The 11th International Scientific and Practical Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference, organized by ICoTA (Intervention and Coiled Tubing Association), its Russian representative CTTDC (Coiled Tubing Technologies Development Center) and Coiled Tubing Times Journal, took place on September 15-17 in the capital of Russia in the Renaissance Moscow Hotel. Held under the auspices of Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the event was sponsored by Foremost, Global Tubing, Schlumberger, NOV Fidmash, Tegas and Tenaris.

 

The technical sessions were preceded by a one-day Short Course “Coiled Tubing – Equipment, Technologies and Applications”, conducted by its author Dr. H.B. (Bernie) Luft, , PhD, P.Eng. The 10-hour seminar catered for both beginners and experienced users of coiled tubing. Attendees got information on cutting-edge CT working life test-ing systems, the influence of mechanical damage on the CT fatigue life, the ways to overcome mechanical damage, and state-of-the-art methods of CT repair in the field and within production facilities. Listeners got acquainted with CT drilling equipment, BHA and directional drilling system structure, short radius CT drilling and sidetracking, including that in underbalanced conditions. Each participant got a Short Course Summary in Russian and a Certificate of Attendance.

 

CT drilling is gaining in popularity in Russia. There is an intense ongoing growth in the sidetracking market which is expected to triple over the next five years. That was the highlight of the introductory speech of Leanid Hruzdzilovich, Head of Scientific Council, Coiled Tubing Technologies Development Center, addressed to conference participants. Hruzdzilovich pointed out that over the 12 years since the first conference on coiled tubing technologies, which was unique in the industry at that time, many positive changes had taken place. New equipment manufacturers and companies have appeared to offer high-quality service and the role of local service companies has matured. The number of coiled tubing units (CTU) operated in Russia has grown from 46 to over 140, and the growth has been much faster than the world average. The number of operations using CTU has grown from less than 1,000 a year to over 10,000. This ten-fold increase has been accompanied by growing sophistication in operations: apart from simple well flushing, cementing and isolation jobs, deep CT drilling has become more widespread.

 

The conference programme included four sessions covering about 30 reports delivered to a hundred participants representing oil producers (Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz, Bashneft, Poltava Oil Company, TNK-BP, etc.), ser-vice companies (Schlumberger, Trican Well Service, Weatherford, Kogalymnefteprogress, Ugra Azot ervice, CATOBNEFT, etc.), and equipment manufacturers (Fidmash and Novinka Joint Ventures, Packer, Yugson Service, Burenie, RosTEKtehnologii, Foremost, Global Tubing, Tenaris, Tegas, Rosen, etc.).

 

The attendees appreciated diligent preliminary work of organizers in choosing papers and building-up the conference programme. The utmost intensity of the proceedings became the hallmark of this year event: every speech aroused great interest, with questions and answers giving a clue to most intriguing technologies and techniques.

 

Significant interest was shown to the report entitled “The Experience of Applying Coiled Tubing Technologies in Tatarstan” by Rubin Akhmetshin (Tatneft-RemService), outlining the principles of conveyor-type workover, which effectively combines coiled tubing and traditional technologies. No less interesting was a report by Damir Mukhametshin (Bashneft) summarizing the experience of applying coiled tubing technologies in Bashkortostan and highlighting the results of unique intertubular operations performed using the MK-10T unit equipped with 1-in. coiled tubing.

 

Detlef Boss (Weatherford) draw attention of the audience to the use of a hydraulic tubing cutter in Kazakhstan fields in conditions when conventional e-line devices were inoperable. Nikolai Demyanenko (Belorusneft) presented two papers, covering development of coiled tubing technologies, and also experience and effectiveness of hydraulic and acid fracturing in terrigenous and carbonate formations in Belarus. Belorusneft service divisions have fulfilled successful fracturing jobs after purchasing NOV Fidmash complete set of equipment.

 

Lyubov Magadova (Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas) shared her news on penetration tests of polysaccharidic well-killing fluid under conditions simulating hydraulic fracture crack. Alexander Sorokin (Schlumberger) told the audience about the first experience of implementation of acid system MaXCO3 – compound aimed at oil recovery enhancement of carbonate reservoirs.

 

Cutting-edge well intervention technologies in intensively developing producing regions were also brought into sharp focus during the conference. Alexander Uskov (Verkhnechonskneftegaz) told the participants about solving the problems of Verkhnechonskoe oil and gas-condensate field, and Stanislav Zagranichny (Trican Well Service) shared experience of well intervention with coiled tubing on Vankorskoye field.

 

Quite a revelation was the report of Sergei Beryuschev (Welltec Oilfield Services) titled “An Introduction to Well Tractor Technology”, as downhole tractors are still an oddity in Russia. The reports by James Chernik (Foremost), Dmitry Zinin (Burenie Research and Production Association), Yury Shtakhov (RosTEKtekhnologii), Denis Vladykin (Tegas), were also devoted to equipment.

 

Sergei Yurutkin of NOV Fidmash, the manufacturer that has produced 75 percent of all CTU operating in the CIS, informed the audience on the full complex of the equipment for modern hi-tech operations in oil recovery enhancement and well cementing. Ivan Pirch (Novinka of the FID Group) delivered a report titled “Technical Means for Directional Drilling in Coal Bed”, which covered the latest patented solution – the SNB89-76M directional drilling system that has already been field-tested.

 

The paper of Konstantin Burdin (Schlumberger) “Realtime Acquisition of Bottomhole Parameters Data with Coiled Tubing” became a sort of premiere as it was introduced a week earlier in Russia than in Florence at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, where the international presentation of this new technology was held.

 

Discussions, disputes, debates, round table on development prospects of oilfield services, boat trip on the Moskva River… What else shall these three days be remembered for? Without any doubt, the most memorable thing will be face-to-face professional communication that turns colleagues into friends, and unites conference attendees into the club of the like-minded, open to anyone devoted to promotion of new oilfield services technologies.