EM technology will be put to the test over the Troll field in the North Sea. (Photo courtesy of EMGS)

Weatherford launches software suite

Production Office, Weatherford’s recently released real-time production optimization software, is a full-field optimization package that standardizes workflows, optimizes artificial lift, and enables surveillance, analysis, reservoir monitoring and basic well testing. The software integrates into existing architectures for surface to subsurface modeling, Weatherford said.

The software suite replaces rote field surveillance with automated event detection and field data consolidation. According to Weatherford, real-time reservoir and operational data made available through the software creates an environment where collaboration can take place between field operations managers and reservoir and production engineers. Three-dimensional numerical simulation, reservoir analysis, and production forecasting tools allow engineers to better manage the reservoir.
Users can apply Production Office to optimize resources, assets, and personnel. The software can enable improved rig use, early downtime detection, workover planning and forecasting, and system bottleneck identification, the company said.

Network management software also allows field-component changes to be monitored. The goal, Weatherford said, is to allow engineers to manipulate components to determine the best scenario for optimal field performance.

The software suite is based on open standards that allow existing software and hardware systems to be integrated. Open standards include Web Services and PRODML for data integration plus OPC server and client compliance for accessing existing reservoir management methods. Use of a standard platform for all software components minimizes training time and adoption downtime.

“This latest software development represents not only the new valuable features and financial benefits for the users, but the efficiencies created with a single-source supplier with a field-proven suite of products make everyone’s life easier,” said Dharmesh Mehta, vice president of production optimization for Weatherford. www.weatherford.com

EMGS and StatoilHydro advance EM technology

EMGS has begun an extensive and diverse program of electromagnetic (EM) imaging surveys over the Troll field, which is situated in a shallowwater region of the North Sea. The primary objectives of the program are to validate the latest EM imaging technology developed by EMGS and, in collaboration with StatoilHydro, to advance a new generation of EM technology and applications. The project is funded by StatoilHydro and will provide an ideal showcase for EMGS’s current portfolio of advanced EM products and services.

Svein Ellingsrud, EMGS chief technology officer, said that this project will have value for several reasons. “Firstly, we will demonstrate our innovations and imaging capabilities by deploying a broad array of EM technologies and methods in a wide range of acquisition geometries,” he said. “Secondly, the Troll West oil province is geologically interesting and complex from an EM perspective in that it contains a large gas reservoir and a much thinner, less visible oil reservoir situated below it in relatively shallow water.” Additionally, the existing infrastructure surrounding this mature producing field will provide a challenging environment in which to validate the company’s data acquisition and processing techniques.

In all, four major survey types will be acquired: a high-density grid geometry to enhance current understanding of 3-D resistivity mapping and how it can be used to delineate reservoirs and to estimate hydrocarbon volumes; a course-grid EM scanning survey deployed over a larger area to demonstrate the effectiveness of scanning in detecting commercial hydrocarbon reservoirs rapidly; magnetotelluric (MT) data; and time-domain EM data evaluation using techniques derived through the company’s recent acquisition of KMS Technologies. In addition, interpretation methodologies and the integration of the various EM data types with one other and with other measurements such as seismic will be a key objective. www.emgs.com.

Crystal ball for under-balanced drilling

3M’s Hollow Glass Spheres were adopted by PetroChina for use in an under-balanced drilling project in the Sichuan Basin in April 2007. The lightweight glass spheres were blended into a water-based mixture to produce drilling fluids with densities of 0.9 g/cc, targeted at under-pressured or depleted reservoirs. High formation temperatures and pressures, a tendency for borehole collapse, borehole deviation, poor drillability and low drilling speed have long hampered gas prospecting and production in this region.
To raise productivity, the operator undertook a major project to evaluate the use of hollow glass spheres (HGS) in drilling fluids for the first time in China, at the Guang An gas field in the Sichuan Basin. The target well, Guang An 002-H1 is the longest horizontal well in the basin, with a horizontal section stretching approximately 6,562 ft (2,000 m).

The exercise optimized well parameters by designing drilling fluids to manage the pressure differentials in the formation, thereby reducing formation damage. As a result, the well recorded a threefold increase in productivity over that of the vertical wells in the region. This is due in part to the non-invasive nature of the drilling fluid when drilled under-balanced.

Hollow glass sphere-based drilling fluids are non-compressible fluids with stable densities across the well bore that allow for managed-pressure drilling in low-pressure formations without the use of air or other gases. This allows for reduced drilling-related problems and increased rates of penetration. The glass spheres create a low head differential or near-balanced drilling condition where the hydrostatic head of the wellbore fluid column is reduced to slightly greater than the formation pressure, thereby containing the flow of formation fluids during drilling.

Hollow glass spheres can be added to virtually any type of existing fluid system in order to reduce density. The glass spheres extend the density window of a single phase liquid into a density range that is normally only achievable by injecting a gas into the liquid.

The drilling fluids used in the wells at Guang An were water based and designed to a density of approximately 0.9 g/cc. www.3m.com/oil&gas