By Heather Douglas
“There’s no good idea that cannot be improved on.” Michael Eisner (1942 –), retired chairman & CEO of The Walt Disney Company (1984 — 2005).
Spectrum Wireline Services Ltd. is one of the oilpatch’s surprising success stories. It has teamed with an established Norwegian company to introduce a cutting-edge abandonment technology to the oilpatch. The tool was developed for use in the North Sea and was brought to Canada last year when Spectrum was approached by a long-time customer to work with the Norwegians. Trials started soon after.
According to Peter Knight, Spectrum’s technical sales manager, the tool is lighter, slimmer, and offers embedded data sensors to record pressure temperatures. “We use this patented tool to perform unconventional abandonments because it melts the caprock and cauterizes the well. “The tool is designed to repair wellbores with serious SCVF problems where past interventions have failed.”
February 17, 2016 the Alberta Energy Regulator approved the Licensee Liability Rating (LLR) program and Licence Transfer Process (Directive 006) to “prevent the costs to suspend, abandon, remediate, and reclaim a well, facility, or pipeline in the LLR program from being borne by the public … and minimize the risk to the Orphan Fund posed by the unfunded liability of licences in the program.”
Abandonment Process
Not all Canadians understand the abandonment process. The goal is to prevent any formation fluids from bypassing the plugging materials and migrating up-hole into the formation. Abandonment permanently stops gas, oil, or salt water from contaminating fresh water aquifers in the area. Before abandonment occurs, the operator and service company review the downhole reports (casing, cement, geology, mud, etc.), evaluate if there are any existing downhole barriers, and then develop the operational plan to forever shut-in the well.
Knight says Directive 006 was an impetus some operators needed to spend the dollars to abandon their suspended wells. “Companies were eager to write-off their non-producing assets and they liked what Spectrum had to offer. It’s easier to rig in, simpler to lift and shut-off the surface casing, then seal the well.”
Exceptional Expertise in Sour Wells
Although the Spectrum employees are proficient handling sweet oil and gas wells, they have developed a unique proficiency in handling sour and critical-sour wells. “As the industry moved away from the deep, sour gas drilling in the foothills, it lost some of its considerable knowledge in how to safely handle hydrogen sulphide (H2S),” Knight reports. “We stepped up as that’s where our business started.”
Spectrum was launched in 2008 in Pincher Creek as a wireline logging company. Its reputation — as a firm that provided quality equipment, service, and very conscientious, experienced crews – grew quickly, as it was hired to log deeper, more deviated, and increasingly sour gas wells.
The company has since opened offices in Blackfalds, Peace River, is now headquartered in Calgary, and plans to open an office in northeast B.C. this fall. It owns five cased-hole combination units and has ordered a sixth (currently being manufactured in Calgary). The 25-employees consider their territory to range from the U.S.-Canadian border through to Rainbow Lake (northern Alberta) and northeastern BC.
Since January (2017), Spectrum has witnessed a 200 per cent increase in requests to abandon wells, Knight adds. “We have been so busy that even our executives will drive and run the trucks to make sure we can meet the operators’ needs and timelines.”
Since its inception, the company has boasted an almost impeccable safety record. It’s only had one lost-time injury and a zero TRIF (total recordable incident frequency) for the past five years. It has since hired a safety coordinator to ensure its “safety first” motto is always met.
History of Wireline Logging
Wireline logging has an interesting history. Shortly after World War I, as oil exploration grew, operators wanted to better understand the geological formations they were drilling through and if any trapped oil. In 1920, Conrad Schlumberger published the results of experimental surface resistivity measurements that he had taken since 1919. He had used an electrical probe, called sonde, run it into the boreholes that had been drilled through the formations. The electrical resistivity well log was born.
As the logging tools grew increasingly sophisticated, companies – like Spectrum – added fishing services, plug work, gradients and extended build-ups, sleeve manipulation, chokes, plunger lifts, sub-surface safety valves, bailing, sampling, fluid level and plug back determinations. It expanded the numbers and types of logging and perforating equipment it offered, and ensured it had all the latest tools appropriate for the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
Today, Spectrum Wireline is the only Canadian company running the patented Norwegian abandonment technology and equipment. When coupled that with its expertise in sour wells, it is no wonder it sees itself on a growth trajectory that other companies envy. Obviously, every good idea can be improved on and Spectrum is leading that charge.
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