American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2015 - 117

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IndustryFocus: Companies, People and Products
Couplings Reduce Need For Rod String Workovers
MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, OH.-Materion Corp.'s new ToughMet 3 sucker rod
couplings are designed to maximize production and reduce wells' operating costs
when used in place of sucker rod couplings
made of conventional steel materials.
Made from a unique temper of copper-nickel-tin spinodal alloy engineered
specifically for the oil field, ToughMet 3
couplings resist mechanical wear, thread
damage, corrosion and erosion, Materion
reports. They are non-galling, so they do
not damage production tubing, and they
retain their strength even at elevated tem-

Weatherford Now Offers
Optimization Consulting

HOUSTON-Weatherford International
PLC has introduced a production optimization consulting service that it says
integrates cyclical optimization solutions
to enable proactive well, reservoir and
asset management.
Weatherford consultants will collaborate with operators to achieve singlewell or full-field optimization, the company says, with a comprehensive analysis
of the well or field followed by recommendations for the best artificial lift systems, surface and downhole sensors, controllers, production-optimization software
and workflows appropriate to the assets.
These services could be applied to a
range of fields, including conventional,
deepwater, unconventional shale and
heavy oil, Weatherford points out. Whether
the objective is to reduce costs through
individual well optimization, increase efficiencies by integrating field operations,
or create a comprehensive digital oil
field, the company says it can develop a
custom plan to maximize oil production
and reduce operational costs.
"Weatherford offers the largest artificial-lift portfolio in the industry, along
with a 480,000-well track record of successful optimization-software implementation," says Ashok Dixit, the company's
vice president of production optimization
consulting. "Additionally, through our
asset inspection methodology, and "gain
and sustain" collaborative methodology,
we help our clients reduce downtime, increase production, and increase the mean
time between failures."
For information, visit www.weatherford.com/poc.
❒

peratures, the company adds. It says this
combination of attributes minimizes
workover frequency.
The patent-pending couplings were
tested by Hess in North Dakota, where
Materion reports they significantly reduced
the frequency of damage to sucker rod
couplings and production tubing.
"We apply lean manufacturing principles to our Bakken operations, so we
are looking continually for ways to improve reliability and decrease waste,"
says Hess Senior Engineering Adviser
Seth Silverman, who led the company's
effort to support the couplings' development. "We field tested this with the hope
of finding a solution that could help improve our production operations and
reduce mechanical failure."
Hess tested the couplings for 18 months
on the worst wear sections of tapered rod
strings in 10 of its Bakken wells and found
practically no measured wear in double
the previous run time, Materion relates.
For information, visit www.ma terion.com/toughmet.
❒

NCS Sets Global Record
For Coiled Tubing Fracs

HOUSTON-NCS Multistage LLC announces it placed 14.1 million pounds of
proppant in a 52-stage completion in the
Permian Basin, a world record for completions using coiled tubing and singlepoint fracture injection. The completion
took only five days and was accomplished
in a single coiled tubing trip using NCS's
Multistage Unlimited fracture-isolation
system, NCS relates.
"This job demonstrates the robustness
and efficiency of our coiled tubing fracture
system," says Tim Willems, the company's
chief operating officer. "Fourteen million
pounds is a lot of proppant for any kind
of multistage completion, and we were
able to execute it with a single tool in a
single coiled-tubing trip. Just as important,
we recorded downhole pressure and temperature data that are proving valuable
for evaluating the completion and optimizing subsequent completions in the
formation."
For information, visit www.ncsmultistage.com.
❒

Production Plus Installs 50th Artificial Lift System

CALGARY-Production Plus Energy
Services Inc. reports it has completed the
50th installation of its patent-pending
HEAL SystemTM, which it describes as a
significant milestone since its commercial
release in October 2014.
The Horizontal Enhanced Artificial
Lift (HEAL) System complements artificial lift systems to regulate flow, reduce
fluid density, resolve gas interference,
and address solids problems in horizontal
wells, the company says. Production Plus
adds that horizontal wells using the

system achieve reliable run times, increased drawdowns and extended
workover intervals.
"Artificial lift systems available today
have been optimized over decades for
use in vertical wells," notes Jess Saponja,
chief executive officer of Production Plus
and one of the co-inventors of the HEAL
System. "If placed in a horizontal well,
these systems become highly challenged."
According to the company, the HEAL
system has no moving parts and provides
benefits to wells in all phases of their life cycle. Operators of horizontal wells
have experienced 10-30 percent increases in production
and reserves after installation, Production Plus says.
For information, visit
www.pdnplus.com.
❒
After installing HEAL SystemTM, horizontal well operators report the artificial lift
devices have increased
production and reserves by
10-30 percent, Production
Plus says.

DECEMBER 2015 117
http://www.materion.com/toughmet http://www.ncsmultistage.com/ http://www.materion.com/toughmet http://www.ncsmultistage.com/ http://www.pdnplus.com http://www.weatherford.com/poc http://www.weatherford.com/poc
American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2015

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