Category: 2021 News Stories

After multiple failures with cement squeezes, learn how Chevron eliminated casing pressure and gas bubbles at surface using our bismuth-based alloy Performance Barrier Technology and by simply deploying our Wel-lok™ CRT on wireline. The well was successfully bubble tested, resulting in zero bubbles at surface, allowing the operator to complete the permanent well abandonment. The technique is now being used successfully on an additional two wells. Read the case study

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We are delighted to announce the signing of an exclusive agreement with the Middle East’s leading energy service provider – AlMansoori Specialized Engineering – to further expand our deployment activity in this hugely important region.

A partnership that will leverage the vast experience and geographical reach of AlMansoori’s 4,000 employees and operations across 15 countries, to take our offering to the next level.

This agreement will complement our customer global base which includes Shell, bp, ExxonMobil, Aker BP ASA, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

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Wel-lok™ contract officially signed with ADNOC Group

We are proud to announce the signing of a contract with ADNOC Group which will result in the first ever deployment in the Middle East that utilises BiSN’s ground-breaking Wel-lok™ technology.

Scheduled to take place in Q4 of this year – this will mark an important deployment in the intervention sector for BiSN. Keep a look out for more updates as the project gets underway.

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We are honored to have received the Decom North Sea 2021 Award for Technical Innovation in Decommissioning.

The Wel-lok M2M technology has been deployed in over 200+ applications throughout the world. In our most recent campaign with Aker BP ASA in the North Sea, our tools were able to provide a rigless and time saving solution through a permanent and environmental barrier to over 30 wells.

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On the 12 May BiSN was proud to have our Wel-lok technology utilized in the North Sea with Aker BP ASA on their Valhall Field Center campaign. The results speak for themselves by reducing the time and equipment needed to effectively provide a permanent, environmental barrier and top seal for the over 30 wells.

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Andrew started in 2019 in the Houston, TX facility as a thermite technician. Being a key member of the thermite team, he performs qualification, R&D and troubleshooting tests to ensure the quality of thermite that we manufacture. He sees a new project as an exciting endeavor to be able to assemble instrumentation and perform new tests.

BiSN is a small-medium sized business which is one of the many reasons Andrew enjoys working here. He stated that his “hard work has a bigger impact” on the overall success because of the size of the company. Andrew is also a proud veteran of the US Army Artillery. We thank you for your service to our country and dedication to BiSN.

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Looking at sustainability today versus ten years ago, the focus on the future and what natural resources will remain is vital to most, if not all, organizations. Between the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainability, BiSN has developed an innovative technology to provide a safe and natural barrier within the energy industry. This barrier is a final seal blocking the emittance of gases, unwanted water, and pressures within downhole applications.

Our most recent campaign in the North Sea was with Aker BP at their Valhall Field. BiSN provided over 30 bismuth alloy plugs to the top section of the wells as the final barrier prior to abandonment. With the largest alloy plug placed within a 30” casing, it earned the title of world record holder for using a tool weighing in at over 30,000 lbs. By the end of the campaign, 24 plugs of this size were deployed, with 6 smaller (24”) plugs, and all tested to show no emittance of gases (or bubbles) over a 14-day trial. The overall sustainability of these tools remains in line with several UN Sustainability Goals: (9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure and (14) Life Below Water.

The campaign with Aker BP has proven that BiSN is an environmental barrier. In addition, the PSA Norway qualified the Wel-lok M2M sealing technology as a barrier for the Seal 2 application in the Valhall wells. With a gas tight, non-permeable seal in place, the conductors could be safely cut and removed with no release of hydrocarbons. Aker BP featured the BiSN technology recently in their 2021 first quarter Sustainability Report. (A copy can be viewed below.)

BiSN’s Wel-lok M2M technology is a metal-to-metal downhole sealing solution developed to provide a permanent seal through a thermite heat ignition and a rapid solidification process of eutectic bismuth alloy. The use of bismuth alloy is advantageous because once it is heated, the metal liquifies and is equal to that of the viscosity of water. The liquid bismuth alloy can then filter through porous locations prior to solidification, as opposed to conventional methods such as cement or resin.

CLICK HERE to download the full article

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April has been a busy month for production and testing. We would like to celebrate our Production Engineer, Baldemar Elizondo, as the ‘Employee of the Month’.

