UK-based oilfield services company Expro has successfully deployed its new design ExACT (Expro annulus-operated circulating and test tool) in its first live offshore well.
The operation, a tubing conveyed perforating "shoot and pull", took place on the Vermillion field, in the Gulf of Mexico, following trial work onshore in Brazil last year.
The tool combines downhole shut-in and circulating functionality. Rated at 15,000 psi and temperatures of up to 400˚F, ExACT features minimal fast-cycling to position the ball and ports in the required position shortening times between cycles and therefore reducing cost.
The tool is able to fit with a range of downhole operational conditions and objectives. During the deployment, TCP guns were fired using a pressure-activated firing system set to detonate with 2400 psi applied annulus pressure.
Using an in-house software program, the ExACT tool was set up at surface to fully function downhole with applied annulus pressure between 1100-1400 psi, leaving the desired firing head safety margin of 1000 psi. Post-job analysis of gauge data verified that ExACT was operating within 50 psi of calculated values in all tool positions.
The ExACT tool is primarily aimed at the E&A and deepwater markets.
David Grant, Expro’s DST/TCP Director, says: “This deployment is a positive step forward towards an operational launch of our Advanced DST tool offering later this year.
“The ExACT system can be deployed in any well type, however, it is ideally suited for gas wells and deepwater markets. The fast-cycling tool can also provide a very high circulating rate, which is paramount in high cost operations such as those in deepwater applications.”
Expro officially established its DST/TCP product line in 2009.