Upstream Technology 1 May 2017

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The advances weve made in diamonds in the last couple of decades has completely changed the drilling industry. Mark Freeman, Baker Hughes to an additional suite of patents around novel cutter geometries. The segment is changing so quickly, Freeman notes, that Baker Hughes is introducing improved diamond materials or cutter geometries several times per year. Cutters are synthesized using extreme temperatures and pressures. Youve got to have processes and equipment capable of doing that, Freeman says. Its really, truly, extreme temperatures and pressures. When he talks about extreme pressures and temperatures, he is talking about those exceeding what are typically considered high-pressure, high-temperature reservoir conditions, which may be 20,000 psi and 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius). Creating these diamond- coated cutting surfaces calls for recreating the geological conditions required to produce and bond diamonds in this case, concurrent conditions of 1 million psi and temperatures between 1830 and 3600 degrees Fahrenheit (1000 and 2000 degrees Celsius). Freeman puts that into context by saying the temperature requirement is somewhere between a third and half the temperature of the surface of the sun, while the pressure is equivalent to stacking 150 Ford F150 trucks atop a coin. To synthesise the diamonds in an industrial setting, a manufacturer uses massive iron presses to create extreme pressure, along with a significant amount of electricity to generate the necessary heat. The iron presses, he says, are the size of a room and can synthesise a diamond table onto a 5/8-inch cutter in two to eight minutes. Were harnessing something that nature has been doing for hundreds of millions of years, producing and bonding diamonds, and here we are, manufacturing that in a matter of minutes, Freeman says. And it can all be done within the confines of the room next to us as long as you have the right amount of electricity going to the room and a foundation strong enough to support that iron press. Iron presses come in two varieties, cubic and belt. Baker Hughes keeps its cubic iron press running non-stop to support its research and development efforts. Once CUTTING EDGE: StayCool 2.0 cutters illustrating the patented diamond table geometry that enhances the wear properties of the diamond cutter in service. the company has finalised its intellectual property on the material composition and cutter geometry, it works with third-party manufacturers to produce the elements in large quantities. It takes mere grams of diamond grit to coat each tungsten-carbide cylinder. When the cylinder goes through the treatment process, the diamond fuses, or bonds, onto the tungsten-carbide substrate. Once the cylinder returns to ambient pressure and temperature conditions, which takes a matter of minutes, grinding wheels take off part of the synthesized diamond layer to make it smoother. A lapping process further polishes the cutting layer to a mirror finish. Freeman says the nice smooth surface is more efficient at cutting rock. It helps the rock travel up the face of the diamond and release from the top of the cutter. That reduced friction helps the cutter last longer and helps the cutter penetrate the rock more efficiently, and means the energy that is being put to the bit through (rotations per minute) and weight on bit is most effectively being used to destroy the rock. UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 02 I 2017 59 technology The magazine for industry innovators 2/2017 Mad Dog 2.2: Rethinking a major project Semi-skimmed: Downscaled designs for marginal fields The top draw Topsides trend moves to compact equipment Pressure points: A dry-tree proposal for Paleogene E&P Frack checking: Mining data for effective ... and his spirit hovered over the waters technology AgendA experience talks - ingenuity whispers Contents Spotlight Spotlight TOpsides 12 Basic utilities Using floating production to provide onshore services. Spotlight seisMic dRilling 02 17 38 Rig with a view A deep-water drilling tower comes ashore. project review: MAD DoG 2 60 Mixed signal seismic companies look for silver lining. Tech Talk We Stand for Lasting Connections S! U JOIN en & s s i e w en Sch chneid S 9. 9.0 rf 2 - . 