Wireline / E-Line Technology
In the oil and gas industry, the term wireline usually refers to a cabling technology used by operators of oil and gas wells to lower equipment or measurement devices into the well for the purposes of well intervention, reservoir evaluation, and pipe recovery.
Tools inserted into the well for both workover and logging efforts, wirelines and slicklines are very similar devices. While a slickline is a thin cable introduced into a well to deliver and retrieve tools downhole, a wireline is an electrical cable used to lower tools into and transmit data about the conditions of the wellbore called wireline logs. Usually consisting of braided cables, wirelines are used to perform wireline logging, as well.
Braided line can contain an inner core of insulated wires which provide power to equipment located at the end of the cable, normally referred to as electric line, and provides a pathway for electrical telemetry for communication between the surface and equipment at the end of the cable.
Slickline
Used to place and recover wellbore equipment, such as plugs, gauges and valves, slicklines are single-strand non-electric cables lowered into oil and gas wells from the surface. Slicklines can also be used to adjust valves and sleeves located downhole, as well as repair tubing within the wellbore.
Wrapped around a drum on the back of a truck, the slickline is raised and lowered in the well by reeling in and out the wire hydraulically.
Braided line can contain an inner core of insulated wires which provide power to equipment located at the end of the cable, normally referred to as electric line, and provides a pathway for electrical telemetry for communication between the surface and equipment at the end of the cable.
Wireline Logs
Wirelines are electric cables that transmit data about the well. Consisting of single strands or multi-strands, the wireline is used for both well intervention and formation evaluation operations. In other words, wirelines are useful in gathering data about the well in logging activities, as well as in workover jobs that require data transmittal.
First developed by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger in 1927, wireline logs measure formation properties in a well through electrical lines of wire. Different from measurement while drilling (MWD) and mud logs, wireline logs are constant downhole measurements sent through the electrical wireline used to help geologists, drillers and engineers make real-time decisions about drilling operations. Wireline logs can measure resistivity, conductivity and formation pressure, as well as sonic properties and wellbore dimensions.
The logging tool, also called a sonde, is located at the bottom of the wireline. The measurements are taken by lowering the wireline to the prescribed depth and then raising it out of the well. The measurements are taken continuously on the way up, in an effort to sustain tension on the line.
Wireline Tools
Wireline tools are specially designed instruments lowered into a well bore on the end of the wireline cable. They are individually designed to provide any number of particular services, such as evaluation of the rock properties, the location of casing collars, formation pressures, information regarding the pore size or fluid identification and sample recovery. Modern wireline tools can be extremely complicated, and are often engineered to withstand very harsh conditions such as those found in many modern oil, gas, and geothermal wells. Pressures in gas wells can exceed 30,000 psi, while temperatures can exceed 500 deg Fahrenheit in some geothermal wells. Corrosive or carcinogenic gases such as hydrogen sulfide can also occur downhole.
To reduce the amount of time running in the well, several wireline tools are often joined together and run simultaneously in a tool string that can be hundreds of feet long and weigh more than 5000 lbs.
Wireline Tools for Cased Holes
Casing Collar Locators
Casing collar locator tools, or CCL’s, are among the simplest and most essential in cased hole electric line. CCL’s are typically used for depth correlation and can be an indicator of line overspeed when logging in heavy fluids.
A CCL operates on Faraday’s Law of Induction. Two magnets are separated by a coil of copper wire. As the CCL passes by a casing joint, or collar, the difference in metal thickness across the two magnets induces a current spike in the coil. This current spike is sent up-hole and logged as what’s called a collar kick on the cased hole log.[3]
Wireline Pressure Setting Assemblies (WLSPA)
Setting tools are used to set downhole completion elements such as production packers or bridge plugs. Setting tools typically use the expanding gas energy from a slow burning explosive charge to drive a hydraulic piston assembly. The assembly is attached to the plug or packer by means of a setting mandrel and a sliding sleeve, which when “stroked” by the piston assembly, effectively squeezes the elastomer elements of the packing element, deforming it sufficiently to wedge it into place in the tubing or casing string. Most completion packers or plugs have a specially designed shear mechanism which release the setting tool from the element allowing it to be retrieved back to surface. The packer/plug however, remains down hole as a barrier to isolate production zones or permanently plug off a well bore.
Downhole Tools & Services
Logging & Specialty Services
- Gamma Ray/CCL
- Gamma Ray/CCL – Compensated Neutron Logging
- Gamma Ray/CCL– Temperature Logging (177’C & 260’C capability)
- Fluid Density Tool (FDR)
- Multiplex Radial Bond Tool (1 11/16” & 3 1/8”)
- Array Sonic Evaluations Tool
- Noise Logging Tool
- HWS Capacitance Array Tool
- HWS Enhanced Capacitance Water Hold-Up Tool
- HWS Platinum Resistance Fast Response Temp
- HWS Production Gamma ray/CCL
- HWS Flowmeter (inline & caged)
- HWS Quartz Pressure
- Casing Inspection Services (MFC – 24/40/56ARM and MTD)
- Camera Services
- GYRO Logging Services
Perforating / Energetic Services
- Conventional Wireline Perforating
- E-Coil Perforating
- Tubing Conveyed Perforating
- Select Fire Perforating
- Time Delay Firing System
- Casing & Tubing Cutting Services
- Tool Setting Including Packers Retainers, WR’s, Permanent Bridge Plugs, & Casing Patch’s
- Multi Zone Plug & Perforating
Additional Wireline Services
- Dump Bailer Systems
- Junk Basket gauge Ring
- Sinker Bar
Quality Service & Safe Operations
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What Can Titanium Wireline Do for You?
Wireline logging is the process of using electric instruments to continuously measure the properties of a formation, in order to make decisions about drilling and production operations.
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