Q1 issue of Baker Hughes TechConnect

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Chemical treatment program keeps refinery online, saves facility $10 million Baker Hughes developed a chemical treatment program that enabled a major U.S. refinery to stay online while completing necessary repairs to an off-gas compressor essential for the environmental compliance of the refinery. Shutting down the compressor would have required a major outage if an alternate method to reduce sulfur oxide emissions during the repairs could not be developed. Read more Acid system loosens stuck completion assembly, saves well abandonment The Baker Hughes Pressure Pumping team applied an acid system to a well in Nigeria, forcing the release of the completion assembly and saving the well from abandonment. The client was running the 4 1/2-in. lower completion system comprised of a packer retrieving tool and lengths of blank pipes, screens and swellable packers) when the pipe used to deploy the assembly became stuck about 90 ft (27 m) before the actual well depth of 14,254 ft (4345 m). In an attempt to pull free, the setting tool backed off and came out of the hole without any of the completion components. Read more Chemical treatment increases well's production 382 percent A chemical surfactant applied by the Baker Hughes Upstream Chemicals team in Canada resulted in a 382% increase in production over a four-week period. A Canadian operator was experiencing sanding and torque issues in one of its wells in the Elk Point field in Alberta, Canada. Drilled in 1984, the well produced for three years before being shut in. The operator started the well up again in May 2011 but began to experience sanding issues a few months later. The operator used a competitor's sand suspension product but expressed interest in testing a Baker Hughes heavy oil flow improver specifically designed to unblock and lift sand from the well bottom. Read more Cold flow additive saves refinery $4 million in additives costs Operators of diesel equipment are well aware of the tendency of diesel fuel to gel or solidify at low temperatures. To ensure a continuous flow through the filter grid of the engine, additives such as kerosene are often used. A refinery in China, which was producing diesel in winter, required a higher value kerosene be added to the diesel blend to meet cold filter plugging-point specifications. Baker Hughes Downstream Chemicals recommended the TOLAD™ 3000 wax crystal modifier to minimize the amount of kerosene in the diesel blend required to meet the cold flow filter specifications. Read more Kymera bit technology saves $250,000 in rig time, bit costs The first use of the Hughes Christensen Kymera™ hybrid bit technology in Colombia represented a savings of nearly 86 hours and $250,000 for one of Baker Hughes' main customers in the Colombia/Andean geomarket. "The motorized 8 1/2-in. Kymera bit drilled through 460 ft (140 m) of hard conglomerate rock and 1,232 ft (375 m) of interbedded claystones, shale, siltstone and sandstone, as well as traces of pyrite and marl. The interval drilled was 1,667 ft (508 m) at 33.51 ft (10 m) per hour," says Joel Baretto, sales manager for Baker Hughes Drill Bit Systems, Colombia/Andean geomarket. "Compared to a competitor's offset well drilled using a 12 1/4-in. bit, the rate of penetration exceeded 292 percent, replacing two five- and six-blade polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits and a competitor's three-cone bit." Read more Linear gel fluid system enables operator to meet water conservation guidelines A Baker Hughes fit-for-purpose linear gel fluid system enabled a Canadian operator to hydraulically fracture two shallow gas wells while complying with a government directive concerning water conservation. Late last year, the Baker Hughes Pressure Pumping business segment fractured the two vertical wells in Central Alberta, Canada. The wells targeted the Ardley and Edmonton Sands gas formations between 180 m (590 ft) and 295 m (968 ft) total vertical depth. Read more News Baker Hughes' Competence Management Program receives IADC accreditation Baker Hughes is the first integrated oilfield service company to receive full accreditation of its Competence Management Program from the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC). The Baker Hughes Competence Management Program, based on compliance, reliability and performance gives company employees the training and tools necessary to be able to meet and exceed current and upcoming operating requirements and government regulations. It offers a way to measure the experience Baker Hughes employees bring to each project and provides them a career path. Read more  New water treatment improves efficiency, reduces costs A new Baker Hughes water treatment technology cost effectively removes suspended solids and heavy metals without chemicals and treats 100% of flowback and produced water for reuse. The H2prO™ water treatment service uses an exclusive electrocoagulation technology that reliably eliminates contaminants without chemicals and reduces costly nonproductive time. Read more  Creating reservoir value through new technologies Learn more about a few of the latest advanced technologies Baker Hughes has introduced to help deliver better solutions for our customers' challenges. The Baker Hughes StimPlus™ service combines hydraulic fracturing and production chemistry to maximize post-frac production and minimize post-frac intervention costs related to scale, organic deposition, bacteria and corrosion. The Hughes Christensen Talon™ 3D high-efficiency vector-accurate PDC bit shortens days on well with superior directional control and higher rate of penetration in unconventional plays. A shorter bit-to-bend dimension improves steerability and builds rate aggressiveness. The Baker Hughes Eco-Centre™ CR centralized recycling service is a single-point, drilling waste management solution that reduces disposal costs and environmental footprint. Rigged up conveniently to multiple drilling operations and customized to operators' needs with a modular design, this treatment solution processes fluids and solids cost effectively.