 |
Petrobras and Baker Hughes Sign Technology Agreement to Address Brazil Pre-salt Challenges
Petrobras Exploration and Production Director Guilherme Estrella
and Baker Hughes Senior Vice President and COO Martin Craighead have
signed a cooperation agreement between the two companies for well,
reservoir and oil lifting and offloading research and development,
focused on projects to address the challenges of Brazil’s pre-salt
reservoirs. The agreement calls for the opening of the Baker Hughes
Rio Technology Center in 2010.
The technology center will be a focal point for development in
reservoir characterization, drilling optimization, well completion
and production. Mauricio Figueiredo Baker Hughes Vice President –
Brazil said, “The focus will be on deepwater well construction, cost
reduction and on optimizing the recovery from pre-salt reservoirs.
The agreement will result in the hiring of scientist both in Brazil
and abroad, and will contribute to growing local content in Baker
Hughes products and services in Brazil.”
Petrobras is expected to invest US$16.4 million and Baker Hughes
plans to invest US$28.7 million in the project over the next four
years. The initiative also calls for the involvement of several
Brazilian universities, including Unicamp, PUC, UFRJ and Uenf, which
will work in partnership with the two companies.
“Baker Hughes is an old Petrobras partner,” said Mr. Estrella, E&P
Director on the board of Petrobras. “Through the years, Baker Hughes
has been improving its technological apparatus on an ongoing basis,
seeking to overcome the new challenges that appear. In the future,
we will realize that this was a historical day, since it marked a
new partnership between Petrobras and Baker Hughes.”
Please visit the Baker Hughes exhibit at any of the
upcoming
conferences to find out how our Best-in-Class products and services
can help you increase production and reduce costs.
Offshore Europe
Aberdeen, Scotland
September 8 - 11
If you think your friends and colleagues might benefit from this
information, please send this newsletter to them,
subscription is free.
View past issues of the Baker Hughes Technology
Update e-Newsletter.
|
 |
| |
|
Welcome to
Technology Update,
the Baker Hughes e-newsletter to inform you about our latest technologies for oil and gas drilling, formation evaluation,
completion and production.
COMPLETION & PRODUCTION
GLOBAL
 Baker Hughes and Shell Demonstrate New Real-Time Compaction Imaging (RTCI) System with Fiber Optic Wet Connector
Baker Hughes and Shell Exploration and Production recently held a media event at the Baker Hughes
Center for Technology Innovation in Houston to demonstrate the new Real-Time Compaction Imaging (RTCI) system. The RTCI system, developed as a joint project between the two companies, uses fiber optic sensors to continuously monitor reservoir compaction and the deformation and integrity of well tubulars. The Baker Hughes Intelligent Production Systems group conducted successful tests on a cemented casing string in a Shell well in Pinedale, Wyoming, and during a gravel pack completion at the Baker Hughes BETA rig site in Oklahoma. The BETA site test also demonstrated a fiber optic wet connector, which is a key enabling technology for the RTCI system.
U.S. LAND
 Scale
Remediation and ESP Installation Help West Texas Operator Increase Oil
Production Revenue by $3.4 Million
In West Texas, an Operator experienced rapid production decline from a CO2 flood producing well due to scale build up in the tubing and
electrical submersible pump (ESP) intake, dropping from 230 BOPD to 170 BOPD in four months. Although the ESP system was still fully operational, the flow restriction would have eventually caused it to fail. Baker Hughes artificial lift and chemical treatment experts worked together to solve the problem. Lab analysis determined that the scale was calcium sulphate and recommended a two-step remediation. First, a Baker Petrolite Calcium Sulfate converter was applied to convert the scale to an acid soluble material, which was then removed with an acidizing treatment. Then Baker Hughes technicians performed a batch squeeze treatment of a proprietary scale inhibitor. Then Baker Hughes installed a Centrilift Xtreme Performance ESP System, which was slightly larger than the previous ESP in the well. Restored production reached 350 BOPD,
52% higher than earlier “normal” production levels. The combination
of the scale treatment and new ESP system saved an estimated
$181,000 in remediation costs, extended the well’s run life by seven
months, and helped produce $3.4 million in additional oil revenue from the well.
DRILLING & EVALUATION
GULF OF MEXICO
 Gulf of Mexico Operator Wins Shallow Hazard Waiver Using Baker Hughes Drilling, Evaluation and Fluids Services
A major Operator in the Gulf of Mexico recently challenged Baker Hughes to provide high-quality real-time drilling and evaluation services in 22 in. and 17-1/2 in. surface hole sections for a shallow hazard waiver. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior requires a resistivity and porosity log to qualify for this conductor waiver. The Operator selected INTEQ
OnTrak™ and
SoundTrak™ logging-while-drilling services to deliver this application, allowing the installation of a diverter rather than a blow-out-preventer for three subsequent wells on this platform, saving both rig time and money. A NEWDRILL enhanced mud from Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids minimized hole washout for better log quality. The challenging ultra-slow velocity environment was successfully evaluated with the SoundTrak service, which provides the industry’s most accurate real-time compressional slowness data. The real-time logs were approved by the MMS, and the Operator was granted the conductor waiver for the three remaining wells in their project before the tools reached the rotary table.
