American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017 - 60

to make the longest continuously milled
CT string, a 35,777-foot-long, two-inch
diameter string for a Gulf of Mexico
project," he illustrates. "In total, we have
shipped 3.5 million feet of QT-1300.
"In its initial application, QT-1300
helped a North Sea operator reduce well
costs by almost $1 million," Klink recalls.
"The CT used previously had so little
strength left after the perforating guns
fired that it could not pull them out of
the hole. Instead, the operator had to drill
1,500 feet of extra hole and drop the gun
assembly after firing."
In developing QT-1400, Klink says
Quality Tubing has adhered to a longheld philosophy that emphasizes easy
deployment. "One of our fundamental
design concepts is that any new product
we make should be usable on existing
equipment, and be serviceable in the
field," he says. "Even though QT-1400 is
a high-strength grade, it can accommodate
repair welds to extend string life."
Klink adds that QT-1400 is produced
with Quality Tubing's existing equipment,
enabling the company to keep lead times
around 10 days.
Vibration Tool
Workover Solutions Inc. has completed
enough field trials with its friction reduction tool now to feel confident introducing it to the market, announces Mark
Miller, the company's vice president of
operations.
"The tool is doing exactly what it has
been designed to do," he enthuses. "In
fact, the pulses it creates are reducing
friction enough for operators to deploy
coiled tubing in toe-up wells, which generally are restricted to stick pipe."
Miller adds that the tool is increasing

CT's reach by 3,000 feet, bringing the
maximum length to 15,000 feet.
The tool has been deployed in the
Permian Basin, the Northeast and the
Bakken, Miller relates. In many applications, he says, operators are finding they
can trim costs by replacing 25⁄8-inch coil
with 23⁄8-inch coil.
"The tool has no elastomers, so the
operator can pump nitrogen, acid and recycled fluids through it," Miller says. "It
also can handle beads and high temperatures."
Miller indicates XTENDR delivers
the same pressure pulse at any pump
rate, which he says is a boon in wells in
which wellhead or friction pressures limit
pump rates. "This versatility also simplifies
deployment," he says. "There is no need
for the service company to ask the operator
what the pump rate is going to be and
configure the tool appropriately. And,
there is no performance loss if wellhead
pressures are unexpectedly high and the
pump rate has to be reduced."
Because the tool pulses effectively
even at low pump rates, Miller says it
can help operators free stuck bits by continuing to minimize friction on the string.
Efficient Miller
To improve milling efficiency, Workover
Solutions has introduced the HAMMR, a
mill bit motor that moves the bit up and
down to strike obstructions much like a
jackhammer. Miller describes the motor
as a response to lengthening laterals.
"As laterals get longer, the weight on
bit toward the end gets lower, reducing
the amount of energy available to push
into debris during milling," he notes.
"With HAMMR, our goal is to speed
milling by compensating for the reduced

By installing a fiber optic cable inside a coiled tubing string, Halliburton's Spectrum
Diagnostic Services create fluid distribution and production flow profiles during routine
interventions. The company says these profiles enable operators to spot production
problems and improve completion designs.

60 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

weight on bit."
The motor is cutting mill times for
composite plugs in half, Miller reports.
Because moving the bit up and down reduces static friction, it also is halving
travel times between plugs, he adds.
"We are seeing better cuttings come
back to surface," Miller continues. "Most
people would expect bit impacts to generate
large cuttings, but because the up-anddown motion forces the bit to take smaller
bites out of the plug, the debris is fine. It
is much easier to carry to surface."
Miller says the small bites also help
keep the motor from stalling. Using it
does not increase pressures at surface
any more than a normal positive displacement motor, he assures.
"The motor can enable operators to
mill through materials that are difficult
or impossible to remove with rotation
alone, such as sliding sleeves, and the
seats from ball and seat completions,"
Miller says. "In those applications, the
efficiency gain is even higher than it is
when milling composite plugs."
Originally, the HAMMR was developed
for stick pipe, Miller recalls. "By creating
localized vibrations that reduce friction, it
enables the pipe to go an extra couple thousand feet," he says. "This often means the
operator can run 23⁄8-inch rather than going
to a more expensive 27⁄8-inch work string."
Real-Time Data
Using real-time downhole data can
help operators optimize their interventions
and completions, says Giuseppe Ambrosi,
product manager for coiled tubing and
downhole tools at Halliburton. He indicates
Halliburton is making such data available
through a new family of services called
Spectrum.
"Spectrum has two branches: Spectrum
Intervention Services and Spectrum Diagnostic Services," he details. "For the
intervention portion, we put sensors on
the bottom-hole assembly and transmit
data to surface in real time so operators
can monitor exactly what they are doing
at the tool rather than relying on surface
data. This allows them to better manipulate
tools for tasks such as milling, opening
and closing sleeves, and fishing."
The BHA can include sensors for monitoring pressure inside and outside the
tools, temperature, inclination, tool face,
load, and torque, as well as a gamma ray
sensor and casing collar locator, Ambrosi
says. He describes the data as extremely
useful in difficult intervention jobs.
"Milling is one of the jobs where realtime monitoring offers a big benefit because
the data can help keep the bit from stalling
and ensure milling takes place with the

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017

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