First-ever Desander Operation Completed in Trinidad

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The Trinidad region has long been a place of historical significance for the industry thanks to its shallow and easily accessible hydrocarbon reserves. Today, its importance lies in the fact that it is the largest producer of oil and gas in the Caribbean. With significant reservoirs and a growing focus on natural gas production to meet the demands of the Americas, the region is host to major global operators.

FourPhase has converted several state-of-the-art desander units to comply with regional standards for use across the Americas. One of these desanders was recently deployed to Trinidad on the first-ever desander operation in the region. The project successfully removed considerable amounts of solids with a separation efficiency of more than 99.5% from a production well. 

The challenge: solids production and well shut-in 

FourPhase was approached by a major oil and gas operator in the Trinidad region to overcome solid production challenges using its desander technology, the DualFlow 5K PSI. The reason it was selected was because it had already demonstrated wide ranging success in the European and Caspian sector. During the production stages of the well, heavy accumulations of solids were experienced in the injection line.

The result of the solids build-up was a well shut-in. This halted production posed significant challenges to future production prospects. 

A plug was set above the production packer by the operator. When the gas-lift valve was pulled from the lowest gas-lift station, debris from the annulus entered the tubing.

A coiled tubing (CT) operation was selected as the best course of action to clean out the solids, pull the plug and gain access to the lower zone. This solution had to work within platform deck space limitations. With rig space at a premium, ensuring that a solution could be identified, which did not impede on wider rig operations, was essential.

The desander solution

The FourPhase DualFlow 5K cyclonic separation system was selected as the best desander solution for the job. The DualFlow desander is a 2 m by 2 m footprint system—the smallest and most powerful desander unit available on the market. It boasts a modular design that is strategically developed to create a flexible and stackable solution. A choke manifold skid also can be incorporated within the footprint. 

The CT cleanout operation was completed using seawater as the main cleanout fluid with gel pills used to assist lifting the solids. FourPhase deployed a suite of products to carry this out including the DualFlow 5K desander, choke manifold, surface safety valve and FourPhase production specification pipework.

The result: successful solids removal

The system delivers solids-free production flow while also reducing operational costs. The operation only required a four-person crew to operate, and the DualFlow was controlled from a remote location on site to minimize the exposure of personnel. As the first automated solids management system with remote operation capabilities available on the market, the system has the capability to remove personnel on board completely and be fully remote where the rigs infrastructure allows. 

In total, 348 kg of solids were returned from the wellbore and accurately measured by the 560 sensors built into the DualFlow system. A fluid sample taken from the well showed an average particle size of 4 to 100 microns.

Expanding solids management potential in the Americas

The operation signals a growing momentum in the Caribbean to prioritize practices that minimize environmental impacts and costs, securing sustainable and profitable production for the future. FourPhase technologies have already demonstrated their ability to contribute to these goals by revolutionizing approaches to costly and polluting phases of the well life cycle. Bringing this digitalized technology to the Americas is a key aim of FourPhase over the coming years.

To aid the strategic expansion, FourPhase has appointed production optimization expert Caleb Roquemore as vice president of the Americas to lead the entry into the market. FourPhase is keen to build on previous successful operations in the region, including Trinidad and the notorious Devil’s Well in the Gulf of Mexico. On this particular project, the desander increased production by 6,000 bbl/d. 

With approximately 50% of wells globally experiencing solids managements challenges, and a greater focus on the potential of digital approaches to traditional problems, there is no greater time to expand the geographical offering of FourPhase technologies. 

About the author: Øyvind Heradstveit is CEO of FourPhase.