snubbing unit vs workover rig quotation

A Snubbing System is basically a well servicing system capable of running and retrieving jointed pipe under live wells conditions. A typical Snubbing System is illustrated in Figure 1.

The use of a Snubbing Unit is not only already providing cost effective technology for a wide range of Drilling and Well Servicing applications but also has the potential for providing an alternative way to optimally develop future fields.

Present Snubbing and Hydraulic Workover applications include the undertaking of remedial well work without resorting to the use of kill fluids or lost circulation material and the performing of conventional tubing replacement workovers Snubbing well intervention operations are also now routine where coiled tubing operations are not feasible due to well bore geometry or length and should be considered where platform facilities are unable to handle the weights of larger coiled tubing reels.

Historically, workovers performed through existing tubing ("through-tubing workovers") have been undertaken with wireline or coiled tubing equipment, often supported by the use of a derrick equipment set. Snubbing systems are now performing similar work and are proving to be far more versatile than wireline coiled tubing and conventional workover rigs with the additional ability of being able to run and rotate tubulars while there is pressure on the well. Although certain workover situations will still call for wireline coiled tubing or workover rigs, there are now many situations where a Snubbing Unit is the logical choice. In principle, all of the downhole work that can be carried out by standard rig or through-tubing workover equipment can also be completed by Snubbing Units, with the (current) exception of running large >10 3/4") tubulars.

Future applications for the technology include the horizontal side-tracking of existing wells (which could be performed conventionally or underbalanced). Such operations can either be undertaken through the existing tubing or, where such operations are not deemed feasible, the Snubbing Unit can be used to pull the existing completion prior to the side-track and used for the subsequent running of the liner and completion after drilling.

One of the main advantages of utilising Snubbing equipment is the ability to undertake a whole variety of operations and hence supply the versatility that has, up to now, only been regarded as available from a full derrick equipment set in combination with wireline or coiled tubing equipment.

Snubbing units have evolved into one of the most capable and efficient well servicing tools in the oil & gas industry. In the 1920"s, the need for a rig to work with pressures at surface drove the invention of the snubbing unit. The first snubbing unit was primarily designed to work in well control situations to "snub" drill pipe and or casing into, or out of, a well bore when conventional well killing methods could not be used. The first snubbing unit relied on the draw works of the companion rig to supply its" power. A series of sheaves, cables and counter weights were rigged up so that as the rig"s traveling blocks hoisted up, the snubbing unit would snub in the hole. Conversely, when the traveling blocks on the rig were lowered, the snubbing unit would snub out of the hole. As you can imagine, this required close communication with several different contractors in order to perform the work safely and efficiently.

One of the main components of a snubbing unit is the slip. Stationary and travelling slips are operated in sequence to grip the pipe as it is snubbed into the well. Typically, a minimum of four slip bowls are used in snubbing operations. Two slip bowls are designated for "pipe light" operations. Pipe light is when the well bore forces are greater than the tubular weight in the well bore. The other two slip bowls are designated for "pipe heavy" operations. Pipe heavy occurs when either enough pipe has been snubbed into the well bore and fluid weight inside of the pipe is greater than the snub forces acting against the pipe in the well bore.

While snubbing into the hole, there is a transition point the tubular goes through from being pipe light, to pipe heavy. This transition is an equilibrium typically referred to as the "balance point". The balance point occurs when there is enough pipe weight in the wellbore to equal the snub forces generated against the pipe. In certain instances, thousands of feet of pipe can be moved with minimal effort since the pipe weight is at an equal state with the snub forces. Snubbing contractors calculate this snub force and add in a friction factor from the BOP and wall contact on either a casing or tubing string. If done correctly, the snubbing contractor can predict when this balance point will take place and can properly prepare for it.

Modern snubbing units are powered by sophisticated hydraulic systems. These hydraulic units typically supply all power required by the components of a snubbing operation. With a better understanding of hydraulics and modern advances, companies have been able to harness this hydraulic energy to develop precision controlled snubbing units. These units move tubulars into and out of a well bore by use of a "multi cylinder jack"; a snubbing jack comes in many sizes depending on the task at hand. They are usually denoted in size by the snubbing unit description (i.e. 460K, 340K, 200K, etc). The 460K snubbing unit has the ability to lift 460,000 LBS and a snubbing capacity of 230,000 LBS. Most snubbing units can typically snub half of their lift rating. Assume you had a well with 10,000 PSI at surface and wished to snub in a string of 2 3/8" tubing. The snubbing contractor can calculate the snub force, add in their respective friction calculations and project the snub force to overcome will be approximately 51,000 LBS. This would put a 120K snubbing unit to close to its maximum capacity of 60,000 LBS snub loading. The safest bet would be a 150K or 235K snubbing unit.

