Larger dry, liquid volumes needed for deepwater wells set demand for higher frac vessel storage capacity.
There's a new frac vessel in the Gulf, and its storage and pumping capacities are the largest and most powerful of any stationed there.
It's Baker Oil Tools' (BOT's) M/V HR Hughes, and the 270-ft by 56-ft (82-m by 17-m) vessel's storage capacity for frac proppant is no less than 2.2 million lb (with more than 1 million lb pumpable). It also boasts a very high 60-bbl/min pump rate.
The keel was laid several years ago for a deepwater seismic vessel. But market conditions caused it to be cancelled for that purpose. It was purchased later by shipping company Edison Chouest, which then completed fabrication. The vessel is on long-term charter to BOT.
The ship features independent twin proppant silos, backup blenders, twin Coflexip hoses, backup hydraulic systems and excess hydraulic horsepower. The vessel's DP-1 station-keeping capability and overall size gives it a wide weather window, enabling it to work in all but the worst weather. It can be upgraded to a DP-2 configuration.
Why build vessels with these huge capacities? Don't existing fracturing and stimulation vessels fill the bill for what historically has been a market niche? Who needs another frac boat?
Deepwater operators do.
Rudy de Grood, production line manager for BOT's sand control and fluid pumping services, said fracturing jobs in deep and ultradeep Gulf wells are simply bigger than those in shallow water. And major operators are changing their completion practices, as well. Frac packs, for example, have replaced conventional hydraulic fracs, particularly in deepwater wells, he said. That requires that service vessels also have larger-capacity tanks for the cross-linked, viscoelastic fluids used for frac packs. The HR Hughes is fitted with below-deck tanks that hold 6,660 bbl of clean fluid, 680 bbl of completion fluid and 11,300 bbl of drill water, respectively.
"The volume of proppant necessary for single deepwater wells has grown from an average of about 125,000 lb per frac to 250,000 lb or more in the last couple of years," said de Grood. "In the zones of interest now being completed in deep water, the net pay is much greater than in most wells back on the shelf, because operators complete only those intervals that can deliver the kind of production they need to offset their tremendous finding costs. You just need more of everything to complete them."
And, he said, because deepwater well sites generally are farther from shore, a vessel capable of doing multiple jobs without having to go "back to the house."
"Typical one-way travel time from a shore base to deepwater blocks is about 14 to 16 hours. With a smaller vessel, there are more round trips. Add loading downtime at the shore base and another 14 to 16 hours back to the well, and a smaller vessel exposes operators to excessive rig downtime while waiting for additional frac service. And downtime costs for those big semisubmersible rigs and drillships are sky-high."
The completions market for deep and ultradeep wells has been growing for the past 5 to 6 years, and the company forecasts further market growth over a similar period in the future, said de Grood.

Comments