The Integrated Under-Reamer (IUR) was developed in 2007 in a joint project between an Operator and Service company. The tool was designed to allow for unlimited opening and closing of the tool to provide selective hole opening in unstable formations e.g. unstable shale or swelling salt. Furthermore the tool should be able to close for pull out of hole (POOH) while keeping the circulation continuously on. To accommodate for this the tool was designed to be fully integrated into the modular bus structure of the downhole BHA. Electronics were developed to activate and deactivate the tool from downlink commands sent downhole and distributed via the communication bus to the IUR. Sensors in the IUR detect the status of the tool: such as position of the cutter blades and the health of the tool. This data is transmitted to surface using the MWD pulser. The data is displayed in real-time for immediate review by the drilling team. Additional diagnostic data are stored in memory for post run analysis. Advanced autonomous fail safe control was designed to make sure the tool can always be closed either by downlink or other procedures to allow unrestricted pulling out into smaller hole or the casing shoe. In the case of communication problems a procedure is available for back-reaming with automatically closing the blades. A case history is presented where a water injection well needed increased clearance to run 6 5/8" completion screens. Using the IUR, the well was opened up while drilling from a 8 ½" pilot hole to 9.05". The IUR was de-activated and re-activated successfully several times during drilling the section. The operational procedure is described, and caliper data are presented. The well was completed on plan. At the end an outlook will be given on future reaming on demand applications.
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a set of technologies that has historically found fertile applications in the aerospace and healthcare industries, while adoption in the Oil and Gas (O&G) sector has progressed slower. Nonetheless, AM is reaching maturity in this industry as well, allowing for significant innovation. The scope of this paper is to describe how AM is integrated within the value chain of a major O&G service company, highlighting specific peculiarities for each of its business segments. "Fullstream" activities cover the whole O&G value chain, from the exploration of reservoirs and production (upstream) to the transportation and storage of hydrocarbons (midstream), as well as refining and industrial power processing (downstream). AM technologies within the O&G service provider have originally been deployed for rapid prototyping and have matured as strategic manufacturing pillars. Several manufacturing methods within the AM landscape can be deployed, depending on the technical requirements of the components and the environment in which they are operating. Here, powder bed processes are in focus, with an emphasis on the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process. O&G equipment end users face several challenges when dealing with spare parts management, such as performance, total cost of ownership, procurement time, inventory levels, and obsolescence. From an OEM standpoint, serving a wide fleet with a variety of products and their different versions (with an unpredictable and unstable demand) is challenging. AM is the tool that enables a new way to serve such an installed fleet. The O&G service provider has already experimented several applications regarding obsolete spare parts reintroduction through AM, gaining strong benefits (50%+) in terms of cost and procurement time reduction. Thus, it is important to continue adopting AM to deliver faster outcomes for the customer. This, in turn, fosters the development of sound know-how and references, which can then be used to develop further solutions and value propositions for the customers.
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