Commentary by Joachim Åkesson
We have already achieved so much over the last few months, and I am confident that we have much more to come. Our approach behind this success is straightforward, but its simplicity makes it no less effective. The approach is to simplify the installations of our customers.
While our commitment to innovation ensures that we are constantly finding new ways to help our customers save time, money and improve their operational efficiency, it is our ability to simply their operations that has proven to be one of the main catalysts behind our success to date. We were born from the belief that we can always do better, and we are proud that we can demonstrate this following our work with operators across the globe.
Building upon strong foundations
While those operating in the energy sector are used to facing up to varying demands and challenges, external economic pressures have always been ever-present. This rings true now more than ever, with an industry-wide desire to meet global energy demands by delivering hydrocarbon recovery that is both efficient and cost-effective.
As reserves fall over the coming years, and all those in the sector face up to the challenges posed by the energy transition, these requirements will grow. With that in mind, we strongly believe that our product range can continue to support the energy demands of today, but also those of tomorrow.
Providing versatility and flexibility has always been the key driver behind our products being launched to market. Our ARC technology sits at the very heart of this. The cost-effective solution has helped to replace the market alternative of high-expense centralizer subs.
Of course, it has never been enough to simply deliver innovative technologies if they can only be applied within limited settings. Delivering unrivalled holding force under all operating conditions, the ARC-Slim is the first 90,000lb+ rated stop collar on the market. Uniquely designed, ARC-Slim mounts downhole accessories directly to the outside of the casing or completion string.
What’s more, the technology we provide has minimal installation kit requirements, paired with a quick and easy installation process. To make the process even easier and to offer increased options and flexibility, we can even provide clients with remote installations. We look forward to supporting both our existing and potentially new customers over the course of this year and beyond.
The importance of a cross-regional focus
Published in late June, I read Rystad Energy’s 2022 review with great interest.
According to their analysts, global recoverable oil now totals an estimated 1,572 billion barrels. Their research notes that this is a reduction of almost 9% since last year and 152 billion fewer barrels than the previous year. This echoes the point I made above regarding a reduction in recoverable oil over the coming years.
Their report found that Brazil had 71 billion barrels of recoverable oil, ten times the volume of proven reserves, but reduced since 2021. Within a European context, the findings noted that both the UK and Norway’s recoverable volumes had also fallen.
What these figures illustrate is that taking a strong cross-regional focus will be vital for ongoing success. It is now no longer feasible to simply focus on one sector or country –we have never taken this approach, nor will we start now.
It is vitally important that we can support clients across all areas, from the UK continental shelf and Norwegian sector to the Gulf of Mexico and South-East Asia. With installations across 5 continents and almost 30 countries, we have the case history to support this. One such piece of activity was for a client in the Americas, a key region of focus for our ongoing growth.
Track record: shallow water well in Mexico
We had been approached by a client operating in Mexico. They required a 9-7/8” casing string to be run in to 10-5/8” x 12-1/4” open hole, through both 13-3/8” casing and an 11-7/8” liner. The difficulty here was that 9-7/8” string utilized flush joint connections.
A reliable slim stop collar was required to prevent slippage of the centralizers during run-in during the cementing process. In the case of flush joint casing connections, we understood that the importance for the stop collars to be accurately in place. This would prevent the casing accessories from slipping and collecting above the 11- 7/8” liner during run-in.
As the ARC resists high axial loads, while also meeting the drift requirements of the 11-7/8” liner, the client selected the product as the fit-for-purpose solution to prevent movement of the centralizers.
The patented design of the ARC-Slim allowed the customer to pass tight restrictions and effectively manage surge and swab, allowing them to deliver a faster running speed in formations with narrow mud margins.
To read more about this use case, and more of our successful jobs to date, please visit our track record page: https://www.aceoiltools.com/track-record