Red Spider Completes First West African Job

Red Spider, the Remote Open Close Technology (ROCT) specialist delivering multi-million pound savings and reduced risk to the oil & gas industry, has completed its first work in West Africa and secured additional contracts in the region.

The success follows Red Spider’s recent announcement of the appointment of an agent in West Africa to support its expansion in the region.

Work involving eRED, Red Spider’s breakthrough ROCT product, was completed in Equatorial Guinea. The success is expected to lead to further runs of the tool in a number of West African countries, with significant interest expressed by operators in Gabon, Ghana, Angola and Nigeria.

Further work involving one of Red Spider’s latest products, eRED-FB, is scheduled with an operator in Equatorial Guinea by the middle of 2012. Deals completed for work so far in West Africa have a value of £380,000.

Red Spider’s Africa sales manager Barry Killoh said: “We knew the West African market had huge opportunities for our technology and to have this level of interest from the outset is very encouraging. Our tools are proven to help operators reduce risk and deliver major cost savings, particularly during deepwater operations, so they are ideal for the market.

“Appointing our agent AOS Orwell in Nigeria has given us an excellent operational and sales presence on the ground and we can offer a rapid turnaround for operators looking for the benefits our tools offer.’’

eRED, Red Spider’s first tool to use its patented Remote Open Close Technology for remotely operating downhole valves, has been used by more than 20 operators in the UK, Norway, West Africa and Australia, resulting in significant risk reduction and maximising production time by removing wireline runs from operations. The technology is on its way to becoming the industry standard solution for various downhole applications.

The eRED has allowed major operators to routinely reduce wireline runs during a single subsea operation from eight to one, typically saving more than 24 hours rig time or £320,000. In deepwater workover operations, savings of up to 36 hours and £480,000 have been recorded in a single job, as well as major reductions in risk.

It quickly became apparent from the eRED’s continuing success that there were other potential applications for Remote Open Close Technology in the completion of wells. Further customer requests led to more than £1.9million of investment and over two years of extensive research and development work, which has resulted in PowerBall® and the eRED-FB.

The eRED-FB will deliver savings of between 32 to 38 hours (£400,000 to over £500,000) by eliminating the requirement for any wireline runs during a completion placement operation. Eliminating the requirement to deploy traditional wireline equipment speeds up the completion process, bringing wells on stream sooner and reducing the risk of exposure to bad weather, whilst 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 pioneering 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, thus resulting in a much more flexible, safe and quick operation, with potential savings of up to 12 hours and around £160,000.

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Subsea World News Staff , March 28, 2012;  Image: Red Spider