Baldemar has consistently provided a clear scope and status of projects in the pipeline. Being under pressure at times, does not change the professional, tranquil demeanor that he exudes. With Baldemar’s sense of calmness, the team’s confidence never faulters and tasks are completed in a timely and efficient manner. Thank you for all that you do!

image: Baldemar Elizondo – Production Engineer on left, with Paul Carragher CEO of BiSN

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A technology using bismuth based alloys may help a festering problem with abandoned wells in Western Canada.

The federal government announced a $1.7 billion commitment toward the clean-up of abandoned and orphan wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. last year. These wells are considered a concern because many are presently leaking methane due to ineffective abandonment programs.

A company named BiSN is creating gas-tight metal-to-metal seals using patented modified thermite heaters to melt bismuth-based alloys downhole.

“The best way to think about our tool is as a large candle,” said Paul Carragher, who founded BiSN in 2010 and is the company’s CEO, of the Wel-lok M2M technology, during a webinar posted on the company’s website.

“You’ve got the alloy on the outside, which is your wax and you’ve got your thermite heater on the inside which is your wick.”

“When that thermite heater burns it will burn top to bottom just like a candle does.”

With its new technology, the company is “fundamentally changing the way downhole sealing is carried out,” he said, breaking the mould of traditional
methods and “changing the way operators look at well abandonment.”

One of the functions of Wel-lok M2M technology, which is used in a range of tools and applications, is to provide a permanent seal in well abandonment.

“BiSN and our theoretically-tested 3,000-year bismuth alloy barrier provides the Canadian oil and gas industry with an economically competitive alternative to traditional plugs and remediation techniques,” says Steve Petten, BiSN Canadian general manager. “However, we believe the true value of our technology is in the safety and environmental benefits we offer our customers today and in the future.”

This qualified 3,000-year-barrier is expected to limit the need to re-enter wells in the future.

“We are taking bismuth alloy in a solid form downhole, melting and sealing off wellbore issues; whether those are surface vent flow, shutting off nonproductive perforations, sealing leaks in tubing and completions equipment, and this is all done with a wireline or slickline deployed tool,” he adds.

There are more than 90,000 inactive wells and more than 70,000 abandoned wells in Alberta, says the provincial government. Cement and bridge plugs are the conventional methods for abandonment operations.

“We think this will reduce the number of re-entries that industry will have to do here of cement jobs that have been pumped that appear to fix the wells and then five years later they have gas coming to surface again because the cement has deteriorated,” says Petten.

“This is a stronger material than cement,” he adds. “It’s basically giving a metal-to-metal barrier here.”

Bismuth expands 3.8 per cent as it solidi􀁷es, forcing possible trapped gas out of the annulus and stopping any further migration from the lower gas source.

Wel-lok M2M offers the benefit of gas-tight-barriers without needing to pump from the surface. The alloy’s high degree of density allows it to flow into the well with gravity alone.

“There’s an ease of business,” says Petten of the advantage to the technology, also singling out the advantage of running less heavy equipment down the road. “It’s one guy, one tool.”

This method also cuts down on the time required for the operation. Melting and solidifying the bismuth barrier takes minutes downhole and can be pressure-tested within an hour, Petten says. In comparison, concrete takes about 24 hours to cure.

Wel-lok M2M tools may be used in applications including the reduction of water production in existing wells, eliminating gas migration in cemented annuli, repairing a leaking production packer, sealing perforations in cased hole completions and reducing unwanted sand production, among others.

BiSN also has a product that runs its bismuth alloy on the outside of the casing when the user is drilling a well. The company deploys its thermite heater in the casing to melt the alloy, sealing any micro-annulus that may have formed during drilling and completion of the well.

Nearly 200 of its tools have been field deployed to date. Fourty-eight per cent of these deployments have been for plug and abandonment purposes. BiSN has manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom and Houston, Texas.

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Behind the scenes footage.

Join us as we look back to when the action started in testing and design for the largest tool ever built by BiSN for the Aker BP ASA Valhall well abandonment campaign.

The sheer size of the Wel-lok M2M STC™ is unprecedented!

#bisn #wellokm2mtechnology #environmentalsustainability

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