Oil well fiber optic sensor firm expands to Alaska

Schlumberger infrastructure in Alaska to provide local base for Sensa when acquisition is final later this month

Steve Sutherlin

PNA Managing Editor

Sensor Highway Ltd., trading as Sensa, is eyeing Alaska as a new market for its services. In September, the U.K. firm, which provides fiber optic sensing technologies and applications in oil and gas wells, was acquired by Schlumberger Oilfield Services, a business segment of Schlumberger Ltd.

Sensa will operate from Schlumberger’s facilities in Alaska once the acquisition is complete, David Smith, Sensa vice president for North America, told PNA Nov. 6. The transaction is expected to close at the end of November.

“We’re talking to clients in Alaska, and they’re very interested,” Smith said. “Given the current energy security situation, Alaska is in a strategic position and we want to be a part of it. We think Alaska has a very stable future.”

The primary function of Sensa’s fiber optic systems is to provide a temperature profile along the entire length of a fiber optic cable in real time. A laser flash every 10 nanoseconds is absorbed or transmitted by the silicon dioxide fiber, depending on the temperature. By analyzing the backscattered light, system computers instantaneously report the average heat along 3 foot sections of the cable.

The small diameter and temperature resilience of silicon fiber makes it superior to electronic components for oil and gas applications, Smith said: “Think of it as seismic with light.”

Sensa has no systems installed in Alaska now, but is active in Canada and elsewhere in the United

States, he said, adding that the company has cabled wells for BP, Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco Inc., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and others from “Aberdeen to Brunei. …

“We’re growing quickly; we have 180-plus wells completed around the world for all the majors, he said. “With Schlumberger it will grow even faster.”