snubbing unit vs workover rig in stock

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.

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.

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.

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While hydraulic workover (HWO)/snubbing will never wholly replace traditional workover rigs, particularly in dead well applications requiring multiple trips and fishing jobs, in live and pressured well re-entries the technology offers myriad operational; economic; and health, safety, and environment advantages. From its inception solely as a mechanism for handing tubulars during well control operations, hydraulic snubbing technology has evolved into a mechanism that can perform any operation once considered the sole jurisdiction of conventional drilling and workover rigs.

The ability of modular HWO/snubbing units to pull existing completions, drill open holes, and re-complete a well bore at flowing (near-balanced or underbalanced) conditions has effectively bridged the technological gap between derrick equipment configurations and coiled tubing (CT) units. Consequently, standalone or rig-assisted HWO/snubbing units have been employed successfully in a variety of activities worldwide, from re-completions and completions under pressure to tubing-conveyed perforating to the drilling of sidetracks, slim holes, and well deepening operations, among others.

Together with its capacity to rotate pipe in live well conditions and perform intervention operations without having to shut in production entirely, HWO/snubbing units can often be mobilized and de-mobilized in a fraction of the time and associated costs of a conventional workover rig.

Key to the comparably faster and more cost-effective mobilization and de-mobilization is the modular design that allows HWO/snubbing units with up to 600,000 lb hook load and rotary torque in excess of 14,000 ft/lb to be transported easily by air, sea, or over land. Accordingly, the modular design, in tandem with a comparatively minimal footprint as small as 2,500 sq ft (753 sq m), makes the technology an ideal contender for applications on remote offshore platforms.

Depending on the wellhead equipment, one of the foremost drivers for the growing use of HWO/snubbing units is a design engineered specifically to operate under pressures as high as 20,000 psi. Consequently, operators can perform a variety of well intervention operations without having to first kill the well and discontinue production completely.

Compounding the costs associated with lost production is the expense of killing the well and re-initiating production once the re-entry operation is completed. By way of illustration, installing a completion string after a typical fracturing job requires that the operator first employ high-density fluid to kill the well. In addition to the costs of the brine and kill pump are the rig-related expenses associated with running the pipe in the well bore. Afterwards, a CT unit and nitrogen may have to be used to re-start production, magnifying the costs even further.

By comparison, an HWO/snubbing unit normally can perform the same operation in one to two days with production continuing while the operation is under way. All things considered and depending on the specific application, employing an HWO/snubbing unit generally is more cost-effective on new and producing wells than a conventional workover rig and is less than that of the daily rate for a CT unit.

Besides the production revenue lost during the balanced well intervention, there also is the risk of future shortfalls resulting from reservoir damage caused by the introduction of overbalanced kill fluids that are especially harmful to some shales and other highly reactive formations. Hydraulic snubbing not only can use existing pipe and tubing for work string, but it does not rely on kill-weight fluids to bring the well bore to static condition. Consequently, the risk of reservoir damage is minimized dramatically or eliminated altogether.

Moreover, with HWO/snubbing technology, the operator avoids the costs and potential environmental liabilities associated with the onshore/offshore disposal of heavy-weight kill fluid. Also from an environmental perspective, since less equipment is required on location, operators do not have to flow the well to atmosphere to maintain pressure control, thus further reducing the carbon footprint. Since the units do not require any water from nearby streams or underground aquifers, hydraulic snubbing is especially beneficial in areas where water is a premium or scarce resource.

Contemporary hydraulic snubbing technology bears little resemblance to the units introduced in 1929, only 10 years after the development of well cementing. Those first units comprised little more than a series of cables, sheaves, and counterweights and were used strictly for well control operations and snubbing in live completions.

At their conception, snubbing units relied on a rig’s drawworks to hoist pipe in and out of the hole, and the sheaves were rigged up so that as the traveling blocks hoisted upward, the pipe would be snubbed into the well. Conversely, lowering the traveling blocks brought the pipe out of the hole.

Over the years, increased understanding of hydraulics resulted in the development of the “concentric” snubbing unit, which consisted of a hollow hydraulic cylinder. This design also created the first pipe guide that prevented the buckling that plagued earlier units and allowed operators to work on higher-pressure wells with longer strokes, which reduced the time required to complete the job.

