Case Studies - Energy & Environment

Shell U.K. Exploration and Production (Shell Expro), operators in the U.K. sector of the North Sea on behalf of Shell/Esso*, announced on the 4th January 2003 that the first oil began to flow from the Penguin fields.

The Penguin cluster was the largest undeveloped accumulation in the U.K. sector of the North Sea, lying some 150 kilometres north east of the Shetland Islands. Although the field was first discovered in 1974, advances in technology and greater well engineering efficiency have only now allowed the cluster to become a viable proposition for development.

QinetiQ, in close collaboration with Jet Research Centre (Halliburton) are proud to have worked with the Shell Expro team, to exploit shaped charge technologies and provide advanced perforator technology for the development of this marginal type of field.

QinetiQ/JRC were first approached by Shell Expro in August 2001 with a requirement to further develop the industry leading 3-3/8" JRC Millennium perforating charge, tailoring performance specifically to the Penguin down-hole well conditions, something the industry had not previously considered.

Following an intensive 3 month research programme combining QinetiQ's shaped charge technology and JRC's oil well experience, prototype designs were developed and tested under the American Petroleum Institute, Section VI flow conditions. This combined effort resulted in a new design of perforator, known as the Enhanced Millennium.

When compared with the Standard Millennium, the Enhanced Millennium provides 12.2% greater penetration. Furthermore the Enhanced Millennium provides a flow performance increase in a target undamaged by drilling or completion of 7% based on an average productivity index (PI) ratio.

It was claimed that this perforator out-performed all other manufacturers' perforators in the 3-3/8" Deep Perforator class.

However further research on 3-3/8" perforators resulted in another all new perforator known as the Dominator. Compared with the Standard Millennium, Dominator provides 21% greater penetration performance and provides a flow performance increase in a target undamaged by drilling or completion of up to 12% based on an average PI ratio. Both the Enhanced Millennium and Dominator also provide improvements in hole clean-up with medium to high under-balance.

The Penguins field cluster development is expected to produce a total of 50 million barrels of oil and 175 billion standard cubic feet of gas over a nine-year field life.

Penguins will make an important contribution to U.K. oil and gas production and help the industry reach recovery targets for 2010.

The Enhanced Millennium and Dominator charges are commercially available to the industry through JRC.

The technology utilised in the development of the Dominator charge is available through the QinetiQ PerfECT (Perforating Enhanced Completions Technology) toolbox and advisory service.

(*) Esso Exploration and Production UK Ltd is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil.