Archive for April, 2009
Expro Unveils New SL2K Memory Camera
Expro unveiled its latest SL2K Memory Camera at the 2009 SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference held in The Woodlands, Texas. The SL2K Memory Camera is a highly portable and mobile downhole memory camera system that enables the operators to view conditions in wells without the expense of an electric line logging unit. The 1-11/16 inch OD battery-powered memory camera can be deployed on slickline or coiled tubing and can be used to survey wells with H2S or CO2. The tool has a rating of 225˚F and 10,000 psi, although the temperature limit increases to as high as 250˚F in low-pressure conditions.
The SL2K Memory Camera has already been deployed on 15 projects in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Slope of Alaska.
“The improved features of the Expro SL2K Memory Camera facilitate fewer trips into the well for our customers, offering operators a more cost-effective and efficient way to identify downhole problems,” said Jeff Whittaker, Expro Technical Champion, downhole camera services. “Eliminating unnecessary trips into the well is very important for coiled tubing operations, where one single trip could cost from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on well conditions.”
The new model has an improved memory over the previous one, with an 11-fold increase in the number of captured images. It can capture up to 2,200 video images for viewing when the tool is retrieved. It can program up to three time intervals at capture rates of 1, 2 or 5 frames per second, which is an equivalent of a 36-minute e-line survey, or a 5-minute motion video.
Unlike its predecessor, the new SL2K Memory Camera records depth at the surface during the survey and the depth can be integrated on to the video images after the survey. Operators need to know not only what the problem is, but also where the problem is in order to address it properly – particularly when multiple problem areas are identified in the survey. The depth, temperature and annotations made during the survey are all integrated onto the video images after the survey, and then this is recorded on to a CD that includes ProView, Expro’s playback and review software.
The SL2K Memory Camera enables operators to obtain downhole images on slickline when the costs or logistics of mobilizing an electric line unit or fiber optic unit are prohibitive. The ability to increase or decrease the capture rate allows operators to modify the logging survey to suit their needs for diagnosing stationary objects or inspecting dynamic motion such as fluid entries or safety valve actuations.
Sealed Computer Designed for Harsh Environments
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms unveiled the SealTouch-15 rugged flat panel computer with an environmentally sealed enclosure. Unlike competing products, the Ruggedized SealTouch-15 is capable of being installed on a metal arm, rather than being mounted on a panel. Weighing just 28 pounds, it is transportable and capable of being used in multiple locations at temperatures up to50°C (122°F).
The SealTouch-15 features an Intel Celeron M 1.5 GHz processor with 512 MBytes DDRAM, a 40 GByte hard drive and Ethernet capability. The 15-inch, XGA resolution display has a resistive touchscreen as an operator interface. Its NEMA 12 environmentally sealed enclosure with corrosion resistance provides protection against falling dirt and is ideal for use in dusty environments.
“We have a long history of introducing solutions for companies who need to deploy computing capability in the harshest, least hospitable environments,” said Adrian Bernhard, general manager of commercial products and systems at GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “The introduction of the SealTouch-15 is a response to specific demand for this level of capability, and broadens our product family to allow us to serve an even wider range of customer requirements.”
The SealTouch-15 supports Windows XP, Windows NT and Windows 2000, and is optionally available with a CompactFlash or solid-state hard drive for additional resistance to shock and vibration.
New Software Accelerates E&P Asset Backup
Enigma Data Solutions has developed an extension to its Project Archive and Retrieval System (PARS) suite that automates the backup of data from geotechnical, reservoir characterization and office applications. PARS Backup enables data managers to restore multi-disciplinary E&P projects quickly in the event of data loss, system failure or natural disasters. Enigma’s software can identify and capture the important project data and metadata from mainstream E&P applications from vendors such as Landmark, Schlumberger and Paradigm, as well as numerous tools used for reservoir characterization.
This sophisticated application integration is combined with special features in PARS Backup to automate the backup of complex oil exploration projects, while preserving all of the structured database information, unstructured data files and intra-project references required for a reliable and consistent backup.
With Enigma software, companies can now manage complete E&P asset backup for both local and remote processing centers from a single server. Each application backup job is configured using a step-by-step wizard tailored to the application, such that all of the required data and decision information for each project is preserved. Once each application’s backup is configured, the process is fully automated from this central administration point.
