Why The Need For The Hpht Riser Has Arisen

By Author: Zenil Shroff
Total Articles: 43
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With a global economic disquiet, plus a looming environmental crisis, on-going wars affecting popular oil fields, the complacency we have had about a future of easily available or accessible oil and gas is starting to wane. Consequently, as the gas and oil companies continue to search for our much needed natural resources in less easily accessible places, the moment of the ‘normal' oil well is fast passing, bringing instead the higher instance of the HPHT (High Pressure, High Temperature) wells, with the increased need for safety and innovation such as the HPHT riser and its kind. So what's it all about?

A HPHT well is one which basically has a much higher core temperature and a greater geopressure than typical gas or oil wells. For example, by definition, the temperature at the total depth of a HPHT well would be higher than 300 degrees Fahrenheit (149 degrees Celsius), whilst the and pore pressure reaches at least .08 psi per foot.
Until the more recent past, HPHT wells were considered unworkable because of the challenges and hazards they presented. As technology in HPHT drilling has developed, so ...
... extraction from these wells has become a more realistic and practically workable possibility.
HPHT wells are well-known for having reservoirs which contain more hydrocarbons. If initial analysis indicates that this is the case for a particular site, then the drilling and the creation of HPHT wells is seen to be economically viable (if not extremely profitable) for gas and oil companies.
However, it is not all about profit. The depletion or inaccessibility of established reservoirs means that investigation into HPHT wells may be one of the few options left in the pursuit of the fossil fuels that domestic users and industry now take for granted.
Due to their very unpredictable natures, a significant level of expertise has to go into the planning, analysis, exploration and excavation of these areas. With HPHT drilling, there is an increased emphasis on detection and analysis of the geopressure of the identified area.
HPHT continues to be a growing technology in the gas and oil industry sectors due to the need to meet the expertise required in working HPHT wells. In addition to the viability of the wells themselves, investment into developing appropriate machinery to assist with HPHT technology is also now seen to be not just economically viable, but essential for the future of gas and oil industries.

As such, the innovation of components such as the HPHT riser are deemed to be just the beginnings of a whole generation of development and innovation in HPHT technology which will literally feed into the increased use and viability of HPHT drilling.