25 seldo Düs Your experts for joint welding. More than 2,000 products for joint welding in all conventional arc welding processes are united in a product portfolio that is unique throughout the world. Creating DISTINCTION: Eric van Oort (left) receiving the 2016 Distinguished Member of SPE award from SPE then-president Nathan Meehan (right). Tech Talk Drill instructor As a tenured Lancaster Professor in petroleum engineering at the University of Texas in Austin, E&P veteran Eric van Oort has made a point job based on the objections of one veto-wielding director. But in the process, he and his area of expertise had attracted the attention of a Shell manager. I got a call from a Shell guy in The Hague, van Oort says. He told me, we are on the E&P side and we need a physical chemist to work on this sha tech talk VIRTUAL WORLD: Students get a feel for real world drilling working on the drilling simulator at the University of Texas. to determine how to prevent such overages in future wells, and one recommendation was to trial real-time operations monitoring. In 2002, the company contracted Hallibur tech talk for a drilling professor for six or seven years and had not found a suitable candidate out of 30 or so interviewees. I talked to UT and was fascinated, van Oort says. I got the position and I got full tenure, which was an unusual honour. But I also took a very significant pay cut. Van Oort Spotlight topsides Power to the people 12 UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 02 I 2017 FLOATING UTILITIES: Modecs FSRWP is designed to generate between 84 and 1000 MW per day of power and treat between 38,000 and 380,000 cubic metres per day of water. Shown here is a medium size unit equipped with a 240 MW power generation plant plus a desalination plant with a capacity of 200,000 cmd spotlight: topsides A dding water treatment and power generation functions to a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) may be a more economical way to supply water and power than building onshore facilities, according to FPSO specialist Modec. About a decade ago, Modec was participating in spotlight: topsides POTABLE: A rendering of the FSRW depicts the largest option, which could provide up to 380,000 cubic metres of treated water per day. We realised a lot of people dont have access to clean water, they dont have access to power. RIVER READY: The small FSRP will provide 84 to 172 MW spotlight: topsides The jet set Drawing on its experience with jet engines, GE is rolling out a powerful gas turbine that aims to lower costs and save platform space in LNG operations, writes Jennifer Pallanich. A s the energy industry works its way through a sustained low price environment, GE Oil spotlight: topsides REPURPOSING: GE has a record of adapting its jet engines for use in LNG applications, with the aeroderivative turbines LM2500 and LM6000 (above). OFFSHORE ROPES With its new quay side facility, Bexco is able to produce bigger ropes and handle Extra Large Reels to satisfy the need spotlight: topsides TECHNOLOGY TEST: GE will carry out tests of the new turbine at its facility in Massa, Italy. generation would provide around 1.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG output for the facility. Multiple LM9000s could be grouped together to meet additional annual output requirements. On spotlight: topsides All part of the process The recent acquisition of Fjords Processing, the Norwegian wellstream production specialist, expands NOVs technology offerings in a critical business area, writes Russell McCulley. F jords Processing operated independently under that name for only a little spotlight: topsides Fjords delivered an oil separation package and a gas dehydration system, including a triethylene glycol (TEG) regeneration facility, for Statoils Johan Sverdrup development. The NOV acquisition will allow Fjords to make good on some long-held and ambitious goals, Fantoft says. W spotlight: topsides Wellstream Processing unit has been harmonious, Fantoft adds. Fjords Processing people have a lot of important roles in making this happen, he says. I think that demonstrates that NOV has the capability to make sure that when they get companies like us, they rely on people coming spotlight: topsides QUIET PLEASE: An illustration depicts the AdvantageOne system outfitted with twin Caterpillar C32 diesel engines rated at 863 base horsepower each with acoustic sound enclosure for noise reduction. Images: Halliburton Linking data to take Advantage With a focus on integrated comm spotlight: topsides MIX RESULTS: Three engineers in Duncan, Oklahoma, perform a cement mixing test during the technology verification phase of the project. it a step further by ensuring different systems