History of Coiled Tubing Technology and its Current Status {{ currentPage ? currentPage.title : "" }}

The technology behind coiled tubing operation goes back to World War II. In 1944, British engineers were told to build long, continuous lengths of pipeline that would stretch from England to the rest of Europe. 

The project was called PLUTO, which stands for "Pipelines Under the Ocean." It helped the Allied armies move through Europe after D-Day.

In these early versions of the technology, the pipeline tubing was made and wound onto a spool. This was the start of what became the coiled tubing operation technology used in the oil and gas industry today.

Early tests were done with pieces of tubing that were butt-welded together, but this proved to be too difficult. Today, steel tubing that is continuously milled and doesn't have any joints is used to meet the need for flexibility.

In the oil business, this tubing technology has been around since the early 1960s, when it was first used in the United States. The California Oil Company and Bowen Tools worked together to make a coiled tubing tool that cleaned and washed out the sand that was stopping the oil from flowing in the wells. 

There are many advantages over the rigid pipes that have to be put in one section at a time, which is a slow and potentially dangerous process. 

The tubing can be put in quickly and can be used many times over the course of its life. This has a huge effect on the cost of using it, making it much cheaper.

A lot of regular maintenance work is done inside wells with this technology. In the oil industry today, it is mostly used for maintenance, which makes up about 75% of its uses. 

In a process called ultra-slim completion, coiled tubing is being used more and more to drill shallow wells. This is because of technological advances.

Depending on the width of the good bore and other factors, coiled tubing technology can be so efficient that the tubing can be unwound and fed into a well at a surprising speed of up to 30 meters per minute. 

But there are often things in the way that slow this rate down, sometimes a lot. So, the average rate of insertion might be more like 20 meters per minute. On the other hand, taking out coiled tubing is much faster because there can't be anything in the way to slow it down.

Most engineers who work in this field are very good at what they do. It is usually a skill picked up by people who know a lot about how engineering works in the oil industry in general. 

People often work with experts for a while to learn how to use coiled tubing technology properly and get the skills they need.

This kind of tubing does have some problems, though. It can't be used at depths deeper than about 6,000 feet, but this may change in the future. 

Wells that go deeper than this need to be drilled in a more traditional way. If the well bore is too small, it may not be possible to use coiled tubes.

The oil and gas industry has gotten a lot of use out of this technology and saved a lot of money because of how well it works. This, of course, can be passed on to the average person by slowing down the inevitable rise in fuel prices.

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