Heading downhole: a new gauge aims to cut the need for wireline pressure logging
Downhole gauge aims to cut interventions
Well technology specialist Sonic Gauge and partner Global Process Systems (GPS) are set to launch a robust new downhole temperature and pressure gauge designed to reduce the need for costly wireline surveys.
The United Arab Emirates-based companies said the new SonicGauge device, which will be launched at this year’s Offshore South East Asia conference in Singapore, attaches externally to a standard pup joint, and communicates data to a surface receiver along the production string using acoustic telemetry.
An advanced surface receiver uses picks up the signals and transmits the data in real time to local or remote well control facilities.
Sonic Gauge said the device was the result of six years’ research in the UK by technology group QinetiQ. It will be supplied throughout Asia and the Middle East by GPS.
GPS chief executive Clint Elgar said the device had the ability to eliminate the need for wireline pressure surveys, which require full well intervention, by up to two years.
“We believe there is significant potential for SonicGauge to help operators reduce cost and improve data integrity. Its ability to provide this data in real time delivers a major advantage,” he said.
The gauge’s ability to supply real-time downhole information can also play a potentially crucial role in warning of developing risk situations, Sonic Gauge and GPs said in a release.
Sonic Gauge has opened a manufacturing plant in Jebel Ali, in the UAE, to supply the gauges throughout the region.