact us.
