An R&D center and laboratories of excellence

The 10 laboratories at the CSTJF, originally created to meet the needs of the Exploration & Production branch, develop competencies that today help them to provide solutions to the new environmental challenges TotalEnergies faces. This article gives an overview of the capabilities of our equipment and the integrated strength of our teams of laboratory technicians and engineers. Our laboratories are constantly adapting to the questions raised by affiliates and operations - this experience serves to build customized solutions tailored to meet the needs of the affiliates, and fulfil the Company’s ambition.

 

Drilling & Wells, accompanying the energy transition

The three Drilling & Wells laboratories support drilling campaigns by proposing solutions that ensure borehole stability and integrity, as well as solutions to make sure that the wells are good injectors or good producers. The activities originally dedicated to hydrocarbon production can be easily adapted to other energy transition issues, such as CO₂ or hydrogen storage, or the characterization of geomaterials

  • Fluids and Cement Laboratory (F&C lab) 
    The F&C lab, directed by Sandrine Annet-Wable, specializes in the design and quantification of drilling fluids (base oils, brines and drilling muds) cement slurries. It has 90 items of ISO/API certified apparatus that can run tests at temperatures between 1 and 300°C, and at pressures of up to 2,000 bar. It comes into play in the Oil & Gas sector to ensure good drilling conditions, borehole stability in-situ conditions, and well integrity. It’s a laboratory that contributes to sectors related to the energy transition for issues such as CO₂, storage, biosourced products, hydrogen storage, etc. but could also meet the needs of future projects involving polymers, wind energy and hydraulic dams.
  • Reservoir Well Interface Laboratory (RWI lab) 
    The RWI lab, directed by Marie-Héléne Alves, has accompanied TotalEnergies’ Drilling & Well activities for decades. It develops research programs and tests in different sectors including reservoir integrity, sand control, stimulation, hydraulic fracturing and water management. Today, the RWI lab aims to accompany the energy transition and, in particular, CO₂ and hydrogen storage. Two gas injection units have been deployed with the University of Lille to develop competencies regarding injection in porous media.
  • Geomechanics Laboratory (GM lab) 
    The GM lab, directed by Pierre Barlet, is recognized for its expertise in the measurement of rock mechanics and acoustics, to study their behaviors in different environments. These are crucial safety and efficiency measurements used by Oil & Gas, and by geological storage projects. The GM lab is more and more frequently called upon for environmental projects - to examine rock integrity for CO₂ storage, the long-term interaction between salt and cement in hydrogen storage sites, etc.
     

Processes, deploying sustainable facilities

  • Production Fluids Flow Assurance Laboratory & Pilots (PFFA L&P)
    The mission of the PFFA L&P Laboratory is to characterize the fluids produced on our oil & gas facilities. Once the risks have been identified and assessed in this initial phase (organic or mineral deposits, separations, etc.), the Lab then selects the best flow assurance additives. It also contributes to ensuring our asset integrity (selection of a corrosion inhibitor). Several pilots located at the CSTJF mean that we can work in conditions that accurately represent the reality of our production sites (dynamic measurements) and validate the additives selected initially at laboratory scale. "The treatment of our effluents and our production fluids is a major issue for TotalEnergies. The selection of additives, in particular as regards the treatment of our produced water, helps reduce or even eliminate our environmental impacts. Our core activity is to resolve operational problems related to the nature of the fluids produced or discharged." Jean-Marc BOUMERA, Laboratory Manager, Laboratories & Pilots - CSTJF Pau.

 

Geosciences & Reservoir, tomorrow’s solutions

The 6 Geosciences & Reservoir laboratories at the CSTJF have expertise and experimental techniques unique in the industry, which enable them to tackle the most complex issues many different areas (O&G, CO₂ storage, materials, batteries, etc.).
Our peers and partners recognize our operational excellence and drive for innovation, which is a great source of pride for the laboratory teams.

