Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Pragma has developed a downhole safety valve, designed to provide improved well control for cable-deployed electric submersible pumps (ESPs) retrofitted to production wells.
An API 14A-qualified subsurface safety valve (SSSV) is a legal requirement for producing wells in many regions, the company said.
Typically, these devices employ a flapper style mechanism and are incorporated in the production tubing during completion. However, when an ESP is retrofitted to a well, its surface control lines run through the inside of the production tubing, which obstructs the SSSVs and necessitating an additional safety valve.
Normally a rig would be mobilized to deploy the valve and then the ESP in separate runs. But a cable deployment provides significant cost and efficiency savings, Pragma said.
The ESP safety valve is said to be compact, integrated within the lower portion of the ESP assembly, and deployed and retrieved through the production tubing in the same run as the ESP.
According to Pragma, it is the sole valve available that offers wellbore closure below the ESP control lines.
The valve is designed to fail-safe close when the ESP is switched off and can be opened and closed as many times as needed.
It can be deployed for artificial lift systems such as capillary strings, gas lift velocity strings, progressive cavity pump and jet pump systems. A high-temperature version is also available.
Matt Manning, Pragma Technology Manager, said: “The technology has been developed in-house and we are conducting prototype testing, with field trials and API 14A certification planned later this year.”
09/30/2019
