LAGCOE 2017: New Technology Showcase winners feature innovative oilfield equipment

Oct 25, 2017 / News

LAFAYETTE, La. -- New Technology Showcase winners from the 2017 Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAGCOE) in Lafayette, La., presented their award-winning tools and equipment during a technical session at the conference on Oct. 25.

The awards recognize five companies with “revolutionary technologies that advance the process of discovering and producing oil and natural gas,” according to LAGCOE. The award winners are Expro’s 30,000-psi perforating and drill-stem test tool package, Frank’s International’s Combination Drillpipe/Casing Spider & Elevator, HydraLIFT’s rod-raising and lowering device for oil-well beam pumping units, Louisiana Cat’s Product Health Connect Panel, and Ulterra Drilling Technologies’ PDC drill bit cutting structure: CounterForce. These technologies were picked from a large grouping of submissions due to their capacity to have “an ongoing impact” on the E&P business. They were reviewed from a panel of judges and evaluated on five categories, which are: new, innovative, proven, broad interest and significant impact. Each technology was a maximum of two-years-old, from the first application or product launch, and all winners introduced new patents.

Expro’s 30,000-psi perforating and drill-stem test tool package was designed for deepwater Gulf of Mexico drilling operations, and specifically for use in extremely high-pressure applications. One part of the package, the Extreme Pressure Series 30,000-psi TCP gun system, was commercially launched on Oct. 24 at LAGCOE. It utilizes “super-big hole charge technology, providing best-in-class area open-to-flow” to support frac-and gravel-pack operations. “As the pressure gets deeper and deeper in the Gulf of Mexico, the pressure has increased, the water depths have increased up to 10,000 ft, the vertical depths are now 30,000 ft, and so as a result, the casing integrity has increased and we have had to increase the integrity of our gun systems,” said Kerry Daly, Expro’s global business development manager – DST/TCP.

Frank’s International’s Combination Drill Pipe/Casing Spider & Elevator was launched in May 2016 and is able to handle a variety of different connections, including upset drill pipe, upset casing, flush casing and tubing. It can handle these different types of tubulars using a single set of tools, and it eliminates the need to change out equipment to adjust from drillpipe connections to casing connections, for instance. “It also increases safety on the rig floor as personnel are not required to get in well center to change out these tools,” said Jeremy Angelle, senior vice president, technology and engineering. “Just about any tubular that is presented to the rig floor, it can handle without any change-outs, without any adjustments.”

HydraLIFT’s rod-raising and lowering device for oil-well beam pumping units is a hydraulic jack that allows the operator to lift the rod string, which allows the operator to space the well. With this system, spacers can be installed from the ground and the rod string can be lifted safely and easily with the hydraulic pump. It was designed to increase safety and reduce costs for well spacing operations. “This is incredibly cheaper and safer than traditional methods that have been around for hundreds of years,” said Brett Sudistine, operations manager at HydraLIFT. “It is completely new technology.”

Louisiana Cat’s Product Health Connect Panel records digital information from diesel engines, streams it over a network and transmits the real-time data to experts located in an office. This frees up rig personnel from monitoring the engine’s alarms while on the rig, and allows them to focus on other tasks. It also allows dedicated teams to focus on the engine metrics that could indicate an impending failure, enabling the problem to be addressed before it causes a catastrophic event. “In today’s environment, the industry majors are forcing customers to do work with less people, less cost and this device is going to help control cost and people on the rig, as well as reduced risk,” said Byron Oliva, product health manager – E&T at Louisiana Cat.

Ulterra Drilling Technologies’ PDC drill bit cutting structure, the CounterForce bit, which is designed for challenging, hard and abrasive geology, commonly found in deepwater Gulf of Mexico operations. It utilizes a propriety design with alternating side rakes, that causes lower vibration on the PDC cutting structure, and thus higher durability on the new bit than when compared to standard PDC bits. It also increases ROP and sustains the high ROP for long periods of time, due to the high durability. “We had it on land for a couple years, but is even more applicable offshore because there is such a higher cost to tripping a bit earlier, so if you can save bit life, the advantages are exponential.”

Alex Endress | World Oil