Well Construction: Welltec Launches 4-in-1 Solution for Enhanced Reliability in New, Existing Completions
Welltec®, a global technology company that develops and provides hi-tech solutions for the energy industry, has launched a life-of-well, API-qualified completion system for anchoring in cased hole – the Welltec® Expandable Anchor (WEA).
The new solution is a product that has the capacity to deliver four different applications, designed to bring greater reliability, flexibility, and efficiency to the well construction process.
“The WEA solution is a machined sleeve which uses a surface-controlled hydraulic expansion process utilized within well construction and completion. The technology has proven reliability for both installation and long-term solution capability,” says Paul Hazel, Welltec’s Global Solutions Director for Well completions.
“Many on-market solutions use a complex series of moving parts for setting and have multiple restrictions on well geometry to deliver reliable anchoring. This inevitably increases the risk of failure which can result in expensive remedial work or may result in the completion being pulled back to the surface to be re-dressed and re-run. It is exactly this type of risk that we are eliminating with the WEA,” Hazel explains.
Developed on the field-proven platform of Welltec’s metal expandable packer technology, the WEA can be utilized as a liner hanger, tieback liner, inner-string packer, and cased hole plug.
According to the company, all versions of the product are qualified to the API 19LH V1 standard and are fully compatible with Welltec’s Metal Expandable Packer (MEP) portfolio.
Benefits of WEA include option for reciprocation, circulation, and rotation during deployment of the completion string.
Other benefits are high circulation and low Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD), large running clearance as well as compatibility with feedthrough lines.
It also eliminates the need for a de-burr run when deployed within perforated liners or casings, in addition to bi-directional anchoring with proven MEP sealing to V0.
Welltec® informed that onshore and offshore deployments of the new product have already taken place in the Americas and the Middle East respectively, with further deployments scheduled.
“Our Design & Engineering team has developed this solution with a commitment to three focus points: reliability, flexibility, and efficiency. Rigorous testing over a two-year period has led to the development of a single solution that provides operators with a clear path to securing well integrity in vastly different scenarios,” says Wai Hoe Chum, Welltec’s Vice President of Well Completions.
