Category Archives: Articles

Flying Among The Clouds

Posted on by

Louis D. Brandies once said:

“Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done. Impossible means that you haven’t found the solution yet.”

A little over 100 years ago there were things that were considered impossible to do and that there was no way they could ever be achieved. For instance, to be able to fly among the clouds, but was it really an impossibility? Time proved that it wasn’t.

Just like flying among the clouds was impossible to do once, there are many things that thanks to the advancement of technology now are possible. For instance, a few decades ago horizontal or extended-reach drilling was considered impossible as well as casing wear prediction. In these environments, casing design is critical to a safe and successful drilling operations and well production, and unexpected casing wear can result in significant costs or even the loss of the well itself. This is the problem that drilling companies want to prevent.

So the question is: Is there any tool or software to calculate and predict casing wear severity? Yes there is! It’s called CWPRO.

2D wellbore schematic in CWPRO

This casing wear model uses the number of drill string rotations and contact force between the drill pipe and casing to calculate wear. The contact force is calculated using the dogleg severity inside the well. The maximum dogleg severity frequently determines the location and extent of the most severe casing wear. CWPRO helps operators and service companies identify, control and prevent potential problems. In overall the goal of CWPRO is to more accurately quantify casing wear risks and to ensure that the integrity of the casing is maintained during drilling operations.

Like mentioned before, there are many things that were considered an impossibility not too long ago like for instance, flying among the clouds. Likewise, thanks to software like CWPRO, predicting casing wear is no longer impossible; it is a fact.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Posted on by

In 1964 Bob Dylan said:

The order is rapidly fadin'

and the first one now will later be last

for the times they are a-changin'.

Those words are more real today than ever before. Viewing it from a technological perspective there’s no doubt in everyone’s mind how the modern world has evolved.  The oil and gas industry as a whole is in an accelerated and continuous state of change due to a combination of engineering, technology and innovation. This change has left no part of the industry untouched.

For instance before, mud engineers most likely did not have time to enjoy a good cup of coffee in the morning when making a mud report due to the amount of time they had to put into it to have it ready on time. As technology advances the story about the cup of coffee is a lot different. Thanks to technology mud engineers now with the help of software can make mud reports in less time and enjoy their coffee while the software does the work.

Change equals progress and progress equals success and that’s the case of our drilling mud reporting software, MUDPRO.

MUDPRO - drilling mud reporting

From its first version to its latest, MUDPRO has come a long way and it is without a doubt one of our most popular software. Even from its first release in 2011, MUDPRO proved to be a great tool for mud engineers. The program allows you to generate daily mud reports, save all data in your computer for further reviews, and manage inventory and cost. MUDPRO also allows you to easily import and export well data, do a recap report in seconds, and perform engineering calculations among many other features. However the way MUDPRO has evolved is proof that here at PVI we are updated with the latest trends. Our priority is to keep our customers satisfied and to make their work load lighter. With software like MUDPRO, mud engineers can become multitasking experts.

Having said all of that, as the industry changes so must the people related to it. In order to thrive in these times, the companies in the oil and gas industry have to be ready for whatever changes and challenges lie ahead. It’s time to keep evolving, because the times they are a-changin’.

The Work Of Art Beneath It

Posted on by

We’ve all heard it many times: Don’t judge a book by its cover. However, a new technology indicates that we may have to start taking this approach when we look at historic artworks, too. So in this case it would be: Don’t judge a painting by its image.

A team of Italian scientists has initiated a new way of revealing layers of paints in paintings that are invisible to the naked eye. They have applied their technique to a couple of legendary works of art. The technology uncovered previously undetectable details in some paintings, such as pigments in the subjects’ armor that had been painted over during previous restorations of The Chapel of Theodelinda.

The beauty and yet mystery of what’s been found in all these old paintings is what makes it so special. The reason why most of these artists decided to create works of art on top of works of art is yet to be discovered, and we will probably never know. However, what we know about all these artists is that they were the type of artists that took art and designs to the next level.

Software development is taking art and designs to a level that was unimaginable when all these paintings were created and its creation is quite an artsy experience. It’s how we characterize our approach to software development that defines us as artists. The design and implementation phases of software can be a process of creating art, which makes the whole process interesting.

Developing the right engineering software demands vision. We not only spend a significant amount of time focusing on meeting the software goals, but also we work towards finding the beauty of a good design. While aesthetics are very important, we also develop software that is reliable and works efficiently.