in the completions process, such as the bulk delivery equipment and the liquid additive equipmen spotlight: topsides operations, with non- radioactive density and flow meters. The system also automates certain activities. Now the skid talks to the liquid additive system. It says, this is how fast Im delivering cement downhole, so Im going to automatically meter the amount of liquid additive I IN POSITION: BP says the FPSO is expected to produce up to 130,000 bpd of oil and 220 MMcfd of gas. Start-up imminent for Glen Lyon BP is preparing the newbuild Glen Lyon FPSO for first oil at the Quad 204 project west of Shetland. B P plans to start production at the redeveloped Schiehallion and Lo spotlight: topsides PAYLOAD: The semi-submersible features a truss two-deck topsides and a flexible design with capacity for 1200 metric tons of future equipment in 750 square metres of additional space. Flexible floater A standardised and simplified semi-submersible design could help operators econ spotlight: topsides Weve taken a generic production capacity which we think will satisfy probably 90 of the opportunities out there. Graham Hill, KBR STABLE PLATFORM: The GVA 10000 has a proven, integrated design with low motion characteristics. facility is economic when you put it in place with all spotlight: topsides SHELL STALWART: The Brent D platform. Brent D topsides ready for lift-off As the mammoth Pioneering Spirit construction vessel gears up for its biggest job yet, Russell McCulley talks to key figures in the Brent Delta decommissioning project. A llseas Pioneering Spirit, which the spotlight: topsides ON DECK: A test platform flanked by the Pioneering Spirits lift beams. sensors under the platform will help position the Pioneering Spirits loading arms, a process that will take about four hours. The vessel will ballast up to about 80 of the load, then the fast lift system will project review: MAD DoG 2 Back to the drawing board B P discovered Mad Dog in 1998 and began producing the deep- water Gulf of Mexico field with a spar in 2005. Current estimates of oil in place are 5 billion barrels. Its a world-class field by any kind of measure, says Bill Steel, Mad Dog 2 project Standing tall: The Mad Dog 2 semi-submersible will be moored in about 4500 feet water depth in 2021, with first oil scheduled for later that year. dESign: Initially, the Mad Dog 2 semi-submersible will accommodate up to 14 production wells and eight water injection wells. Focusing on value over volu project review: mad dog 2 focused on simplifying and optimising systems and equipment. We worked with contractors and vendors. They know their businesses, and they have great ideas. We want to make sure the standards we put in place are fit for purpose and dont compromise safety, Steel says. We too project review: mad dog 2 DEPTH RANGE: Wells drilled for Mad Dog 2 will be in water depths of 4500 to 7000 feet, as the field straddles the Sigsby Escarpment. We dont use LoSal simply to get barrels. We also use it to reduce the possibility of scaling later as the reservoir matures. Ahmed Hashmi, BP Project review: mad dog 2 FIRST PLACE: The truss spar serving the Mad Dog field went on stream in 2005. The Mad Dog 2 semisub will be six miles (9.5 kilometres) south-west of the spar. produced close to 200 million barrels from Mad Dog. Phase two calls for up to 14 production wells and eight water A production semi-submersible scaled down to make smaller fields economic at $40 per barrel reflects some of the latest thinking at Exmar Offshore, writes Jennifer Pallanich. NEW DESIGN: The OPTI-micro can handle production of 40,000 barrels per day of oil, 45 million cubic feet per day of gas, and marginal fields SIMPLER SYSTEM: The OPTI-micro has a simple processing facility and retains the features of its OPTI predecessors, such as the flat deck design. semisub design of unnecessary frills because they were not there to begin with, he says. Our start point is a bit different. We havent des marginal fields IN DEEP: The OPTI-EX on location at LLOGs Who Dat development in Mississippi Canyon Block 547. FOLLOW-UP ORDER: LLOGs Delta House FPS on location in Mississippi Canyon Block 254 has been producing since April 2015. was first used at Delta House on the OPTI-11,000 (Upstream Technology Spotlight drilling 38 UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 02 I 2017 order How do you sell an innovative offshore drilling system to a sceptical industry? Dutch equipment supplier Huisman found the answer in its own back yard, writes Russell