  • Imaging Center of Excellence Laboratory (ICE lab)
    The ICE lab is a unique imaging platform devoted to the structural characterization of porous media and composite materials, from centimeter to nanometer scale. Equipped with cutting-edge instruments and specific experimental systems in electron microscopy and X-ray microtomography, the team offers cross-functional expertise, from multiscale 2D/3D imaging to digital computing - image processing, modeling and simulation - to extract the morphological characteristics of solid materials or the physical properties of porous media.
    At the forefront of TotalEnergies’ energy transition, the ICE lab targets a wide spectrum of different sectors: Oil & Gas, CO₂ and sustainable development, hydrogen, batteries, polymers - and proposes standardized and customized analysis approaches to meet the needs of the different branches in the Company.
  • Formation Evaluation Laboratory (FEV lab)
    The FEV lab characterizes the petrophysical properties of reservoir rocks (porosity, permeability, saturation and mineralogy) and the chemical composition of aqueous phases (formation water, produced water and scale). These analyses are crucial to the evaluation of discoveries and for optimizing the production of our oil & gas fields.
    Having received several awards for its technical developments in experimental petrophysics, the laboratory is now extending its innovation spectrum to meet the needs of our clients in the different branches in the Company.
  • Recovery Mechanisms Characterization laboratory (RMC lab)
    The RMC lab runs experiments on core samples in both laboratory and reservoir conditions (up to 650 bar and 150°C). The experiments are essential to improve the understanding and characterization of complex recovery mechanisms.
    In particular, the RMC lab studies water-alternating-gas injection (WAG), as well as polymer injection and other recovery mechanisms such as the SWIM (Smart Water Injection Method). These techniques help us determine the fluid flow parameters and to create simulation models for up to three-phase (Oil, Gas and Water) flow interactions.
    The RMC lab has the capacity to monitor in-situ saturation in 2D, using an X-ray measurement method and HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) carbon cells, a TotalEnergies patent. Our experiments are conducted in conditions identical to those in the reservoir, using live fluids in HPHT conditions. Our experimental processes include restoring rock wettability and initial water saturation.
    The RMC lab also has inhouse thermodynamics software to characterize compositional exchanges. Data is interpreted using the Intersect simulator, and facilitated by an optimized inhouse history matching tool to determine the parameters to be included in reservoir simulations.
  • Pressure Volume Temperature laboratory (PVT lab)
    The PVT lab runs studies to characterize and model the physical and thermodynamic behavior of fluids in all types of reservoirs and along the entire production chain. The results support decision-making, from the exploration phase to field abandonment.
    The PVT lab has several mobile laboratories so that it can intervene on site when operational and/or logistics constraint leave no other option.
    It works essentially on Oil & Gas projects, but is also developing competencies on topics such as CO₂ storage, biofuels, CO₂, hydrogen and helium behavior, the detection of volatile organic compounds and other pollutants in the atmosphere.
  • Pressure Volume Temperature laboratory (PVT lab)
    The FMC lab provides the molecular and isotopic compositions of all our reservoir fluids.  It specializes in the quantification of key geochemical parameters to determine fluid origins, alterations and migrations in petroleum systems. It also has expertise in monitoring asset integrity and on-site analyses. It can intervene in a support capacity on many other topics such as volatile organic compounds, CO₂ storage (isotope tracing, baseline carbon), and laboratory audits.
  • Corehouse Laboratory (CAR lab)
    The corehouse is the "rock" entry point for post-well studies. Cores are the only visible elements of oil & gas reservoirs. They provide valuable data on the petrophysical, geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of rocks, essential data for populating reservoir and sedimentary models.
    All the continuous measurements are acquired from core samples in the corehouse: 3D imaging CT scan, HR Photo (daylight and UV), nuclear measurements (Spectral Gamma Ray, gamma density), physical measurements:  pseudo-permeability, Vp/Vs, hertz module, Mineralogy by FTIR). The data are valorized through statistical models to characterize the heterogeneities along the length of core as accurately as possible to optimize the sampling progam.
    Samples and preparations for other laboratories (petrophyiscal, mineralogical, organic geochemistry) are also carried out in the corehouse.
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PERL: experimentations from the laboratory to semi-industrial pilots

The three hubs of expertise at the PERL work together to reduce the impact of TotalEnergies’ activities on the environment and the climate, while fostering the development of new forms of energy:

  • The Environment & Sustainable Development hub
    The work done by the Environment & Sustainable Development hub aims to minimize the environmental footprint of industrial players, manage our impacts on water and soil, and valorize water and soil resources as part of low-carbon energy production.
  • The Gas Separation & Treatment hub
    The Gas Separation & Treatment hub contributes to the development of economically viable solutions, designed to reduce the impact of our activities on the climate while complying with regulatory requirements: CO₂ capture, gas purification and the compactness and versatility of facilities.
  • The Physical-Chemistry and Analysis hub
    The Physical-Chemistry and Analysis hub works on understanding the physical and chemical interactions that take place among hydrocarbons, water and solids, to optimize the cost-effectiveness of current processes and create innovative products and designs for all the branches at TotalEnergies.