DRILLING & EVALUATION, COMPLETION
MIDDLE EAST
 Abu Dhabi Operator Builds Longest Horizontal Well with Baker Hughes Products and Services
An Operator in Abu Dhabi has successfully drilled, logged and completed the longest horizontal well in the ASAB Field in Abu Dhabi with the support of Baker Hughes technologies. After the 7 in. shoe was landed at 9,250 ft (2820 m), the 6-in. hole was drilled to 14,343 ft (4067 m), the well was logged, and then an open-hole isolation completion was installed. Baker Hughes deployed the INTEQ 4-3/4 in. StarTrak LWD and reservoir navigation tools along with
AutoTrak™/LithoTrak™ systems to drill the well and generate high-resolution LWD resistivity images, with a 17bps sampling rate, which is one of the highest rates for this operator. The 5,173 ft (1577 m) of the 6 in. horizontal section was drilled with a Hughes Christensen 6 in. PDC bit with an average ROP of 50.5 ft/hr (15.4 m/hr).
Baker Hughes also provided formation evaluation expertise, imaging processing and interpretation during the operational phases. The well successfully completed with the installation of the Baker Oil Tools
REPackers™ (reactive element packer). A total of five 4-1/2 in. REPackers were run in the hole to compartmentalize the 5,000 ft (1524 m) of 6 in. open-hole section of the well. On completion of the well, the Operator’s team leader stated, “Installing 5,000 ft of 3-1/2 in. tubing with five swellable packers and getting these to TD is a state-of-the-art job. And the directional control and quality log data collected from this well are additional milestones that make us feel proud and ever confident to push toward 10,000 ft (3048 m) horizontals.”
COMPLETION
EUROPE
 Integrated Lower Completion/Wellbore Clean-up Saves 32 Rig Hours, Delivers Well Four Days Earlier
The first integrated lower completion/wellbore clean-up trip, on a semi-submersible, was recently conducted by Baker Hughes for a semi-submersible operation in the Foinaven field west of Shetland. The Baker Oil Tools team performed the space-out checks, equipment drawings, and complex hydraulics modeling to ensure the isolation valve would not be cycled during cleanup. By incorporating a special design that combined the lower completion and deep wellbore cleanup the Operator achieved 32 hours of rig time savings. These time savings contributed to a new delivery record, surpassing the previous one by four days.
ASIA PACIFIC
 Reservoir Optimized Completion Equipment Reduces Capital Expenditure for an Australian Operator
Baker Hughes Australia has successfully provided Reservoir Optimized Completion equipment for a 13-well deepwater subsea development project, which included nine bi-lateral producers, a single lateral producer, and water and gas injection wells. Completion equipment included the Baker Oil Tools
EQUALIZER™ flow control system with the
EXCLUDER™ sand screen, fluid loss control valves,
FLEX-LOCK™ liner hangers with
ZXP™ liner top packer, GP quick connects and PBR seal assemblies. Baker
GT retrievable bridge plugs were also used to help enable batch drilling and completion operations to reduce capital expenditure for the customer.
RUSSIA
 Baker Hughes to Install Distribution Temperature Sensing for a Heavy Oil Project in Russia
A Russian Operator has awarded Baker Hughes a well completion project in a heavy oil field near Usinsk in the Komi region. This project is a key strategic initiative to utilize world-class technologies for reservoir development and enhanced oil recovery in heavy oil fields. Baker Hughes was tasked to provide a unique technical solution that would allow the Operator to deploy permanent downhole monitoring for
Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) in three horizontal steam-injection wells. The resulting effort is the first Russian deployment of a fiber optic DTS monitoring system. The creative completion has the fiber optics mounted outside the 9-5/8 in. and 7 in. casings. Baker Hughes also is providing specially designed external casing packers capable of feed through for the fiber optic cable so that wellbore isolation can be achieved without damage to the fiber optics. This permanent DTS monitoring system will allow the customer to monitor, record and graphically display distributed temperature along the heel and horizontal sections of the wellbore in real time and subsequently perform comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of the steam injection on drainage from the adjacent wells.
ASIA PACIFIC
 Indian
Oil Company Cuts Costs and Improves Reliability through a Unique
Approach to Tubing Conveyed Perforating
A major private oil company in India has achieved significant cost savings and an improvement in completions reliability through a unique approach to running the Baker Atlas
tubing conveyed perforating
(TCP) service. Baker Hughes has performed over 200 perforating operations for the operator so that complex completion operations can be run independently of the TCP guns. The guns are run on specially designed Baker Oil Tools anchors and detonated at a later time and at a distance from the tubulars so as not to damage the fragile completions equipment. This approach has enabled the operator to optimize rig deployment and production schedules, cut costs and improve the reliability of completions equipment worth millions of dollars.
PRODUCTION
CANADA
 Canadian Operator Recovers from H2S Emission Production Shut Down with Baker Hughes Engineered Chemical Treatment Solution
A major Operator in Canada sought Baker Hughes assistance in solving an H2S odor and clean air problem associated with the flaring of the troublesome gas at their production facility. The flaring process was operating at such a low temperature that black smoke was being emitted into the air. The local farmers, in conjunction with government agencies, forced the Operator to shut down this facility until they came up with a suitable solution to the two problems. With the assistance of Baker Hughes, an engineered solution was developed for this system. Two Ultrafab gas sweetening towers, in combination with 120 liters (31.7 gallons) per day of Baker Petrolite
H2S
Scavenger, have been implemented at this site. By applying one sweetening system to the treatment of all the solution gas and the second for the treatment of the gas off the high-pressure production tanks, the Operator is once again producing oil at this site in compliance with odor and clean air standards.
 Back to Top
|
|
