Guaranteeing quality petrol

Unlike the huge fields in the North Sea, tomorrow’s reservoirs will be smaller, with geological profiles that are more complex to drill. In this context, the surveillance of installations proves strategic for monitoring temperature and pressure levels as well as fluid quality inside wells. Domains in which Schlumberger outdoes its rivals.
With its 80,000 employees, the Franco-American oil and gas services group achieves a net profit of 5.16 billion dollars (4.09 billion euros) out of a turnover of over 23 billion dollars (18.2 billion euros). The group has five research centres, including the Schlumberger Riboud Product Centre, the largest in Europe with over 500 scientists, engineers and technicians. Globally, Schlumberger devotes 3% of its turnover to research and development. The objective: “to develop technologies capable of predicting the endurance and reliability of drilling systems,” explains one of the company representatives. Information that is critical for determining whether it is necessary or not to continue maintaining the mining of a well or whether there are any anomalies in the transport of fluids.
With this aim, the Schlumberger research teams are working to perfect optic or electric sensors used to provide exact measurements of the flow rates of different fluids (water, gas, oil) at great depths. This oil and gas service company goes even further as it has conceived a small robotic laboratory for analysing the quality of
fluid inside the well, in real time. Baptised “In-Situ Fluid”, this is an electromechanical sampler containing an optic spectrometer. Used off West Africa, this cylindrical tester is fastened to an electric cable so that it can be lowered to the bottom of the well. Using its moveable arms, the sampler anchors itself on the wall of the well.
Then, using its head, it recuperates fluids which are then scanned in situ. Results are subsequently brought to the service in real time, via the electric cable.
An innovation that avoids the need for recourse to the analysis laboratory, as underlined by a Schlumberger engineer. The group is moreover researching the possibility of integrating optic fibre into future systems of intelligent drilling.
Today, tests used already measure the resistivity of rocks by sending out electric currents. Tomorrow, engineers will be able to inform themselves, in real time, of the nature of rocks and their porosity, in order to manage the drilling more accurately. This data will be fed into numeric reservoir models in real time. Other than the difficulties linked to the elaboration of these intelligent drill heads, energy is being directed towards rethinking the current mode of communication based on hydraulic impulsions transmitted through drilling fluids. A system limited both in speed and rate of flow, which may one day be replaced by optic fibre.