Leading oilfield service company Expro is celebrating major successes in its subsea business as the company's Excellence in Operations programme is rolled out across the world.
This year sees Expro complete the 1,000th deployment of its Expro Landing String Assembly (ELSA) subsea safety system, which provides a safe and environmentally-secure operating system for the commissioning of subsea wells.
It is now 10 years since large bore safety systems became the established method of completion installation in conjunction with horizontal subsea trees.
Expro's impressive track record includes over 15,000 rig days with an operational uptime of over 99%. In large, multi-well, deepwater projects, the reliability delivered by Expro's subsea systems has the potential to save tens of millions of dollars in well construction costs.
Expro was first to the market and leads the industry in this technology-driven sector, with Expro's team in Brazil holding the world record for performance at a depth of 8,993ft.
Significant Expro subsea achievements include:
- Expro has designed the industry's first 15,000psi, 250degF-rated, large-bore, electro-hydraulic system to clean up wells developed with horizontal subsea trees. This system allows large-bore subsea completion and interventions to be conducted safely in water depth up to 10,000ft. The system has been developed and recently successfully deployed, meeting the emerging demands of the deepwater high-pressure subsea Gulf of Mexico market.
- Expro also recently successfully completed an ultra deepwater job off the coast of Egypt using the Subsea ELSA-EA landing string in conjunction with the Express-EH deepwater control system. This was the first ultra deepwater test performed in North Africa, in a water depth of 7,861ft, using a 10,000ft reel pack.
The system response time was 10 seconds to close the valves and disconnect the subsea test tree (SSTT). The ELSA system and associated package was in the hole for 19 days without any operational issues and all of the operator's objectives were met on this project.
- Expro has just completed a deepwater operation in over 5,000ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico, using its ELSA and Express 7 landing string system. Expro completed over 720 hours (more than 30 days) of 'in-hole' time in a flowing well condition with no operational issues.
The cornerstone of Expro's success over the last decade has been system reliability, maintaining increased safety without incurring any downtime during the installation process. This focus on reliability has continued as the complexity of the tooling and application has increased with field developments moving into more demanding environments.
This has driven the ELSA product to expand to ELSA-HD (high debris) to ensure valve operability in the most difficult of well conditions. This core technology has recently been put to good use on vertical tree completions using ELSA-DB (dual bore), delivering major project cost savings.
Expro's Subsea Business Unit Director Robin Mair said: "Focus on reliability has been fundamental to the design of our latest deepwater ELSA systems. The Express 7 control system has made operational uptime the number one priority. To this end, a robust simplex control system with multi-layered redundancy has resulted in what we believe delivers an advanced technical specification while retaining the reliability of the more established ELSA products.
"Expro's long track record makes us acutely aware of the importance of continuity of operations while maximising safety and environmental protection. This approach is already paying dividends now ELSA is being utilised in the deepwater developments where control of operational costs are vital for any successful well completion program.
"Expro's Excellence in Operations programme aligns our world-class skills and technology with the needs of our customers, ensuring that Expro delivers exactly what is required on each project. These subsea achievements are further examples of Expro leading the way in deepwater operations, and they speak volumes for the reliability of the Expro hydraulic, mechanical and electrical design.
"The latest generation of the ELSA product line is about to commence operations on a deepwater field offshore Nigeria, taking the first steps towards the next 1,000 successful deployments."
-Ends-
Notes to Editors:
Expro's business is well flow management. Expro is a market leader in providing services and products that measure, improve, control and process flow from high-value oil and gas wells. Today's Expro combines the strengths of its extensive worldwide operations under one new Expro brand, in the five marketing segments of: Well Testing & Commissioning, Production Systems, Wireline Intervention, Connectors & Measurements and Drilling Choke Systems. Expro's industry knowledge and commitment to deliver, combined with its innovative technology, empowers the company to offer exemplary solutions for its customers. With its head office in the UK, Expro employs more than 4,000 highly-trained staff in 50 countries, delivering excellence in operations for its clients around the world.
Expro acquisitions now consolidated under the new Expro brand are Ecodrill, Egis, DHV Downhole Video, Flarestack, Kinley, Tronic, Matre, Petrotech, Power Chokes, PowerWell Services, and Surface Production Systems. Please visit the new Expro website at www.exprogroup.com
Contact:
Expro
Kay Drummond
Corporate communications manager
+44 (0)1224 225700
kay.drummond@exprogroup.com
Fifth Ring
Andrew Bradshaw
PR account director
+44 (0)1224 626288
andrew@fifthring.com
© Press Release 2007
