WellDynamics Wins Contract for BP's Foinaven Development

WellDynamics has been awarded a contract to supply SmartWell intelligent completion technology for the W15 Well in the BP Foinaven field development.

Foinaven, which lies 190 km west of the Shetland Islands in a water depth of 400 to 600 meters, has been producing since November 1997. Water injection is important part of field operations because it provides the needed pressure support to the nearby production wells.

The W15 well is a multi zone water injection well and will provide pressure support to three off take wells. Injection flow control for the three reservoir intervals will be managed using intelligent completion technology.

WellDynamics will install its technology by the middle of 2003 as a contingency measure should BP require additional flow control. The two separate SmartWell devices will be installed to enable BP to manage the water injection by controlling flow through a combination of the three intervals at the same time, thereby minimizing the amount of excess water entering production wells, helping to maximize oil production control and increase efficiency. Allan Sherriffs, BP Completion Engineer, said: "We have chosen to integrate SmartWell technology in the well completion to provide remote control of the water injection if necessary.

"Technology, appropriately applied, can deliver significant efficiency improvements by minimizing the intervention costs. SmartWell technology will enable us to remotely change where the water is injected, which is especially important in subsea developments such as Foinaven, where intervention costs can be high."

Mike Fleming, CEO WellDynamics, said: "Appropriate inclusion of intelligent well technology in reservoirs characterised by variability is similar to buying an insurance policy against uncertainty. By investing in SmartWell technology early, the project will provide BP with the flexibility to optimize well performance and maximize oil recovery."

BP has often used new technologies to develop its assets, and the operator was an early adopter of horizontal drilling and multilateral technology. This contract award adds SmartWell technology to the portfolio of technologies BP's Northern Business Unit employs to exploit this challenging reservoir.