Omega awarded "Downhole Signalling" patent.

U.K. Patent Number 2429995 was granted to Omega on the 22nd of July, 2009. Although Omega hold over 18 patents, this patent for "Downhole Signalling" is potentially the most significant.

Covering a novel technology which allows commands to be transmitted to a downhole tool, patent No. 2429995 describes how a tool may be signalled to open, close or a variety of other instructions without the use of control lines, fibre optics or any other fixed hardware but simply by changing the flowing well profile versus a time base.

Many tools exist which rely on a command from surface transmitted by "pumping" up the well and Omega pioneered this technology in the early 1990's, however, this new technique can work in any well whether fluid or gas without the need of any surface equipment other than the existing wellhead.

View PDF of patent certificate.

Demand Activated Technology.

Sending a command signal to a tool in a flowing well using existing well equipment.

In recent years there has been an increasing requirement to communicate with downhole tools for commanding them into operation for a great variety of tasks and functions. Historically, physically moving the pipe, dropping balls (and similar) inside the pipe or using pressure to shear a rupture disc were crude but reliable means of achieving this.

More recently, devices conveyed on cables and ratcheting tools which respond to pressure cycles have provided more sophisticated options. With the emergence of the micro processor, electronic tools which can communicate both upwards and downwards through a fluid column have become possible with great application in the drilling phase where the drilling mud is used as a transfer medium.

When a production well is completed and the drilling mud (or other fluid) is replaced by oil and gas, it has no longer been possible to use this approach with other choices such as use of hydraulic control lines, electric cables and fibre optic systems being the only option. These systems all have various limitations, not least their expense and reliability. Additionally, well construction has advanced in the last ten years such that these technologies are often not suitable due to a variety of physical limitations.

Click here to read more about our innovative "Demand Activated" Technology.

We Are Recruiting.

Please visit our careers page for all of our current vacancies.
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Latest Milestones.

December 2011: New State Of The Art Machining Technology.

We have recently added two new Doosan lathes to our workshop capacity bringing the total investment in new machining equipment this year to over £635K. The PUMA 2600Y and the PUMA 3100XLM both feature “live tooling” capabilities which allow product components that require both milling and turning operations to be fully machined in one operation.
Although these new machines require significantly more initial investment than a standard CNC lathe the additional cost for the live tooling capability is justified by the significant time savings realised in reduced manufacturing time.

September 2011: Graeme McRobb Appointed As Chief Operating Officer.

Omega are delighted to announce the appointment of Graeme McRobb as Chief Operating officer. Graeme has over 30 years’ experience in the oil & gas industry having previously held senior roles with companies such as Petroline, Weatherford and Tendeka. Graeme will bring additional experience to key aspects of the business and will enhance various management systems to contribute to our planned growth.

August 2011: Omega Move Into New Purpose Built Headquarters.

We have recently completed our relocation to our new purpose built facility located on Kirkhill Road Dyce. In addition to the new building we have also invested heavily in additional machine shop capacity. The recent acquisition of four new lathes and milling machines has further enhanced Omegas` already formidable in-house production capacity.

June 2011: New Patent Granted.

U.K. Patent Number 2442136 was granted to Omega on the 8th of June 2011. This patent relates to our new Erodable Pressure Barrier technology which is a unique patented concept developed by Omega. One application of the technology can be seen in our new Erodible Barrier Plug that acts as a 5,000 psi pressure barrier that can be run as part of the tubing string or lower completion to provide pressure isolation. This may assist in packer setting, pressure testing the tubing and other operations.

Click here to visit our Milestones page.

Sandface Valve SPE Paper.

Omega's continuing success with the Self Opening Sandface Valve is well received at the 8th European Formation Damage Conference held in Scheveningen, in the Netherlands on the 29th of May 2009.

ABSTRACT - SPE 122181 (BP UK)
A novel timer activated sandface valve was developed that has significant impact on wellbore productivity by enabling improved wellbore clean up, particularly in high angle and open hole completions. This technology has been field trialled and proven in three wells in a North Sea field. The tool was developed from concept to installation in less than nine months including detailed engineering review and assurance.

Poor clean up was observed in several wells in a North Sea field. The wells exhibited high skin and no flow from the toe sections of the well due to the dominance of high productive intervals subject to high drawdown at the heel of the well. The timer activated sand face valve was developed with the key objective to deliver sequential clean up from the toe of the reservoir section without intervention or incremental rig time. The valves also deliver the functionality of a sliding side door for future water shut-off capability along the well bore.

The paper will present an overview of the technical challenge, detail development of the tool and processes used for assurance and include results of the field trial.

The valve development combines a field proven timer activation mechanism with conventional sliding sleeve technology. The tool was developed without incremental resource and cost often required for product development utilising specifically designed lean technical assurance tools and failure mode and effects analysis processes. The result is a successfully field proven completion tool that is the basis for a new completion technique that has application in high angle wells in all oilfield applications.

For further information click on the links below:

SPE 122181
A Novel Timer Activated Sandface Valve to Improve Wellbore Productivity - (BP UK)

Links To Other Relevant Papers:
SPE 122231
Efficient Intelligent Well Cleanup using Downhole Monitoring.

SPE 122267
Advanced Well Flow Control Technologies can Improve Well Cleanup.