CDN NEWS | 
US NEWS 
The latest addition to the Winterhawk Casing Expansion Tool (CET) service line is the new CET for 4 ½” (114.3mm) casing, one of the most common sizes in Alberta.
Most of the of tens of thousands of shallow gas wells in central and southern Alberta were completed with this casing size. In the new resource plays of west central and northwest Alberta, 4 ½” also a common size of production casing for the horizontal interval.
In 2018 Winterhawk constructed its first CET for 7” (177.8mm) casing. This size was selected because of power and flexibility. Once proven, it is much easier to make oil tools larger than smaller.
After field testing and modification, the 7” CET went into the field early 2020. It has been run many times and has proven to be reliable and predictable.
For Winterhawk, CET success is defined as running the tool to required depth, expanding and releasing on demand, permanently expanding the casing, and retrieving the tool from the wellbore 100% intact.
After dozens of successful sets and releases with this tool, in 2021 Winterhawk developed a CET for 5 ½” (139.7mm) casing. That tool went into service later that year. It, too, has been successfully set and released dozens of times.
A year ago, Winterhawk began extensive research and testing on the power required to expand 4 ½” (114.3mm) casing. Shop compression tests in Winterhawk’s special purpose 500-ton vertical press, casing behavior, engineering at Red Deer Polytech, and cross references with hoop strength calculations developed for liner hanger assemblies were all employed.
With design criteria determined, Winterhawk contracted Attila Solyom of Solyom Engineering in Edmonton to design the tool. Solyom has more than 15 years of oil tool design and development experience with leading international oil tool companies. He was given free rein to put forward a new design that would be less expensive to build and service and could easily be modified to operate on coiled tubing.
After dealing with the usual industry supply-chain challenges associated with high-strength steels and special and suitable machine-shop capacity, the new tool was assembled. Shop testing took place in late 2022. After a few minor modifications, the tool was declared field ready in early 2023.
The first job was done with the tool in early February. It performed to design specifications.
Winterhawk now has CETs available in three sizes: 4 ½” (114.3mm), 5 ½” (139.7mm) and 7” (177.8mm) casing. Over 150 expansions have been undertaken in these three casing sizes.
Casing expansion can also be used to stop or reduce annular gas migration, repair distorted casing, and provide annular cross-sectional area restrictions for enhanced remedial cements.
The tools are based in the Red Deer shop of Tier 1 Energy Solutions Inc., Winterhawk’s field operations partner for the past five years.
For further information contact Ian Thomson, Vice-President Business Development, at 403.804.4108.
Share This:
