Displaying items by tag: Well cement

US: SLB has launched EcoShield, a geopolymer-based well cement product. The company, also known as Schlumberger, says that the product cuts out up to 85% of embodied CO₂ emissions compared with conventional well cementing systems because it does not use ordinary Portland cement (OPC). It also reduces transport related emissions by using locally-sourced natural materials and industrial waste streams in its composition. The company says that the cement-free system can be deployed throughout various phases of the well life cycle, including abandonment. It can also be deployed across a range of field applications, including corrosive environments.

Jesus Lamas, SLB’s president of Well Construction, said “Decarbonising the well construction process while ensuring safety and performance standards is critical to our industry’s pathway to net zero.” He added “The cement-free EcoShield system is a breakthrough that delivers industry-standard zonal isolation capabilities while significantly minimising impacts from upstream oil and gas production.”

EcoShield has been tested by Pioneer Natural Resources in the Permian Basin on an 18-well field testing campaign and its use is ongoing.

US: Argonaut Private Equity has acquired a well cement business following the bankruptcy of Texas-based BJ Services. The purchase retains 260 employees and procures company assets and equipment, including bulk plants and technical labs located in the field. No fracturing assets were acquired in the acquisition. It has rebranded the business as American Cementing.

“The addition of American Cementing to the Argonaut Private Equity portfolio combines our expertise in efficient operations management with our experience in the oil and gas industry,” said Steve Mitchell, Argonaut’s chief executive officer (CEO).

American Cementing services include laboratory testing, blending at the bulk plant and mixing and pumping operations at the wellsite. Additionally, the company offers acidising services and products that are intended to enhance production and remove well-bore damage to preserve well lifetime.

Iran: Iran's Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) has announced that it has broken a US monopoly in the production of deepwell cement plugs.

Previously, only American companies manufactured the plugs used for solving numerous deepwell problems like lost-circulation, sidetracking or directional drilling, according to RIPI. "The technology is of great significance in oil and gas drilling projects," said Talat Khalkhali, Director of a project to develop the technology at RIPI. She said that the plugs are used to inject wellbore fluids and slurries during cementing operations in order to prevent them from mixing together. "Sidetracking incurs serious costs on cementing operations and the new plugs help reduce the cost to a considerable proportion," said Khalkhali, while adding that properly placing the designed cement plug helps reduce non-productive rig time, minimises wasted material and mitigates the need for additional cementing services.

National Iranian South Oil Company tasked RIPI with carrying out studies for developing and formulating the plugs by employing domestic experts in 2010. RIPI reverse-engineered cement plugs produced by top producers in the US and could manufacture them after six years of consecutive work. The high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) plugs can be used for wells up to 4500m deep. According to Khalkhali, their American rivals can only be used for up to 2500m deep wells.

The Iranian plugs have been tested several times at numerous wells across the country at various depths and have proven successful.

Azerbaijan: The largest cement plant in the South Caucasus, Norm Sement, situated in Garadagh District of Baku City, has reached its design capacity, according to Norm Sement's CEO Hasan Yalcinkaya. The plant has 5000t/day of clinker production capacity and 2Mt/yr of cement production capacity. Yalcinkaya said that 2014 was successful for the company and Azerbaijan's cement industry as a whole.

"We managed to successfully complete our projects," said Yalcinkaya. "The cement plant was inaugurated by the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 21 July 2014. "Since that time, the plant has been working very efficiently and has started to produce its own clinker. We have reached our design capacity. So, I can say that 2014 has been successful. 510,000t of cement was produced, while clinker production was at the level of 471,000t in 2014. We were able to cover about 20% of the market for just six months since the beginning of clinker production. We plan to increase our market share with the production of high-quality cement and rendering high-quality services to our clients in the consumer market."

Yalcinkaya further noted that, in 2014, Azerbaijan's domestic demand for cement stood at around 4.3Mt and in 2015 year demand will be at least on the same level. "Currently, about 60% of the market is provided by local producers," said Yalcinkaya. "About 40% of cement is imported from neighbouring countries." He said that the local production plants are fully capable of meeting the market requirements. "Our goal is to reduce cement imports as much as possible," said the CEO.

"To date, we have invested US$326m in the new plant," said Yalcinkaya. "We have several projects on efficiency and production improvements, in particular the expansion of the product range. We will continue to improve our efficiency and reduce energy consumption. We also plan to invest in the production of cement for oil wells."

According to Yalcinkaya, oil well cement production will be developed in 2015. "This is exactly the product that we can easily export to oil producing countries, for instance, to Kazakhstan and Russia," said Yalcinkaya. "Once we develop this product, we will start to export it."

UK: Coretrax, leading engineered service for wellbore clean and abandonment, has launched its CX-IST (Inflation Support Tool) to the oil and gas market, following a US$3m development investment.

The CX-IST significantly reduces rig time, offering substantial cost savings. It gives a positive indication that the cement will be set in the correct place before latching at the bottom of the work string, using a pre-installed landing sub. Once secure, pump pressure inflates the elastomer to seal the wellbore. The IST is then released by picking up the work string. The CX-IST creates a 100% wall-to-wall base for well cement or fluid. The operator can deploy as many ISTs as needed in the same or multiple zones without tripping the drill pipe in and out of the hole, providing significant operator time and cost reductions.

"This is a monumental success for Coretrax and a game changer for the entire industry," said Kenny Murray, managing director at Coretrax. "The team is passionate about the business and has worked tirelessly for three years, from initial stages, to produce an innovative product, which will benefit the oil and gas sector."

Brazil: Provale, a manufacturer of calcium carbonate, plans to enter the well and white cement markets. It is setting up a 190,000t/yr capacity cement grinding plant at Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Esprito Santo. Provale is currently waiting for environmental clearance to start ground breaking in a 50,000m² area. US$4m of the project funding is coming from the US private equity company, Resource Capital Funds, which has bought a 22% stake in Provale. President Emilio Nemer Neto said that talks with a prospective partner in Europe for the acquisition of clinker are underway.