McCulley. T LOOKING UP: The Huisman Innovation Tower is a fully functioning demonstration drilling system installed quayside in spotlight: drilling ROCK ON: A pendulum mechanism allows the tower to sway in order to simulate a drillships movements. HELPING HANDS: The test tower is equipped with two robotic manipulators per rail but can accommodate as many as four per rail. multi-functional manipulators mounted on rails at th spotlight: drilling A Norwegian company aims to make drilling operations safer and more cost-effective with new technology, including an all-electric blowout preventer control system, writes Ole Ketil Helgesen. DRY RUN: ESD has tested prototypes of key equipment including the electrical annular prev spotlight: drilling Non-productive time, testing, and repairs of traditional BOPs cost drillers and operators big money. John Dale, ESD have been drilled under the new regulations. ESDs electrical BOP can make existing drilling vessels capable of operations in much deeper waters, without major modi FLOOR SHOW: On advanced rigs, drillers control the drilling process remotely from the safety of a drillers cabin while monitoring real-time downhole and surface sensor data. spotlight: drilling Helping hands Increasingly sophisticated tools help drillers keep extended reach wells on the straight pat spotlight: drilling At thE READy: Stands of drill pipe on a rig. LONG REAch: Extended reach drilling allows operators to target a formation far from the site required to drill a vertical well. Graphic: Merlin ERD insufficient or highly uncertain. One solution to this lack of information is to drill spotlight: drilling Different tools have different errors. So if you use the same tool every time, the error accumulates in the same axis or direction. If you mix up the tools you can reduce those errors. Neil Armstrong, Merlin ERD enter the formation before picking a casing seat and, more important spotlight: drilling Toughening up to find steerable solutions An upgraded and updated point-the-bit rotary steerable system provides improved lost circulation performance and higher tolerances for drilling in extended-reach and deep-water environments. Jennifer Pallanich investigates. I n a bid to i GeoPilot: Halliburtons latest offering on the Geo-Pilot platform is the Duro RSS. drilling without having to trip out. Other enhancements include an improved RPM and wider operating range along with a self-cleaning reference stabilizer. Flow ports make the assembly self-cleaning and prevent the accu spotlight: drilling Perfecting the perf process A new approach to data optimisation helps operators plan more effective hydraulic fracturing campaigns, without having to go back to the well for more information, writes Jennifer Pallanich. B y some estimates as many as half of the perforation cluster spotlight: DRilliNg design. Data gathered through running additional logs proved uneconomical and delayed well completion. Drill2Frac formed in 2014 to solve that problem. Company co-founder Sridhar Srinivasan says the company took a radical approach to turning drilling data into a format that made spotlight: drilling penetration, weight on bit, torque, standpipe pressure, differential pressure, and revolutions per minute, along with daily drilling reports, end of well reports and any other available data, such as gamma ray, logging while drilling logs, and deviation surveys. Anomalies in the spotlight: drilling WELL VISUALISATION: Drill2Frac uses drilling data to determine the rock characteristics in the reservoir and along the wellbores trajectory. who have tried engineered completions and were not successful were getting data through drilling usually through logging while drilling too spotlight: drilling The brains behind the bit A self-adjusting drillbit began as a clever concept in a company-wide innovation contest. Now its backers say the adaptive smart bit could become an industry standard. Jennifer Pallanich reports. A new adaptive PDC drillbit from Baker Hughes can adjust t spotlight: drilling tESt DRiVE: Baker Hughes new TerrAdapt bit before testing at the BETA facility in Oklahoma (left), and after a run (right). Our future development efforts will be geared towards expanding our smart bit platform. Danielle Fuselier, Baker Hughes method is it is very hard to know wh spotlight: downhole rOunDED lOOk: The teal circles on the PDC bit highlight the area that moves. The ghosted segments indicate the cartridges. automatic adaptive technology is that engineers on the surface cant really know whats