Gate valve bonnet failures from thermal expansion of fluids at high temperature - In a steam-assisted gravity drainage application, immediately after start-up, a gate valve bonnet failure caused a release of pressure to atmosphere. In thermal applications throughout the oil and gas industry, there have been incidents of valve failures during start-up. Resulting damage can include stretching studs and loss of pressure integrity between the body and bonnet. The main cause is pressure build-up in the gate valve cavity from thermal expansion of fluids, which was completely full and isolated. Such pressure exceeded the rated working pressure of the valve.(more...)
Featured Article of the Month
A three phase separator.
Produced well fluids typically contain a varied amount of oil, produced water, natural gas and sediment. The first step in processing these fluids is to split them up into individual components. This generally takes place at some types of separator. A three phase separator uses gravity to separate produced well fluids into gas, oil, and water phases.
Three phase separators may be designed in either vertical or horizontal configurations. In a horizontal separator, fluid enters the vessel and hits an inlet diverter. The resulting sudden change in momentum provides the initial gross separator of liquid and vapor. The liquid collection section of the vessel must provide sufficient for the oil and emulsion to form a layer or pad above the water. A weir maintains the oil level while an interface controller maintains the water level... (more...)
Featured Company of the Week
FMC Technologies, Incorporated (NYSE: FTI), is a U.S.-based oil and gas equipment and services technology company. FMC Technologies was incorporated in 2000 when FMC Corporation divested its machinery businesses. FMC has its headquarters in northern Houston, Texas.
Named by FORTUNE® Magazine as the World's Most Admired Oil and Gas Equipment, Service Company in 2012, the Company has approximately 18,400 employees and operates 30 production facilities in 16 countries. FMC Technologies designs, manufactures and services systems and products such as subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead systems, high pressure fluid control equipment, measurement solutions, and marine loading systems for the oil and gas industry.(more...)
Scale Specialist at Clariant Oil Services: October 2012 – Present (1 year 3 months)
Chemist 1 at Nalco Champion: February 2010 – September 2012 (2 years 8 months)
Senior Development Chemist at Clariant Oil Services: September 2001 – January 2010 (8 years 5 months)
Industry Headlines
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Featured Technology of the Week
Halliburton's DeepReach™ Coiled Tubing Servic uses multiple outer diameter coiled tubing sections in a single string with larger OD sections near the top of the string and smaller OD sections near the bottom.With this arrangement, the tension along the string length is reduced while sufficient flow capacity is retained for performing well intervention operations.
Tapered OD Makes the Difference
The vertical depth capability of conventional coiled tubing is limited because as the length of the tubing string increases in the
well, the string’s total weight also increases; therefore, the capability of a conventional CT string to perform ultra-deep work
depends primarily on the string’s total hanging weight and the yield strength of the parent metal. If the hanging weight exceeds
the pipe’s yield strength, a string separation can occur. Since a tapered coiled tubing string is lighter in weight (compared
to a single string of the largest diameter) and its design provides greater strength at the upper end of string, operators can realize
up to a 30 percent increase in depth capability over conventional CT strings.
Key Enabling Technologies
Multiple technologies were developed to enable DeepReach coiled tubing to be used in deep well operations. These technologies
include 1) the CT transition joints, 2) Boots & Coots V-Block® gripper design, (more...)