Well control is taken very seriously by snubbing contractors. The BOP is the only barrier between the well bore and personnel. Depending upon well conditions, pressures and work performed, the BOP stack configuration varies greatly; there can be a minimum of three BOP"s and in some cases, up to ten. All of this is determined in the pre-job phase of the operation.

Pipe handling is performed by the snubbing units "gin pole" and "pipe winches". The gin pole is typically telescoped out in excess of 40ft above the snubbing unit. With the use of dual tubing winches, multiple joints of pipe can be handled simultaneously, speeding up the operation.

The snubbing "basket" is the platform where the snubbing personnel work. The basket contains all of the necessary hydraulic controls to operate all the features of the snubbing unit, as well as a large bank of BOP"s and hydraulic valve controls.

Today"s snubbing units can be employed to provide a wide range of services. In essence, a snubbing unit is a hydraulic rig that can do everything a rig can do, plus it can perform under pressure in an under balanced live well state. This is especially critical to the operators in the Haynesville Shale, which is known for HPHT wells. With the use of the snubbing units" hydraulic rotary, the unit can be employed for fishing, milling, drilling, side tracking or any task needed to remove bridge plugs, cement or deepen wells.

The industry has become more aware of damages caused by heavy kill weight fluids and mud. This has helped make snubbing units more popular in a completion and workover role, versus its" traditional use as a well control response tool. With the advances in drilling technologies in the unconventional shale market, the benefits of snubbing units have become very apparent. These types of completions often have laterals extending out thousands of feet. With costly stimulations used to help extract the gas more efficiently, operators often times do not wish to turn around and load the well with heavy fluids to complete the well dead.

Coiled tubing has its limitations in reach, due to wall to wall mechanical friction in horizontal wells. Often times the coiled tubing units cannot reach TD or supply the needed weight on bit to mill up composite plugs typically used in completions.

Another clear advantage to using a snubbing unit is its" small footprint, which is critical on the tight locations in the unconventional shale"s. Moreover, the small size and ease of mobilizing is especially useful and cost effective with offshore wells.

In conclusion, with the snubbing unit"s size, ability to handle pressure, rotary capabilities, rigidity of jointed tubing and minimal wall contact, snubbing units have become the chosen resource for these types of completions.

Pumping services tend to get more expensive offshore, because of the degree to which the equipment must be assembled on location. Wire based services still require assembly, but because the parts are smaller can usually be mobilized in larger ‘chunks’ thus requiring less assembly on location. On land, fluid pumping equipment is much more readily portable on trucks or trailers. Workover rigs on land are incredibly cheap in most places as measured on a per diem basis. Part of their advantage is that they arrive to location with most of their key components already assembled in/on one truck. This advantage disappears offshore where the rig must be assembled on site first.

Paying for a drilling rig or intervention vessel is the price of gaining physical access to the well. Everything else must be added to it to get physical access to the general area and then gain access to the well. There is no need for various forms of standalone pumping services because the vessel or rig will already have a cementing unit and/or the mud pumps available for that sort of work.

Performing the same operation over and over again has significant cost savings attached to it. Once the correct housing and supply arrangements are in place, and all the necessary people and equipment have been assembled, continuing to use it altogether ‘as is’ can save an enormous amount of money compared to dispersing it all and starting over again later. For land operations, this is most pronounced in areas where reservoir, surface, and operational practices allow for grouping wells together in relatively small areas, and for clustering well pads. Depending on what work is being done to the wells and how close together they are it may be possible to ‘hop’ from one well to the other without ever moving the equipment on a road or doing a complete rig-down.

Deepwater operations can benefit from this too, but not as much as ‘traditional’ fixed or surface access facilities, because the overall day rate of the rig or intervention vessel is often much higher, and the process of switching between wells is often much lengthier.