Soon afterwards, the first multicylinder snubbing unit was developed, which was a prototype of the system used today. The industry also developed specialized slips and blowout preventers (BOPs) configured for the purpose of snubbing/stripping. As the unit designs progressed, they incorporated stronger gin poles and hydraulic rotary tables. Today, a standard HWO unit can be transformed into an HWO/snubbing unit in an hour with the simple addition of two sets of slips and a tubing guide.

The steady progression of hydraulic snubbing coincided with drilling advancements that have led to the widespread construction of ultraextended-reach drilling, multilaterals, and other unconventional wells that all too often are outside the capability of conventional service tools and technologies. In unconventional plays and well configurations, the advantages of HWO/snubbing to more conventional CT units, for example, are evident. Unlike CT, the ability to rotate the pipe and work string dramatically reduces wall-to-wall frictional drag. In turn, minimizing friction increases depth capability significantly, crucial in laterals that extend past 3,000 ft (915 m).

The benefits of hydraulic snubbing in unconventional applications recently were illustrated in the tight gas North Jonah field in Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline. Since production from the field was uneconomical using conventional technologies, hydraulic snubbing was employed, allowing the well to be drilled and completed simultaneously. Hydraulic snubbing in concert with an innovative flowback package allowed the well to begin production even as the live completion was still under way.

Elsewhere, in an oil producer offshore Dubai, the technology was used in a live re-completion encompassing tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP) guns and acid stimulation at a well depth of 9,500 ft (2,898 m). After pulling the completion, the operator was able to run a cast-iron bridge plug and TCP guns before perforating. After successfully performing the acid stimulation, the hydraulic snubbing unit was used to run the re-completion assembly. From rigup to rigdown, the operation required 15 twelve-hour days.

The technology also was applied in a dry and pressurized re-completion of an onshore 16,000-ft (4,880-m) deep gas well in Sharjah. After the tree was frozen and removed, the BOP stack was installed and the 5-in. production string pulled from the hole. Afterwards, a tapered 27?8-in. to 31?2-in. production string was run in the hole to 8,500 ft (2,593 m), at which time a retrievable bridge plug was used to isolate the reservoir from surface to change out the hanger spool. The remaining completion installation was completed with 31?2-in. production tubing. The entire operation, including rigup and rigdown, was completed in 11 days.

In oil and gas recovery operations, tubular members are usually run or pulled using a workover rig or a snubbing unit. Workover rigs are basically small drilling rigs having a derrick and drawworks, and although they are less expensive to employ than full-sized rigs, their use can still be quite costly.

Snubbing units are smaller, easier to transport and less expensive to operate than workover rigs and are often employed when working a pressurized well that requires tubular members to be forced into the wellbore.

A viable alternative that improves safety and efficiency during snubbing operations consists of a power tong set, with lead and back-up tongs that are mounted on the slip bowl of the traveling jack head of a snubbing unit and rotates with the slip bowl. Service lines for the tong set are not connected during string rotation.

In another version of this type of device, a fluid feed-through swivel is mounted on the tong set, secured to the necessary tong operating and control service fluid lines, such that the tong set can rotate with tong service lines between the tong set and the snubbing unit attached during rotation.

Snubbing is an old technique dating back to the late 1920s in the United States that was primarily used in emergency situations, such as blowouts or uncontrolled wells.

Like coiled tubing techniques, snubbing allows a tubular to be run with a check valve on the end into a live well by means of specialized handling and sealing systems. However, instead of pipe coiled up on a reel, it uses tubing-type pipe lengths run in hole and made up to each other by conventional threaded connections. This means that larger-diameter pipe can be used than in the coiled tubing method.

The snubbing unit therefore offers better flow capacity, breaking load and rotation capacity and is able to put weight on the downhole tool. In contrast, tripping takes longer because the lengths of pipe have to be screwed together and the procedure for running the connections through the safety stack on the wellhead may be slow and represents a high risk for personnel if not done properly.

