Expandable Steel Annulus Barrier Technology
The development of expandable steel annulus barriers (open hole packers) is opening new horizons in the upstream oil and gas environment. The basic concept of attaching an expandable steel sheath to the outside of the casing by welding (cost effective) or crimping (high anchoring and pressure ratings without impacting the base casing characteristics) opens up a wide range of products and applications.
Pressure compensation systems
Pressure compensation sytems incorporated in certain Saltel Xpandable Steel Packers provide very high differential pressure ratings, far above anything else available in the oil and gas industry.
As more and more successful operations are recorded, and the notion of a steel annulus packer between casing and borehole is shown to be the most effective possible, we can expect annulus barriers to become an industry standard for annulus integrity. Cement has been used for annulus isolation for over 100 years, replacing it by a steel barrier could well be the next revolution in the industry!