On land, you hire the unit and crew, and a small diem fee is added to the cost of employing them so they can stay in a hotel and get food when they are not working. The crews will transport themselves to and from the well and move the equipment to and from the well also.

The costs of conducting business in each of these 3 areas tend to scale very roughly in factors of 10. 100 wells making 50 bbls of oil each on land is a cash cow. Offshore that is a disaster, because the cost of servicing those wells is prohibitive. A more reasonable scenario is 10 wells making 500 bbls of oil each. In deepwater, a well making 500 bbls of oil a day is an abandonment candidate, if indeed it got that far along before abandonment. One well making 5,000 bbls a day is more. The direct cost of hiring (for example) a snubbing unit do not scale by factors of 10, but the overall cost of employing a snubbing unit do. As a result, different types of well servicing make sense in one area which may not make sense in another. On land in areas with ordinary access to infrastructure (not the Sahara or Alaska) operations like slickline are often so cheap that they are a routine procedure, with preventative or predictive maintenance schedules to scrape away paraffin or remove small amounts of scale. By contrast, it is completely cost prohibitive to try and attempt to perform similar work in deepwater – you either design and operate the well in such a way that paraffin and scale do not build up in the wellbore at appreciable rates, or you P&A the well. The cost of routine mitigation is simply too high. The relative cheapness of most workover rigs on land is another major factor. Many types of operations which could in theory be carried out in some other way are done with a workover rig simply because it is the most cost-effective technique, even if other methods might be faster, or involve fewer people. The relatively high cost of a rig for offshore facilities means that in most cases every effort short of getting a rig is tried first. Then a catalogue or list of operations to be conducted by a rig at a given facility will be gradually built up over time until they reach a critical level. At that point, a rig will be sent out to conduct all the operations which only it can perform, moving from one well another to save costs by making the work repeatable.

Snubbing is one of the older intervention methods around — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a highly relevant tactic. Modern technology means snubbing operations continue to be a viable option, especially when your team is faced with a pressurized well. And this intervention method has stood the test of time because of some of the clear advantages it presents. So here are some of the basics you should understand about snubbing operations.

Snubbing is forcing drillpipe in a wellbore when there is pressure contained in the well. In short, the well is under pressure and snubbing ensures that drillers are able to isolate, stabilize and control that pressure.

Too much pressure can make conventional well operations difficult to execute. This pressure can create a level of force capable of overcoming a drillstring and forcing it out of the wellbore. To prevent this, snubbing units push that string back into the wellbore using a sophisticated hydraulic system. Because snubbing is a complex process, it requires extensive pre-planning and the appropriate collection of equipment.

Snubbing operations are used in pressurized well situations when lighter, less-involved drilling interventions have been attempted and proven unable to work. Because snubbing can present risks, this method is usually used only when absolutely necessary.

Like any intervention process, skilled personnel must be performing the job to ensure all goes smoothly. When all goes smoothly, snubbing can help teams stabilize a live well and control the intervention process. If tubular members need to be pushed into a pressurized well, snubbing units are an affordable option. These units are also small, easy to transport, and fairly simple to work with after the proper training. And snubbing also enables you to use larger diameter tubular processes, which means you can get better flow capacity.

A disadvantage of snubbing is the time that can go into it. Pre-planning and preparing the drillstring in these operations can be complicated and time-consuming. And because the snubbing process is complex, there are many opportunities for things to go wrong.  After all, a pressurized well can present certain hazards, so the team working on it must be prepared for anything.

Mitey Titan (MT) is one of the first manufactures of CM HWO or Snubbing Units. Our first CM Unit was mounted on a 1-Ton truck, designed and manufactured starting in 2005. MT is a leading designer and manufacturer of these units at present, leading the snubbing industry in innovation, safe performance, and user friendly HWO equipment. Mitey Titan HWO equipment is built to high quality standards and has earned a near-perfect reputation for its performance and design worldwide.

We like to throw around “blog ideas” over here at Croft to help my fellow blog partner, Amy and I have a new fresh blog every week. We try to keep our readers up to date with both the new and the old.  Someone threw out the idea of writing about a workover rig. Still being new to the industry, I snatched this topic up because I simply wanted to learn more about it myself!  My main focus for this blog is simply discussing what is a workover rig and why it is important.