A snubbing unit consists basically of a pipe-handling system, a wellhead safety system, a hydraulic power unit and the downhole accessories incorporated into the snubbing string.

The pipe-handling system must be able to push the pipe into the well during the snubbing phase (also called light pipe phase), which occurs every time the pipe weight is lower than the wellbore pressure force against it.

With the traveling slips closed and the stationary ones open, the pipe can be tripped over a length corresponding to the stroke of the jacks. Then, all that is required to bring the jack back to its original position is to close the stationary slips and open the traveling slips. After the traveling slips have been closed again and the stationary slips have been opened, the operation can continue.

Operating in this manner requires specialized people, usually consisting of a foreman and three or four people per shift. The space in the snubbing basket is usually very limited and unstable, which magnifies the hazards associated with the manipulation of pipe, elevators and power tongs.

ODS International and Rogers Oil Tools (ROT) have developed a patented power tong built specifically for snubbing and well control applications (Figure 1). It is the only tong designed to ride the jack incorporated with a swinging basket.

ODS-ROT can provide different models, either slip or jack-mounted (Figure 2), providing the choice of eliminating personnel in the snubbing basket by utilizing the remote operation option.

The jack head tong carries the provision of having a three-section cage plate system that can be removed to allow the jack head tong to be open for full wellbore capabilities, matching the BOP’s bore. This is the fastest and safest way to trip pipe with a snubbing unit.

Snubbing is an old technique with relatively little innovation over the past several years. The hazards associated with this type of operations still must be considered when seeking to eliminate risks.

The snubbing power tong introduced in this article is a viable alternative, making operations safer by eliminating movement of the tong on and off the pipe. This eliminates nagging injuries and increases the operational efficiency, which ultimately impacts the overall costs of well servicing programs in benefit of operator and drilling contractors.

In this video, Matt Tourigny from Deep Well Services shows us how their company is utilizing virtual reality to help train their staff (and even us) on the simple (yet critical) steps of snubbing operations. Snubbing is when you enter a pressurized well with pipe. Snubbing is commonly required to bring a well into production once it has been hydraulically fractured. This is because the plugs used for zonal isolation during the frac needs to be drilled out.

Snubbing is a type of heavy well intervention performed on oil and gas wells. It involves running the BHA on a pipe string using a hydraulic workover rig. Unlike wireline or coiled tubing, the pipe is not spooled off a drum but made up and broken up while running in and pulling out, much like conventional drill pipe. Due to the large rigup, it is only used for the most demanding of operations when lighter intervention techniques do not offer the strength and durability.drilling and completions operations, snubbing can be performed with the well still under pressure (not killed). When done so, it is called hydraulic workover. It can also be performed without having to remove the Christmas tree from the wellhead.

A snubbing rigup is a very tall structure. It consists of a hydraulically powered snubbing unit, which provides the force on a pipe, above a string of multi-layered pressure control components.

At the top of the snubbing unit is the basket, which serves as the control post for the rigup. Below the basket are the hydraulic jacks, which power the pipe into and out of the hole. It consists of two mechanisms for applying force to the pipe in either direction. Each mechanism consists of travelling and stationary slips. The travelling slips are used to move the pipe, while the stationary slips are used to hold the pipe while the travelling slips are repositioned between strokes.

Unlike coiled tubing or wireline, where the wire or tubing is always the same diameter allowing for a single unmoving primary barrier (stuffing box or stripper), snubbing uses a pipe, which will have an enlarged collar at the connection between the joints. Therefore, the pressure control system must be able to accommodate this variable diameter. The stripping rams accomplish this. The first stage of lowering a collar through the stripping system is to close the lower rams so as to seal off the mechanism above from wellbore pressure. The space between the rams can then be bled off allowing the upper rams to be opened. The collar can then pass through the opened upper rams. Once the collar is in between the rams, the upper rams are closed and pressure is equalised either side of the lower rams. The lower rams are then safely opened and the collar is lowered through the rams.

