BAKER Hughes and Shell have co-operated to develop a real-time compaction imaging (RTCI) system that Baker says can lead to significant savings in well completions by using fibre-optics to monitor sand screen deformations and casing shape in real time.
After a successful trial of the technology on casing at Shell’s Pinedale, Wyoming, operations last year, Shell and Baker Hughes jointly conducted a successful test of the world’s first sand control completion integrated with the fibre-optic RTCI system at the Baker Hughes BETA test rig near Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Undetected deformation of completions can lead to costly workovers, loss of production or even the potential loss of a well.
The RTCI system uses thousands of Bragg grating sensors incorporated within a sand screen instrumented with optical fibres to monitor strain and acquire a 3D high-resolution deformation image of the screen in real time.
An innovative fibre-optic wet connect was designed to link the strain-sensing fibre-optics into the upper completion.
Baker is now to commercialise the RTCI technology on behalf of both companies and will make the system available beginning Q4 this year.