Tech Transfer Track

E&P Toolbox Offers Web Access To Industry Software

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) has partnered with Petris Technology, Inc. to provide online access to industry software through the E&P Toolbox. Customers can "rent" a software application for a time period meeting their requirements. This service allows users to access software that previously may have been out of reach financially, and they don't have to hassle with keeping software that is used only intermittently updated. For those busy exploring for and producing oil and gas, the software maintenance aspect can be important.

The Toolbox contains more than 25 software packages in several areas, including among others: Reservoir Engineering and Simulation; Drilling Engineering; and Completion and Production Engineering.

Prices vary according to the package and are listed on the website. SPE members receive discounts on administrative costs. Visit SPE's website (www.spe.org/
EandPtoolbox/) for more information.

An updated field handbook for cementing, stimulation and coiled tubing is available online through Schlumberger Oilfield Services. It features six sections: (1) General Information, (2) Coiled Tubing and Pipe Data, (3) Volume Data, (4) Fracturing-Related Data, (5) Cementing-Related Data, and (6) Acid, Oil and Brine Data.

The i-handbook is available online at www.slb.com/oilfield/index.
cfm?id= id1384022 at no cost.

Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc. (Pioneer) has openly shared their "best practices" for reducing downhole failures that have evolved through a multi-year focused effort in West Texas. Highlights of that effort bear repeating since, in some 3,200+ wells in the Spraberry trend, overall well failures have been reduced to a third of pre-program levels, or from about 1.05 failures/well/yr to about 0.35 failures/well/yr. 

The tubing testing program evolved from hydrostatic testing on location to off-location electronic inspection to wellhead scanning. With hydrostatic testing, 10 joints above and below the leak were replaced with new or yellow band (0-15% wall loss) tubing. For offsite electronic inspection, the bottom 100 joints of tubing were inspected and anything with greater than 30% wall loss (green or red band) was replaced. Note that initial electronic inspections replaced 40-50% of the tubing, while just a few joints needed to be replaced when strings were electronically inspected again at later dates. The bottom 100 joints are now scanned onsite.

There was a similar evolution in rod practices. Initially, rods from numerous manufacturers that were equivalent to Norris-54 grade-D rods were used. That has now evolved to using rods "from a single manufacturer equivalent to Norris-78 grade-D rods." Rod string redesign included removing the bottom 450 feet of 7/8-in guided rods, controlling downstroke buckling by installing sinkerbars and balancing stress loading at the top of each rod taper. Sinkerbars had a very positive effect on tubing failure rates. Pump-off controllers, with or without sinkerbars, were also very efficient at lowering tubing failure rates.

Pioneer uses some internally plastic-coated (IPC) tubing. Their conclusion was that its best use is for problem wells. There are a number of wells evaluating poly-lined tubing. It has performed well and is considered a good alternative, although some reduction in inner tubing diameter is experienced.

These and many other successful practices are helping Pioneer reduce electrical consumption, reduce failures and realize a slight production increase. Keys to making it all work are commitment, an accomplished well analysis department, a team environment including vendors where all have appropriate responsibility and accountability, training and management commitment. 

Excerpted from article in American Oil & Gas Reporter, June issue, p. 92-97.