Because snubbing is normally done under pressure, initially, the weight of pipe in wellbore is less than the force due to the wellbore pressure. This is described as light-pipe: downward force is required on the pipe to force it in against resistance. Once a sufficient amount of pipe has been run into the hole, the weight becomes sufficient to overpower the wellbore pressure and the pipe naturally wants to fall in the hole; this is heavy-pipe. At this point, the snubbing mechanism is changed over to the one which provides upward force to hold the pipe and lower it controllably into the well.

The more complex method of pressure control, as compared to coiled tubing and wireline, naturally invites more opportunity for things to go wrong. One such peril was seen in June 2007 on the Shearwater platform. Snubbing was being used to clean out large pebble, which had entered the well through a collapsed liner. While pulling out of hole, one stripping ram was not opened sufficiently and a collar on the pipe string caught on the ram. The excessive force applied to the pipe caused it to break apart, dropping the string below the failure into the well. In the time it took to prepare to fish out the pipe, the pebbles in the process of being circulated out, settled on the pipe, preventing successful fishing.

Not all Snubbing units are large and time consuming to rig up. In the Canadian oilfield many companies use small "Stand Alone" snubbing units which can be broken down and rigged up in less than 3hrs. These Units consist of 4 segments which can be placed onto 4 separate trucks. These 4 segments consist of the following:

Units varies in strength, there are 95K, 120K, 150K, 170K, 225K, 340K, 460K, 600K The number indicates their working strength in pulling force, and 150K means the unit is capable of pulling maximal 150000 pounds. This is based on the hydraulic force acting on the size of the unit"s piston size. Also are there more complex special built unit to find as the CSU 160 a special build rig assist unit, and stand alone units like

The act of putting drillpipe into the wellbore when the blowout preventers (BOPs) are closed and pressure is contained in the well. Snubbing is necessary when a kick is taken, since well kill operations should always be conducted with the drillstring on bottom, and not somewhere up the wellbore. If only the annular BOP has been closed, the drillpipe may be slowly and carefully lowered into the wellbore, and the BOP itself will open slightly to permit the larger diameter tool joints to pass through. If the well has been closed with the use of ram BOPs, the tool joints will not pass by the closed ram element. Hence, while keeping the well closed with either another ram BOP or the annular BOP, the ram must be opened manually, then the pipe lowered until the tool joint is just below the ram, and then closing the ram again. This procedure is repeated whenever a tool joint must pass by a ram BOP. In snubbing operations, the pressure in the wellbore acting on the cross-sectional area of the tubular can exert sufficient force to overcome the weight of the drillstring, so the string must be pushed (or "snubbed") back into the wellbore. In ordinary stripping operations, the pipe falls into the wellbore under its own weight, and no additional downward force or pushing is required.

Major players in the hydraulic workover unit market are Archer limited, Basic Energy Services, Inc. , Canadian Energy Equipment Manufacturing FZE, Cudd Energy Services, Easternwell Group, Elnusa, Halliburton Company, High Arctic Energy Services Inc, Key Energy Services, LLC, NOV Inc.

New York, March 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Hydraulic Workover Unit Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06247583/?utm_source=GNW

The global hydraulic workover unit market is expected to grow from $8.65 billion in 2021 to $9.58 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7%. The growth is mainly due to the companies resuming their operations and adapting to the new normal while recovering from the COVID-19 impact, which had earlier led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working, and the closure of commercial activities that resulted in operational challenges. The market is expected to reach $12.40 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 6.7%.

The hydraulic workover unit market consists of sales of hydraulic workover unit services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that utilize versatile, cost-saving, and safe techniques for the repair and maintenance of all types of wells.Hydraulic workover is a well intervention technique used for installing or removing tubes (pipes) in and out of dead wells (the well with zero surface pressure).

The main services in the hydraulic workover unit are workover and snubbing.The snubbing services are used to install or eliminate tubular from a well while the well is pressurized.

Snubbing has the advantage of allowing work to be done without dying the well, which eliminates reservoir formation damage and costly stimulation procedures.The various installation types include skid mounted, trailer mounted and has a capacity in different ranges such as 0-50 tonnes, 51-150 tonnes, above 150 tonnes.

North America was the largest region in the hydraulic workover unit market in 2021. The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.