PARS Backup automatically creates a powerful search index from application metadata that is used to locate the correct project from a backup set quickly and accurately. Thus, it is no longer necessary to spend time searching through backup sets and retrieving tapes from local or long term storage. Project data recovery is enhanced with built-in features to perform either a full recovery, or to roll back live projects to a previous restore point in the event of data corruption or poor processing decisions. PARS stores all of the project data in a single bundle, maintaining a project’s integrity so that restores are reliable and execution is straightforward.
PARS Backup supports Solaris, Linux and Windows operating systems. The PARS Backup destination can be either disk or a broad range of tape and virtual tape storage solutions.
iStore, Infusion Launch PetroTrek App on Multi-Touch Platform
The Information Store (iStore) and Infusion Development have expanded the PetroTrek Digital Oilfield application onto the Microsoft Surface multi-touch presentation platform. The petroleum industry’s first Surface solution was unveiled at this year’s Microsoft Global Energy Forum for the Middle East and Africa.
The co-developed solution combines iStore’s PetroTrek data access technology and oilfield content visualization on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Infusion’s custom surface application, Falcon Eye, to give users a powerful new medium for accessing and interacting rapidly with E&P information.
The combined Falcon Eye and PetroTrek Digital Oilfield solution for Microsoft Surface delivers a multi-touch interface for a revolutionary user experience that puts the right information at the fingertips of the right people. The application leverages the GIS capabilities of Microsoft Virtual Earth to give users a top-to-bottom view of an area of operation, such as a producing field.
In addition, it allows users to drill down through the data to specific points of interest, such as wells, facilities and platforms. Production data, charts, key performance indicators (KPIs) and human resources or logistic information are easily plotted in context. Users simply touch the Surface interface to interact with the data, including zooming, panning and scrolling to display various vantage points.
“Out of the box, our new Surface offering gives the petroleum industry a whole new interface to their world that just a few years ago would have been considered science fiction,” said iStore President and CEO Barry Irani.
Added Ezat Zarasvand, iStore’s general manager for the Middle East and Africa: “At a time of sinking oil prices and cost cutting there is strong demand in our industry for cost-effective, compelling and streamlined technology that quickly plugs in to the petroleum enterprise to enhance productivity and improve asset value.”
Falcon Eye, Infusion’s 3D operational dashboard, seamlessly integrates information from multiple sources and displays the data streams on a virtual map. Combined with PetroTrek and displayed on the Microsoft Surface, it provides a unique and appealing experience.
“The appeal of this solution is more than its cutting-edge appearance; it’s in the functionality,” said Vimal Sethi, general manager, Infusion Development – Middle East & Africa. “This solution allows executives to visualize and manage the ‘big picture,’ but it also contributes and assists managers and team members in finding, managing and manipulating E&P data important to their everyday work.”
“Many customers expressed the need for an interactive, collaborative and location-intelligent solution to help them better manage asset performance and empower informed decision making,” said Omar Saleh, Microsoft’s Middle East & Africa Oil & Gas sales manager. “The combined solution from Infusion and iStore – leveraging Microsoft’s Surface, Performance Point and Virtual Earth – provides executives and geoscientists with an unparalleled, out-of-the-box user experience that brings sophisticated asset mapping and drilldown KPI monitoring to their fingertips, while delivering an agile and expandable platform for collaborative and intelligent asset management.”
Airborne Technology Soars to New Heights
Airborne Petroleum Geophysics (APG) announced its entry into the energy and natural resources market as a developer of geophysical technology and provider of data services. APG offers a unique, flexible and cost-effective approach to exploration. By using a combination of airborne geophysical technologies together with seismic data and flexible financing models, APG provides technical and business solutions for oil and gas and mining companies.
Through its historic relationship with Canadian Micro Gravity, APG owns the intellectual property on the advanced GT-2A dynamic airborne gravity system, which was developed to advance existing survey technology in non-seismic geophysics. APG is also developing complementary technologies deployable on a number of geophysical survey platforms. APG specializes in the interpretation and integration of seismic and non-seismic data, an art based on decades of experience within the oil and gas and mining industries.
Through a unique blend of technologies, APG is able to define project objectives, model acquisition parameters, reprocess existing data and acquire new data to enhance prospectivity of a region and increase portfolio value of an exploration program. APG’s overall business model enables new data acquisition at lower cost, thus reducing early stage exploration expenditure and risks.
