Vista has worked with numerous clients on greenfield well pad development and brownfield well pad optimization projects. Both development strategies encompass the philosophies of standardization and modularization to ensure projects are on time and on budget.
In the past ten years, Vista has completed over 300,000 hours of engineering effort developing well pads and pipelines for clients.
Highlighted experienced from a multi-year brownfield well pad optimization program.
Greenfield advancements in well-pad design have focused on a templated approach that lowers costs through modularized designs that are suitable across well pads on multiple assets. Vista’s efforts resulted in a 40% reduction in total installation costThe total installed cost refers to the final cost of designing, fabricating and building a capital project or industrial asset. Various phas… (TIC) and removed months from the production schedule.
Vista worked with its client to design the equipment and systems for a 4-pad, toe-to-heel-air-injection (THAI) in-situ heavy oil recovery project near Conklin, Alberta.
The 10,000 barrel per day project included 5 well-pairs for each of the 4 pads and an additional pad with cooling and oil/water separation and air/steam production.
Vista provided comprehensive FEED services as well as project management, quality surveillance, construction management and commissioning and start-up assistance. Vista also managed contractor bidding, cost control and scheduling requirements for the project.
This project involved the engineering design of pads and pipelines for a commercial-scale facility incorporating proprietary toe-to-heel air injection (THAI) technology utilized in an in-situ pilot plant. Of special interest in terms of pipeline design was the challenge of handling large volumes of sand entrained in the emulsion: Vista ensured that a delicate balance was reached to keep liquid velocities low enough to avoid pipeline erosion, yet high enough to avoid sand deposition.
The project’s focus was the engineering design of four pads with five well pairs each, complete with wellhead separators. Two of the pads acted as accumulation points for oil emulsion and also accommodated other equipment, including air compressors, tanks, glycol heaters and steam generation equipment.
Aboveground pipelines connecting the new pads to the central processing facility (CPF) included a 20″ sour gas line, a 6″ sour oil emulsion line, a 6″ produced water line, a 12″ high-pressure air line, a 6″ boiler feedwater line, a 4″ fuel gas line and a 4″ recovered condensate line. An existing 3″ fuel pipeline located under one of the new pad sites required Vista to reroute the existing line.
This existing pipeline was located under the new pad site, and commercial expansion plans posed a risk of long-term service interruption for the facility. In response, Vista rerouted the existing pipeline away from the new pad site, enabling the facility to maintain production levels while the new steel pipeline was tied in from the connection point to the rack piping.
In order to convert existing facilities and infrastructure associated with the existing waterflood to a miscible flood, the client chose Vista to complete the design of a buried pipeline and ancillary facilities including 39 km of pipe, pipeline risers, new piping headers, and meter stations.
Pipe of the required specification and quantity for this project generally takes six months or more to fabricate and coat, depending on mill availability. However, the project timeline required the pipe within two to three months. In addition to time constraints as a result of a fast-approaching end to the winter muskeg construction season, pipe mills were reluctant to produce a small quantity of such specialized pipe.
Vista was able to meet all of these challenges and successfully secured all the materials in a timeframe that allowed the project to proceed in accordance with the client’s schedule.
Vista conducted the engineering and procurement work for a client who was expanding its polymer injection from the pilot phase to a commercial operation. The project required approximately 900 m3/day of polymer injection to nine injection wells located at 2 separate pad locations.
Major equipment for the project included polymer hydration skid, water treatment facility, various 2,000-barrel water tanks, MCC expansion, and polymer injection skid. A Fiberspar pipeline of approximately 500 metres in length was constructed to bring polymer to a five-pump injection skid at one pad site for 5 injection wells at that location. Water for the hydration process will come from source water wells. The use of produced water from one of the client’s batteries required the installation of 2 pumps at the battery location to transport water to the polymer hydration skid via 5,000 metres of new pipeline.
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Project Experience Overview
Well Pad Experience
Vista has a broad range of engineering services experience with well-pad and pipeline projects. Our work includes the first-ever use of a Multiphase Flow Meter (MPFM) for the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), well-pad testing, artificial lift, and solvent injection, as well as other innovative solutions for well-pad conversion projects.
Vista understands the importance of designing these systems with requisite equipment to ensure better output and efficiency to clients.
Vista works with clients closely to offer fit-for-purpose pipeline and well-pad facility designs. We work with clients to develop templated designs that offer construction and operational efficiency.
A type of positive displacement pump, Progressive Cavity Pumps (PCPs), or screw pumps, are used to pump viscous materials and have major applications within the oil and gas industry. They are used for providing artificial lifting solutions, worldwide.
Multiphase flow meters are used for measuring the flow rates of gas, oil, or formation water in pipelines. This information helps facilitate optimization and effective control of oil fields.
Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), or AC drives, have various applications for pipeline pumping. A type of motor controller, a VFD is mainly used in the pipeline industry to save energy and facilitate better pressure or flow.
Solvent injection is one of the most viable heavy-oil recovery methods used in the oil and gas industry. It enhances the oil production rate by significantly reducing oil viscosity. Vista is experienced at developing fit-for-purpose engineering designs for solvent injection pads.
An Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) is another artificial lift method used for pumping liquids out of wellbores. The process consists of:
Our unique truth-based industrial engineering execution model facilitates:
By structuring data in a single-source-of-truth (SSOT) environment, we simplify the digital transformation of your asset and help you make more informed decisions. Learn more about our system integration services.
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