The high price of oil in 2007 has given suppliers the chance to show the ”full functionality” of their smart, down-hole tools in contrast to “$12 to $20” oil, when “pump protection” looked like an oil company’s “best buy”.

“You can get a text message (originating down-hole) to tell you if you’re well isn’t performing like it should,” Baker Hughes product-line manager, Craig Coull, told conference-goers in Stavanger Wednesday.

The oilfield services giant was celebrating its 100th year of business on Tuesday and Scandoil.com was on hand to hear of 1920s and 1930s engineer De Groote’s 940 patents and that the modern Baker has installed its 100th “intelligent completion”.

The future is intelligent down-hole completions, Coull said, before warning of the issues in high-pressure, high-temperature situations like in the Norwegian Sea and India Ocean.

“Hydraulic fluids boiling is an issue,” he said, before also referring to Norway’s zero-emissions strictures on hydraulic fluid spills.

“The drive to install electric (valve actuation) over hydraulic is pretty good right now,” he said, adding that electric valves were already supplanting hydraulic systems.

He said Baker, meanwhile, was developing “multi-node technology” where horizontal wells are fitted with “from 50 to 100” control points in open-hole sidetracks.

“It’s in the secret stage, the patent application stage,” Coull said, adding that BI was also advancing wi-fi telemetry down-hole.

“Wireless (down-hole communications) are not as far away as you might think,” he said.

At $90-plus a barrel, the industry hurried to attend Baker Hughes’ anniversary celebration at a Stavanger hotel.

ws@scandoil.com