Overcoming Deployment and Retrieval Challenges with Killed Well Cable Deployed Electric Submersible Pump Systems – Lessons Learned from Five Years of CDESP History

The advantage of cable deployed electric submersible pump (CDESP) systems are beginning to be understood and realized as experience has been gained with the deployment and retrieval of these systems. Cable deployed ESP systems have at times been touted as a temporary system for failed conventional ESP systems. Long-term successes have demonstrated the value of permanently installed CDESP systems, which provide the benefit of reduced production deferral, less costly change-out, and reduced HSE risk. The decision to change from conventional ESP to a rigless CDESP system is not necessarily a simple conclusion. The decision must consider technical, economic, and operational considerations to gain the full benefit from the technology. The learnings developed over multiple deployments and retrievals will benefit decision makers in the evaluation of the technology use. The technology application presented in the paper sheds the light on a journey to develop and bring alternative ESP deployment from concept to reality, overcoming technical and operational challenges. The current CDESP requires a rig to initially construct the permanent completion to accept the rigless CDESP system. Production rates requirements determine the ESP size, and in turn the tubing and wellhead size. Pressure control equipment is installed on top of the Christmas tree. Rigless installation and retrieval of the CDESP is performed on an elevated tower with the wellhead in place. The tower design has been improved to allow the production flowline to remain in place. A minimum of two well barriers, with one barrier well kill fluid, are in place at all times. A key learning of the killed well CDESP system is the need to understand the potential changes to the reservoir after sustained production in planning the replacement of a failed ESP. Kill fluid losses can be higher than expected with restorative well cleanup and production. Actual deployment or retrieval time can be improved with successive change-outs. Long-term operational robustness of the CDESP is proven with a system continuing to operate after 5 years of cumulative operations. This paper shares the lessons learned from an early technology adopter with multiple deployment and retrievals in various well environments including highly fractured reservoirs and high hydrogen sulfide wells.

Global American Dream

Meredith and Wes Armer had their lives all planned out. Wes was a rising star in the US Air Force. Meredith embraced her role as a military wife and mother to their three young girls. Moving from base to base as Wes climbed the career ladder was a small price to pay for a growing salary, secure benefits, and what the couple imagined would be an early retirement spent on a farm somewhere in North Carolina. However, that was still several years off, and Wes faced the very real possibility of multiple deployments in the meantime....

The Accelerations of a Wave Measurement Buoy Impacted by Breaking Waves in the Surf Zone

A spherical wave measurement buoy capable of detecting breaking waves has been designed and built. The buoy is 16 inches in diameter and houses a 9 degree of freedom inertial measurement unit (IMU). The orientation and acceleration of the buoy is continuously logged at frequencies up to 200 Hz providing a high fidelity description of the motion of the buoy as it is impacted by breaking waves. The buoy was deployed several times throughout the winter of 2013–2014. Both moored and free-drifting data were acquired in near-shore shoaling waves off the coast of Newport, OR. Almost 200 breaking waves of varying type and intensity were measured over the course of multiple deployments. The characteristic signature of spilling and plunging breakers was identified in the IMU data.

Extraordinarily long development of the Antarctic gastropod Antarctodomus thielei (Neogastropoda: Buccinoidea)

ABSTRACT Antarctic animals share many traits that are attributed to evolution in a stable, extremely cold climate. Among invertebrates, development is exceptionally slow, making observational studies of development logistically challenging, particularly when conducted under natural conditions in the field. Using multiple deployments to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, we characterized the development, in the field, of an unidentified buccinoidean gastropod species with encapsulated development. Thirteen egg capsules collected at Granite Harbor, McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, were attached to natural rock and outplanted at a depth of ~25 m at the base of the McMurdo Intake Jetty on 2 December 2007, photographed on 5 October 2011 and 6 September 2012 and then returned to the laboratory on 27 November 2015. In 2015, four capsules were open and empty, five were open and contained a single large hatchling and the remaining four capsules were intact but not open, each containing a single large juvenile snail. To identify the developing embryos, we sequenced mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) from two hatchlings and compared those sequences with those from adults collected near the egg mass, as well as with sequences of other buccinoideans from GenBank. Based on the close match between hatchling and adult COI sequences (hatchling sequences differed from those of an adult at only 2 of 658 nucleotide positions), we identified the embryos as Antarctodomus thielei (Powell, 1958)). The egg mass morphology and development of this species have not been previously described. Our study shows that A. thielei has a development time of more than 8 years, which is the longest measured for any gastropod.

The Experience of Families Separated by Military Deployment

The conflicts in Iraq (Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) have resulted in the deployment of more than 2.6 million service members since 2001. Almost half of these service members had children at the time of deployment, and almost half experienced multiple deployments. Separations in the context of danger pose unique challenges for parenting at a distance, including civilian parental mental health problems that are in turn associated with disruptions in parenting and family relationships and increased mental health symptoms in children. Using an ecological framework, this chapter reviews the impact that more than a decade of war has had on children and their parents, identifying risk and protective factors in the context of parental deployment. Opportunities to maintain parenting during deployments across developmental stages for children are discussed, including the role of family-level programs and family services to support military parents and children.

Introduction to Military Suicide

This chapter examines suicide within the United States military as a whole. A cultural and historical perspective is used to understand the context of current policies regarding the assessment and treatment of mental health conditions of those within the military. Suicide base rates as well as service utilization within the armed forces are discussed and recommendations regarding current practices are presentenced. Currently, perceived stigmas, traumatic exposure, multiple deployments as well as other barriers to care are thought to have contributed to the overall increase in suicide behaviors within the US military. Although policies are currently in place which help reduce stigma and bolster mental health service utilization, suicide continues to be an issue within the military as a whole.

Detecting and Correcting Biases in Long-Term Ocean Observatory Time Series: Case Study on Current Directions Estimated From Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Data

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories to collect continuous data on physical, chemical, biological, and geological ocean conditions over multiyear time periods. Researchers can download real-time and historical data from a large variety of instruments to study complex earth and ocean processes from their home laboratories. Ensuring that the users are receiving the most accurate data is a high priority at ONC, requiring QAQC (quality assurance and quality control) procedures to be developed for a variety of data types (Abeysirigunawardena et al., 2015). Acquiring long-term time series of oceanographic data from remote locations on the seafloor presents significant challenges from a QAQC perspective. In order to identify and study important scientific events and trends, data consolidated from multiple deployments and instruments need to be self-consistent and free of biases due to changes to instrument configurations, calibrations, metadata, biofouling, or a degradation in instrument performance. As a case study, this paper describes efforts at ONC to identify and correct systematic biases in ocean current directions measured by ADCPs (acoustic Doppler current profilers), as well as the lessons learned to improve future data quality.

Military Serving at What Cost? The Effects of Parental Service on the Well-Being Our Youngest Military Members

Since the onset of war in Iraq and Afghanistan in April 2002, much attention has been given to the effect of war on servicemen and servicewomen who have now been serving in combat for over thirteen years, the longest sustained war in American history. Many service members have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffered from the visible and invisible wounds of war. Much work has been done in the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense, and the civilian sector after observing the effects of multiple deployments and overall military service on the service member. A survey of the literature revealed that the ethics of conducting research on programs to assist these brave men and women is fraught with ethical concerns based on a military culture that often precludes autonomy and privacy. While strides have been made in developing strategies to assist service members deal with their military service issues, a serious lack of information exists on the impact of a parent's service on the health and well-being of military children. A discussion of current research on services for children is presented with an analysis of the ethical problems that have precluded adequate study of those who need society's help the most.