Journal of Petroleum Technology June 2012 : Page 20

GUEST EDITORIAL Condition-Based Monitoring and Intervention Fiber-optic-based systems provide high sampling rates and fully distributed meas-urement data, thereby enabling immedi-ate feedback and the ability to under-stand a problem and/or identify trends. Using conventional monitoring methods, once a problem becomes obvious at the surface, a costly and lengthy process of deploying tools, using coiled tubing or wireline, is required to understand the nature of the problem before mitigation is initiated. This typically leads to loss of production and potential environmental risks. Real-time fiber-optic monitoring enables early identification of abnormal-ities and prevents problems from occur-ring in the first place. Improved wellbore knowledge sup-ports the application of sophisticat-ed, condition-based maintenance and intervention (CBMI) methods aimed at reducing failure rates by eliminating the root cause. These optimization process-es are widely used in other industries in which monitoring is less challeng-ing. For well drilling, completion, stim-ulation, and production processes, the advent of noninvasive downhole fiber-optic sensors provides the data needed by CBMI methods to 1) increase over-all knowledge of the field and opera-tions, 2) predict and reduce equipment failures, and 3) perform pattern rec-ognition. This leads to lower resource requirements, less risk to the environ-ment, and reduced life-cycle owner-ship costs. future process optimization with ele-vated environmental conscientiousness. Take the case of improving forma-tion heating in heavy oil plays. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oper-ations are widely implementing down-hole fiber-optic technologies to moni-tor injected steam for its relative dis-tribution over the length of these wells. Downhole pressure and temperature measurements using fiber-optic tech-nologies are key to understanding the SAGD process. Results over the past decade show significant improvements in steam-chamber specific warming, injectivity, and steam/oil recovery ratio performance, with reduced input ener-gy and water requirements. Another major benefit of fiber-optic technology in wellbore monitor-ing is a remarkably new level of efficien-cy and risk reduction. For example, use of fiber-optic temperature and acoustic Illuminating a Greener Future Downhole fiber-optic technology pro-vides an elegantly simple, highly effec-tive solution across a broad and grow-ing range of applications. This solution moves the industry toward present and non-radioactive traceable proppant: safe, accurate, effective CARBO NRT® is the industry’s most effective non-radioactive detectable proppant and has been deployed successfully on five continents. With CARBO NRT , you avoid pumping radioactive material in your well and the disposal risk of unused or flowed-back proppant. Transportation and importation are simplified as CARBO NRT requires no special equipment, handling, permits or certifications. ■ Gamma Ray Lithology Perfs Tagged Proppant Perforations XXX00 XXX50 Identifies proppant coverage (stimulated interval) with standard neutron logs Tracer uniformly distributed through each grain of proppant – not a coating Available with any ceramic proppant in CARBO’s industry-leading product line XXX00 ■ CARBO NRT identiﬁ ed 98 ft of total propped fracture height in this intermediate stage ■ ©2012 CARBO Ceramics Inc. All Rights Reserved. Learn more online at carboceramics.com/ NRT 20 JPT • JUNE 2012 Propped Frac Height