What is coil tubing operation in oil and gas?

Do you know what the coil tubing operation is?

Do you know how does the coiled tubing actually work?

The oil and gas industry is a vast matter that contains lots of sectors and actions that must be done.

That stage of tubing is an essential and main process in the industry.

As someone who is already an expert in this field, you will only care about the development of this sector,
but as someone who is interested, you will need to know everything about this operation like when did it start, what are its sections,
how does it work, and how can we develop it?

So let us discuss everything which is related and comes under the tubing operation.

What is the coil tubing?

It is a very long pipe that is made of metal that is mainly designed to support being temporarily stored as a large reel.

The dimensions of this pipe are between 25 to 85 mm, roughly, 1 to 3.5 inches and it can go inside the hole in depth to 1500 feet.

When it comes to the oil and gas industry, the tubing is being used in the wells’ location to perform some repair actions.

And it is being used to perform some operations in this industry which seems like the wirelines operations.

Which is better, the coiled tubing or the wire-lining?

Both are equally the same but maybe the coiled tubing has an extra benefit which is being able of the chemical pumping into a deep depth inside the hole instead of depending on the gravity to do this.

What is the history of coil tubing?

To know the development of a specific sector of any field, you have to go back to the very old starting point.

It all started in 1944 when very long pipelines were produced and developed by a group of English engineers.

These pipelines were produced in order to transfer the fuel from the United Kingdom to Europe.

The British engineers gave this project the name ”PLUTO”, and the success of this project is one of the main reasons which led to the major development which made the actual coiled tubing that we are using nowadays.

And if you are interested here is a short video that describes the whole Pluto project thing.

In 1962, an American company which is located in California developed the coiled tubing to a higher unit in order to use it to wash the sand bridges away.

What is the coil tubing equipment?

If we are going to give a definition for this headline or for this expression, then it is going to be a unit where the CT ”Coiled Tubing” is getting dragged down into the wells.

The coiled tubing is made of a very long metal or steel pipe which is very flexible so it can easily be stored
on a large reel for transportation.

The CT unit is all about rolling pipes and power pack to save the hydraulic energy to support and provide the Coiled tubing with it.

And there is the control cabin which contains all of the controlling parts, a guiding injector head, and a control system that is responsible for the pressure in the CT.

Now let us see what every part means? and what is its use?

The tubing reel

It is the part that is mainly designed to store the coiled tubing.

The BOP

It is an important part that is designed to help with the CT operation.

Also, it plays an important role in other operations such as drilling, testing, and etc.

The injector head

This part aims to accomplish the whole mission by just giving the required effort to run the tubing machine
in order to get back the rolled pipes when the work is done.

The Power Pack

It is the system that allows transporting the power from one part to the other one.

The control cabin

This is the backbone of the CT operation.

And it is very clear from the name of this part that it has the responsibility to keep everything in this operation
under control.

The photo below shows each part of the CT.

The coil tubing operation, and how does it work?

It is a very effective solution when it comes to intervention performances through oil and gas wells.

This is the method in which the” Workover Rigs” fix the problems.

Coiled tubing operation works through getting the pipes deep down inside the well against the pressure
of the well itself.

The CT operation

The operation is about being performed on a live oil and gas well.

And there are so many operations that can be achieved through the CT Which include,
cleaning out the well’s hole and replacing the destroyed equipment.

Is The coiled tubing better than the traditional tubing?

First of all, you must know that the traditional tubing is no more but the straight pipes instead of the rolled ones.

And to answer this question, yes, the coiled tubing is much better because
it doesn’t require to be screwed together and it is low-cost if we compared it with the traditional one.

What is the coil tubing operator?

Because of the importance of this operation in the process of oil and gas industry, there must be someone
who is the head of this sector and pays attention to every single detail and every single decision is being made.

This one is the operator of the whole CT system.

The operator is someone who has the responsibility of performing supervised equipment.

Also, the operator must have the ability to plan and prepare the equipment for installation at the sites and
many other tasks which are so important for this role in such an important sector.

The coil tubing operation sections

As we all know that every sector of any industry has its own sections and stages.

As a result of these words, we can figure out that the CT has a lot of sections and we will be able to discuss most of them.

For Example,

A Clean well: even though it is not an essential condition to test the wells which are free from troubles,
but it is like an insurance for the best production of the well, such as the Baker oil tools which has a long and
successful reputation in the market.

There are a few methods which come under this section such as Sandtrap System, Debris Catching,
Underreaming, and etc.

Searching/ Fishing and Milling: when you use the coiled tubing to search for devices that are stuck in
the hole or the well, the hydraulic trucks are the best to use when it comes to this section.

