American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017 - 89

Production Technology
interested in conducting field trials of
the technique, Waltrich says.
Stuart Scott, who is working with Waltrich, points out that getting university
staff involved in industry research brings
in talented personnel who often have new
ideas or approaches to problems. Stuart,
director of technology for PetroleumETC
in Houston, adds, "University research,
while it may be on a slower pace than
some of the alternatives such as professional laboratories, costs much less."
Those transactions have consequences
beyond the immediate research, Stuart says,
with students gaining knowledge useful
when they join the oil and gas industry.
Cooperation between companies and
universities depends more on industry
need rather than general research, Stuart
says.
"U.S. industry has been struggling
with this for decades," he assesses. "European governments provide tax incentives
for research. Norway is a good example.
The same thing is happening in Brazil,
where 1 percent of gross production has
to be spent on research. Universities in
the United States don't compete on an
equal playing field, but truly on capability,
talent and prices."
Field Productivity
To help improve operational productivity and reduce requirements for field
personnel to regularly visit production
sites, Clariant has released its VERITRAXTM intelligent chemical management
system to automate well monitoring and
dosing, the company says. It combines
field-level sensors, cell phone technology,
and cloud-based data collection, using
sensors powered by batteries that can go
three to five years with minimal intervention by field technicians.
According to Clariant, the VERITRAX
system optimizes chemical management
tasks and reduces labor costs by using
automation and cloud-based technologies
to optimize the chemical supply chain
and give producers better control over
their chemical spending.
Clariant's chemical tank level sensors
maintain a constant watch on dosing tank
levels, and the system sends alarms when
a tank nears preset levels. A field technician
monitors all the wells in his charge using
the Clarian Chemical Dashboard, which
allows him to focus his in-field activity
only on wells that need attention.

VERITRAX can be fully integrated
into production setups such as SCADA
and distributed control systems, providing
continuous real-time data flow directly
to laptops and smart phones, Clariant
says. The system allows customers to
monitor a number of data streams, including well production figures or chemical injection rates, while also supporting
inventory management. The company
points out that the unit automatically coordinates chemical deliveries.
The system's data analysis and chemical pump control allow operators to provide optimized dosages for individual
wells, and its online surveillance capabilities provide fieldwide production data
rate streams using analytical results uploaded from the field or laboratory, the
company describes.
"The priorities for oil and gas companies are risk management, production efficiency, and cost optimization," reflects
Jon Rogers, global head of Clariant Oil
Services. "Information technology is playing an increasingly important role for oil
and gas companies as they look for ways
to optimize all aspects of their operations.
VERITRAX technology can deliver both
cost reduction and increases in operational
efficiency."
Smaller ESPs
A new, small-diameter electric submersible pump system from Baker Hughes
Inc. holds the potential to revive older
wells through lower lifting costs, while
allowing operators more options in placing

ESPs in smaller-diameter wellbores, says
Nathan Holland, the company's product
line director for artificial lift.
The CENtrilift PASSTM 300 series
slim-line ESP system extends the benefits
of Baker Hughes' 400 series, which employs a 4.5-inch motor and 4.0-inch pump.
The 400 system has an operational range
from 50 to 6,000 barrels a day, Holland
describes.
"Baker Hughes has moved that technology into the 300 series," he reports.
"The system has a pump with a flow
range from 50 to 3,000 bbl/d; a boost
pump that condenses the gas to a liquid;
and a gas mitigation intake, which basically
is an advanced intake system/gas separator,
combined into a single technology, the
niXit™. The unit also has an improved
electrical connection to the motor, and
an enhanced profile that is more accommodating in tight casing applications."
The niXit technology combines gas
mitigation intakes with a gas separation
device, and allows the unit to operate in
a well's vertical, inclined or horizontal
segments, Holland says. The system
orients the intake ports to open or close,
based on the location of the equipment
string. He says all ports are open if the
unit is in the vertical section, opened or
closed if the unit is at an angle, and all
top ports are closed in a lateral leg to
allow liquid production from the bottom
side of the casing and gas to pass on the
top side.
"If we have an intake that can orient
based on the setting of the equipment, it

Clariant's VERITRAX™ intelligent chemical management
system improves operational
productivity and reduces requirements for ﬁeld personnel
to visit production sites. The
company says it combines
ﬁeld-level sensors, cell phone
technology, and cloud-based
data collection.

JANUARY 2017 89

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017

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