Trusted Engineering That Keeps Wells Operating Strong
Vertex strengthens well integrity by delivering fully integrated wellbore, casing, and tubing designs built with WELLCAT analytics software. Our engineers apply advanced modeling, comprehensive load analysis, and deep operational experience to reduce failures and optimize every stage of the well lifecycle. With proven expertise across complex drilling, completion, production, and abandonment environments, we help clients achieve reliable well performance with reduced risk and controlled costs.
Our specialists have engineered and evaluated more than three hundred unique string designs, supporting conventional, unconventional, thermal, disposal, and geothermal programs. Using WELLCAT’s full suite of capabilities, we perform transient thermal modeling, wellhead load assessments, material selection, and tubing expansion analysis that align with regulatory expectations and optimized engineering practice.
Key Features
- Industry experts in frac string engineering designs.
- Generated/evaluated over 300 different strings.
- Transient thermal analysis of disposal well tubing strings and packer selection
- Acid gas injection (AGI) well tubing and packer material selection
- Wellhead load analysis and thermal expansion modeling
- Geothermal wellbore and tubing string design
Benefits of WELLCAT Software
- Reduced tubing and casing costs
- Corporate risk reduction and enhanced due diligence
- Enhanced environmental protection measure
- AER Directive 10 compliance (Clause 1.8)
- Meet PWP requirements established by APEG
- Template/Area/Asset-based design analysis available
- Maximize benefits at minimal costs
Vertex applies WELLCAT to deliver complete engineering support for drilling, casing, production, and tubular system design. Our modeling covers temperature behavior, service loads, multi-string interactions, downhole tool temperatures, hydrate mitigation scheduling, and wellhead movement history. This approach ensures all strings are verified for installation loads, operating conditions, and long-term stress profiles.
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Drilling Design
- Cementing operations temperature modeling, including complex cement job schedule, spot cement plug in cased and open-hole, and inner string cementing
- HP/HT Hydraulics
- Downhole tool temperatures
- Sunsea wellhead and BOP temperatures
- Hydrate Inhibition program schedule
- Casing service loads during drilling
- Undisturbed temperature profile from log and drilling data
- Multi-string initial and final conditions, annular pressure buildup and WHM (wellhead movement) load history
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Casing Design
- Comprehensive casing design and analysis
- Installation and service loads
- Multi-string load transfer (initial conditions)
- Buckling stability and post-bucking analysis with and without centralizers
- Displaying the ISO (International Standards Organization) ellipse with user-defined connection performance curves (ISO 13679)
- ISO service load safety factors and temperature duration of connection performance curves
- Support new collapse load, issued by Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), Well Containment Screening Tool (WCST)
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Production Design
- Analysis of temperatures and pressure for flowing and shut-in well streams and during forward and reverse circulation
- Gas-lift operations
- Tubeless well discharge thermal flow scenario modeling
- Multi-string final conditions annular pressure buildup and WHM load history
- Thermo-setting resin and gel treatment
- Insulation requirements and permafrost thaw assessment
- Fracture and acid-stimulation jobs
- Modeling steam injection (saturated or superheated)
- Modeling a diversity of fluid-type inventory
- New collapse load (Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), Well Containment Screening Tool (WCST)
- Mechanistic models for improved pressure-drop calculations
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Tube Design
- Comprehensive tubing design and analysis
- Installation and service loads
- mechanically, hydrostatically, and hydraulically setting mechanisms
- Packer setting sequence
- Tubing movement
- Tubing-to-packer and packer-to-casing forces
- Multiple string and multiple packer completions
- CRA (Corrosion and Erosion Resistant Alloy) tubulars with yield anisotropy
- Displays the ISO ellipse along with a user-defined connection performance curve (ISO 13679) and ISO service load safety factors
- Packer operating envelope load check
- Packer and expansion joint schematics make it easy to visually review and check forces associated with different packers and expansion joints
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Multi-String Design
- Trapped annuli in subsea operations for determination of tubular burst and coolapse loads due to APB. Evaluate APB migration option by applying nitrogen and other noble gases and U Tube effects.
- Structural integrity of uncemented (unsupported) conductor/structural casing in platform operations due to wellhead movement and load redistribution
- Wellhead movement analysis also includes; Point of Fixity, Lock-Ring Rating,
- Wellhead Load Compensator, Lift-Off Analysis, and Progressive Failure Analysis Features
- Combined modeling of tubeless well discharge flow trapped annuli and wellhead movement of uncemented production casing scenarios
- Comprehensive well-soil interaction modeling for multi-string well-stress analysis
Deepwater License
The additional deep water license capabilities include temperature flow modeling using VIT (vacuum-insulated tubing) thermal flow and tubing analysis of production operations with Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP); Rupture DIsk, Syntactic Foam trap annular pressure mitigation techniques, and wellhead-movement progressive- failure analysis.