The increasing shale gas production is projected to propel the growth of the hydraulic workover unit market in the coming years.Shale gas is natural gas generated from a type of sedimentary rock called shale that is formed from clastic origins such as sedimentary rock or siltstone.

The most adaptable technology available in the upstream oil and gas industry is the snubbing unit, which is a type of hydraulic workover unit. According to the United States Energy Information Administration, shale gas production in the USA is expected to increase from 27.90 trillion cubic feet in 2021 to 32.50 trillion cubic feet by 2025. Therefore, the increasing shale gas production drives the growth of the hydraulic workover unit market.

The introduction of multiphase projects is a key trend gaining popularity in the hydraulic workover unit market.Major players operating in the hydraulic workover unit sector are launching multiphase projects in collaboration with technology players to set a new offshore snubbing unit or hydraulic workover world record.

For instance, in September 2020, SBS Energy Services (SBS), a US-based provider of snubbing, hydraulic workover services entered into a strategic partnership with Helix Solutions to complete a multi-phase project that deactivates roughly 29,000 feet of 10 inches by 6 inches insulated pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico.

In April 2019, High Arctic Energy Services Inc., a Canada-based drilling oil and gas wells company acquired assets of snubbing services equipment from Precision Drilling for $8.5 million. The acquisition provides the High Arctic with additional quality snubbing equipment and access to experienced personnel and crews. Precision Drilling is a Canada-based drilling rig contractor involved in offering snubbing services, oil field rental, and supplies.

The countries covered in the hydraulic workover unit market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK and USA.

Rig assist snubbing units provide an economical means of running or pulling tubing in and out of the wellbore under pressure, which allows operators to continue producing the well during intervention applications. Live-well workover eliminates the risk of formation damage from kill fluid. It also saves the time and expense of loading or unloading the kill fluids from the wellbore, as well as costly disposal of the kill fluid.

KLX has one of the largest fleets of rig assist space saver and “mini” snubbing units currently working in the markets we serve. Through operational efficiency, integrity and industry expertise, KLX has established itself as a recognized leader in snubbing. Our experienced teams support some of the nation’s leading operators through a comprehensive range of projects supporting completion, production and critical well operations.

KLX’s lightweight, compact “mini” hydraulic, rig assist units are mounted on gooseneck trailers for easy transport and maneuverability on location. Each of these small-footprint, high-performance units:

Our larger space saver rig assist units are mounted on bobtail trucks or semi-trailer units. The space saver snubbing unit has an 8–10-foot jack stroke for quick trip times under pressure. These units are equipped with the same 5,000 psi annular BOP as the “mini” rig assist units, but also utilize two Cameron type-U BOPs which allows for ram-to-ram stripping at pressures up to 6000 psi when the KLX proprietary pipe guide system is fitted into the snubbing jack assembly. A large work basket with power tongs and operators console allows for safe, efficient operation.

The global hydraulic workover unit market size is predicted to grow at a 3.84% CAGR in the forecast period (2020- 2027), states the current Market Research Future (MRFR) report. A hydraulic workover unit is the perfect well intervention solution for re-entry operations, well interventions, and well maintenance. This unit uses hydraulic cylinders for lifting the tubular or out of the well. The hydraulic cylinders enable complete control over tubular movements and helps in eliminating the need for a huge mast construction that is present on conventional drilling rigs.

According to the MRFR report, there are numerous factors that are propelling the global hydraulic workover unit market share. Some of these entail technological advances in oil and gas well production, increasing offshore production post decline in oil prices, the burgeoning need for hydraulic workover units in the offshore oil and gas industry, the rising electricity demand, increasing focus on offshore exploration, the production of E&P of oil and gas, the rising efforts by upstream companies to improve the production from the mature fields, and the increasing oil and gas production. The additional factors adding to the global hydraulic workover unit market value includes the growing development of natural gas resources, the rising focus on mature oil and gas fields with the implementation of digital technologies which are the latest hydraulic workover unit market trends, rising energy demand in developing economies, increasing number of exploration activities, well drilling activities, and hydraulic fracturing, growing demand for snubbing services, and rising number of mature oil and gas fields.

