Press release

Tendeka launches one-trip remedial system to mitigate sand control failure in wells

 To address the issue of sand control failure in wells, independent global completions service company Tendeka, has launched a new cost-effective single trip sand control solution.

The Filtrex remedial sand control system provides the flexibility to be installed thru-tubing, through the tightest of restrictions. The first of its kind, the Filtrex system provides the ability to perform sand clean out whilst installing the tool.

Using an open cell reticulated depth filter, the tool is run in hole compressed, once set, the filter will expand into the casing or failed screen filling the annular gap. The filtration is fully protected during deployment and will not be exposed until at the correct location. The tool will retain sand whilst allowing fluid flow through the depth filtration media. Once set, the tool requires no further intervention.

Eilidh McKay, technical support manager at Tendeka, said: “Sand control failure is a common occurrence in the industry, and as such, there is a challenge to regain sand control in existing damaged completions without the requirement to perform a workover.

“The process of thru-tubing sand control can be costly and time consuming, requiring the removal of sand prior to installing a sand control solution, with most existing solutions enabling the wellbore to refill with formation sand reducing productivity, and are susceptible to erosion failure.”

In mature basins, sand issues account for 8% of all shut in wells[1] either due to failure of the existing sand screen or onset of sand production due to depletion or water production.

Filtrex prevents the need to perform a full workover. It will be the only tool on the market that can perform a sand clean out and install a permanent solution at the same time which prevents multiple trips.

Brad Baker, CEO of Tendeka, added: “We have recently invested in a sand lab at our Aberdeen headquarters and have looked outside the box to come up with a simple and effective solution that can have a real impact on an industry-wide issue.

“We are known in the sector as sand management specialists and we are already seeing interest from several operators around the world.”

[1] https://www.ogauthority.co.uk/media/5107/oga_wells_insight_report_2018.pdf

by Gillian King, VP Europe, Russia, CIS & Africa

Published in Energy Voice, September 2019

I was born in 1976. It was a decade that was not only phenomenal but also transformational for the oil and gas industry. A lot has happened through the forty-plus years of peaks and troughs, and certainly, it has not all been good.  However, it can’t be denied that the industry has made a significant contribution to the UK economy (£330billion in production taxes and the support of over 280,000 jobs).¹ The sector has also improved the way of life for UK citizens. Even more so for those of us living in and around the Granite City in the ‘Aberdeen bubble’.

It is important to note that UK domestic production currently only meets 45% of the country’s demand.  Additional resources are currently imported which does not contribute to UK taxes, does not keep people in jobs, and does not help in terms of achieving net zero status.

Production from the UKCS peaked around 1999 and was on a steady decline until 2015 when levels started to increase again year on year. This rise was in response to the Sir Ian Wood Report published in 2014 which provided recommendations to make the basin more sustainable and more competitive. The establishment of the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) in 2015 and the increased focus on Maximising Economic Recovery has seen production levels reach their highest point in recent years.

Tendeka, with our range of production optimisation and sand control technologies, continues to play an integral role in safe, productive and sustainable operations in the UKCS and beyond.

In 2017, certainly within the UK, we shifted our focus towards mature fields to develop and deploy enhanced technology to squeeze as much hydrocarbons as possible from each well.

Our PulseEight wireless system, for example, can be used as an alternative safety device within the well when conventional options are limited due to control line failure. This could potentially allow many wells that are currently shut-in within the UK North Sea to be safely and economically opened back up again.

During later life, our Autonomous Inflow Control Device (AICD) technology can be installed in older wells that are producing with unmanageably high water cut or gas-oil-ratios.  These events typically mean oil production declines and wells need to be shut-in. The AICD helps to delay the water or gas breakthrough using a small ‘levitating disk’ within the completion that lifts to choke water and gas as they travel at higher velocity due to their lower viscosity. The same principles are used in the aerospace industry to allow an aeroplane to take off.  As it travels along the runway, the velocity increases causing different pressures to act above and below the wing, powering it to lift and fly.

We are now working on a new remedial sand control solution called Filtrex, which again, can be applied to aging wells where sand production can cause significant problems.  It is a unique, innovative design for a filter media that can be run in-hole, then activated, to restore sand-free production.

Within just a few years, the intense focus and scrutiny of the oil and industry’s environmental credentials has ramped up, putting a question mark on the sector’s ‘social license to operate’.  In May 2019, UK Parliament declared a climate emergency and in June, the government set a legal target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. The Scottish government was more aggressive by targeting 2045.

