VisuRay is an oilfield service company founded in 2004 specializing in revolutionary
inspection and characterization technologies for the upstream oil and gas industry.
Today, the company is developing three products using non-isotope based radiation
sources and next-generation wireline tooling. The company is headquartered in Malta,
with research and development centres in Stavanger and Houston.
The primary research and technology efforts focus on physical methods to image through
opaque environments such as heavy mud, brines and emulsified/multi-phase hydrocarbons.
A
prototype of the VisuWell system was designed and built demonstrating that the tool
could be safely controlled and real-time data viewed and analyzed simultaneously
by various teams via the internet -- the only requirement being an internet connection
and a browser. The radiation source which was designed, developed and built for the
prototype produces fully controllable ionizing radiation. The source produced a radiation
output comparable, if not in excess, of the radiation associated with dangerous high-activity
short half-life radioactive isotopes used in the oil and gas industry. As the radiation
source does not use any radioactive materials, it is harmless when de-energized.
The
prototype system was successfully tested on wireline in a mud-filled cased-well at
the Ullrigg well-test facility near Stavanger, Norway during 3Q 2007, under the supervision
of field-active representatives of BP, Shell and Statoil. The operators were able
to easily identify objects and details within the borehole regardless of whether
the well was flowing or static. The prototype development phase was deemed successfully
completed.
