Real-time video technology sheds light on wellbore

EV has launched the Neptus Wireless Subsea Camera to reduce operational risk and time while conducting downhole and wellbore operations in deep water. The company also has unveiled the Optis Electric-Line video camera, a fully digital sideview and downview wellbore camera that can operate in temperatures to 257°F (125°C) and withstand pressures to 15,000 psi.

The new wireless subsea camera can stream live video over 16 ft (5 m) back to an ROV or hard-wired receiver and can operate at 1,150 ft (350 m) water depth for 10 hours. Applications include providing multi-perspective views of subsea tool intervention, construction, and remote monitoring of subsea equipment. The wireless component of the subsea camera uses radio frequency communication technology developed by WFS Technologies.

EV’s Electric-Line video camera is equipped with LED lighting, fully digital bi-directional transmission, and top sides control and can be used for imaging dropped objects and wellbore fish; mechanical inspection of wellbore hardware; monitoring of corrosion and erosion; screen inspection; detecting water or gas entry; and open-hole imaging in barefoot gas completions. www.evcam.com.

Steam-injection flowmeter ideal for heavy oil EOR

The V-Cone steam-injection flowmeter provides improved flow measurement accuracy to +/-0.5% and repeatability to +/-0.1% for fluid applications used to extract and produce heavy oil. McCrometer’s flowmeter is particularly ideal for operating in shallow-oil reservoirs and other harsh oil-production environments.

Designed to operate over a long life, the V-Cone flowmeter is an advanced differential pressure (DP) instrument that has no movable parts and requires no maintenance or recalibration. The instrument’s centrally located cone interacts with steam during operations to reshape the velocity profile and increase measurement accuracy. The beta edge’s contoured shape also enables it to operate without dulling over time, making it more cost-effective than traditional DP instruments such as orifice plates and venturi tubes.

The V-Cone is expected to reduce permanent pressure loss by 75% compared to an orifice plate, and straight pipe requirements up to 70% in tight-fit and retrofit installations. www.mccrometer.com.

AIV extends remote inspection, intervention

Subsea 7 has completed the design and build of the industry’s first commercial autonomous inspection vehicle (AIV), which is expected to advance the area of subsea remote inspection and intervention and increase flexibility and efficiency during a field’s life cycle.

A tetherless technology, the work-class sized intervention vehicle is fully autonomous and can operate for a 24-hour period on a single charge from a specifically designed lithium-ion battery. It also includes a sensor package comprising the latest sonar technology, high-quality video cameras, and low-power LED lighting. Seebyte is developing the software component of the AIV, which is expected to be available in late 2011. www.subsea7.com.

Rock physics software models unconventional reservoirs

The latest addition to Ikon Science’s RokDoc software incorporates a new science platform to model unconventional reservoirs and identify sweet spots in heavy oil, tight sands, and shale plays. The software is expected to enable quantitative exploration, development, and production in all reservoir, geopressure, and fluid types.

RokDoc has an upgraded interface supported on all platforms, an improved two-way linkage to Schlumberger’s Petrel software, and a Linux to Windows connection. In addition, the Chronoseis Reservoir monitoring package has introduced reservoir geometry as a date-dependent property for 4-D seismic modeling and includes the ability to invert to pressure and saturation. www.ikonscience.com/RokDoc.

DNV-certified HP valves conform to ultra-deepwater standards

Haskel International’s BuTech subsea valves have cleared performance verification testing, per API 6A standards, for safe and reliable use in ultra-deepwater oil and gas production. The subsea valves also comply with performance, safety, and reliability standards to operate in some of the industry’s harshest high-pressure environments.

Designed for ROV operation to provide rugged protection in template control panels, subsea wellheads, and christmas trees, the valves can withstand hydrogen sulfides, corrosion inhibitors, paraffin thinners, hydraulic fluids, and other chemicals.

Standards were met following hydrostatic and hyperbaric testing and calibrated temperature baths simulating extreme heat and cold operating conditions. The tests were certified by Det Norske Veritas Classification (Americas) Inc. www.haskel.com.

Temporary diverter provides quicker redirection of fluid flow paths

BioVert NWB material, provided by Halliburton, is a temporary diverting agent that controls fluid loss in the wellbore and can be applied in perforation tunnels and openhole wellbores to redirect fracturing, refracturing, acid, scale inhibitor, sand control, and water control treatments using the particle bridging technique.

The diverting material can be placed into the well using both aqueous and non-aqueous fluids, and the volume of material applied depends on the application, temperature, and desired pressure differential.

While BioVert NWB diverter degrades 90 to 100% in about 28 days at temperatures of 180°F-320°F (82°C-160°C), it can be used at lower temperatures if a longer degradation time is desired. Conversely, certain acids can accelerate the degradation process.

The material is unaffected by reservoir and treating pressure, however, and has little to no interaction with certain chemicals, allowing for its use in fluid stages that contain friction reducers, acid systems, clay stabilization materials, gelling agents, scale inhibitors, surfactants, and corrosion inhibitors.

In one application, Halliburton’s diverter was used to separate stages of a high-rate, water frac treatment on a horizontal well with more than 200 perforations from the original completion. Using the casing as the main fluid conduit for the stimulation treatment, the degradation product enabled the multi-stage treatment to be completed in four hours without interruption or need for a rig.

Updated software models salt, other complex structures

Emerson Process Management has updated its reservoir modeling software, providing operators with a solution for interpreting deeper and more challenging geological settings to improve decision-making and field performance.

RMS 2011 provides enhancements to the seismic architecture to allow direct reference between the reservoir models and both 3-D and 4-D seismic data. In addition, the software can model beneath and around salt structures and other complex reservoirs and can fully integrate fractures into the modeling workflow. It also offers enhanced facies modeling tools and new well correlation tools to improve usability.

The latest version operates on Linux 64-bit, Windows XP, and the Vista 32 and 64-bit platforms, as well as Windows 7 64-bit.