OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2014. ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company has awarded Delta Screens & Filtration LLC a limited international license to ExxonMobil’s Alternate Path technology patent portfolio for gravel packing cased and openhole completion wells.

Alternate Path is a patented technology developed by ExxonMobil to improve the reliability of wells completed in sand-prone reservoirs. The technology provides alternate flow paths called shunt tubes in the downhole tool used for packing gravel in the producing sections of a well. The shunt tubes enable the Alternate Path packing operation to continue when sand prematurely blocks the well annulus, which would stop a conventional packing operation. The shunt tubes divert the gravel slurry around sand blockages and through distributed portholes to fill voids in the annulus until a complete pack is in place.

“Alternate Path technology is one of several sand control completion technologies developed by ExxonMobil to improve reliability of sand-prone production wells,” said Sara N. Ortwein, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company. “When the geology and the economics of a development call for openhole completions, Alternate Path technology is the technique preferred by ExxonMobil.”

The Alternate Path license allows Delta Screens to produce and deploy Alternate Path technology for ExxonMobil affiliates around the world and for ventures in which ExxonMobil participates.

“Alternate Path technology gives us a more reliable way to gravel pack wells where we need sand control,” said Delta Screens President, Richard Grifno. “Alternate Path is field proven and we’re very pleased to be approved as a licensee for ExxonMobil.”