DUNEFRONT: Optimised Solutions from Independent Sand Control Specialist

Sand production is not a problem localised to any one area or territory, it is very much a global one and is considered among the most significant issues when facing potential reductions in wellbore productivity and risks to completion longevity. Because the process of sand and solids production in well operations is one of the main causes of hydrocarbon production decline, it is essential to properly determine what types of solids or formation sand are produced in order to select the most efficient and effective sand control technique(s).

Sand and solids production often leads to reductions in productivity and subsequently asset net value. It also necessitates additional expenditure due to increased monitoring and maintenance of surface and downhole equipment, which can have significant economic and HSE implications if they fail. The combination of loss of production and increase in operating costs results in inflated overall costs per unit of production which negatively affects the operator’s bottom line. The main objective of a sand control completion is to eliminate these risks by preventing sand production outright while maximising well productivity, thus avoiding the financial losses, HSE incidents and damaging effects, even shutdowns, which are otherwise inevitable if sand production occurs.

The value of the global sand control market was estimated at $2.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at 8-10% per year. “Sand production generally has a significant negative effect on the value of the well,” DuneFront cautions, “and expenditure to control it is intended to provide a good return on that investment; sand control, if done properly, almost always transpires to be money well spent.”

SOFTWARE AT ITS CORE

DuneFront’s headquarters are in London, also home to its Founder and MD, Philip Wassouf. Wassouf has accrued over 15 years of sand control experience. Prior to incepting DuneFront he was with Schlumberger, undertaking field engineering and product champion roles supporting new technology development and global operations in both sand control completions and pumping services.

Now responsible for the day-to-day running of DuneFront, no one is better placed to provide a comprehensive rundown of the primary objectives of this global company. “We are classified as an independent consultancy,” he opens. “We provide software, consulting and training services globally to a wide variety of oil and gas operators, service companies and consulting companies.

“We’ve supplied services across all stages of field and well development, everything from pre-development technique selection and design to installation best practices and post-development evaluation,” relays Wassouf. “It helps being an independent company, as it means that we can provide truly impartial advice to ensure that our clients get the best recommendations possible.”

DuneFront’s training programmes, which range from introductory to advanced and refresher courses, are always designed with the specific requirements of the target audience in mind. “Our independent company status again comes into play here,” Wassouf enthuses, “helping to differentiate our training programmes from other providers by ensuring that our courses give an impartial view of the technology and processes used across the industry.

“At DuneFront, we are helping customers to invest in the future by building and maintaining in-house sand control expertise through extensive, customisable training programs.”

While the company’s offering is extensive, Wassouf leaves no ambiguity as to its central focus. “At its core, DuneFront is very much a software company, and we develop several products that are used by most of the major oil and gas companies around the world. We of course support these products, and our customers, with the totality of our services.”

This software is subscription-based and is licensed to customers in-house on an annual basis with DuneFront remaining close at hand to provide training and answer technical support questions as and when they arise. Wassouf adds that there is a more bespoke angle to DuneFront’s overall offering. “We also do project-based work when it comes to our consulting and training services. In this scenario, a customer will approach us on an as needed basis, (usually) with a specific topic with which they need help. The design of an upcoming well completion, for example, or an evaluation of a previously completed well to confirm its success, investigate any failures and identify opportunities for improvement.  We can help ‘flesh out’ the details and then work together with them on that project.

“Our business model is designed to allow us to be flexible, combining relevant elements of our software, consulting and training services to fully meet our clients’ needs,” Wassouf adds. This flexibility extends to its footprint, with DuneFront having engineering staff active on nearly every continent. “Our technical team is spread across the world in North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. This is integral to ensuring continuous availability and support for DuneFront’s global client base,” a geographical triumph as DuneFront approaches the end of its first decade in business.

CENTRAL SAND CONTROL SPECIALISM

PackPro and DataPro are DuneFront’s celebrated software duo, the former representing a complete solution for sand control simulation, evaluation and optimisation, and the latter providing a powerful tool to easily manage and manipulate large data sets. By integrating advanced modelling and data analysis techniques, and providing all the requisite tools required to design and analyse sand control treatments, DuneFront’s software allows engineers to take full control of the engineering process and understand the best ways to optimise their operations.

“PackPro has been developed by sand control experts to provide a practical, fast and accurate software with an intuitive and easy to use interface,” Wassouf details, “and is used by most major operators and service companies for in-house simulation and evaluation of sand control completions.” DataPro is designed to provide practical tools to easily import, merge, modify, plot and export large datasets, thereby facilitating the whole data handling process.

“It is an intuitive software, designed to easily and visually handle large amounts of numerical data in any industry, not just the oil and gas sector. DataPro provides practical tools to simplify all steps of the data handling process and is built using the latest technology for fast performance.”

All these systems, services and offerings are centred around the key specialisation of sand control and Wassouf is keen to make the incredibly important point that it is a niche that DuneFront has made its own. “We are the only company in this space to be able to provide the complete package of software tools, consulting expertise and training support our customers need to manage their sand control challenges now and in the future.”

Wassouf is proud of the team DuneFront has assembled which has over 150 years of experience with both operators and service companies. “Our customers benefit greatly from this diverse experience concentrated in one tight knit group. Whatever a client’s sand control challenges may be, we fully believe that DuneFront has the knowledge, experience, and tools to overcome them,” an assertion supported by a strong track record of success.

FUTURE PLANS

While DuneFront is constantly evolving to meet the industry needs, Wassouf explains any development is always done with a view to retaining the company’s guiding motive to simplify, strengthen and standardise conventional oilfield methodology when positioning itself for future growth. “Along with the process of branching out to work more generally in the completions sector,” Wassouf adds, “we are about to release, in the next few months, a revamped cloud version of our software.

“The software has been around for nearly 10 years and has historically worked in an offline desktop environment. We are now migrating this to the cloud to enable access to things like supercomputing, AI, and machine learning – a true plethora of modern technologies. We also have two further software products in the pipeline, which will be applicable to our specialist field of sand control, but which will also have applications elsewhere for any field operation where fluids are circulated or displaced.”

Though still a comparatively small company within the oil and gas industry, Wassouf asserts DuneFront is growing rapidly in all regards and is bringing a significant impact to an ever-broadening spread of customers. Wassouf concludes “we are ‘niche’ in what we do and have proven capabilities in accomplishing our clients’ objectives. Our personnel are recognised experts in their field and virtually every sand control project around the world uses DuneFront’s services either directly or indirectly. What is never in doubt is that we will always remain at the vanguard of developments and will add new features and technology to continue to offer our customers something that no-one else can.”