Probe | Cased Hole | Wireline | Logging | Evaluation | Monitoring | Oil Well Tools

HD Platform

HD: The Best Way to Gather More Data Faster in a Well

ProMAC™ Multi-arm Caliper Tool, which makes it possible to identify integrity problems, such as mineral deposition, corrosion, wear or mechanical deformation, inside a completion.

The HD Platform is an increasingly wider range of high-speed, highly configurable digital sensors play critical – and unique -roles in helping operators to log data much more efficiently. In addition to its range of Standard and Array Production logging tools, Probe has been focusing on cased-hole formation evaluation solutions:

  • The ProMAC™ Multi-arm Caliper Tool, which makes it possible to identify integrity problems, such as mineral deposition, corrosion, wear or mechanical deformation, inside a completion.
  • The RADii™ Segmented Bond Tool, which measures and maps the quality of cement behind casing in oil and gas wells.
  • The RAS™ Reservoir Analysis Sonde, a three-detector pulsed-neutron logging tool for measuring reservoir saturation using Sigma and Carbon-Oxygen techniques.
  • The Spectral Gamma-ray Tool, an evaluation tool that offers insight into the radioactivity and mineral composition of cased-hole formations.

More data gathered per well intervention

“For years, the demand for logging tools that are highly configurable and capable of gathering high quality data more efficiently has continued to rise unabated, so we believe that continuing to expand our truly intelligent, effective formation evaluation solutions is critical to our customers’ success,” said Martin Barratt, VP Global Sales of Probe.

“The HD Platform is the result of a concerted initiative to enhance our field-proven tools with the highest quality measurements in the industry. By enabling fully combinable configurations, we are confident that Probe delivers on every front. By employing HD Platform compatible logging tools, service providers can now acquire more data per run in every well intervention. This enables operators to meet key objectives with a minimal number of well entries, improving efficiency and reducing cost.”

The HD Platform: what it is and how it gathers data more efficiently

The new HD Platform consists of two parts: an inter-tool communications bus and mono-conductor telemetry which is managed by the Telemetry Control Unit (TCU). The inter-tool communications bus is a single wire bi-directional system that operates at 500kpbs, which is ample speed to accommodate many different combinations of logging tools. The controlling telemetry – or alternative memory tool – samples sensors at a rate of 50 times per second, allowing high data rate tools and, for example, multi-arm calipers to provide high vertical resolution. Commands and instructions are also sent to the sensors on the same single wire bus.

The TCU handles all communications to surface. This device controls the data collected by the tools below, and packages it for transmission to the surface system. It receives commands from the surface system via the fast downlink, and responds back to the surface, as necessary.

The TCU can be replaced by the Memory Logging Tool (MLT) allowing all HD sensors to be deployed on slickline and coil tubing, among others. The HD Platform is a modular design offering simple mechanical maintenance and supported by plug0in electronic boards. It is well suited to both conventional and remote environment operations. Looking ahead, as part of its continuing commitment to developing technologies that gather comprehensive data, Probe plans to integrate HD telemetry technology into all current and future cased-hole logging tools.

Solving Industry Challenges Drives Probe to Innovate and Improve Logging Technologies

New cost-effective solutions provide increased reliability, faster sampling rates and more accurate data

Probe's ProMac 40 under a calibration testing
Probe’s ProMac 40 under calibration testing.

During the past six months, Probe has introduced new patented sensors and tools that dramatically improve data logging efficiency and accuracy. 

“We are absolutely driven by market demand for faster, more cost-effective solutions to log accurate data, so we set out to deliver that by innovating traditional logging technologies,” said Federico Casavantes, CEO of Probe. “For example, our new ProMAC™ Series of multi-arm caliper tools are fully combinable with all Probe HD Platform tools, and operate in Surface Readout or Memory modes. There are multiple improvements that increase reliability, maintainability and accuracy. One such improvement, for example, is that the tool’s sensors’ outstanding linearity and stability has allowed us to reduce calibration time to half a day. Consequently, our customers are able to increase asset utilization by minimizing downtime. It also means that electronics and sensors aren’t exposed to high temperatures more than absolutely necessary, reducing the risk of tool failure due to temperature fatigue.”

MAC24™:  New Technology Showcase 2019 Winner

Just last month, the MAC24™, which is the first in the ProMAC Series, was selected as a winner in the New Technology Showcase at LAGCOE 2019 in Louisiana.  The new MAC24 incorporates innovations in metrology and manufacturing, greatly improving log data quality, accuracy and reliability when logging tubing and casing mineral deposition, corrosion, wear and mechanical deformation.  Relying upon a modular constant current sensor design that Probe developed specifically for the ProMAC Series, the tool provides high-stability and accuracy over its full operating temperature range up to 175°C.

The MAC24 calibration process has also been dramatically reduced from days to a few hours. 

Designed with the utmost attention to measurement quality, the tool has been proven through extensive engineering and field-testing. At recommended logging speeds of 30 ft per minute (9 meters per minute), MAC24 meets industry standards with a vertical resolution of 0.12” (3mm). Considering future super high-resolution requirements, the tool will also be capable of sampling at up to 100 frames per second achieving a vertical resolution of 0.06” (1.5mm) at current industry-accepted logging speeds.

First XY caliper for geothermal well operations

In September, Probe introduced the UHT Dimension™ XY Caliper, the first XY Caliper Tool designed to operate in ultra-high temperature environments.  The tool, which builds upon the Kuster® geothermal logging tool portfolio, performs in hostile environments up to 325°C (617°F) and provides two continuous independent perpendicular measurements (X and Y) of the internal diameter of the casing.  It also generates a high-resolution temperature profile of the well via an external fast-response resistance temperature detector (RTD).  It is the first caliper tool available to log in ultra-high temperature environments, such as those typically encountered in geothermal well operations.

Assessing well conditions increases efficiency of costly plug & abandonment operations

In other development news, Probe is hard at work on its Multi-String Isolation Logging (MSIL) tool, which offers a unique and cost-effective solution for assessing the isolation behind casing without pulling production tubing from the well.  The aim is to provide operators with a ground-breaking technology to evaluate and determine cement bond quality and isolation without pulling the completion, thus greatly increasing the efficiencies and lowering the cost of plug and abandonment operations. By collaborating with a major operator, the tool is progressing on schedule, and has performed successfully in rigorous field trials in the North Sea. Probe plans to continue to collaborate further during 2020 with E&P operators in an extended field trial phase in order to fully prove the technology before going to market.