APG provides a wide range of technologies and services, including acquisition, processing, interpretation and marketing. The company also owns and develops leading airborne geophysical technology. APG is incorporated in Singapore and operates on a worldwide basis with headquarters in Toronto, Canada.
Flare Solutions Wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation
Flare Solutions has won an award for its development and deployment of knowledge management software for oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies. Incorporating an advanced ontological approach, the software enables a company’s information assets to be catalogued (tagged), monitored, searched and linked to business processes.
The Queen’s Award is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a UK company and represents independent recognition of outstanding achievements in innovation. Her Majesty the Queen conferred the award after approving the recommendation from the Prime Minister. A celebratory reception will be hosted by the Queen in Buckingham Palace in July.
First deployed in 2004, the E&P Catalog information management software is now used in more than 31 different countries for business activities ranging from exploration assurance through field development and well delivery.
“To deliver pragmatic solutions across such a diverse set of users has been a significant challenge that has required some innovative solutions,” said Graham Ayres, development director at Flare Solutions. “This award acknowledges our achievements in this field and is a source of tremendous pride to all our development staff and consultants.”
At the core of Flare’s information management approach is a comprehensive E&P information model that links business processes through information structure. This is achieved through the built-in taxonomy and ontology (knowledge map) containing hundreds of thousands of relationships. This approach enables advanced, high-precision search techniques that allow users to find information easily using plain language.
One of the advanced functionality techniques combines process and information completeness in graphical “document dashboard” views, allowing management easy access to and management of information assets.
“This award recognizes the years of hard work we have put in as a team to build an approach which has proven to save companies time looking for information,” said Paul Cleverley, technical director.
Flare has operations in The Netherlands and Canada as well as in the UK. Alan Bays, President of Flare Canada, commented: “The rigorous selection process for the Queens Award requires the winner to demonstrate at least two years of proven commercial success for the innovation. Our recent growth in export sales has shown there is a strong global demand for our solution.”
“We are delighted to win this award; it demonstrates our commitment to delivering practical, innovative metadata solutions,” said Glenn Mansfield, business development director at Flare Solutions.
Knowledge Reservoir Updates Deepwater GOM Knowledge Base
Knowledge Reservoir LLC announced the 2009 release of its Deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) knowledge base, ReservoirKB™. This latest release of the company’s Web-based service features a totally new GIS interface to improve the overall user experience and maximize navigation efficiency for users seeking specific information on deepwater reservoirs.
The comprehensive ReservoirKB knowledge base provides information on all deepwater productive sands discovered Gulf of Mexico region, either currently in production or sanctioned for development. Additionally, it provides continually updated reservoir performance metrics, analogs, lessons learned and regional knowledge not available from any other source – a unique combination of reservoir engineering data, geological description and production data analysis.
ReservoirKB is provided as a subscription service on a hosted portal. Updates are provided annually, with the most recent one including fresh 2008 data and completely updated analyses.
ReservoirKB now includes:
- 193 fields
- 620 associated reservoirs
- 1050 wells, including appraisal and development wells; and
- Current discussion on the critical challenges facing the industry, including a review of the Paleogene.
Dr. Ivor Ellul, president of Knowledge Reservoir, stated: “ReservoirKB was developed in response to operators’ needs for a knowledge base of deepwater data to evaluate projects, assess risks and measure them against other opportunities in their portfolios. Our clients find it an invaluable resource when researching analog fields, as reservoir assessment and benchmarking are at the heart of good appraisal and sanction decisions. We are most excited with the new interface; the greatly enhanced utility of which users familiar with other GIS based applications will be familiar.”
Schilling Robotics Unveils Dexterous Grabber Manipulator
Schilling Robotics LLC introduced a breakthrough manipulator arm, the ATLAS 7R Dexterous Grabber. This new, seven-function dexterous grabber offers an elbow joint that replaces the “extend-retract” maneuver of a five-function grabber by adding two degrees of freedom, making it a premium option for performing complex tasks. The extended range of motion allows the gripper to access targets from acute angles.
In addition to dexterity, its lift-to-weight ratio is among the strongest in the industry. ATLAS weighs only 5 kg more than Schilling’s current RigMaster grabber, yet lifts 250 kg of weight at its full extension of 65 inches, compared to 54 inches for the RigMaster. The additional joints can withstand extreme loads through an overpressure protection feature in the valve manifold that allows the joints to absorb forces in two additional planes.
