Niharika VyasThe oil and gas industry experiences defining moments of change every now and then, with innovations that significantly enhance the cost efficiency of exploration or production. Coiled tubing is one such revolution in the world of production.
Performing simple work over operations by pushing a small diameter tube down a producing well was first attempted in the1960s. Since then, coiled tubing has advanced majorly.
In the year 1962, the California Oil Co. and Bowen Tools developed the first prototype of “continuous-string light workover unit”.
PRESENT SCENARIO
The recent developments in coiled tubing and the industry’s consistent efforts toward cost-effective operations have opened up new areas of coil tubing. It is no more limited to well workover operations such as cleaning, removing sand, acidizing or logging.
Owing to the consistent developments, the CT unit count has substantially increased since 2008 in almost all the regions of the world.
GLOBAL MARKET
Coiled tubing market has expanded significantly over the years. The increased investment in oil & gas projects, redevelopment of mature fields, discovery of the new reserves, and increasing shale gas projects are the major driving forces of this market. Due to these factors and others. The global market of coiled tubing is expected to be worth $4.4 Billion by 2020 from $3.2 Billion in 2015. The CAGR of the growth is projected to be around 6-7% during the forecast period.
ADVANTAGES OF COIL TUBING
Coiled tubing offers the following advantages:
Efficiency
- Requires no rig, self-contained unit
- Cost and time-efficient. The killing of the well is not required.
- Can continuously pump fluids into the well while moving pipe.
- Land or offshore system designs
- While using coiled tubing, no workover rig is required.
Reduced potential damage to the formation
- No kill fluids are introduced into the well. Can be and typically used on live wells.
- Act as the tool transport medium for deviated and horizontal wells.
Performance
- Fast
- Computer prepares to optimize job design
- Tubing Management
- Advanced data acquisition system to monitor key job parameters on tubing management.
SPOTLIGHT ON KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN COILED TUBING
- With the help of Non-Evasive Acoustic Monitor, the data acquisition capabilities have been improved. It can detect the density of debris and size. It is connected with the coil unit’s central data acquisition system (DAQ) from where all the data is displayed in real-time.
- The milling capabilities of the equipment have been improved by the pipe manufacturers by using shorter strips between tapers.
- The Viscometer is being used to monitor viscosity of the fluids being pumped downhole. It is also connected with the coil unit’s DAQ.
- The downhole agitators have water-hammer valves generating pressure pulses inside coiled tubing. This helps in improving weight transfer in long horizontal wells for faster and reliable milling.
- Fibre optics is widely employed in the industry from the past few years. In coiled tubing, they are being used to track perforation clusters, to know the stage of production, and monitor the entire well simultaneously.
THE WAY FORWARD
With the crude market experiencing high volatility due to fluctuating oil prices, cost-effective coiled tubing technologies have emerged as a firm ground of support for the industry. The innovations and improvements in coiled tubing have enhanced the efficiency of drilling operations and created a horizon of endless opportunities. Looking at the present scenario, it can be said that this multipurpose technology is the future of upstream and a solution to many oilfield related problems.
Please find the list of top Coil Tubing companies here and we will help you find the best quote for CT. For more informative insights on critical products and services employed across the global oil and gas industry, visit our website.
Featured Image Courtesy: TMR Research Blog
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