The art experts have been scanning these paintings with multi-spectral imaging technology and x-ray fluorescence intensity mapping to try to identify and map the colors of the hidden painting. They want to recreate a digital image approximating the colors all these artists originally used. This will allow the audiences to understand and appreciate art more and allows them to be part of a piecing together a puzzle. Likewise we apply the latest technology and drilling engineering models into our software to meet the needs and requirements of our clients. Our software not only enriches the experience and amplifies the skill of our clients but also allows them to be part of the whole drilling process and access what was impossible before. It gives them a clearer view of what lies thousands of feet beneath the surface.

PathView - True Vertical Depth, Horizontal Displacement and Dogleg Severity

PathView - Well Path Visualization

New technology has always helped to remind us that there’s a lot more to a masterpiece than meets the eye. At PVI we thrive to offer our clients more than what they expect. Not just merely what they see on a computer, but what they’ll be able to get at a higher level. Think of it as our software being “the painting” and the achievements you’ll get from using it as “the work of art beneath it”.

Two-Minded People

Posted on by

“I have two minds.” Quote from the book “Of Two Minds” by Carol Matas.

This is a phrase that can basically be applied to anything that involves decision-making.

When making a decision to buy or use a product, we all have two minds. We have a “buyer mind” when we want to get a product because we either have a problem, a need or a goal, and we believe this product will help us solve the problem, meet the need or reach the goal. But, we’ve got choices… and sometimes too many, so we would argue! Making a decision is always hard. We have to consider other products that can also meet our goals. Which one is a better product? What features does this product have that the others don’t? What features do these other products have that this one doesn't? What’s the cost difference between this product and the others? Sometimes we even take account other people’s opinions and recommendations on the matter. Considering all this narrows down our choices and helps us make a good decision.

Sometimes we wonder why some people would purchase an expensive product, but someone we trust recommends it, so we buy it, and after using it, we then understand why it was so highly recommended. The product is great to use and we realize now that the benefits it brings are of great value to us.

This is when our other mind, our “user mind” comes into action. It engages when we start using the product and when we start answering the questions we had when we were making the decision to buy it. “Is my problem solved or at least closer to being solved?” “Is it meeting my needs?” “Is it helping me reach my goal or does it feel like I'm making progress towards it?” And when the answer to all these questions is a big YES, we not only feel competent, but we also feel capable and effective.

Our “buyer mind” considers different things than our “user mind”. A “buyer mind” looks at our problems, needs and goals, considers the features and prices, and makes what looks like the best decision for us. Our “user mind” often chooses the best value, it’s the one responsible in using the product every day and the one that knows for sure whether our goals were met or not.

In our business of designing and developing drilling software, we are very aware that our customers are two-minded people and sometimes the buying mind and using mind have two different bodies. For example, the executives of a certain company make the decision to buy our software based on the perceived benefits to their company; however they won’t personally use our software and the actual users may not have been involved in making the purchasing decision, but they both have one interest in common: to make usage of the software to achieve the goal.

Buyer Mind and User Mind

That’s why our main goal at PVI is to satisfy the strategic goals of the buyer and meet the immediate needs of the users. When we talk about designing and development processes, we always consider “buyer mind” and “user mind”. We want our customers to accomplish what they bought the software to accomplish.

We've been talking about buyer mind, and user mind, but there are more minds than that to consider when we’re interested in a product. Think of these minds as a set of goals or concerns at play at the time you're considering the software. When you learn about it and consider all its great factors you will focus more on the enjoyment you’ll get from that interesting experience.

Innovation: The Right Mindset

Posted on by

I was doing some reading this past week and I stumbled upon a question that caught my attention, the question was: “Is a person’s talent stable and unchangeable?” The idea behind this question is to determine how far a person can go in life when pursuing their dreams. It turns out that the way a person answers this question influences how successful that person will be.

Our mindset is the view we have of our qualities and characteristics – where they come from and whether they can change.

Innovation: The Right Mindset

A fixed mindset comes from the belief that our qualities are carved in stone – who we are is who we are, period. A growth mindset comes from the belief that our basic qualities are things we can cultivate through effort and determination. We all differ greatly in talents, interests, or personalities, but everyone can change and grow in every aspect through application and experience. It’s very common for us to be somewhere in the middle, and to lean a certain way in one area of life, and a different way in other areas. Our mindset likely varies from area to area and our views may be different for talent, creativity, intelligence and personality.

We can change our mindset if we understand that having a fixed mindset leads to avoiding taking a chance on new ideas, but if we work on building our growth mindsets, we can start to work our way around this problem and explore new things that will expand our knowledge as well as our talent. The result from all of this is the fact that talent is something that can be developed, in other words, it doesn’t mean that we are either creative and innovative or we are not.  We can build these skills and we develop talent by building skills.

