10/15/2020
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`JPT New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency
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`New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and
`Efficiency
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`Warren Salt, SPE, and Ned Galka, SPE, DynaEnergetics, and
`John Segura, SPE, Weatherford | 01 April 2016
`
`Photo courtesy of DynaEnergetics
`Fig. 2—From left, the installation of the detonator in a new
`perforating gun is a simple plug-and-go insertion process.
`
`Achieving greater efficiency in perforation systems can help
`lower operating costs, particularly when completing long
`horizontal wellbores in unconventional plays.
`
`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`JPT New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency
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`New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and
`Efficiency
`
`Warren Salt, SPE, and Ned Galka, SPE, DynaEnergetics, and
`John Segura, SPE, Weatherford | 01 April 2016
`
`Photo courtesy of DynaEnergetics
`Fig. 2—From left, the installation of the detonator in a new
`perforating gun is a simple plug-and-go insertion process.
`
`Achieving greater efficiency in perforation systems can help
`lower operating costs, particularly when completing long
`horizontal wellbores in unconventional plays.
`
`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
`
`1/11
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`JPT New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency
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`The DynaStage perforating system, developed by
`DynaEnergetics, incorporates new technology in the
`addressable firing system and an improved mechanical design
`that eliminates potential human error. The system can operate
`more efficiently than traditional systems and, with its additional
`safety features, allow other wellsite operations to run in
`parallel with the perforation process.
`As a result, the system can achieve improvements in
`perforation quality and performance reliability, with fewer
`misruns, while operating efficiently enough to lower total
`completion costs. The DynaStage system has successfully
`completed field trials in multiple basins and been
`commercialized.
`The system targets two areas to improve operational efficiency
`and reduce operating cost.
`Safety—the system has a simple, intrinsically safe design
`that eliminates the risk of inadvertent detonation from stray
`current or voltage. Surface explosive handling and arming
`can be conducted in less time and in parallel with other
`operations. The design eliminates the need to hold the gun
`system at shallow subsurface depth during simultaneous
`operations. Both factors reduce wait times at the wellsite.
`Reliability—the design of the electronic system and
`simplification of the mechanical field assembly process
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`JPT New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency
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`help to reduce the number of misruns, which increases
`efficiency and lowers the cost of completions.
`Surface Assembly
`Perforating operations with explosives place the explosive
`components and workers in close proximity, especially during
`the arming process. Traditional resistorized detonators can
`contribute to an increased risk of injury and destruction when
`connecting the detonator to the gun string and the wireline
`truck.
`Safety procedures have been developed to address the risks
`in this process, and the American Petroleum Institute (API)
`provides guidelines for safe handling of explosives through
`Recommended Practice 67 (API RP 67). One of the
`established best practices is to suspend all surface operations
`while working with the resistorized detonators. The arming and
`connection of a gun string at the surface can take up to an
`hour, meaning that no other wellsite operations can be
`completed during this time.
`The DynaStage system removes the risks of this process by
`providing an addressable and radio frequency (RF)-safe
`system with immunity to high voltage and current levels. The
`firing system is built on a low-voltage, digital communication
`platform that uses the DynaEnergetics detonator technology,
`proven to successfully communicate and initiate on command
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`during more than 300,000 perforating operations, without a
`safety incident. This technology enables the verification of all
`components in the system, including the addressable switch,
`the RF-safe detonator, and the RF-safe ignitor, during all
`phases of the operation.
`Electrical connections and component functions can be
`checked during assembly and pumpdown operations with a
`communication verifier, proving that the gun string is fully
`functional, with no mechanical or electrical connection issues.
`Independent, third-party testing verifies the additional
`protection against voltage and current provided by the
`DynaStage system (Table 1).
`
`
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`JPT New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency
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`The safety measures built into the system allow surface
`assembly to happen in parallel with other operations. The gun
`string can be fully built and tested before connection to the
`wireline and without stopping other wellsite operations.
`System features, including the plug-and-go-style detonator
`and single-use connector subs, minimize the assembly time.
`The time required for changeover from a used assembly to the
`connection of a new gun system is less than 10 minutes from
`rig down to rig up.
`Parallel Operations
`During assembly of conventional perforating systems,
`including mechanical component assembly, arming the
`system, and connecting the gun string to the wireline, there is
`a risk that resistorized detonators can be initiated with RF
`energy, stray current, or stray voltage at a wellsite, under
`certain conditions.
`When a traditional gun string with a resistorized detonator is
`used, all surface operations—including hydraulic fracturing,
`radio communications, cell phone communications, and other
`wellsite activities, are suspended at the start of a perforating
`run until the gun string is at least 200 ft into the well.
`Operations must be halted again after perforation when the
`gun is raised to within 200 ft of the surface.
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`JPT New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency
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`The DynaStage safe system provides a level of safety that
`enables parallel operations with no depth restrictions and
`without shutting down critical communications. With the
`protection afforded against RF saturation, normal wellsite
`operations can continue while the gun string is lowered into
`and raised out of the well. Operators using this protocol can
`recover up to 30 minutes per fracture stage in their
`simultaneous operations. The overall savings during the
`completion can be substantial.
