Remote open close technology specialist, Red Spider, has appointed an agent in West Africa to support its expansion in the region
The UK-headquartered company has completed an agreement with Nigerian agent AOS Orwell. The company will promote Red Spider’s suite of remote open close technology (ROCT) and provide a permanent presence for customers in the region from operational facilities in Port Harcourt and a sales office in Lagos.
Products in the ROCT range include Red Spider’s product, eRED, and two new products: the eRED-FB (a completion placement valve) and PowerBall®.
“There has been a great deal of interest in our technology in West Africa because of the particular benefits it delivers for deepwater operations,” said Red Spider Chief Executive, Steve Nicol. “Having an agent in place gives us the capability to make an impact and achieve successful results with a rapid turnaround. We are a small company but have proved our technology delivers for many operators. Now we have the logistics in place to sustain operations in a key target location for us.”
Meanwhile, AOS Orwell Chief Executive, Femi Omotayo, said, “We are delighted to provide Red Spider the platform to explore opportunities within the Nigerian oil market. Red Spider’s technology strongly complements AOS Orwell’s existing large array of well construction and automation services. Our penetration into the completions market is further boosted by Red Spider cutting edge capabilities which now become available to West Africa through us.”
eRED, Red Spider’s first tool to use its patented ROCT for remotely operating downhole valves, has been used by more than 20 operators in the UK, Norway and Australia, resulting in significant risk reduction and maximising production time by removing wireline runs from operations. The company aims to ensure the technology becomes the industry standard solution for various downhole applications.
The success of eRED showed that there were other potential applications for ROCT in the completion of wells. Further customer requests led to more than US$3mn of investment and over two years of extensive research and development work, resulting in PowerBall® and the eRED-FB.
The eRED-FB will deliver savings of between 32 to 38 hours (US$650,000 to US$800,000) by eliminating the requirement for any wireline runs during a completion placement operation. This will speed up the completion process, bringing wells on stream sooner and reducing the risk of exposure to bad weather. Removing the need to rig-up and rig-down wireline and PCE equipment reduces the risk to personnel, equipment and the operation.
PowerBall® is a reservoir isolation barrier that prevents fluid loss during the upper completion phase of well construction. Remote opening of PowerBall happens with no pressure cycles, but on detecting a specific trigger, much as with the eRED. This results in a much more flexible, safe and fast operation, with potential savings of up to 12 hours or c. US$250,000.