Cold Startups
In some subsea completions, a cold startup (initial flow) can be hampered or made impossible because of temperature losses and hydrating near the seabed mudline. VIT minimizes this problem by maintaining wellbore temperatures to prevent hydrate formation. The modeling of these temperature and pressure conditions for VIT can now be analyzed using the deepwater license feature.
VIT Modeling
The VIT enhancements add critical technology to the WELLCAT modules aimed specifically at solving VIT applications for deepwater and heavy-oil design problems. The heavy-oil capabilities are designed for high-temperature steam- injection scenarios. The VIT option is used to model thermal flow and stress analysis of vacuum-insulated tubing within the WELLCAT application. VIT is used to
mitigate the risks of APB, cold startups, and heavy-oil production when using the latest VIT systems
Heavy-Oil Production
In heavy-oil production scenarios, VIT helps maintain lower viscosity levels in steam flooding, “huff and puff,” and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) projects, reducing the need for artificial lift techniques and increasing total ultimate recovery (reservoir draw down). Using the deepwater license feature in combination with the WELLCAT steam- injection modeling license feature, it is possible to model temperature and pressure for vacuum-insulated tubing in heavy-oil production scenarios.
Annular Pressure Buildup
In deep water, high temperature and high annular pressure can cause casing strings to burst or collapse. Operators use VIT to mitigate these risks. VIT temperature-flow modeling using the deepwater license feature in combination with the WELLCAT Multi-string Design module helps model these possible scenarios.
Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP)
Extreme to ultra-deep HPHT reservoirs present the challenges of having low natural flow ability, the use of sub-,udline system such as (ESP) would help to increase production rates and increase well recovery. WELLCAT software includes production thermal flow simulation and tubing analysis of production operations with ESP.
Rupture Disk
Among the current trap annular pressure mitigation techniques to prevent annular pres-sure build-up, engineered rupture disks are designed to vent annular pressure in excess to protect outer or inner strings. WELLCAT multi-string module allows users to specify the location of rupture disk in the well mechanical configuration, verify survival initial conditions and solve annuli pressure and volume change due to disk failure.
Wellhead-Movement Progressive Failure Analysis
Wellhead-movement progressive-failure analysis enables a user to obtain axial loads and contact forces of the entire system once the hanger rating is exceeded. The WELLCAT software will distribute the loads through the system once the hanger ratings are exceeded, and only stop reporting once the rating equals the loading condition. The VIT and Progressive-Failure Analysis features are licensed separately to be used in conjunction with the Production Design, Tube Design, and Multi-string Design modules.
Steam License
The WELLCAT Steam-modeling option is used to model multiple steam circulation-injection scenarios in single tube circulation, including circulation and reverse circulation, injection through the tubing, injection down the tubing annulus, and simultaneous injection through both tubing and annulus.
Dual-tube completion modules:
- Tube-to-tube
- Tube-to-annulus steam circulations
- Reverse circulation
- Dual-steam injection
- Dual-steam production
- Dual-oil production with coiled tubing
- Dual long-string injection / short-string production
Syntactic Foam
WELLCAT multi-string module supports trap annular pressure analysis including the presence of syntactic foam. This trap annular pressure mitigation technique is designed to crush at a specified pressure and temperature creating additional volume for fluid expansion.
The modeling handles superheated or saturated steam using the rigorous PVT model developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Users can generate transient or steady state profiles for steam quality, temperature, and pressure versus depth. Time-based steam quality at specific depths helps determine steam breakthrough at perforations. These temperature results can then be used throughout WELLCAT for stress analysis, APB evaluation, and wellhead movement studies.
Case Studies
Geothermal Power Generation
Objective
Vertex’s confidential client is in the planning and scoping stage of a deep-well geothermal project. This project would see water (under pressure) more than 180 deg. C (300 deg. F) brought to surface for use in a steam turbine power generator. The thermal expansion effects on the casing, surface casing, cementing, and wellhead are significant and require specialized software and knowledge to properly design
Well360 Program at Rainbow Lake
Objective
A junior oil and gas producer – with limited staff - engaged Vertex to execute their Drilling Program in 2021. Their productive area was very remote and challenging from an execution perspective due to limited local resources. The client was required to complete their drilling, completion, and tie-in activities on an extremely tight schedule, including all sourcing of equipment, services and obtaining regulatory approvals.
