An small note from JPT about optech4d

1. E&P NOTES
24 JPT • AUGUST 2016
If you were at the Offshore Technology
Conference in Houston this year you may
have noticed the increasingly popular
trend of exhibitors using virtual reality
(VR) headsets to engage with attendees.
The unique visual and immersive qual-
ities that make these devices such great
marketingtoolsarealsowhatsomeinthe
oil and gas industry say make them such
powerful training tools.
VR technology has come a long way
since its clunky ancestors were first
introduced in the 1990s. Thanks to high-
resolution screen technology and power-
ful gaming engines, the latest generation
has been deemed by the techno-experts
as ready for prime time. Equally impor-
tant, VR has become affordable; some of
the high-end devices now sell for only a
few hundred dollars.
This confluence of capability and cost
is why Vincent Higgins left his job as
a senior-level industry consultant to
become the founder and chief execu-
tive officer of Optech4D. The 4-year-old
Houston-based startup develops cus-
tom training programs that recreate oil-
field and facility environments inside the
VR devices.
“I had an idea around simulation that I
thought could really be of value,” Higgins
said, adding that with VR “you have this
visceral experience of being there and it’s
as if it is actually happening. That adds a
level of learning that you could never get
in any other situation.”
The company also creates programs
for a similar technology called aug-
mented reality (AR). Instead of present-
ing users a computer-generated world,
AR gives people an enhanced version
of the real world complete with contex-
tual information about where they are,
where they are going, or what is in front
of them.
Analysts are predicting that 2016 will
be a watershed year for both VR and
AR. Global market research firm Gart-
ner said in a recent report that more
than 1.4 million devices will be sold
this year—a tenfold increase over last
year—and that by 2017 the number of
shipped units will jump to more than
6 million.
According to its website, Optech4D
has so far done work for oil companies
Eni and Shell along with the industry
construction giant Bechtel and rotat-
ing equipment supplier Dresser-Rand.
For one of its operator clients, Optech4D
designed a VR-based helideck officer
training program that performed so well
the company has begun certifying train-
ees onshore instead of spending mil-
A New Reality for Training
and Safety Technology
Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer
An illustration depicts what an oilfield worker sees in his field of view while
using augmented reality glasses. Technology developers from various sectors
say the technology enhances productivity and can improve safety. Image
courtesy of Optech4D.

2. 25JPT • AUGUST 2016
lions each year on flying them offshore to
become certified.
Higgins noted that VR training allows
supervisors to digitally track every move
a trainee makes and they can throw them
into scenarios too dangerous to recre-
ate in the real world, such as crashing
a helicopter onto the deck of an off-
shore rig. Workers can also plug into
the VR devices wherever they are for
training-on-demand.
One of the company’s next projects
is to develop a well control VR simula-
tion that would serve as an alternative to
the more expensive well control schools.
Down the road, Higgins wants to simu-
late well cementing and routine opera-
tions such as the inspection and mainte-
nance of blowout preventers.
Many of those in this space like to
point out that not only are younger work-
ers in need of the most training, they are
also the most likely group to embrace
this new approach. Since they grew up
playing the very video games that helped
drive the technology to commercial read-
iness, Higgins said young people intui-
tively adapt to VR. “They get in there and
they learn almost immediately using vir-
tual reality,” he added.
Intermsofadoptionanddevelopment,
VR currently has the edge but AR is not
far behind. AR technology can be used
oncomputertabletsorwiththeemerging
group of smart glasses that tend to look
like safety goggles on steroids. With the
glasses, AR gives users a hands-free abili-
ty to follow instructions or seek guidance
while performing a task.
For example, a field technician
equipped with AR glasses loaded with
gigabytes of information could walk up
to a broken compressor unit, and with a
glance to his/her left, be shown an easily
readable and scrollable repair manual.
Alooktotheright,andnowtheworker
sees a 3D model of the compressor that
can be virtually disassembled to show all
the internal bits with a simple hand ges-
ture. They can even play an instructional
video specific to that compressor model
before turning their focus back to the
repair job.
If the machinery has sensors or an
Internet-of-things device, then the AR
glasses could allow the worker to see
temperature, pressure, and other safe-
ty-critical data before even touching the
compressor.Andifthereisacamerabuilt
into the glasses, the worker can have an
impromptu video chat with a supervisor
whenever he/she runs into trouble. Hig-
gins envisions a future in which AR tech-
nologyenablesasingleequipmentexpert
to collaborate remotely with 50 or even
100 field technicians a day.
The big idea is that all of this will cut
down on mistakes and downtime. Last
year,theworld’slargestaircraftmanufac-
turer, Boeing, which coined the term AR,
presented a study it did with Iowa State
University that backs those claims. The
study showed that nontrained universi-
ty students using AR to assemble a mock
airplane wing got it right on the first try
90% of the time and 30% faster than the
groups who did not use AR technology.
With the hardware becoming widely
available, the focus will soon turn to the
software developers who will ultimately
bechargedwithmakingVRandARdevic-
es indispensable tools of our modern age.
But to achieve ubiquity, those developers
need companies from all sectors to start
using the technologies and help uncover
their most valuable applications.
This chicken-and-egg situation re-
minds Higgins of the time when another
smart gadget was first rolled out into the
marketbeforeeventuallytakingtheworld
by storm. “I waited in line in 2007 to get
the first iPhone and I used it mainly for
email and texting,” he said. “Now, I use it
for 50 or 60 different things because the
apps became available. It’s become part
and parcel of everything we do.”
Ohio Study Tries To Pin a Number to Earthquake Risk
Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer
Research and development firm Battelle
is working on a new induced-seismicity
study that aims to help wastewater dis-
posal well operators in Ohio stay on the
good side of state regulators.
Expected to be completed later this
year, the company says the study will
be the first to quantify a disposal well’s
potential to cause an earthquake.
Concern over disposal wells in Ohio
was brought to the fore when a series
of earthquakes jolted residents of
Youngstown, Ohio, in late 2011. A dis-
posal well near downtown was assigned
responsibility for the tremors and reg-
ulators responded by shuttering that
well along with several located near-
by—the scenario Battelle is hoping
its study can prevent from happen-
ing again.
“It’s really a risk-based mapping
study,” said Srikanta Mishra, a senior
research leader and energy fellow with
Battelle. “The idea is to show that within
the state of Ohio, there are some areas
that should be avoided and there are
some areas that could have potential for
wastewater disposal without represent-
inganyadverserisktothecommunities.”
Several independent operators in Ohio
are forming a joint industry project to
help fund the study and though incom-
plete, Battelle has already identified a
number of locations in the state where
those companies may want to think twice
about drilling a new disposal well.
Mishra said the high-risk areas have
low storage capacity and tight rocks
which limit the rate of injection, and are
close to fault zones. Researchers are also
using other risk factors, which include
the depth of the target formation and
the history of natural seismic activity in
the area.
These data points are used to create
a fluid flow analysis model that predicts
the pressure buildup in a formation as
a result of a specific volume of injected
waste water. “Then we couple that with
a geomechanics model that will say ‘If
this is the pressure, then that will trans-
late to this level of stress change, which
can produce an earthquake or seismic
activity of this magnitude,” Mishra said.