Technology Update: New Perforating Gun System Increases Safety and Efficiency

Abstract

Achieving greater efficiency in perforation systems can help lower operating costs, particularly when completing long horizontal wellbores in unconventional plays.

The DynaStage perforating system, developed by DynaEnergetics, incorporates new technology in the addressable firing system and an improved mechanical design that eliminates potential human error. The system can operate more efficiently than traditional systems and, with its additional safety features, allow other wellsite operations to run in parallel with the perforation process.

As a result, the system can achieve improvements in perforation quality and performance reliability, with fewer misruns, while operating efficiently enough to lower total completion costs. The DynaStage system has successfully completed field trials in multiple basins and been commercialized.

The system targets two areas to improve operational efficiency and reduce operating cost.

• Safety—the system has a simple, intrinsically safe design that eliminates the risk of inadvertent detonation from stray current or voltage. Surface explosive handling and arming can be conducted in less time and in parallel with other operations. The design eliminates the need to hold the gun system at shallow subsurface depth during simultaneous operations. Both factors reduce wait times at the wellsite.
• Reliability—the design of the electronic system and simplification of the mechanical field assembly process help to reduce the number of misruns, which increases efficiency and lowers the cost of completions.

Surface Assembly

Perforating operations with explosives place the explosive components and workers in close proximity, especially during the arming process. Traditional resistorized detonators can contribute to an increased risk of injury and destruction when connecting the detonator to the gun string and the wireline truck.

Safety procedures have been developed to address the risks in this process, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) provides guidelines for safe handling of explosives through Recommended Practice 67 (API RP 67). One of the established best practices is to suspend all surface operations while working with the resistorized detonators. The arming and connection of a gun string at the surface can take up to an hour, meaning that no other wellsite operations can be completed during this time.

The DynaStage system removes the risks of this process by providing an addressable and radio frequency (RF)- safe system with immunity to high voltage and current levels. The firing system is built on a low-voltage, digital communication platform that uses the DynaEnergetics detonator technology, proven to successfully communicate and initiate on command during more than 300,000 perforating operations, without a safety incident. This technology enables the verification of all components in the system, including the addressable switch, the RF-safe detonator, and the RF-safe ignitor, during all phases of the operation.