Solutions to address Downhole Safety Valve Challenges

The United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) performs around 50 Well Interventions a year to address Down Hole Safety Valve (DHSV) issues, making it the third most common intervention after Scale Squeezes and Tree/Wellhead repairs.  A third of all DHSV interventions are unsuccessful, with the average cost per job in the UKCS being £400k. These restoration jobs are consuming Operators budgets and the window of opportunity to optimise the rest of the Well Stock. 

These DHSV Challenges are not unique to the UKCS and as such the Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) / North Sea Transition Authority facilitated Reservoir & Wells Optimisation Taskforce (RWOT) are currently scouting for examples of “Good Practice”  in DHSV Operations and “Innovative Solutions” relating to: 

1. The Life cycle of the DHSV system and the role of late-life DHSV and storm choke
2. Failure mechanisms and root causes of system failures, and where current remedial interventions are falling short
3. Maintaining DHSV system operability – hydraulic fluid cleanliness, system/operating guidelines for opening/closing DHSVs, fixing control line leaks
4. Troubleshooting the DHSV valves in situ – Syringe Tools, Spark Technology, Chemical and mechanical cleaning, Scale Remediation, Hold Open Sleeves, Protecting the seal profile, New Technology for addressing issues.
5. Operating Company Guidelines: Managing DHSV or  and any  in early well life as a safety-critical element and keeping risk ALARP in late-life wells that don’t flow without artificial lift, and the case for removing the component
6. Storm Chokes / Ambient Valves: Getting the best from your valve – set up, trip setting, managing any drifting performance, failure mechanisms,
7. New Technology: Identifying the void that needs filling when the DHSV system becomes impractical to maintain; technology that improves production performance above and beyond the limits of storm choke/ambient valves, and how to safely maintain wells’ production without incurring workover costs or excessive intervention costs.
   
   This challenge was open earlier in 2024 and has been re-opened.