On March 28, Schlumberger reported the opening of a new purpose-built Production Technologies Center of Excellence to solve problems related to oil and gas production chemistry in deepwater, heavy oil and other extreme environments.

Supporting worldwide operations, the center features nine laboratories that combine Schlumberger process systems, production software and advanced chemistry. At the center, 40 research scientists will handle product development and formulation activities to maintain asset integrity, address flow assurance challenges and remedy production issues such as deposit formation and naturally occurring gases.

Schlumberger noted that the center helped a Middle East customer decontaminate electrical submersible pumps with an in situ solution to prevent unnecessary prolonged shut-in and mitigate costs of pump reconditioning.

Guy Arrington, president of M-I SWACO-Schlumberger, said the center plans to enhance oil and gas production in any environment regardless of difficulty by using proprietary technologies for product development, testing, sensitivity studies and modeling operating scenarios.

Schlumberger's unique Integrated production workflows combine the testing of reservoir fluids with advanced chemistry to support the development of specifically tailored chemicals and facilitate the testing of formulations under customer-specific conditions, the press release said.