going on 10,000 feet downhole, she says. It responds in real time. It spotlight: drilling Moveable feats A new production concept centred on dry tree completions aims to cut drilling and development costs in the high-pressure Paleogene. Rick von Flatern takes a look. H istorically, as the oil and gas industry developed Gulf of Mexico deep- water discoveries, operators spotlight: drilling Appraisal Production System (APS) can reduce the cost and schedule for Paleogene developments by 50 compared with subsea completions tied back to a massive central production facility. The APS, also suited for use with subsea completions, facilitates timely and effective apprais spotlight: drilling Moveable wellbay in moonpool CONFIGURABLE: The moveable moonpool well bay assembly consists of a cart that holds five tensioner sets and is designed to move laterally. The cart may be locked in place during well operations or abandonment. be put on production so that they can avo DETAILS: Scanning electron microscope images at 500x magnification (left) and 2000x magnification (right) of diamond grit used for diamond cutter synthesis. Ice on the bit It is said diamonds are a girls best friend, but they may mean more to the oil industry. Jennifer Pallanich learns about the mat The advances weve made in diamonds in the last couple of decades has completely changed the drilling industry. Mark Freeman, Baker Hughes to an additional suite of patents around novel cutter geometries. The segment is changing so quickly, Freeman notes, that Baker Hughes is introducing improved dia Spotlight seismic The when and where of recovery Talking up the prospects for a struggling marine seismic industry has not yet moved the needle. Andrew McBarnet discusses why. B uried in the Schlumberger 2016 annual report released in January was a statement by chairman and chief executive Paal Kibs MAJOR DEBUT: The Ramform Hyperion heads off to work. the fortunes of the key marine seismic contractors PGS, WesternGeco, Polarcus, CGG and Shearwater GeoServices, the company created from the bankrupt Dolphin Geophysical (Upstream Technology 05/2016) is unlikely to be dramatic. A significant upti spotlight: seismic AT THE READY: Schlumberger chief executive Paal Kibsgaard. Photo: Hampus Lundgren 62 UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 02 I 2017 portfolio, with no incentive to add significant reserves. Surprisingly, none of the major players have followed Shells lead in building assets by acquisition. Should GIFTING THE TECHNOLOGY: Contractors are offering bigger spreads and greater efficiency, but not price increases. spotlight: seismic FORWARD LOOKING: PGS chief executive Jon Einar Reinhardsen. commitments through acquisition to delivery of the processed data. It can be a rather fuzzy figure covering spotlight: sEisMiC Norwegian Sea in 3 3D D AM17 is the somewhat prosaic acronym for the single largest 3D survey carried out by any company in Northern Europe. Andrew McBarnet assesses its significance. I t is hard to believe that any part of Norways offshore is considered underexplored. But that is spotlight: seismic AM17 survey area have been nominated by oil companies for the upcoming 24th Norwegian licensing round, which is focusing on frontier areas such as ours where the prospect of major new finds is greatest. At least one company probably agrees with TGS. It is believed that Statoil is spotlight: seismic SMALL AND LIGHT: Each SmartSolo weighs only one kilogram. including battery and spike. W for the win A sensor manufacturer is challenging a crowded land seismic equipment market with what it claims to be a more cost-effective option. Andrew McBarnet records the story so far. T hre spotlight: seismic In my experience, once customers have experienced blind shooting, theres no going back. Gary Wu, Dynamic Technologies advantages. It means that SmartSolo units are deployed unattended over the survey area for the duration of a survey recording. They are then picked up and taken to spotlight: seismic competition: The SmartSolo unit (left) performed well in field trials comparing the technology with a commonly used nodal system. and logistics. SmartSolo is small and light, weighing one kilogram per unit, including battery and spike. It can be easily buried if ground conditions PGS faces titanic challenge spotlight: sEisMiC DISRUPTING THE MARKET: The Ramform Hyperion set to outsize the competition. Massive technology feat or reckless extravagance what are we to make of the PGS Titan-class seismic vessel initiative? Andrew