ExxonMobil unit grants gravel-pack license

ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. has granted Weatherford International Ltd. a limited license to produce and deploy patented sand-control and completion technologies internationally for ExxonMobil and ventures in which it participates.

The proprietary Alternate Path technology creates alternate flow paths called shunt tubes in the downhole tool used for packing gravel during cased and open-hole well completions in sand-prone reservoirs. The shunt tubes allow packing to continue when sand prematurely blocks the well annulus by diverting the gravel slurry around sand blockages and through distributed portholes to fill voids in the annulus.