OptaSense, part of the QinetiQ Group, said it ongoing relationship with Shell International Exploration & Production B.V. has resulted in delivery of the world’s first permanent fiber-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) in-well production flow monitoring system, in North America.

The production flow monitoring system continuously monitors a well through on-demand measurements of flow along the entire well bore, according to a news release. The DAS-Flow system has now been in service for three months after being developed by the OptaSense and Shell teams. Flow reports are sent through a secure network system allowing the asset team to gain a better understanding of well flow performance with no requirement for potentially costly well intervention activity.