McBarnet asked a man who should know. O n 23 March spotlight: seismic CELEBRATION AHOY: Hyperion gets a send-off from Nagasaki shipyard. its full quota of 12 streamers, repair and maintenance issues may well affect progress of the survey. The Titan-class has the space and capacity for spare streamer storage and onboard repair. In addition, we have spotlight: seismic start its career on industry- funded multi-client projects in the eastern Mediterranean. It is making its debut nearly two years later than scheduled symptomatic of the times, PGS had to negotiate a new delivery time to ease the strain on its finances as the downturn worsened. Ar Tech Talk Seeking sustainability in the UK North Sea A new Aberdeen-based technology development organisation aims to help oil and gas companies get the most out of the UKs offshore reservoirs and to make north-east Scotland a global hub for offshore research and development. Rob Watts talks to the DEMONSTRATION: Guests at the launch of the OGTC hear how its Solution Centres will help find answers to industry technology challenges. could stimulate investment in the north-east of Scotland, anchoring the supply chain there for decades to come while also capturing a growing share of export market tech talk LEARNING CURVE: Attendees at the launch of the OGTC. is assembling at OGTC has credibility and has also historically delivered. I think we are lucky in having the kind of expertise in the team that allows us to understand how the decisions are going to be made, she says. Everyone on the t tech talk BALANCING ACT: Colette Cohen says the OGTCs objectives are also to be aligned with the UKs other oil and gas technology bodies. innovative new technologies that may provide radical solutions. Cohen emphasises that even though OGTC is at an early stage, a good deal of work is under way. Ear completions Progress in the mix O ne of the primary problems in horizontal shales is that the harsh environments in subterranean basins require lighter slurries to prevent breaking down the formation during the cement job. A secondary issue is preventing lost circulation, which occurs when the slurr RIGHT BLEND: NeoCem co-inventor TJ Pisklak prepares a mixture for mechanical properties testing in the Hallibuton Northbelt Laboratory. Field trial Continental Resources had wells in the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) where they had been unable to consistently get slurries to the desire completions Were not looking at it the same way we did 10 years ago. Its a different approach to building a slurry. liquid form to prevent particles from settling out. It can be prepared at Halliburtons bulk plant and pumped with existing equipment, so the engineer can use familiar equipment. Becau & Bits Bytes Kvaerner scoops Njord A topsides and hull upgrade In a welcome development for a struggling Norwegian oil and gas industry, Kvaerner has been awarded a contract for a complete upgrade of Statoils Njord A platform, writes Russell McCulley. S tatoil and partners in March formally approved Bits & Bytes Brownfield unit G ustoMSC has released a new design in its series of self-propelled cantilever jack-up rigs. The NG-5500X-LD is designed for light drilling and well intervention in mature fields in the southern North Sea, Middle East and South- East Asia, the company says. The rig targe bits & bytes Real-time diagnostics Helping hand QUOTE, UNQUOTE We think that the future of subsea is all-electrical. Luc Riviere, Total. When we started out at Brent we thought that 25 years was a stretch. And here we are over 40 years later. Alistair Hope, Shell. Aberdeen-based Enpro Subsea, with f bits & bYtEs Exchange programme A delegation of senior figures from Mexicos Pemex spent five days in Aberdeen recently on a learning event organised by Subsea UK and the Department of International Trade. The mission included site visits to GE Oil & Gas, Aker Solutions, Hydrasun, Wood Group, BP and HOST FORGING TIES, DRIVING GROWTH ADIPEC 2016 FAST FACTS 135,000 Gross sqm 162 Conference Sessions 96,374 2,034 25 Attendees Country Pavilions 850+ Expert Speakers Exhibiting Companies 10,009 21 15 Delegates NOCs IOCs WHY ADIPEC? Purchasing Power - Over US $9 billion of contracts were signed during Expanding Innovation We simplify subsea infrastructure and energize production. From subsea storage units to active cooling systems, and from revolutionary heated pipe technology to real-time OptiFlexTM monitoring, we reduce CAPEX and safeguard your production with more uptime and simpler operation.