The grabber has been undergoing field trials since December, which have proven that Schilling’s attention to kinematics, finite element analysis, and reliability are paying huge dividends in customer productivity.
“The enhancements to customer productivity are proven in extremely heavy-lift work encountered during anchor handling operations,” said Tim Ranstrom, manipulator product manager for Schilling Robotics. “ATLAS has the strength and dexterity to manipulate mooring connectors, where other manipulators would either be unable to lift the load or fail due to overstress. It is also optimized for construction work such as manipulating saws and grinders and to position the tools accurately and repeatedly. Its dexterity makes it very effective at rigging operations, where its slender profile allows unobstructed views of the tooling during complex and precise movements.”
The ATLAS will make its debut at the Offshore Technology Conference, May 4-7, 2009, in Houston, TX.
Paragon Integrity Solutions Announces New Name of NDTrak
Houston-based Paragon Integrity Solutions LLC, provider of nondestructive testing (NDT) services to the fabrication and process industries, announced NDTrak as the new company name. The NDTrak™ bundle of NDT services features a proprietar, Web-based process for reporting, storing and viewing inspection results. NDTrak was formed out of the industrial need for advanced NDT solutions to complex mechanical integrity issues.
The NDTrak bundled offerings include:
- Gas-Trak™ – Uses advanced infrared cameras to detect 19 types of fugitive, greenhouse gas leaks;
- Weld-Trak™ – Uses advanced ultrasonic phased array technology to analyze the integrity and quality of welds;
- Corrosion-Trak™ – Uses a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate and monitor wall thickness and deterioration; and
- Crack-Trak™ – Uses eddy current, magnetic particle and dye penetrant techniques to detect and evaluate surface cracking.
As a company, NDTrak integrates strong domain expertise with advanced technology in infrared, ultrasonic phased array and other NDT techniques. NDTrak services are complemented by an easy-to-use, secure, online database management capability that enables clients to access their inspection results instantly from a browser over the Internet.
“The complex mechanical, piping and electrical systems that comprise upstream, midstream and downstream process facilities require continuous testing and monitoring for safety and reliability,” said Archie Thompson, president of NDTrak. “Owners and operators of these facilities also understand the importance of identifying safety hazards through NDT methods before they become acute failures. NDTrak brings together a unique set of NDT testing disciplines, in-house expertise, state-of-the-art equipment and the reporting of test results via the Internet. Our clients are realizing value from the NDTrak bundled services through higher levels of safety, reliability, and efficiency.”
Flare Solutions Wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation
Flare Solutions has won an award for its development and deployment of knowledge management software for oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies. Incorporating an advanced ontological approach, the software enables a company’s information assets to be catalogued (tagged), monitored, searched and linked to business processes. The Queen’s Award is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a UK company and represents independent recognition of outstanding achievements in innovation. Her Majesty the Queen conferred the award after approving the recommendation from the Prime Minister. A celebratory reception will be hosted by the Queen in Buckingham Palace in July. First deployed in 2004, the E&P Catalog information management software is now used in more than 31 different countries for business activities ranging from exploration assurance through field development and well delivery. “To deliver pragmatic solutions across such a diverse set of users has been a significant challenge that has required some innovative solutions,” said Graham Ayres, development director at Flare Solutions. “This award acknowledges our achievements in this field and is a source of tremendous pride to all our development staff and consultants.” At the core of Flare’s information management approach is a comprehensive E&P information model that links business processes through information structure. This is achieved through the built-in taxonomy and ontology (knowledge map) containing hundreds of thousands of relationships. This approach enables advanced, high-precision search techniques that allow users to find information easily using plain language. One of the advanced functionality techniques combines process and information completeness in graphical “document dashboard” views, allowing management easy access to and management of information assets. “This award recognizes the years of hard work we have put in as a team to build an approach which has proven to save companies time looking for information,” said Paul Cleverley, technical director. Flare has operations in The Netherlands and Canada as well as in the UK. Alan Bays, President of Flare Canada, commented: “The rigorous selection process for the Queens Award requires the winner to demonstrate at least two years of proven commercial success for the innovation. Our recent growth in export sales has shown there is a strong global demand for our solution.” “We are delighted to win this award; it demonstrates our commitment to delivering practical, innovative metadata solutions,” said Glenn Mansfield, business development director at Flare Solutions.
PetroComputing 