ExxonMobil awards Alternate Path completion license to Delta Screens

Offshore staff

HOUSTON–ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. has awarded Delta Screens & Filtration LLC a limited international license to ExxonMobil’s Alternate Path technology patent portfolio for gravel packing cased-hole and openhole completion wells.

Alternate Path is a patented technology developed by ExxonMobil to improve the reliability of wells completed in sand-prone reservoirs. The technology provides alternate flow paths, called shunt tubes, in the downhole tool used for packing gravel in the producing sections of a well. The shunt tubes enable the Alternate Path packing operation to continue when sand prematurely blocks the well annulus, which would stop a conventional packing operation. The shunt tubes divert the gravel slurry around sand blockages and through distributed portholes to fill voids in the annulus until a complete pack is in place.

11/21/2014