Technology Focus: Completions Today (September 2012)
Authors: Cameron Paul 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus

We are living in exciting and challenging times. A recent report* projected that world demand for energy is set to increase by almost 40% in the next 20 years—that is approximately equivalent to adding twice the current energy consumption of the United States. Petroleum-based fuels are expected to play a leading role in the world’s energy mix, accounting for 53% of energy consumption in 2030. The drive to reduce carbon emissions can be seen in the growth of the renewables sector, projected to deliver 6.3% of global energy by 2030, and within the petroleum sector, by the projected near-50% growth in natural-gas-sourced energy.

One of the clear messages in the report is the increase in future energy demand, with the opportunity for delivery of further efficiency improvements to play a key role in helping to meet this demand. The scientists and engineers in our industry are responding to the opportunity.

In onshore areas, we are creating what has been described as a renaissance in the development of shale plays—both gas and oil. Horizontal drilling and completions, multistage hydraulic fracturing, and coiled-tubing milling/cleanout technologies are enabling the development of these new horizons. However, these activities also are creating opportunities for further efficiency improvements including multistage-fracture placement efficiency, water-management efficiency (processing, disposal, and recycling), and further minimizing of the environmental profile of operations.

In offshore deepwater areas, completions in sand-prone reservoirs are becoming more common. The different issues associated with access along with intervention in deepwater wells are supporting the continued evolution of intelligent-well technologies including remote zonal-conformance monitoring and control. The development and deployment of new technologies and capabilities are further supporting the delivery of reliable wells.

We should keep a watchful eye on those industries outside our sector—automobile, aeronautic, military, and medical science, to name a few. Major technologies that come to mind, some of them already having a positive effect on our wells, include fiber optics, nanotechnology, microelectromechanical systems, and autonomous systems (robotics). I also believe that advanced integrated 3D modeling and visualization will play an important role in enhancing the efficiency and reliability of our well designs and well operations in the future.

I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to select the papers in this edition of Completions Today. I believe they clearly demonstrate that the scientists and engineers in our industry are responding to the exciting opportunities for our industry through the application of completion technology.

*BP Energy Outlook 2030, January 2012 (www.bp.com/energyoutlook) accessed 1 August 2012.

Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

SPE 147409 Nanoenhancement of Elastomers for Improved Downhole-Barrier Performance by John C. Welch, Baker Hughes, et al.

SPE 151475 Design and Qualification of an Ultrahigh-Pressure Perforating System by Nauman Mhaskar, Baker Hughes, et al.

SPE 151989 Unconventional Shale Play—Selective Fracturing Using Multilateral Technology by Doug G. Durst, SPE, Halliburton, et al.

SPE 155759 Optimizing Completion Designs for Horizontal Shale-Gas Wells Using Completion Diagnostics by J.E. Bartuska, J-W Energy Company, et al.