There is understandably huge pressure and responsibility on industry leaders and innovators to avert an impending climate crisis.  The development of technologies to allow carbon capture & storage (CCS) for instance, as well as fuelling our platforms with cleaner, greener power and, most importantly, closer collaboration with the renewable sector, are finally coming to the fore.

The market is also changing as our basin matures.  In the last five years, more than 400 oil and gas fields have stopped producing and according to analysts, around USD32 billion is expected to be spent on decommissioning to 2025.² Using our inherent ingenuity, this is another area where we can put our pioneering spirit to good use for the planet to reuse platforms for wind and water power generation and in the creation of artificial reefs.

Times are most definitely changing. For the first time in my 20-year career within oil and gas I find that I have to justify my career choices, explain why technology providers like Tendeka are still valid today, and share my confidence that there is a future within the UKCS for generations to come!

1. https://oilandgasuk.co.uk/economic-contribution/
2. https://www.woodmac.com/reports/upstream-oil-and-gas-upstream-decommissioning-wheres-next-and-who-pays-22918

by Karianne Amundsen, Scandinavia Area Manager

Published in Energy Voice, September 2019

Earlier this year, Tendeka secured the world’s largest sand and inflow control contract for the Troll field on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

The major four-year exclusive contract with Equinor will see our team deliver and install up to 100,000 metres annually of sand screens and FloSure Autonomous Inflow Control Devices (AICDs) for sand-face completion. The agreement also offers an additional five two-year extension periods.

We have worked together with Equinor for seven years by providing screens and ICD/AICDs for Troll as well as several other assets. It is a testament to the hard work of the team, commitment to continuous improvement and our significant investment in production optimisation technology that we have secured this new framework agreement for the next four years. We look forward to continuing the collaboration on optimising production on the Troll field, which represents the backbone of Norwegian oil and gas production.

As a large subsea development, Troll’s multilateral, horizontal wells are drilled with total reservoir length, between 3 to 5km within the thin oil column. The FloSure AICD is incorporated with premium sand screens to provide sand and inflow control for the thin layer oil rim which is overlaid by a large gas cap. The aim is to maximise oil production using our FloSure AICDs to ensure contribution from all reservoir sections and limit gas production by postponing gas breakthrough and choking gas production after gas breakthrough. Currently, more than 50 wells are equipped with AICDs, demonstrating significant increase in cumulative oil production. Since we first deployed the FloSure technology in the Troll field in 2013, the field adjustable production optimisation technology has been enhanced for use in new and retrofit applications across five continents from marginal heavy oil developments in Canada to new field developments across Asia and gas cap expansions in the mature North Sea basin.

Troll is, of course, a major project for the company, but we have also installed more than 35,000 FloSure AICD valves in over 210 wells worldwide. The technology enables production engineers to manage reservoir uncertainty along the well with better flow assurance, greater oil recovery and ultimately increased profitability.

It’s an incredibly versatile technology. Knowing how to apply the technology correctly by quantifying the value and optimising the design is crucial. Based on multiphase testing, we’ve developed our own modelling software to be able to predict the performance of the AICDs in any application. This is where our expertise is second to none.

The implementation of AICDs has not added complexity or HSE risks to the completion and production of these wells. In fact, as a proactive-reactive device, AICD completion was found to be the most efficient completion at controlling the gas and water production from high productive zones or fractures, compared to the wells equipped with ICDs and other conventional completions.

Its application provides operators with significant long-term benefits as well as a type of insurance policy against geological and dynamic reservoir uncertainties to reduce the risk and variation in the expected oil production profiles.

This clearly demonstrates that implementing AICDs can significantly increase oil production, extend well life, and ultimately lead to greater oil recovery in a wide range of environments and applications.

(Featured Photo:- Harald Petterson, Equinor)

by Andy Nelson, Senior Software Engineer

Published in Energy Voice, July 2019

Good data analysis can have a direct impact on operational efficiencies and the potential reduction in operating costs as well as improved production and hydrocarbon recovery. From edge computing devices to artificial intelligence and machine learning, the scale and variety of data and analysis technologies is widely available, yet application is still relatively limited.

The desire to fast track the industry towards the adoption and implementation of a digital oilfield has never been greater. However, deploying a solution to extract the economic benefits of digital data can come with an abundance of technical and logistical challenges.

