An Aberdeen firm’s alternative approach to well integrity has helped make US$30 million in cost savings for a major oil firm in the Middle East.
One of the most common well integrity failures experienced in one of the major’s fields relates to annuli communication through the wellhead hanger seals, typically detected during planned maintenance routines (PMR’s) as part of the company’s well integrity program.
Depending on the type of injection fitting, these leaks had been addressed by either pumping hard plastic packing type material into the voids which can be unreliable and require a costly hoist or rig work over operation to change out the Xmas tree and/or the applicable wellhead spool piece.
KCI (stand 2E20) has introduced an innovative leak sealing technology, which uses a time-activated sealant that is deployed in its liquid phase into the voids of wellhead sealing areas. Once in place, the sealant converts to a resilient, self-bonding and pressure-energized solid material that acts as a static pressure-retaining barrier to re-establish full well integrity of the wellhead, KCI told the Show Daily. The product remains stable from -50 to +250°C so there is no expansion or shrinkage of the cured sealant.
To date, the technique has resulted in about $30 million in cost savings on production deferments and associated rig costs on workovers for the client, says KCI, which has been providing its services in the region since 2013, with more than 300 jobs completed to date with 100% success rate.