`Reduction in Misruns
`The system is intended to virtually eliminate misruns by aiming
`to achieve a 99.9% operating efficiency (1 misrun per 1,000
`runs). To achieve this goal, the mechanical and electrical
`assembly of the gun system was redesigned. One major
`improvement was to change the way the detonator is
`assembled within the system. A traditional detonator is
`assembled into the perforating gun connector sub requiring
`wiring connections and a port plug with O-ring seals. Wiring
`connection issues and leaking O-rings are among the most
`common causes of perforating gun misruns.
`
`With the DynaStage detonator, the detonator wires have been
`removed and replaced with an injection-molded connector,
`eliminating crimped wire connections and the associated risks
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`of wiring damage and poor electrical connections (Fig. 1). The
`detonator was also relocated to the gun body, from the tandem
`arming sub, which allows the use of a much shorter,
`disposable perforating gun connector sub and eliminates the
`port plug.
`
`The DynaStage detonator has an injection-molded
`connector that eliminates the need for connecting
`wires. Photos courtesy of DynaEnergetics.
`
`
`The gun is shipped to the wireline customer fully assembled,
`except for the detonator. All preshipping assembly operations
`are performed in the DynaEnergetics gun assembly line, which
`has been optimized for high-volume assembly, and automated
`inspection and electrical verification of the assembled product.
`The production line process mitigates the risk of human error
`
`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`typical in the manual redress, cleaning, wiring, and assembly
`of conventional perforating guns. Field assembly only requires
`inserting the plug-and-go detonator, shown in Fig. 2 above,
`and threading the guns together.
`Many additional design changes were made to reduce the
`chances for human error, assembly damage, or leakage. The
`DynaStage gun system benefits are summarized in the 2015
`paper SPE 174922 (http://doi.org/10.2118/174922-MS), High-
`Performance Plug-and-Perf Completions in Unconventional
`Wells.
`Field Trials, Commercialization
`Field trials for the system began in February 2015 and ran for
`6 months. The trials included two wireline companies and
`were conducted with eight operators in the Permian Basin and
`the Eagle Ford and Marcellus shale formations. More than
`6,000 guns were fired, and more than 1,000 stages were
`perforated during the trials.
`Weatherford chose to run trials of the system based on its
`safety and operational benefits. In addition to the intrinsically
`safe system that reduces the risk of explosives handing and
`eliminates radio silence concerns, the system required less
`shop labor and made operations easier at the wellsite.
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`Weatherford noted several advantages of using the system.
`Communication with the addressable detonators and igniters,
`with surface and downhole verification capabilities, enabled
`improved troubleshooting. The ease of changing from one
`stage cluster of perforating guns to the next reduced the
`surface transition time for switching from a used to a newly
`assembled tool string. And the ability to continue other wellsite
`operations while perforating saved equipment and labor hours.
`Cluster design changes can be made “on the fly,” allowing
`operators flexibility with the number or sequence of guns, and
`the guns need only to be screwed together, with rewiring
`eliminated.
`After the field trials, with the technology commercialized,
`Weatherford began running the DynaStage system in a high-
`volume horizontal completion project for a Permian Basin
`operator. The introduction of the system allowed a side-by-
`side comparison with a conventional gun operation used in
`previous plug-and-perforate stages. With a large data set of
`more than 400 runs completed, the benefits of saving time and
`reducing operational failures were significant.
`Since the commercial launch, another 1,500 guns have been
`fired, bringing the total guns fired to more than 7,500 by the
`end of 2015. The production success rate has been 1 misrun
`per 420 runs for a perforating efficiency of 99.41%.
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`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`DynaEnergetics continues to refine the system components,
`assembly process, and operating procedures with the
`objective of attaining the 99.9% efficiency rate.
`Each perforating stage run with the system reduced
`completion time by an average of 32 minutes, compared with
`a conventional system, because of the efficiency of surface-
`level transitions from gun to gun and well to well. Improved
`downhole reliability was also achieved, with an average
`decrease in nonproductive time of 2 hours per 100 runs. A
`significant part of the improved reliability was a reduced need
`for on-site user interactions that often lead to electrical issues
`and misruns in conventional wired perforating systems.
`The use of the perforating system resulted in fewer days on
`location and operator cost savings (USD) as high as six
`figures. The Permian Basin operator who used the
`commercialized DynaStage system has incorporated it into the
`company’s normal completion program.
`Conclusion
`Through the implementation of design and safety
`improvements, the DynaStage system has demonstrated
`significant improvements in perforating performance and
`enhanced operational efficiency, while reducing well
`completion costs and providing a safer work environment.
`
`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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`New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and
`Efficiency
`Warren Salt, SPE, and Ned Galka, SPE, DynaEnergetics, and
`John Segura, SPE, Weatherford
`01 April 2016
`Volume: 68 | Issue: 4
`
`https://pubs.spe.org/en/jpt/jpt-article-detail/?art=1547
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