CORETRACK has announced that their new coring technology could help the world’s oil and gas industry save hundreds of hours and millions of dollars.
Technology Manager Dr Greg Wheatley has told the 2009 Conference of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) that the Core Level Recorder System (CLRS) will put an end to inaccurate coring operations and the diverting or redrilling of deep exploration wells.
The Core Level Recorder System (CLRS) will enable petroleum companies to avoid major losses incurred through failed or repeated coring operations when it becomes commercially available in late 2009.
As the only method for retrieving the large pieces of rock formation necessary for identifying and appraising new oilfields, coring is a vital stage in petroleum exploration, yet it remains susceptible to a variety of errors caused by “core jams” and the loss of “milled” core samples.
The CLRS aims to minimise such incidents by delivering pin-point real-time data on core recovery directly to the surface, enabling drill operators to instantly recognise the signs of jamming.
This will help users to optimise core retrieval, reduce incidents of milling, and, ultimately, avoid the need to divert or redrill wells.
As well as providing “vastly improved” logging data, Dr Wheatley said the CLRS would dramatically reduce the risk of operators mistaking changes in rock formations for core jams — and the ensuing “trip outs”, for up to 15 hours, as core barrels are unnecessarily pulled to the surface and replaced.
Coretrack announced in April 2009 that it has been in discussions with several major petroleum companies, including Chevron, Halliburton and Baker- Hughes/Inteq, over the future use of the CLRS in their drilling wells or core assemblies.
The potential of the internationally patented technology has also been recognised in Australia, with a A$1.35 million grant from the Commonwealth Government and the 2007 Inventor of the Year (Development Category) award from the Western Australian Government.
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