Expro wins Innovator Award

Expro won the Innovator Award at this year’s SPE Offshore Achievement Awards for its pioneering wireless well solutions technology.

Champion receiving the award. Image from Expro.

The award presented last night at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, Aberdeen, on 12 March recognizes Expro’s excellence in technological innovation within the offshore energy sector.

The judges commended Expro’s Cableless Telemetry System (CaTS), an in-well wireless communications technology, and Advanced Reservoir Testing (ART), a special application of CaTS, which is being used to reduce reservoir uncertainty during field appraisal and development planning. By enabling well testing to continue beyond well abandonment, this technology is providing high value data at low incremental well cost.

Expro says it is the first, and presently the only, company able to wirelessly monitor the bottom-hole pressure and temperature in a permanently abandoned subsea well. Its CaTS ART application has gained broad industry recognition, having already been installed by several major operators in suspended or abandoned subsea wells globally.

“By reducing uncertainties in reservoir connectivity and compartmentalization risk, this novel wireless monitoring solution allows our clients to enhance the value of their exploration/appraisal or development spend, leading to an optimized field development plan and exploitation of reserves,” says Brian Champion, global sales director for Wireless Well Solutions. “Unlike competing wireless technologies, the CaTS electromagnetic (EM) wireless signal is not influenced by cemented liner, casing, bridge plugs or cement plugs, and does not require a tubing string in the well to communicate along. This demonstrates its suitability to the long-term monitoring of abandoned wells, zones or pilot holes without any compromise to the integrity of the well abandonment.

“A combination of both innovative thinking and expertise in digital signal processing and harsh environment electronics design has been critical to our success, and the entire team is extremely proud to be recognized with this prestigious award. This achievement reinforces our commitment to pioneering unique wireless monitoring and control solutions for the offshore energy sector,” Champion added.

Resulting from over 20 years of research and development, the CaTS system transmits low frequency EM signals from downhole to surface, and surface to downhole, and can be retrofitted into existing wells using either wireline or coil tubing or, alternatively, may be completion deployed.