Improving process operating margins can be achieved by maximising production of higher value products and/or minimising production costs. It is important for plant engineers to know how much capacity is available in the trays in a distillation tower.  Gamma scanning is an established method used by many in the process industries as a qualitative tool to help troubleshoot distillation towers. Gamma scanning can be used to diagnose virtually any operating malfunction that can be identified by an observable change in density. This includes most mechanical, process or rate related problems such as tray damage, foaming, weeping and entrainment. By deploying new measurement detector technology and incorporating innovative analysis of gamma scanning data, plant engineers can now acc ss the all-important quantitative data about the capacity of distillation towers.

Topics: Process Diagnostics, Gamma Scanning, Tray Capacity, Distillation Column Performance, Carryover, Weeping, Entrainment, Tru-Scan, Column Flooding, Tray Damage, FrothView

Topics: pipeline inspection, pipeline integrity, Flowlines, Asset Integrity, Subsea Technologies, new technology

The oil and gas industry is faced with difficult trading times and low oil prices are predicted to continue. Operators and service companies are faced with lower margins and less capital available when making decisions on reservoir production strategies. Working with reduced resource is difficult enough, but production targets still must be met.

In order to meet these challenges a number of different innovative technologies have been developed and tested in the field that assist with reservoir production optimisation at reduced costs when compared to conventional methods. As an example, the use of speciality chemical technologies can eliminate the need to carry out costly production logging and gain critical data on fluid flow which in turn can be used to optimise development plans.

The technologies can measure clean out efficiency, pinpoint areas of fluid flow, and ultimately log production rates from various zones. All of this data can be obtained throuhg reservoir tracers without the need for intervention the cost of which can run into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars when looking at a sub-sea development. What’s more, this data can be taken on-stream and over several years, saving on rig time as the technology is integrated  down hole when running the lower completion into the well.

Below we will examine the steps you can take applying this alternative technology to make significant savings on rig time.

Topics: reservoir characterisation, technology enabling cost savings, fluid inflow, reservoir production modeling, tracers

Oil and gas professionals are continuously faced with the problem of identifying NORM and safely working in NORM contaminated environments. In this blog post we will discuss how to identify the most appropriate radiation survey meter for field based NORM work and how the Tracerco NORM Monitor-IS can effectively meet your NORM screening challenges and requirements. 

Topics: Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material, NORM Monitor-IS, NORM Detection, NORM, NORM Management, NORM Survey Meters

A problem plaguing butadiene purification unit operations is the potential for free radical polymerisation, commonly known as popcorn polymer. This popcorn polymer formation can disrupt the operation of the unit by plugging lines, sticking valves, and even physically damaging equipment. Under certain conditions the polymer growth can push apart flanges, rupture lines and even pop the head off exchangers.

Topics: optimising plant processing, popcorn polymer, process systems, providing insight onsite, neutron backscatter, process vessels, plant processing, scanning technology, heat exchanger, butadiene purification unit, Process Diagnostics, exchanger, solids buildup, fouling deposits, polymerisation, butadiene condenser

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Tracerco’s latest product range for radiation monitoring provides those working in harsh environments and potentially challenging conditions with a safe method of detecting, measuring and monitoring radiation dose rate. In this post we will discuss how our extended family of PEDs deliver exceptional performance across a wide range of applications, providing those working in CBRNe, NDT and Oil and Gas professions with an effective solution for every radiation monitoring need. 

Topics: Awards, dose rate, monitoring, radiation, monitors, ped, personal electronic dosimeter, radiation monitor, radiation detection, dosimeter

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With the oil price remaining low, the entire oil and gas industry together with their supply chain are faced with the challenge of producing more for less. Constantly looking to cut costs without compromising  on production or quality of product, technologies demonstrate their value not only in how they can help optimise production at any stage in the hydrocarbon production and processing chains, but also in how they can act as enablers to operators who need to save on the cost of producing oil and gas.

In this post we examine three steps to achieving savings of as much as 66% in drilling costs by using accurate flow data to optimise well spacing in unconventional fields. Tweet this.

This is based on our vast experience across numerous fields and the insights and figures come from real projects conducted over the last few years.

 

Topics: unconventional wells, reservoir, reservoir analysis, reservoir characterisation, drilling, technology enabling cost savings

Topics: Discovery, Awards, Houston events, reservoir, Events, OTC

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Tracerco are exhibiting in two areas at OTC and have a lot of exciting new developments to talk about in Reservoir and Subsea Technologies respectively. Please visit booths 8213 in the NRG Arena or booth 2241L part of the UK pavilion in the NRG  center to learn more about these technologies and innovative new developments.

In the mean time we have listed a preview of the top four stories from Tracerco at OTC.

Topics: Tracerco innovations, Discovery, pipeline inspection, subsea flowlines, Flow assurance, Subsea Technology, Awards, chemical tracers, oil & gas, reservoir, controlled release, flow profiling, reservoir analysis, tracer analysis, interwell, Explorer, mobile tracer labs