First off, maybe you know a workover rig by a different name. They can be called completion wells or pulling units. I just want to try to avoid any confusion! I am going to give Wikipedia’s definition first and then break it down to layman’s terms for those of you who don’t quite understand what the Wiki is trying to say (Like me). According to Wikipedia, “The term workover is used to refer to any kind of oil well intervention involving invasive techniques, such as wireline, coiled tubing or snubbing. More specifically though, it will refer to the expensive process of pulling and replacing a completion.” Let’s break down some of that Terminology…

Snubbing: This method is used in more demanding situations when wireline and coiled tubing does not offer the strength and durability needed. Snubbing runs the bottom hole assembly on a pipe string using a hydraulic workover rig.

So basically, the purpose of a workover rig is to replace a well with a fresh completion. This may have to happen due to the well deteriorating or the changing of reservoir conditions. This is performed if a well completion is unsuitable for the job at hand. An example of the well deteriorating is the equipment may have become damaged or corroded such as production tubing, safety valves, electrical pumps, etc. An example of the changing of reservoir conditions maybe if the flow of a well has decreased over time. If this happens, when the well was originally drilled, it was fit for tubing that was big enough for a higher flow of oil and gas. As the flow decreased, smaller tubing is now needed.

For a workover to take place, a well must be killed or in other words, stop the flow of oil or gas. This is an intense procedure for a workover to take place, so they are planned long in advance.

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Designed to perform hydraulic workover operations on dead wells or pressurized oil or gas wells. The unit consists of three components. First, a power system that measures only 132 inches long, 78 inches wide and 104 inches tall and weighs 6.5 tons wet. Second the Jack Assembly capable of 400,000 lbs of lift and 120,000 lbs of snub force with a 10-foot stroke and an overall height from the base plate to the handrail of only 105 inches with removable parts to allow jack weight to be as low as 2.5 tons. Third, the work window which can be used to perform more complicated workover operations is 80” tall with an 11” bore. The jack is designed to be put on the back of a tractor for rig assist type transport but can also be moved on standard type trucks.

The global hydraulic workover unit (HWU) market size was USD 8.11 billion in 2020. The market is anticipated to grow from USD 8.59 billion in 2021 to USD 13.21 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 6.4% in the 2021-2028 period. The global impact of COVID-19 has been unrivaled and staggering, with it witnessing a negative demand across all regions amid the pandemic. Based on our analysis, the global hydraulic workover unit (HWU) market exhibited a decline of -14.5% in 2020 compared to the average year-on-year growth during 2017-2019. The growth during the forecast period is attributable to this market"s demand and growth, returning to pre-pandemic levels once the epidemic is over.

The COVID-19 pandemic initiated by the spread of the novel coronavirus has had a damaging impact on the global industrial landscape. This industry faced significant losses and have had to reduce operations due to the imposition of rigorous lockdowns to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Consequently, the outbreak of the virus has transformed the demand for HWUs.

As the hydraulic workover unit industry is majorly dependent on oil and gas activities, the decline in oil prices in a long time has significantly impacted the investment in the instrument. The imposition of lockdowns in various countries and the shutting down businesses except for essential services with minimal workforce affected the energy demand. This factor has directly impacted work in the well interventions sector.

In July 2019, Kuwait signed a USD 600 billion offshore exploration contract with Halliburton. The contract aimed to drill six exploration wells in the next two to three years, which is anticipated to increase around 100,000 b/d in the forecast period. The United Arab Emirates invested approximately 31,000 square kilometers of acreage for offshore oil gas production, majorly in the Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaima regions. In January 2020, Russia announced a significant investment of around USD 300 billion for new offshore oil and gas projects.

The world is likely to derive massive oil and gas from offshore production. The more arduous production conditions in offshore locations increase the investment in more complex and newer technologies like hydraulic workover units. The onerous requirement for offshore with ease of operations is the primary market driver during the projected period.

There is a substantial increase in demand for developing a safe, versatile, and cost-effective tool for workover and well intervention operations due to the increasing number of mature oil fields. This factor bolsters the demand for HWUs globally. This equipment can be efficiently used with low setup times and are more cost-effective. Earlier workover rigs were used for similar operations, which took a lot of time and effort to be set up and used. Further, the wells had to be killed before operations, However, with newer technologies, HWUs with snubbing capabilities have made snubbing capabilities possible with newer technologies.

