Oil and gas services and technology company OSSO, specializing in fluid temperature control and separation solutions, has been awarded a contract by oil company Neptune Energy, to deploy its high volume mud cooler and AutoCUL technology at the Seagull project in the UK North Sea.
OSSO's technology will allow Neptune to manage the Seagull field’s high bottom hole temperatures.
"The HPHT Seagull development has one of the North Sea’s highest downhole circulation temperatures of up to 330°F [165.5°C], making drilling very challenging due to reduced lifespan and accuracy of downhole drilling and logging tools. By cooling the drilling fluid, the operator can avoid delays and reduce trips out of hole which add both time and costs to operations thus reducing efficiency," OSSO explained
AutoCUL will enable Neptune Energy to actively manage the mud cooler usage and downhole temperature to preserve tool life as the technology maintains a consistent mud temperature. This prevents any risk of overcooling the mud system, which in turn eliminates the risk of thermal fracturing in the well which can cause costly delays, OSSO said.
John Dick, Business Development Director at OSSO said: “Downhole drilling on a project such as this is no mean feat. This is one of the North Sea’s major high pressure and high-temperature projects and we’ve seen a lot more of these over the years as engineering has advanced, enabling enhanced reservoir production. We understand that the cooling of drilling fluid is an essential operational and safety priority when it comes to drilling high pressure/high temperature wells. This is why we have redesigned our mud cooling technology to reduce these burdens and costly delays.”
Alexandra Thomas, UK Managing Director at Neptune Energy adds: “The exciting Seagull project supports Neptune’s growth ambitions for the UKCS and is expected to produce 50,000 boe per day (gross), making a significant contribution to both UK MER and energy security, as well as supporting local supply chains.”
OSSO's solution will be deployed in Q1 2021 and will be operational in 2022. All the equipment will be installed on the rig this month for a duration of 500 days.
The Seagull development is located in UK licence P1622 Block 22/29C, 17km south of the bp-operated ETAP Central Processing Facility (CPF). Neptune is the operator of Seagull and has a 35% equity interest. Its joint venture partners are BP with 50% and JAPEX with 15%.
Neptune Energy started drilling development wells on the Seagull oil and gas development in the UK Central North Sea in January using the Gorilla VI (JU-248) jack-up rig, operated by Valaris. The company will drill four wells for the development over the course of the drilling campaign which is expected to last 18 months.