On the contrary, stringent environmental regulations, lack of skilled workforce, problems related to the use of hydraulic workover unit like long rig-up time, and problems in transport for its heavy weight may impede the global hydraulic workover unit market revenue over the forecast period.

The oil and gas sector unfortunately has faced the brunt of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis which in turn has impacted the hydraulic workover unit market. Owing to the present scenario, several oil and gas companies across regions were compelled to shut down their services and producing assets as countries practiced complete or partial lockdown strategy for dealing with the pandemic. Across the region, companies has either delayed or suspended the key oil and gas projects. Besides, the crisis has also impacted the rig count for oil and gas, well drilling and production activities, and also crude oil prices. All these factors have negatively impacted the global hydraulic workover unit market growth.

The MRFR report highlights an inclusive analysis of the global hydraulic workover unit industry based on application, installation, service, and capacity.

By capacity, the global hydraulic workover unit market is segmented into above 150 tonnes, 50 to 150 tonnes, and up to 50 tonnes. Of these, the above 150 tonnes capacity segment will lead the market over the forecast period.

By service, the global hydraulic workover unit market is segmented into snubbing and workover. Of these, the workover service segment will dominate the market over the forecast period.

By installation, the global hydraulic workover unit market is segmented into trail mount and skid mount. Of these, the trail mount installation segment will spearhead the market over the forecast period.

By application, the global hydraulic worker unit market is segmented into offshore and onshore. Of these, the onshore application segment will have the lions share in the market over the forecast period.

Geographically, the global hydraulic workover unit market is bifurcated into Europe, North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, & the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Of these, North America will have the lions share in the market over the forecast period. Per capita consumption, production, and exploration of oil and gas, advances in upstream operations, high production of crude oil produced from tight oil resources in the US, the rise in the production and extraction of oil and gas increases the need for hydraulic workover units to perform routine well maintenance for offshore installations, inland waters, and land, increase in the need for cost-efficient method to repair leading to the installation of hydraulic workover units, the growth in unconventional resources in Canada and the US, and the demand for intervention operations in the maturing offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico and other onshore fields in the US are adding to the global hydraulic workover unit market growth in the region.

In Europe, the global hydraulic workover unit market is predicted to hold the second-largest share over the forecast period for technological advances and increasing exploration and production of oil and gas.

In the APAC region, the global hydraulic workover unit market is predicted to have admirable growth over the forecast period. Rise in demand for energy in emerging economies of India and China are adding to the global hydraulic workover unit market growth in the region.

In the MEA and South America, the global hydraulic workover unit market is predicted to have sound growth over the forecast period. The presence of large untapped energy reserves is adding to the global hydraulic workover unit market growth in the region.

The prominent players profiled in the global hydraulic workover unit market report include ZYT Petroleum Equipment Co., Ltd (China), Uzma Berhad (Malaysia), PT Elnusa Tbk (Indonesia), Canadian Energy Equipment Manufacturing FZE (UAE), Velesto Energy (Malaysia), Superior Energy Services (US), Basic Energy Services (US), High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (Canada), Precision Drilling Corporation (Canada), Cudd Energy Services (US), Archer (Norway), National Oilwell Varco (US), and Halliburton (US), among others.

The global hydraulic workover unit market is fragmented and also competitive with the presence of many domestic as well as international industry players. They have incorporated assorted strategies to stay at the forefront and also cater to the surging needs of the customers, including collaborations, partnerships, contracts, geographic expansions, new product launches, joint ventures, and more. Additionally, these players are also making heavy investments in research and development activities for strengthening their portfolios and also creating a hold in the market.

Les Skinner, PE is currently an independent consultant, helping operators prepare policy and operating manuals including drilling operations, safety, completion operations, and workover operation manuals. Previously, he worked for Chevron, PetroSkills, Shell, Cudd Pressure, and Neal Adams Firefighters assisting in blowout, firefighting, and restoration of wells and production facilities in Kuwait following the invasion by Iraq. He earned a BS in chemical engineering from Texas Tech University. Les has served on multiple API and SPE committees. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas, a certified IADC WellCap Well Control Supervisor, and a member of SPE, AADE, ASME, AIChE, and ICoTA.