But when it comes to the milling part, Coiled tubing is being used to grind the materials like metal and cement.

Location Isolation: this is considered as the most important section when it comes to coiled tubing operation.

Because of the pipes in the tubing operation, the well’s maintenance solutions can be carried out so easily,
which leads to dispense with any requirements which are used in the expensive well killing operations.

Location isolation also has a major role in killing any opportunity that may damage the well.

There is a specific system in this section to know whether the required area is in the top, down, or in between.

These are most of the sections which are included in the CT operation.

Coil tubing operation’s services

Every operation has its conditions and its stages and benefits.

But the coil tubing operations is one of a kind, through this operation, lots of services are being performed.

Let us shed some light on a few of the services.

Pumping

This operation is used to disperse the liquids into a specific spot in the well such as cementing holes.

Circulation

The hydrostatic fluid column leads to banning the formation’s liquids from being flowed.

In order to avoid this happening, is to recycle the liquids using a gas such as nitrogen.

Also, This stage can be used to clean out the well’s hole from the light debris.

Drilling

This has a bonus benefit which is spending less effort in order to drag in ad drag out from the well.

Another benefit added to the list, that the CT gets to the hole through a striper placed on the injector head part
which supports the hydraulic seal.

Production

Mainly, this stage is more about the well’s which are not producing gas and oil as much as they produce water.

The pipes are being run inside the casing or inside the traditional or the conventional tubing.

Work staring

At the very first beginning, the CT was developed in order to serve the wells especially the live ones which
the work string is considered as an essential benefit of it.

Work string is an operation that allows performing some missions through the Coiled tubing by putting
”Bridge Plugs” in the production level to the drilling operation.

Completions

The CT serves this operation by hanging the pipes inside the Well for decreasing the flow.

Later it will be easy to unload the fluids in the well’s hole because of the velocity in the oil and gas wells.

Coiled tubing in business and marketing

In business

This business of these kinds of industries is a little bit complicated rather than the other kinds.

In the CT business, you have to focus on two main sections which are the demand and the supply.

Demanding: the market’s needs for the coiled tubing is increasing day after another.

And because of the huge investment in oil and gas in the middle east, Europe, and the united states, in addition
to technology’s invasion, the world will witness a noticeable increase in the need for well’s services.

And that means that the demand for the CT operation’s tools will also increase, as well as the job opportunities.

Supplying: The market for this industry is very competitive.

When some companies are able to provide all kind of services, on the other hand we have companies which are
specializing in one sector.

The manufacturing of the CT equipment is done by some market’s players who are not supporting the coiled
tubing services in a direct way.

In Marketing

Understanding the nature of your business is considered as step one in your success.

Searching for the chances in the market and collecting data about your competitors is very important.

Marketing for this industry depends on the good plan and an effective strategy.

You have to pay attention to the price and cost.

You have to make a full analyzation of the value chain.

The coiled tubing between risks and golden chances

Understanding the nature of the industry leads you to understand how effective is it.

And since the coiled tubing is only about tools designed for deployment, the value of this operation may come
from several sectors that are different from each other.

So the coil tubing operation field is mainly a golden chance in the market because of the unique industry itself and the investments.

And avoiding the risks which may face you depends on how good your plans and the studies.

The future of coil tubing

The market of the CT is now divided into several sections, such as the equipment, services, and uses.

And due to the massive success of the investments and the revenue, The CT is predicted to score a huge
growth in the upcoming years.

According to some reports:

The global market size of Coiled Tubing Services is $XX million in 2018 with XX CAGR from 2014 to 2018, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2026 with a CAGR of XX% from 2019 to 2026

The summary

Coiled tubing is a very long pipe that is designed to support being temporarily stored as a large reel.

The story of the CT started with a small project called ”PLUTO”, and then it was developed to the current Coiled
tubing now.

The Coil tubing consists of so many tools, each one of them performs a specific mission.

The coil tubing operation is divided into sections, such as cleaning out, fishing, and location isolation.

The one who is responsible for all of this called the operator.

Coil tubing operation supports so many other services such as pumping, circulation, production, drilling, and etc.

The CT in business depends on demanding and supplying, but when it comes to marketing it depends on
searching and collecting data about the competitors, setting up good strategy and well- studied plan, in addition
to analyzing.

Every field has its own struggles, challenges, and risks, but it also has the solutions to overcome them.

Also, it has so many golden chances that you have to take advantage of them when you get this chance.

Last but not least, the future of the coiled tubing is so near and bright, so do your best to stay in the race of this industry.