Oil and gas operations have used slicklines since the early days of mining. Slickline technology and equipment continue to keep up with the advent of new methods and equipment utilized in well completion, remedial, and work-over operations. Today, oil and gas wells depend on slickline services to run efficiently.
Production of oil and gas wells can benefit from these services because of their wide range of tools and applications. Slicklines are handy for deviated hole surveys, depth determinations, cementing works, pressure and temperature surveys, and paraffin cutting.
Here’s all you need to know on this fundamental downhole service.
What is a Slickline?
A slickline is a cable that well operators typically introduce into an oil or gas well to place and retrieve equipment and devices during well maintenance and repair. It is securely coiled on a drum that operators may crank to pay out lengths of line or bring it up again while not in use.
Oil companies and corporations that focus on well-maintenance use slicklines heavily. Their non-electric nature distinguishes them from wirelines, which transmit data from within the well. Slicklines are narrow and tightly braided. Its design resists tension, allowing you to pull very hard without breaking the line. It’s completely possible for the well parts and tools to shift during construction, which requires pulling firmly to move them.
Slicklines must be strong enough to resist pressure without snapping. Otherwise, equipment inside the well could be lost. To retrieve them, operators may have to lower another slickline. Additionally, it can be used in a dead well that is not actively producing oil, such as during work-overs, in which critical maintenance is performed to ensure a well can remain productive.
A slickline can carry a variety of tools as well as weights to control its performance inside a well. Slicklining is the term used to describe the process of running slickline operations. The process can occur on land or at sea, and various equipment and personnel can be used to support it. Using a slickline, operators can maintain efficiency while working on active wells.
To prevent losses and accidents, staff inspect the line while it is in operation. On its way up, the line normally passes through a cleaning system to remove debris from the well. This minimizes exposure to environmental risks like contaminants that can be present within the well and keeps activities clean.
How Slickline Services Help Oil and Gas Wells
The oil and gas sector uses slickline services to carry out various activities on oil and gas wells. To provide these services, a narrow, single-strand wireline is dropped into the wellbore. The wireline carries out operations like running and retrieving tools, determining the wellbore’s depth, and maintaining downhole machines and equipment.
The following tasks frequently necessitate the use of slicklines:
- Monitoring the drift of production tubing
- Inspecting for wax, scale, or wellbore deposits
- Verifying the depth of the well or clearance to perforations
- Plugging and unplugging flow control devices
- The installation of tubing pack-offs and completion devices
- Perforating and logging
Maintenance and operation of oil and gas wells require slickline services. Slickline services provide several benefits to oil and gas wells, including:
Better safety
Drilling and servicing existing wells are hazardous processes. High pressure, flammable, explosive, toxic, and reservoir fluid blowout risks are the most specific reservoir hazards. By using slickline services, operators may work on oil and gas wells without sending workers into the wellbore. Injuries and accidents are less likely as a result.
Improved efficiency
Slickline services are generally quicker and more effective than other ways to work on oil and gas wells. A slicklines operation’s most significant efficiency advantages are its easy mobilization, ability to work on wells that are already producing, and short operations time. Production may rise as a result of reducing downtime.
Enhanced accuracy
Operators can precisely assess the wellbore’s depth and carry out other duties thanks to slickline services. Surface computers connected to slicklines keep track of good information, line history, and pull maximum and depth runs for every job. Keeping wells in peak operating condition can help ensure their efficiency.
Cost savings
Generally, slickline services cost less than other methods of performing oil and gas well tasks. Through high-speed mechanical deployment, manipulation, and retrieval of downhole service tools, slickline servicing effectively performs well maintenance. Its portability makes it cost-effective for providing these services from remote locations or via satellite. In this way, operators can reduce the cost of maintenance and operations.
What’s The Difference Between Slickline and Wireline?
A wireline and a slickline are similar tools used for work-over and logging efforts in the well. The slickline is a thin cable used to deliver and retrieve tools downhole. At the same time, a wireline is a bunch of braided electrical lines that lower tools into the wellbore and transmits data about their condition.
Slicklines come in handy when lowering oil and gas well equipment into wells, such as plugs, gauges, and valves. They are also helpful for adjusting sleeves and valves downhole and repairing tubing inside the well. The slickline, wrapped around a drum on the back of a truck, is lifted and dropped in the well by hydraulically reeling the wire in and out.
Wirelines, on the other hand, transmit data regarding wells. The wireline is used for effective intervention and formation assessment operations, depending on whether it comprises single or multiple strands. Wirelines help gather and transmit data about the well during logging activities and work-over operations.
Often, a wireline services provider offers slickline services for oil and gas wells. For operators, this means working with one vendor for all slickline and wireline requirements, transforming the procurement process into a more efficient one.
Operators may also be able to negotiate better prices and terms with vendors. You can search online for firms that provide both slickline and wireline services, then get in touch with them to discuss your needs and get an estimate if you wish to have both services from the same provider.
Slickline Operations Extend a Well’s Life
Providing slickline services to oil and gas wells extends their lives by improving performance or supplying stranded or additional hydrocarbon reserves. Slickline units provide a wide range of intervention services, including measurement services required for an optimal well life.
Slicklines will always be important in the oil and gas industry because of their usefulness as a technique of good intervention. Oil and gas wells continually require remedial work to sustain their production. Consequently, slickline services will continue to play a significant role in you well’s interventions for as long as the oil industry exists.