Human qualities like intelligence and creativity, and relational capacities like friendship and love, can be cultivated through effort and constant practice and this reflects the differences in the attitudes towards effort in the two mindsets. With a fixed mindset, having to work hard at something is a sign of failing, but with a growth mindset, hard work is the only way we can grow. No matter what we work on, as long as we give it our all, we will gain from it; no matter how difficult the job is, we can discover something new and move forward, even if it’s just a step forward. If we don’t do this, we cannot make use of our abilities when a really important job comes along.

Innovation - The Right Mindset

Innovation is based on talent. It’s true that with skilled people any company can innovate well, but if a person has the right mindset, they can build the talent that can help the company grow to a higher level. Of course, there are no shortcuts, to innovate we must practice, learn and improve. That’s how we develop our talent and therefore, in our case, how we improve our software.

Can You Afford Not To Use Drilling Software?

Posted on by

We decide to buy things based on the benefits those things may bring to us. Those benefits can be either tangible or intangible. If the tangible benefits are greater than the price, the decision process is easy, or if the benefits give us a perception of peace then we will most likely make the purchase.

Drilling software, in particular, is a product packed with advanced engineering calculations. One can say it is a condensed result of research, an interactive digital toolkit or an expert who never gets tired. It normally takes years of development by a well-trained team.

Setting prices for software packages is challenging because there are many uncertainties involved, such as market size, other similar products, etc. One thing is certain in any drilling software, if successfully used in pre-drilling analysis, it will most likely bring more benefits than the money spent on purchasing it. The cost of drilling an oil and gas well is so high that any non-productive time prevention (NPT) is well worth the spending.

Drilling software provides a good way of identifying potential problems in a drilling design and making good recommendations.

Take an example of casing centralizer placements, the purchase of centralizers is to provide a good casing standoff (>70%) to be better prepared for a cementing job. The standoff profile of a casing in a directional well depends on many parameters such as well path, casing weight, fluid densities, top of cement (TOC), centralizer properties and placement. Our past work experiences can help us select the proper types of centralizers and placement, but for a given well condition, it is best to use computer model to make recommendations for the centralizer usage. The following picture shows the resulting standoff profile with a designed centralizer spacing.

Standoff vs Measured Depth - Pegasus Vertex, Inc.

Standoff vs Measured Depth - CentraDesign

Thomas Edison once said: “I shall make electricity so cheap that only the rich can afford to burn candles.”

Nowadays, drilling software has become commonplace. Applying the latest drilling technology includes using the available solutions. Drilling software is like the electricity to light our understanding and design of drilling operations. Can you afford not to use it?

Feeling Good

Posted on by

I smiled when I saw the following post the other day:

People Will Not Forget How You Made Them Feel

“There would be a few people who would smile at it.” I thought to myself.

We all live in an inter-connected world. We provide services to others and receive services from others as well. We feel happy or sad when triggered by outside stimulus. Meanwhile, we bring good and bad feelings to others through our interactions with them. Sometimes we are the pigeon and other times we are the statue.

Deep in our hearts, we want to create happy feelings for ourselves and others through products, services or attitudes. The interesting thing is that when we make others happy, we unintendedly make ourselves happy.

Two decades ago, when I was newly graduated from university, I came to Houston to work for Maurer Engineering, Inc. Being a newcomer in an engineering consulting firm, I was overwhelmed by the whole new world of drilling industry and software development. My initial struggles soon became enjoyment as I dived into the pool of computer programming. Dr. Maurer gave me enough encouragement and trust, which made me feel real confident. That was also my first time to see my work being used by drilling engineers in the field. “Not many things are cooler than this.” I thought at that moment and over time all the good feedback fueled my enthusiasm to pursue it further.

We will keep having joy as we develop more sophisticated models. Creating something from nothing can bring tremendous joy and this feeling is amplified when this “something” is appreciated by other people.

The Enthusiasm is Compelling

Posted on by

Recreational activities are an essential element to have in the workplace. They give employees the ability to perform tasks or to solve problems in various ways that can be more beneficial to the business as a whole. Recreation helps to bring a fresh change to a work atmosphere that can inspire employees to be more productive, find joy in doing their work and to feel determined to succeed. Through a mixture of activities focused on balancing work, life and creative thinking, they may become more creative and enthusiastic at work. PVI has implemented activities where the employees can participate and connect with each other to help increase workplace creativity, performance and innovation.

