Schlumberger has announced the availability of its new PressureXpress-HT reservoir pressure service and MDT Forte-HT qualified, rugged, high-temperature formation sampling and pressure system. These two services are the latest high-temperature additions to the Schlumberger reservoir characterisation portfolio of services.
“Providing a full suite of high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) evaluation tools is a major engineering focus within Schlumberger. These two tool systems expand our capabilities to deliver reliable downhole fluid analysis, fluid sampling, pressure measurement and interval pressure transient testing,” says Catherine MacGregor, president, Schlumberger Wireline. “Our rigorous qualification process includes shock, vibration, temperature and pressure cycling to ensure reliable tool operations at the maximum tool ratings,” he adds.
 |
PRESSUREXPRESS-HT
Rated to 450 deg F (232 deg C) the PressureXpress-HT tool provides accurate pressure gradients and overall data quality not achievable by conventional high-temperature formation tester tools. The unique dynamically controlled pressure pretest system in the PressureXpress-HT tool enables precise control of volume and drawdown rates. This now makes pressure testing possible in tight formations common in HPHT reservoirs. The tool design also eliminates the need for gauge temperature stabilisation, thus significantly improving overall operational efficiency.
In field testing in Thailand and the North Sea, the enhanced pretest system of the PressureXpress-HT tool enabled successful pressure measurements at multiple depths to produce profiles of pressure versus depth and establish accurate reservoir pressure gradients to determine fluid contacts.
MDT FORTE-HT
The new MDT Forte-HT system has been designed to provide greater all-around robustness in formation sampling and testing operations up to 400 deg F (204 deg C). The core of the new MDT Forte-HT platform is a redesigned electronics system, incorporating surface-mounted components on a ruggedised chassis that protects sensitive electronics when operating in harsh high-shock and high-temperature logging conditions.
The MDT Forte-HT also has a new-generation HPHT quartz gauge, high-performance packers for the dual-packer module and advanced sealing technology; all are rated to 400 deg F (204 deg C). This system includes a high-temperature Quicksilver Probe focused fluid extraction tool that provides near contamination-free fluid samples, which are critical to evaluate gas condensate reservoirs often found at high temperatures. The result is a qualified system that performs reliably and efficiently to minimise risk in even the most challenging operations – remote exploration, deepwater regions, drillpipe conveyance and harsh environments.
SCHLUMBERGER AND PETROFAC
Petrofac and Schlumberger have announced that their Integrated Energy Services (IES) and Schlumberger Production Management (SPM) divisions respectively have signed a co-operation agreement under which these divisions will establish a working relationship to deliver integrated and high-value production projects in the emerging and growing production services and production enhancement market.
“Schlumberger’s subsurface knowledge, production engineering, well construction and project management services coupled with Petrofac’s surface facility design, installation and ongoing operational field management create a life-of-field approach coupled with a performance-focused commercial model to optimise asset development and overall value,” says Miguel Galuccio, president, Schlumberger Production Management. “Schlumberger and Petrofac share a common global culture that promotes the complementary nature of their respective products and services and together will provide a one-stop shop for clients in emerging field development and asset management services,” he adds.
Schlumberger and Petrofac have complementary skill sets and execution capabilities. Both have built these through subsurface knowledge, facilities expertise and operational experience in integrated asset management with IES having particular strengths in facilities, engineering and O&M and project management while SPM has particular strengths in subsurface knowledge, production engineering, well construction, and project and asset management.
Andy Inglis, chief executive, Petrofac IES comments: “Petrofac has always sought to partner selectively with companies that enable us to enhance our service offering to customers, and with Schlumberger we are able to combine our capabilities with those of a world leader in the subsurface domain with an unrivalled track record for technological innovation. The creation of this framework will enable us to bid jointly for projects of a scale that we would not pursue independently, and to develop them at a much faster pace. Petrofac and Schlumberger have a common approach and I am tremendously excited by the scope of the opportunities we see for our combined capabilities.”
Both companies will deploy their own capital in these production enhancement projects and neither company will seek to book reserves or production. The market opportunity for the collaboration is significant as major resource holders seek to develop discovered low-risk reserves against an industry environment characterised by a shortage of capability and capacity.
Schlumberger is the world’s leading supplier of technology, integrated project management and information solutions to customers working in the oil and gas industry worldwide. Schlumberger has principal offices in Paris, Houston and The Hague and reported revenues of $27.45 billion in 2010.
Petrofac is a leading international services provider to the oil and gas production and processing industry, with a diverse customer portfolio including many of the world’s leading integrated, independent and national oil and gas companies.
ECUADOR SIGNS UP
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s state-run Petroecuador has signed two enhanced oil recovery (EOR) deals with consortiums led by oil services companies Schlumberger and Tecpetrol. Halliburton, which previously had been expected to lead one of the deals, did not participate after all.
“The world’s biggest oil services company will carry out the largest enhanced oil recovery investment in its history,” said Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa during the signing ceremony. Exploratory drilling will include Ecuador’s currently untapped potential reserves at pre-Cretaceous underground depths.
The 15-year deals for two ageing oil fields came after a year of negotiations, during which Ecuador’s government demanded that companies provide financing, in addition to accepting payment per barrel of produced oil.
The government had expected to sign the contracts last September. The consortiums will invest a combined $1.678 billion in the fields, including $127 million in enhanced oil recovery, Oil Minister Wilson Pastor said during the signing ceremony.
A consortium of Schlumberger, Argentina’s Tecpetrol and KKR Energy will run the Shushufindi Aguarico field, which currently produces close to 45,000 barrels per day (bpd). Its peak output was 117,000 bpd in 1986. Amid an investment of close $1.3 billion, output is targeted to peak at 60,000 bpd in 2014, Correa said. Petroecuador will pay $30.60 barrel for every additional barrel produced there.
The Libertador Atacapi field will be run by a consortium of Schlumberger, Tecpetrol, Colombo-Canadian Canacol and Ecuadorean Sertecpet. It aims to take output to a peak around 16,400 bpd in 2015 from the present 16,200 bpd via an investment of $385 million. “The increase is small but sustained and reverts the national decline of the fields,” Correa said. The contracted per-barrel price will be $39.50.
The tariffs are only valid for additional production, however, Correa added. If the consortiums fail to increase output beyond the base curve set in the contract, they will not be paid.
The companies will inject water and carbon dioxide into the reserves to raise pressure and boost recovery of oil to 60 per cent from the current 35 per cent, Pastor said earlier in a separate interview with GamaTV, a government-controlled television broadcaster.
Halliburton’s last-minute cancellation came despite confirmation by Correa on January 21 that a deal had been reached. Doubts regarding the financial conditions of the contract led Halliburton to believe that the terms were too risky, a source close to the company’s local operations said. Ecuador will remain the owner of the oil and is not handing the fields over to private foreign companies, as critics have charged, Correa said. The government will receive 95 per cent of each additional produced barrel, he added.
Additional EOR contract negotiations continue with other companies.
