Informed Isolation™

Enform Technology is an Informed Isolation™ company that delivers metal-to-metal sealing and gripping technologies below the wellhead and across the lifecycle of the well.

Informed Isolation™

Enform Technology is an Informed Isolation™ company that delivers metal-to-metal sealing and gripping technologies below the wellhead and across the lifecycle of the well.

Our Business

Informed Isolation™ Across the Well Lifecycle
Enform Technology is an Informed Isolation™ company that delivers metal-to-metal sealing and gripping technologies below the wellhead and across the lifecycle of the well – from well architecture and drilling through to well integrity and production, and plug and abandonment (P&A).

What do we mean by Informed Isolation™?

We mean validation in situ where operators can validate our metal-to-metal seals immediately after deployment, rather than via multiple trips and testing as with other downhole solutions today. The result is real-time validation and complete confidence in the precision and performance of our metal-to-metal solutions. No other company can provide this.

Through our proven formable-based technologies that perfectly form to the shape of the well and our real-time sealing validation, we provide operators with reduced risk, increased production, and greater downhole precision and performance across the well lifecycle.

As an Oil States Enterprise, we also enjoy the best of both worlds – the resources, testing and formidable expertise of a 75-year old industry pioneer alongside the entrepreneurial and ‘can do’ mindset of a young company committed to leading the market in validated downhole isolation solutions.

Why Us?

MORE of Everything
As the only company providing truly informed and pressure validated isolation solutions across the well lifecycle, we deliver:

  • > Reduced risk, guaranteed well and casing integrity, and complete sealed-in confidence;
  • > Increased and more profitable production through optimal well design and production, no compromises on well architectures, and a pre-empting of drilling and integrity challenges to extend the life of the well;
  • > Greater precision and performance in downhole operations, whether through light well intervention, more ID, or more precise isolation; and
  • > The reassurance of the proven experience of a company with over 230 formable installations worldwide, a 100% success rate, and a 75-year old history of high-tech innovation in the oil & gas sector.

In short, you get MORE of everything – MORE ID, MORE experience, MORE confidence, MORE precision, MORE well integrity, MORE production and MORE value – and all through a single, validated trip down the well. That’s what we mean by high value Informed Isolation™.

The Technology

Formables™

Enform’s Formable technology underpins everything across the product portfolio.

Formables technology leverages the core principles of autofrettage, used in the manufacture of high strength tubular constructs, such as high-pressure cylinders, fuel injection systems, and large-bore gun barrels, to create durable and permanent metal-to-metal connections. Just as in autofrettage where the mechanical strength of steel and hydraulic pressure enables metals to shape together, so Formables shape metal downhole to confirm perfectly to the shape of the well.

Conventional autofrettage moves the internal stresses of a single tubular from the external surface of the ID to an internal plane by expanding the material just enough to put the ID into plastic deformation whilst keeping the OD within the elastic limit. When the expanding force is released the internal material tries to retain its new dimension, while the external material tries to return to its original dimension, changing the internal stress distribution, and alleviating the onset of stress cracking of the internal surface under the high loads of its intended application.

Enform’s application of these autofrettage principles is to take two tubular components (one of them usually being the existing client casing), with an initial annular clearance, and apply extreme fluid pressure to the ID of the inner tubular, intentionally taking it beyond its yield value. The inner tubular expands out to meet the ID of the outer one, transitioning into its plastic deformation state in the process. On contact with the larger tubular, further pressure is applied, typically in the region of 30,000 psi, to also expand the outer tubular. However, the forces are carefully limited to ensure the outer tubular deflects only slightly, and remains completely within its elastic region. When the pressure is released, the majority of the plastic deformation within the inner tubular is permanent, and this tubular tends to its new dimensions. However, the outer tubular remains elastic, and tends to return to its original dimensions, smaller than those trying to now be maintained by the inner one. The resultant residual stresses are now locked into this new composite assembly and these are harnessed to generate a gas-tight connection capable of high-pressure metal to metal sealing, and extreme axial load capacity.

The result from autofrettage and the resulting Formables is a permanent gas-tight sealing solution that can be instantly verified, allowing oil & gas operators immediate confidence in their downhole isolation.

Informed Isolation™. The perfect fit via a single trip.

instant

forming

15 000 psi

pressure rating

1.5m lbs

superior axial load capacity

V0 rated

gas-tight sealing

R&D / Facilities

Tested by the Industry for the Industry

Enform is built on a culture of innovation, rigorous testing and ongoing collaboration with many of the industry’s leading operators. This way we can ensure that our products – operating in the world’s most challenging downhole conditions – are closely aligned with market needs and meet the highest specifications.

Our in-house testing is routinely conducted in the most challenging of simulated downhole conditions – covering downhole gas/liquid ratios and pressure, load and temperature scenarios. All products are subjected to qualification according to international standards that include ISO 13679:2002; and ISO14310-V0.

Enform and Oil States operate two of the industry’s leading Research & Development (R&D) and Testing facilities – in Heartlands, Scotland and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Along with expert technical support gained from decades of industry-leading testing and solving of the most complex engineering challenges, this means we can offer no-compromise, no-doubt, full-confidence sealing solutions.

The Heartlands state-of-the-art UKAS accredited Structural Test Laboratory, sitting on 27 acres of land between Edinburgh and Glasgow, includes:
  • > Advanced and internationally recognized structural testing of tubing and casing designed to simulate normal and extreme load cases for product evaluation, prototype development, and design validation of all FEA analytical models.
  • > Purpose-built 1000, 2000, 2400, 2800 tension/compression test rigs all to UK ISO 13679-API 5C5 standards, as well as an 8000-ton test rig, which is the largest capacity rig available for testing with extreme loads for 4.5″ to 44″ diameter assemblies.
  • > Bend test rigs are capable of handling up to 36″ diameter specimens with up to 9 million ft./lb. of maximum moment.
  • > Together, these provide a suite of comprehensive testing service capabilities, including tension and compression with combinations of internal and external pressure with bend, along with high-temperature cycling with gas or hydrostatic pressure.
  • > Computer controlled testing systems and digital capture of test results provide customers full flexibility and world-class testing capabilities to ensure that each and every application is fit-for-purpose for even the most extreme downhole environments.
The Oil States Tulsa Engineering High Pressure/High Temperature facility includes:
  • > Three vertical downhole simulation wells to accommodate various tool sizes, wellbore conditions, and testing scenarios. Pressures can go up to 15,000 psi and 400°F/204°C.
  • > Independent wells and a sophisticated control room for monitoring and data recording allow for simultaneous testing with different schedules according to customer requirements.
  • > A 70-ton hydraulic press for compression tests.