The first ever PVI Foosball Tournament is a good example of this and it was a blast! The formula was simple: the names of everybody in the company were drawn from a jar and each employee had to pick a piece of paper with a name on it, whoever’s name was on that paper would be their partner for the game. Each team consisted of 2 members and everybody had to come up with a name for their team, (the originality of some of the names was unparalleled). There were third, second and first place prizes, and for those who did not win, the fun and excitement was a good reward.

Foosball Tournament

Each team laughed, yelled, and fought valiantly. All teams were very competitive, but not without integrity and great spirit. As teams waited, they had time to get to know one another better, which made it a fun event. The tournament lasted 2 weeks and the finals were intense, but at the end of the game a few positive things were learned from it.

Being involved in activities such as this can help employees to engage in their productive side while also learning beneficial team building skills, which lead to job satisfaction, service quality and customer satisfaction. Physical activities have also been shown to help increase brain sharpness and even strengthen the immune system, which help employees to relax and de-stress. You may be surprised by the results of having such activities in the workplace.

Ever since the tournament, Foosball has become part of our company’s daily routine. The amazing thing is that most of the employees had never even seen a Foosball table before, and now they are pros. Due to the positive results and popular demand, we are sure there will be more Foosball tournaments to come. The enthusiasm is compelling and it results in happy employees that use their critical thinking skills to come up with new ideas that can transform our business and our software.

Buried Jewelry: Casing Centralizers

Posted on by

People in ancient time had different burial customs that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. For example, the ancient Egyptians followed some rituals and protocols which included mummification, casting of magic spells and burial with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the Egyptian afterlife.

The ancient Chinese believed that the afterlife was a continuation of life on earth. Therefore, it was very important that all things they needed were buried with them in their tomb, including their jewelry.

Incidentally, in the oil well cementing business, people sometimes refer to the centralizers as “the cementing jewelry”, probably because they are installed on a casing string in a way similar to a bracelet on the wrist.

Centralizer On Casing

Centralizer On Casing

Casing centralizer is a mechanical device secured around the casing at various locations to keep the casing from making contact with the wall. As a result of casing centralization, a continuous annular clearance around the casing allows cement to completely seal around the casing to the borehole wall.

Because of the cementation of casing with centralizers underground, casing centralizers are literally buried jewelry.

Unlike those real jewelry buried in tombs, these centralizers provide a vital function in zonal isolation. Without centralizers, the casing touches the wellbore. In this case, cement slurry will have difficulty displacing mud in the narrow side of an eccentric annulus during a cementing job. This will lead to incomplete displacement of mud or mud channel as shown in the following picture.

Mud ChannelMud channel weakens the cement bond between the casing and the formation. The good news is that with a computer software like CentraDesign, it is easier than ever to choose the right centralizer type with certain properties and place them strategically along the casing for a particular well path.

Each well is different and centralizer types and properties vary. It is best to perform a standoff analysis for each casing before a cementing job. Note that the total number of centralizers required and their placement on the casing are equally important.

Attributes of Drilling Software

Posted on by

Socrates once said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates believed that the whole purpose of human life was about personal and spiritual growth. We are unable to grow toward greater understanding of our true nature unless we take the time to examine and reflect upon our life.

A company is like a living human being, who goes through various growing stages, from infant, childhood, adolescence to adulthood. Last week, 4 of our marketing people sat down and had a discussion on the core values that a drilling software company like us should have.

We agreed not to copy any of the phrases from the internet on company values. Many of these are well written, but they may not suit our particular needs. We want to look inward to see what we are cherishing and to identify the attributes that are missing in order to become a top provider of drilling software.

Each one of us listed 6 values and then we combined those 24 values until we narrowed it down to the final 6 core values for our company. Here is our thought process.

Core Values Thought Process

Core Values Thought Process

The selection process was simple and fun. As soon as we wrote down the final 6, we all agreed that these values should be the ones posted on our break room wall.

We did not use big words like “excellence”, because for instance, if our team members are honest, have great attitudes and take responsibilities, we will have excellent products and services. If we are passionate by default, we are diligent.

Our drilling software is “us” in digital formats. We put our knowledge into the software’s DNA. The more professional we become, the better product we produce. In other words, these 6 values are the attributes of our software in the eyes of our users.

As a team, we strive to be balanced between work and life. Our products are the results of the balance between technical brilliance and aesthetic designs.

Our graphic guru is designing the poster now. Once it is done and hung on the wall, I will post it on the blog. You will see it as soon as we see it.