What is fiber and is it better than electrical TEC (Tubing Encapsulated Cable)?

Fiber optics have been around for some time now and is a solution that is still growing within the oil and gas industry. Fiber can be used to transmit data in hazardous environments, without a risk of electrical shock, which lends itself well to potentially dangerous environments at the wellsite.  

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), distributed temperature sensing (DTS) and distributed vibration sensing (DVS) are some of the most used applications of optical fibers in the oil and gas industry. DAS and DVS use the fiber to monitor acoustic signals from downhole. DTS uses the fiber to measure temperature variations along the whole length of the fiber downhole.  

This provides valuable data and analysis of the well, enabling the operators to make decisions based on facts, in the long run this will maximise the overall performance.  

There are two different types of fiber, single-mode and multi-mode fiber, which transmit fiber in different ways. Multi-mode tends to be the most cost effective but only suitable for shorter distances with a larger core. Single-mode has more bandwidth, less signal loss, smaller core and is suitable for longer distances.

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Fiber TEC vs Electrical TEC

Fiber – data speed, data reliability, lighter in weight, withstands higher pull pressure, more corrosion resistant.

Electrical – easier to handle, easier to splice, WHO installation is quicker.

To accommodate the fiber cable, there are fiber wellhead outlets. A fiber WHO in principle is the same as an electrical WHO, it allows you to connect your downhole and surface cable in a safe environment. The main difference is that fiber WHO’s need to splice the downhole and surface fiber together, this is usually done with a fusion splicer.  

Depending on your well, the choice between fiber and electrical will be based on many different factors: your well environment (temperature, exposure to water), required speed of data communication and the distance the data needs to travel.  

Author: Emily Reynolds

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