Simply moving this volume of data from the point of generation to a location where analysis can be performed is the real data challenge. Whether the well is located on an offshore platform or remote land-based, the hard-wire technology infrastructure to move these massive volumes of data either may not exist or is only available in a minimal number of facilities. Evolving wireless technology standards are helping to improve data transmission speeds, but the growth of data generation significantly outpaces the ability to transmit that data.

Despite the best laid plans and processes, deployment issues only serve to deter uptake and field acceptance. Even wells in good geographical locations or with reliable, high-speed access can also face significant technical hurdles. Regardless of industry efforts for standardised protocols, the integration of diverse digital systems from a myriad of suppliers, whilst trying to sustain legacy data, continues to be problematic.

Implementing the digital oilfield does not need to be an all-encompassing effort that integrates every aspect of the workflow on the first pass. Success can be incrementally achieved by focusing on smaller projects and deploying them in a progressively integrated way. At the same time, each individual project phase should feed into the larger digital oilfield strategy.

Careful selection of vendors that conform to industry standards will aid in systems integration and allow for ‘best-of-breed’ products to be utilised in the final solution. Testing of each integration point, and the entire workflow, should be a standard practice to ensure that data is being correctly used and provide assurance that errors are not filtering into the data set.

Inevitably, the selection of certain products, the deployment location and technological limitations will mean that creative, integration strategies will be needed to be adopted to complete certain phases. Having a planned obsolescence strategy will also ensure that each component of the digital oilfield will not become an isolated legacy technology problem and that future capabilities can be introduced as they become available.

Too often, the very complex nature of the digital oilfield itself can hinder its introduction and therefore slow the pace, performance and profits it can ultimately bring. Through good planning, creative thinking and disciplined implementation, the digital oilfield is achievable.

None of this precludes the need for human intervention and oversight. Computers aren’t good at solving complex problems, but humans are.

Where computers shine is crunching through masses of data, looking at historical actions that have been acted upon, what those outcomes are, and then making data-driven recommendations. Humans can become overwhelmed with volumes of data relatively quickly, but computers, given the right circumstances, can make the most of that data and leave the workforce with solving the problems and making the critical decisions that the data presents.

By Diane McGhee, Travel/Business Support Assistant

We came, we saw, we crawled – and yes, we conquered!

Friday night saw an intrepid band of crawlers – well, Vanguardians really –  join over 600 people at the Beach Ballroom for the 2019 Maggie’s Culture Crawl.  This year, Tendeka has adopted Maggie’s Aberdeen as its chosen charity until summer 2020, and we are determined to do our bit to raise as much money and awareness for this cause as possible.

After gathering for a spirited group warm-up in the Beach Leisure Centre clad in our orange t-shirts, we were ready to hit the road!  No sooner had we done so, when the heavens descended – were we downhearted? No!  It was up with the umbrellas, on with the rain jackets and off to the first stop for burgers at Fittie (that’s Footdee for all you non-Aberdonians!)  Whilst there, we enjoyed watching a rather dark sky make its way towards the horizon and allow us to take part in the rest of the walk and dry out.  Aberdeen Harbour Board allowed us a glimpse of the work that they are doing to enhance the harbour area and see a side normally not open to the public along with a cross-section of photographs of the area in days gone by.

Torry saw us with a silent disco, which had us listening/dancing along to some classic hits – while Mackies provided some ice-cream which hit the spot just nicely.  As we were only three miles in, we had to conserve our energy so we were off on the road again.

It was interesting to see parts of Aberdeen that even some of us locals had never been to, while enjoying some local food and drinks, including a rather nice G & T as well as some Pimms.  It is coming up to Wimbledon fortnight after all!

Everywhere we went, we were encouraged, applauded as well as fed and watered.  At the 8 mile stop, we were at Maggie’s Centre Aberdeen where Bucksburn Academy’s steel band was entertaining the walkers – even after 8 miles people were still smiling and buoying up tired friends and blisters were easily forgotten about.  At Huntly Street, we were in the church being entertained by some beautiful organ music and a seat to rest before the final mile.

We ended up back where we started just before midnight having completed 10 miles and where a very welcome glass of prosecco was waiting for us along with our medal and goody bag, and congratulatory hugs.

Yes, we were tired after the effort, but can proudly say we all enjoyed it and furthermore, raised nearly £500.  Thank you to all who donated!  Although we don’t know the overall total raised, before we even set off Maggie’s fundraising manager revealed that the running total was over £31,000, we can’t wait to hear to final figure.

Take a bow Aberdeen – we’re the biggest Culture Crawl Group in the UK!

3rd July update:  Maggie’s Aberdeen Culture Crawl total is now standing at £69,843