DHAHRAN: Perseverance not only pays off but is essential in much of the innovative research and development that pushes the envelope at Saudi Aramco.
The EXPEC Advanced Research Center's Drilling Technology Team (DTT) recently achieved the first major field test milestone of its four-year project to develop the industry's first down-hole drilling microchip.
"This important stage of the microchip technology development has proven that the project is on the right track to deploy such a miniature device for practical and useful applications in the near future," said Nasser Al-Khanferi, DTT chief technologist. "This is a strong achievement for our Drilling Technology Team, and the future holds even greater opportunities for more technologies to come."
The concept may have seemed far-fetched years ago when, during a conference, a casual meeting between Shaohua Zhou, DTT technologist, and a Tulsa University professor turned into a serious business venture.
"Our dream was to develop a low-cost and alternative down-hole data acquisition system capable of recording measurements such as pressure and temperature along the circulating path of drilling fluids," said Zhou. "Such a technology would optimize mud and cement formulations while drilling and further reduce well cost by providing an alternative low-cost data acquisition system."
It was quickly realized that the idea could potentially change the way the industry acquires down-hole data. Such data is rarely available in shallow and intermediate hole sections and can help drillers more readily diagnose hole problems while drilling to optimize and improve rig operations.
After extensive technical discussions between EXPEC ARC and Tulsa University teams, a research program was well on its way where a miniature device -- or microchip -- is pumped or dropped into the drill string and, acting like a robot, is capable of recording in-situ data and stores it on board the chip while traveling down-hole, eventually returning to surface with the circulating drilling fluid.
Once recovered at the surface, the recorded data would be downloaded wirelessly for instant use at the rig site or transmitted back to an operation center.
After more than three years of challenging work by dedicated technologists in overcoming various technical, design, manufacturing and lab testing challenges, a prototype was ready for the first field test.
The industry's first field test of a drilling microchip was successfully conducted in a Saudi Aramco well.
"We are very pleased with the field test results," said Abdul Hameed Al-Rushaid, drilling and workover general manager. "This could be a game-changer, and we would even like to accelerate the deployment of microchips in our fields."
"This is an important milestone in the development of this technology," said Samer Al-Ashgar, manager of EXPEC ARC. "Not only are we looking to improve the integrity of the drilling microchips but also to increase their capabilities beyond pressure and temperature."
© Arab News 2012
