The new Web-based noise monitoring service provides drillers and operators with 24-hr access to real-time well noise data via their personal computers or cell-phone devices. (Image courtesy of ENRG)

Sampling-while-drilling debuts
The acquisition of formation fluid samples while drilling has been a dream of petrophysicists and reservoir engineers for years. But the challenges of developing a formation tester that could survive the harsh drilling environment were daunting. Following its introduction of the GeoTap formation-pressure-while-drilling (FPWD) tool in 2003, Halliburton has now announced its GeoTap IDS system, the world’s first formation fluid sampler housed in a drill collar. According to the company, the addition of the real-time fluid identification and sampling tool now provides true formation-testing while-drilling capabilities for optimizing wellbore placement to achieve maximum production over the life of the reservoir.

The new system comprises a testing module and up to three sample modules, each capable of isolating five fluid samples and bringing them to surface where they can be analyzed under pressure-volume-temperature conditions. Briefly, when the operator desires a sample, drilling is stopped, and a large oval sample probe is hydraulically extended to form a seal with the borehole wall. The large probe area reduces drawdown forces on the sandface compared to the cylindrical probes found on traditional FPWD tools.

After formation seal is verified and fluid mobility is determined to be within the acceptable range, a hydraulic shuttle pump is activated to start fluid flow. Sensors inside the flowline continuously monitor the fluid, measuring its pressure, temperature, resistivity, density, dielectric constant, and multiple bubble points. After mud filtrate contaminants are flushed from the flowline and ejected back into the borehole, the engineer can select and open a sample chamber to receive the fluid sample.
Fifteen or more separate fluid samples can be acquired on a single trip into the well, along with an unlimited number of pressure measurements. Power to operate the system comes from a turbine generator driven by mud circulation.

Rated at 25,000 psi, the first system is housed in a 6.75-in. collar. According to the company, the new tool targets the more than US $1 billion formation fluid sampling market previously restricted to wireline devices. www.halliburton.com

Web-based real-time noise monitoring service
Dallas-based ENRG has launched the oil and gas industry’s first real-time, Web-based noise monitoring service that enables operators to be proactive to potential sound issues created by drilling or completing gas or oil wells. The new service, which is patent-pending, provides drillers and operators with 24-hour access to real-time well noise data via their personal computers or cell-phone devices.

ENRG developed the new real-time noise monitoring service in response to the recent increase in urban and high-impact drilling and production in the Barnett shale and Haynesville shale areas. As drilling for natural gas has increased in these areas, city governments have responded with tightened city ordinances to address the impact of drilling noise in their communities. ENRG’s new technology is the only Web-based service on the market that enables operators to track their noise activities in real time and alerts them via cell-phone text message or e-mail if operations noise levels exceed city ordinance compliance levels. As a result, operators can make proactive changes to their drilling operation if need be and/or be prepared to respond to noise complaints from city regulators or community officials.

The new ENRG technology is also unique in that it tracks noise levels against city ordinance allowable intermittent decibel increase thresholds, in which sound levels are permitted to increase intermittently for a restricted amount of time.

The ENRG noise monitoring system can be configured to instantly send text message or e-mail alerts if the drilling operation reaches a compliance point. The system is easily accessible via the Web, with no software required beyond an Internet browser, and allows for multiple users to access the data as defined by the operator.
The operator can even provide access to city regulators should they so desire. Upon client login, ENRG customers can stream data straight from their drilling rig location over a secure connection to their personal computers, laptops, or Internet-enabled devices such as smart phones. www.enrgconsultants.com/nmt.html

Beneficial use of produced water
NETL has teamed up with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and BeneTerra LLC to implement and monitor an experiment on a 200- acre subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) site in the Powder River Basin near Arvada, Wyo., an area where coalbed methane (CBM) wells are producing large volumes of water.

