The Industry Challenge

A major thermal operator contacted C-FER to investigate the effects of erosion on Inflow Control Devices (ICDs) and how their performance may change over +20 years in a SAGD well.   The long-term performance of these ICDs heavily influences the economics of SAGD production and is a key design consideration for all thermal operators.  Unfortunately, erosion mechanisms (and erosion testing) can be quite complex, and trying to evaluate erosion under the high temperature...

The Industry Challenge

Operators need to understand the influence of wear on the performance and volumetric efficiency of Artificial Lift (AL) systems.  More than that, they need to understand the relationship between wear and cost, where sometimes spending more money on exotic materials is not the best approach. 

They also want to test technology in the lab, and not in the field where learning is much more expensive.  This is best accomplished with a full-scale laboratory apparatus that’s...

Industry Challenge

Operational experience in SAGD wells have shown that proper control of steam injection and production inflow can have a significant impact on the overall economics of a SAGD development.  Potential benefits include rapid and uniform steam chamber growth, improved subcool control along the length of the well, improved production rates, improved ultimate recovery and reduced steam-oil ratios.

However, in order to advance the use and effectiveness of flow control devices and...


High rate injection or production of fluids with sand particles places wellhead components and downhole assemblies at risk of erosion damage. Depending on the severity and location of the material loss, this may pose a significant well loss or blow-out hazard. For this reason, assessment and mitigation of erosion can be critical for such applications.

In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used in conjunction with erosion models to assess the erosion damage...

The Industry Challenge:



How We Help:

C-FER built a full-scale flow loop that can simulate oil, water and gas inflow through flow...

The Industry Challenge:

The ability to predict gas and liquid flows is essential in the energy industry. Such flows might be in a reservoir, through wells and pipelines, in tanks, or throughout various processes.

When these flows are complex and difficult to characterize with analytical or empirical models, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can provide the answer.

How We Help:

A large number of calculations are performed allowing a variety of flow parameters to be quantified and visualized,...

The Industry Challenge:

Predicting flow behaviour is becoming more critical as Operators strive to control costs and ensure safe operations. The introduction of processes such as multi-stage hydraulic fracturing, downhole flow control devices and oilsands tailings management are increasing the scale and complexity of flow analysis.

Many of these new applications include multi-component, multi-phase liquids that might have shear rate and temperature dependencies that make it difficult to...