The production and demand ratio for oil continues to grow and the same applies for gas. A huge number of industries have developed surrounding these natural hydrocarbon resources. Due to the increasing demand, there are procedures that are carried out to extract the resources from oil and gas well. Also, various measures have been taken to extend the producing life of oil or gas well and also to continuously improve the quality of those extracted natural resources. The industry standard term for the above procedure is Well Intervention which can be simply summarized as well diagnostics.
What is Slickline?
This terminology refers to cabling technology that is used by the vendors of those natural resource reservoirs to run and retrieve tools, flow control types of equipment and measuring devices into the well for well intervention purpose or sometimes pipe recovery also. It is basically a single strand of thin steel wire. It is a sleek, long, unbraided wire that is usually shiny silver or chrome in look. It is basically a method of conveying tools into a wellbore under pressure and conducting operations under a cased hole. They are performed during all phases of a well’s life. The slickline tools function with mechanical movements and are controlled by the wireline truck operators which are stationed at the surface.
Tools for Slickline:
The most commonly and heavily used tools are:
- Jar: This sort of tool may be extended and closed hastily to set off a mechanical surprise to the tool string. This surprise or jerk could lead to certain components like plugs to get locked in a place and unencumbered later on when needed. This tool is commonly used to cut off tiny brass or steel pins. Wireline operators manually operate Spang jars. These operators lift or run down the wires more rapidly but this definitely requires a great deal of efficiency and expertise level.
- Stem: The purpose of Stem is to append weight to the tool string. However, the weight may vary, as it is directly proportional to the pressure of the well, oil or gas – whichever it is dealing with. There are variations of the stem of which one of them is known as Roller stem. They usually have wheels, and, because of the built-in wheels, they allow the tool string to slide smoothly down by the rough walls of the well.
- Pulling Tools: In order to retrieve some other wireline types of equipment which have been dropped or placed deep down inside the well, Pulling Tools are required. These tools are designed with “fishing necks”, as they are popularly known. Such tools are always armed with a safety feature “shear pin” so that they can easily bring back a tool string back to the surface.
There are numerous slickline tools, which were left, worth mentioning; to be precise, some of them are Gauge Cutter, Downhole Bailer, Stroke Bailer and others. The slickline tools can be used for setting or removing plugs, memory logging, fishing and numerous other purposes which would not be covered in this scope. Using the slickline well, service operators typically perform light interventions that have an immense source of benefit in the long run.