In this demonstration project, NETL is providing hydrogeochemical and geophysical monitoring and analysis that will help to determine if CBM produced water can be used as a source of irrigation water without damaging the soil or hydrologic system. The research team installed the system in October 2008. The research will answer three major questions:
• Will the land be as productive after SDI with CBM produced water as it was before? Has the soil been affected, in what way, and are any changes reversible?
• What is the effect of SDI on native groundwater? Is high total dissolved solids (TDS) native groundwater displaced into the Powder River?
• What is the ultimate fate of the CBM produced water? What percentage is taken up by evapotranspiration? Is there an impact on the chemistry of underlying Class I aquifers? Does the applied CBM produced water reach the Powder River?

How SDI Works
In the SDI approach, the produced water is filtered, treated, and then pumped into a buried network of perforated polyethylene tubes known as laterals. These laterals incorporate emitters spaced about 6 to 10 in. apart in an agricultural field at a depth of 18 to 48 in., the base of the plant root zone. Water is released at a rate of between 0.75 and 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm) on a year-around basis. When managed appropriately, the produced water may be applied to a site at a rate of 90 barrels per acre-day using SDI.

NETL’s data collection program consists of semiannual sampling of six lysimeters and 15 wells installed specifically for monitoring. A lysimeter is an instrument that penetrates the ground only a few feet, where it collects water from the pore spaces of soils. This data can be used to quantify evapotranspiration, the combined process of direct water evaporation from the ground and indirect water uptake and release to the atmosphere via growing plants.

Other data collection includes semiannual electromagnetic (EM) and resistivity surveys and continuous hydrologic monitoring of water table elevation, groundwater conductivity, and temperature at six monitoring wells approximately 25 feet (8 m) deep. Well and lysimeter sampling will allow NETL to determine the effect of SDI on vadose and phreatic zone chemistry and the EM and resistivity surveys permit tracking of the movement of the wetting front.

During the first summer, more than 45 soil cores were collected to characterize existing soil conditions. Continuous hydrologic monitoring of groundwater levels has occurred since fall 2007. Meanwhile, the USGS is conducting slug testing to measure hydraulic conductivity by adding or subtracting a known volume of water to a well and then quickly taking measurements of the water level to determine how fast the water level recovers. NETL expects to continue monitoring and analysis of the SDI system over a five-year period, ending in 2014.

An article on this subject appears in expanded form in E&P Focus, a free quarterly electronic publication of the US Department of Energy’s National Technology Laboratory (NETL). The publication updates results of NETL-funded, upstream R&D projects. To subscribe, visit www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oilgas/ReferenceShelf/epfocus.html.

Flowmeter measures flare gas
The GF90 Flare Gas Flow Meter from Fluid Components
International measures dangerous, explosive, and toxic gases that often flow at extremely varying and/or low levels in flare gas system operations.

Hydrocarbon combustible waste gases are challenging to measure due to their wide flow fluctuations caused by variable production and refining processes. With its highly sensitive thermal mass flow sensing element, the flowmeter also precisely measures gases of varying hydrocarbon composition.

With a highly sensitive thermal mass flow sensing element and microprocessor-based intelligence featuring multiple calibration groups built into the design, the flowmeter delivers precision flow measurement to a low 0.25 SFPS.

The versatile GF90 features a thermal mass gas flow-sensing element designed with 316 stainless steel and nickel-braze construction. It also can be specified with corrosion and abrasion-resistant alloys, including Hastelloy, Monel, and tantalum, and with all-welded construction for service in the harshest environments. It is available for service in a broad range of applications—operating at temperatures from -100 to 850ºF (-73 to 454ºC) and pressures to 1,000 psig.

Designed for complex multigas or variable flow processes, the flowmeter includes an advanced microprocessor-based programmable transmitter. The transmitter can store up to three calibration groups and features two independent, field-programmable analog signal outputs of 4-20 mA, 0-10 Vdc, 0-5 Vdc, and/or 1-5 Vdc, which can be assigned to any combination of flow and/or temperature.www.fluidcomponents.com