In 2021, MEIL, India started manufacturing a new type of HWUs with indigenous know-how, especially for the local market. The increasing demand for more effortless functioning, avoiding well-killing, secure and cost-effective well intervention units is an important trend for the hydraulic workover unit market.

A mature oil and gas field is past peak production. These oilfields account for a majority of the world"s crude oil production. With enhanced technological approaches like enhanced oil recovery (EOR), the recovery of mature oil fields has seen a tremendous increase. Increasing recovery from mature fields has necessitated prolonging the well and improving production using well interventions and workover.

With the deterioration in oil reserves, companies have increased their focus on inventing equipment required to access remaining reserves on mature wells. The prime focus is to improve recovery and prolong life. But the amplified water cut with constrained topside facilities, growing flow assurance problems, rising operating costs, and integrity issues because of the maturing facilities have made brownfield operationally and economically impractical. The increasing requirement for workover services is anticipated to bolster the market growth.

The growing population explosion and urbanization has resulted in a spike in energy requirement from the various end-user sector. As renewable energy is still in an early adoption stage of its product life cycle, the majority of power generation is handled by hydrocarbons. Due to inadequate development of other energy sources, the growing global oil and gas demand enhances well drilling and maintenance. The increase in crude oil and shale gas production capacities and an increasing number of brownfields is expected to enhance the well workover and intervention demand, fueling the market growth.

The primary factor restraining the hydraulic workover unit market growth is the consumer shift towards clean fuels. The increasing requirement of the renewable energy sector will undoubtedly decrease the investment being made in the oil and gas energy sector, which will harm the well intervention sector. The increasing proportion of power generation using renewable energy can hinder the principal investments being made for oil and gas. Also, the necessity to reduce carbon emissions has powered the acceptance of renewable energy, with government incentives being granted worldwide. Further, the developing competence of renewables for power generation with durable benefits can result in increased adoption over conventional fuels.

The services carried out by hydraulic workover units are completions, plug & abandonment, ESP completion, sand screen installations, well deepening, fishing/clean-outs, casing repairs, etc. Workover segment includes operations over dead-wells, while snubbing involves installing or removing pipes in or out of live wells. The increasing demand for dead wells" services due to the high number of brownfields is critical for the workover segment. The workover segment involves a broader range of services, making the segment significant.

The snubbing market segment is gaining traction due to increased demand for performing operations of live-wells and avoiding well killing. The rising popularity of snubbing services is anticipated to propel the snubbing segment of the market.

Due to the high oil production from the onshore segment and the larger number of onshore oil rigs, the segment dominates the market. Moreover, most of the onshore oil rigs are mature and drive significant demand for the market.

The North American region holds a significant share in the market due to the high adoption of workover and snubbing services, coupled with demand for ease and efficiency of operations and technological advancement. Also, the rising proportion of mature oilfields in the region drives the market. Additionally, the government norms to reduce emissions led to companies finding it unviable to increase exploration and an increased necessity to prolong existing oil wells and drive the region"s market.

The competitive landscape for the hydraulic workover unit study shows that very few current companies have invested widely in research and development. The market has seen substantial recent technological advancements to keep pace with the best manufacturers. Considering all the scenarios, Balance Point Control and Halliburton are the major companies that have invested in developing HWUs. They are anticipated to continue being the key players in the future.

April 2021- Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) started manufacturing advanced hydraulic technology rigs with indigenous knowledge for the oil and gas sector. The development of HWUs commenced in the Kalol oil field near Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This manufacturing project was taken up to support the Government of India"s "Make in India" initiative.

July 2021-In its quarterly results, Norwegian Energy Company ASA announced that the Noble Sam Turner drilling program began a well workover and maintenance campaign in spring 2021 and completed three well workovers, which contributed to almost 2000 bpd bringing positive results on operating performance during the second quarter. The use of HWUs significantly contributed to the success of the campaign.

The global hydraulic workover unit market research report highlights the leading regions worldwide to understand the user better. Also, it provides insights into the latest market trends and analyzes technologies deployed rapidly with market statistics. The report highlights some of the growth-stimulating factors and restraints, helping the reader gain in-depth knowledge about the industry.