New products

Vol. 230 No. 8

One-piece production system

Angel Petroleum Technologies LLC has released the BlackStorm Oil Production System (BPS) to market under license to Parker Hannifin Corp. The system is designed to replace rods, tubing, beam pump, polish rod and workover rig and eliminate treatments for tubing corrosion. It is a corrosion-proof, one-piece oil production system combining the durability of a purpose-built thermoplastic tubing system with the efficiency of an Electric Submersible Pump (ESP). The ESP power cable and a stainless steel wire rope are integrated into the tubing string, allowing one-man installation without a workover rig. Turnkey installation time from drive-up to drive-away is less than 20 minutes.

Cable transducer

BEI Industrial Encoders’ new linear cable transducer provides digital position and speed feedback information in a rugged and easy-to-install package. The Model LT25 cable transducer utilizes a flexible measuring cable mounted to an internal spring-loaded spool and a quadrature encoder output to precisely measure linear motion applications. The cable is made of nylon-coated stainless steel, and has a measurement range up to 125 in. The transducer is simply connected to moving equipment, and the base is secured to a fixed object. Difficult-to-reach areas or concerns about shaft misalignment are not a problem. The cable transducer allows for simple reorientation of the mounting bracket or encoder connector position, providing added adaptability for installation. With an IP66 rating, the LT25 is suitable for a variety of industrial measurement situations, including wet, dirty or outdoor environments where the measuring range travels over a harsh environment.

Risk management training

Oilennium Ltd., a provider of training programs for the oil and gas industry, announced a new multilingual risk-management training program developed for Weatherford International Ltd.’s Drilling Hazard Mitigation Business Unit. The program is designed to ensure that every employee understands why work must be planned, and that every effort must be taken to eliminate or reduce risk. It offers an overview of Essential Risk Management (ERM) and Operational Risk Management (ORM), with the primary objective to introduce employees to the principles of risk and the tools to manage risk. Available in English and Spanish, the program is comprised of six modules. It begins with an explanation of risk and how it can be measured, then goes on to explain how risk is managed through administrative processes. Individual procedures are examined in detail to demonstrate where, when and how they should be used in the workplace. By the time the student successfully completes the final module, he or she will understand the concept of risk, hazards and a risk matrix, and will also know how to evaluate risk and how levels of risk can be reduced.

Real-time compaction imaging system

Baker Hughes Inc. and Shell International Exploration and Production have developed a Real-Time Compaction Imaging (RTCI) system that uses fiber optics to monitor sand screen deformations and casing shape in real time. Undetected deformation of completions can lead to workovers, loss of production or the potential loss of a well. The RTCI system uses thousands of Bragg grating sensors incorporated within a sand screen instrumented with optical fibers to monitor strain and acquire a 3D, high-resolution deformation image of the screen in real time. A fiber optic wet connect was designed to link the strain-sensing fiber optics into the upper completion.

Dura Products has introduced the Universal Pump Hold Down System, which allows a conventional reciprocating rod pump or rotational Progressive Cavity Pump (PCP) to be installed interchangeably into the same seating nipple. This feature makes the product particularly suited for thermal production, where operators may need to change the pump type as the well’s temperature profile changes during steam injection or production. The system can be configured for either top or bottom hold-down configuration as required. For either pump type, the installation is the same—set down to install, and straight pull to retrieve—with no additional manipulation of the rod string required. The axial force can be adjusted to suit the application. The design can be customized for any given tubing diameter, allowing full selective nipple ID, and is suitable for deviated wellbores and sour environments. The design features a one-piece nipple and inner mandrel with metal-to-metal seals. The hold-down mechanism has been designed to provide reliable operation and release in the presence of sand and other solids. The 4½-in. size has been torque-tested to 5,000 lb/ft.

Elastomers

XploR from Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is a suite of advanced elastomers developed for oil and gas applications. The portfolio includes compounds in HNBR, FKM and Isolast perfluoroelastomer, each of which demonstrates best-in-class explosive decompression resistance for its material type. In independent tests, materials within the XploR range were able to satisfy both the Norsok M-710 sour service and Rapid Gas Decompression (RGD) test conditions. Gas or gas mixtures in contact with elastomer surfaces can be absorbed under pressure. At high pressure, absorbed gas is in a compressed state. When external pressure is reduced, either rapidly or over a longer period of time, the compressed gas rapidly expands within the elastomer, which can lead to cracking within the body of the elastomer. These cracks propagate internally, and this can cause void formation or cracks to appear on the elastomer surface, which significantly reduces seal integrity. The XploR range is available in all standard international O-ring sizes and cross-sections, along with custom-engineered solutions and specially designed seal profiles.

Coriolis meters for chemical injection

Emerson Process Management has developed a new Micro Motion Elite Coriolis meter designed specifically for low-flow, high-precision applications. The meters are especially suitable for monitoring and control of chemical additive injection rates for treatment and flow-assurance programs. They provide +0.05% liquid flow accuracy, +0.35% gas accuracy, and +0.0005 g/cc liquid density accuracy for injection rates of 0.07 lb/min. to 12 lb/min. (2 kg/hr to 330 kg/hr). The meter’s sensor tubes are rated to 6,000 psi for high-pressure applications. They have full secondary containment to ensure safety, and are constructed of polished 316L stainless steel external surface and rounded corners to provide high corrosion resistance for offshore environments. The meter’s electronics give fast and noise-free signal processing to deliver the best available two-phase flow measurement capability and empty-full-empty batching. The meter is available with four-wire or two-wire electronics for replacement upgrades of older loop-powered flow technologies without adding more power or installing new cabling. Micro Motion Coriolis meters have no moving parts and are virtually maintenance-free.

Fire-resistant sealing system

Uncontrolled discharge of combustible gas under pressure poses a serious fire hazard in offshore rigs. If high-pressure flammable gas is emitted at high velocity and ignited, the result is a jet fire, which is extremely demanding on a sealing system. Beele Engineering’s Nofirno sealing system for multi-cable and pipe transits has successfully completed a jet fire test, in accordance with ISO 22899-1:2007 and ISO/CD 22899-2. Jet fire tests simulate the most onerous conditions of a hydrocarbon-fueled fires on an offshore rig. The simulation tested a cable penetration with dimensions 600 × 300 mm with armored and non-armored cables up to 3 × 400 mm² (102-mm OD) and bundled LAN cables, representing a shipboard cable installation. The conduit sleeve for the Nofirno pipe transit was 406.4 mm ID, and a steel pipe with an OD of 273 mm was passed through. Both penetrations maintained integrity for the full 2 hr. Despite a jet speed of about 360 km/hr and flame temperatures of about 1,200°C, the temperature rise measured on the surface of the Nofirno sealant at the unexposed side reached a maximum of 160°C. Inspection showed that the Nofirno filler sleeves were minimally affected by the fire.