Solids accumulation is a pervasive and often insidious threat to safe and efficient oil and gas operations across Canadian basins. The Octopus™ online solids removal system has already proven effective in high-temperature operations and is poised to deliver similar value across many more applications.

Sand in Unwelcome Places

Produced solids, including formation material, back-produced proppant, and precipitates, have a nasty habit of accumulating in unwelcome places.

Free water knock-out (FWKO) vessels and first-stage separators bear the brunt of the problem, reducing separation efficiency and impacting product quality.

Solids carry-over damages valves and pipework, causes hot-spotting in heater-treaters, and ultimately settles in storage tanks, reducing capacity and obstructing offtake.

Accumulation rates can be slow – leading to an insidious build-up that can go unnoticed for long periods – or intermittent, with sudden bursts of sand production turning clean equipment into an underperforming mess.

Whatever the root cause and severity, the equipment must eventually be taken out of service for cleanout – often requiring confined space entry that puts crew members into hazardous environments.

A Welcome Solution

The Octopus™ online solids removal system is a readily-installed (or retrofitted) system that uses low-pressure water to fluidize and remove accumulated solids while the tank or vessel remains in service.

Digital rendering showing the Octopus™ inside a heater-treater vessel

This low-cost, convenient approach can be activated as frequently as needed as part of routine maintenance or in response to solids build-up detected by infrared imaging. Even a seriously sanded-up vessel can be cleaned out in a matter of hours.

The value propositions are clear: fewer shutdowns, reduced production deferment, increased operating efficiency, fewer deviations from product specs, fewer downstream repairs, and the elimination of hazardous confined space entry operations.

The Octopi are Multiplying

Hundreds of Octopus systems have been deployed across US shale basins, where the early release of flow-back equipment is a major driver. Implementations are also growing in conventional production settings and for water midstream use cases.

In Canada, the first deployments have been for SAGD players, using Octopus units constructed from appropriately heat-tolerant stainless-steel alloy – the standard unit being made from affordable but durable HDPE and PEX components.

Photos taken during an Octopus™ installation for a Canadian operator

Future opportunities span the gamut of Canadian oil and gas plays – with use cases to be found basically anywhere.

Examples include:

• Unconventional well pad separators and tanks, allowing early release of flowback sand knockout equipment and ensuring optimum separation performance.
• Cold heavy-oil production with sand (CHOPS), where residual sand accumulates in equipment downstream of primary sand separation.
• Conventional oil production with moderate to high levels of BS&W, where vessels and tanks are routinely shut down for cleanouts.

Becoming the New Standard

Since technology uptake in the Permian Basin is a trusty bellwether for what will happen in unconventional basins elsewhere, we expect to see online solids removal systems proliferate in Canada, too. Deployments will initially be retrofitted during existing vessel maintenance activities while the technology gains recognition and traction. Later, systems will be incorporated into new-build and replacement vessels, installed by the fabricator as part of a new standard in vessel design.

Conclusion

Online solids removal systems will soon be a common sight across a range of Canadian oil and gas provinces. The compelling value proposition – which can be summarized as “conveniently and affordably getting sand out of unwelcome places” – will apply to production separators, vessels, and tanks, whether the production stream is hot or cold, light or heavy.

Wolf Process Technology produces safe, affordable, solids management solutions that protect people, processes, and the environment while ensuring equipment uptime. Our flagship product, the Octopus™, removes solids from vessels and tanks without taking them out of service. The Octopus™ is distributed in Canada by AdOil, Inc.