Liners Made with Victrex® Peek(TM) Polymer Extend Tubular Life in Aggressive Downhole Environments


WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA, USA - (April 8, 2009) When Western Falcon of Houston, Texas, USA, a major manufacturer of tubular linings for downhole applications, wanted to design a new high-performance seamless thermoplastic liner, it chose VICTREX® PEEK(TM) polymer because of its unique combination of tensile strength, chemical resistance, ductility, temperature capabilities and resilience. The new liner, called Extremetube*, offers optimal resistance to damage from artificial lift rod wear, wireline and slickline, coiled tubing, and other common downhole tools.

According to Rob Davis, Vice President, Western Falcon, "VICTREX PEEK polymer acts as a barrier isolating the corrosive and abrasive fluids and gasses from standard oil country tubular goods (OCTG). The unique mechanical properties of the polymer, together with its abrasion resistance, indicates that it will perform well as a long-term wear solution, protecting the tubing from internal rod wear and erosion from produced fluids and gasses. This is historically significant as Western Falcon liners generally extend the life of tubulars by more than 25 times the life of bare tubulars in highly corrosive and deviated wells."

Western Falcon's exclusive mechanical bonding process, coupled with the elasticity of VICTREX PEEK polymer allows the protective liner to move relative to the steel tubing without compromising its ability to remain bonded to, and continue protecting, the steel tubing. "The marriage of our bonding process with the remarkable properties of VICTREX PEEK polymer represents a true breakthrough that offers our industry a real cost-effective technology to replace expensive corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) tubulars with our lined standard American Petroleum Institute (API) steel OCTG," said Davis.

VICTREX PEEK polymer is one of the strongest high tensile (14,500 psi) and high temperature (260°C/500°F) polymers on the market today. It maintains short-term mechanical properties at temperatures approaching its melting point of 340°C/644°F and offers the broadest range of resistance to acids, surfactants, solvents and steam. Using VICTREX PEEK polymer enables the liner to offer a significant increase in temperature stability and tensile strength as well as outstanding long-term creep and aging properties. In addition, VICTREX PEEK polymer is highly abrasion and chemically resistant to well fluids, drilling fluids, and hydrocarbon mixtures while providing extremely low permeability to gasses such as H2S and CO2.

"For the past eight years, Western Falcon has been on a quest to find the best thermoplastic materials to use as downhole tubing liners," explained Davis. "We have a set of unique "standardized" tests that push polymers beyond their limits in simulated hydrocarbon production environments, and define their maximum downhole performance capabilities. VICTREX PEEK polymer has the widest envelope of service environment conditions that we have ever evaluated."

Extremetube liners have applications in a wide range of oil and gas applications including: steamflood operations, gas lift wells, water injection, and disposal wells, high pressure/ high temperature producing wells, submersible pumped wells and more. "With Extremetube liners," said Davis, "Operators are experiencing significant reductions in operating costs associated with rod-on-tubing wear and tubing corrosion failures. The result is less workovers, increased tubing life, decreased lost production, lower downhole friction factors, and reduced lifting costs."

For more information, please call (800) VICTREX or visit the Victrex website at www.victrex.com or victrex.mobi.

Contact: Kris Jommersbach

Gemini Communications

PH: + (1) 610-935-1633

krisj@geminiinc.com

All Topics