Successful Improvement of Ultimate Recovery of Complex Deep Tight Gas Field via Combined Gas Lift De-Liquification Techniques

The Amin top structure is Well defined in seismic data and can be easily interpreted across the entire area of North Oman. It is being identified as an extremely tight, disconnected, low porosity, low permeability, and HPHT reservoir, and thus presents unique challenges to harness its full production potential. Approximately, 15 years after production began with significant pressure depletion below dew point, a significant loss in Well productivity occurred in some of the Wells. Furthermore, during shutdowns or sudden trips of production stations, more Wells faced difficulties to restart again due to mainly, condensate banking and other probable reasons like formation water cross-flow during shut-in, which created a water bank and impaired inflow performance liquid loading due to low Well bore pressure which caused higher static head at the Well tubing. Common practice of N2 lifting CTU becoming no economical with increase number of Wells suffer from Liquid loading and represented a major challenge to look for cheaper economic alternatives. To reduce the higher OPEX associated with nitrogen lifting of Wells, multiple options were considered and evaluated thoroughly including extensive study of several artificial lift methods which were thought to defer liquid loading and mitigate kick-off issues such as Foam lift, Plunger lift, Beam Pump, ESP, Jet Pump and Gas lift (Concentric gas lift). The optimum gas Well de-liquification method has been identified based on the highest UR considering connected GIIP and inflow resistance A (Forchheimer equation Laminar flow). The outcome of the study indicated that a gas lift technology combined with well retubing was recommended as the optimum solution. The injected gas has reduced the density of the liquid resulting in reducing the static head at the tubing which increased the Well bore pressure allowing the Well to flow. A successful robust pilot which has been completed in two Wells and gave conclusive results. The surface development concept encompasses the development, with long term testing. The outstanding successful outcomes of the pilot succeeding in restoring Wells back with economic prolific production rates have led to expedite a full field implementation plan in three fields covering (33 Wells) in the next 5 years. These Wells have similar sub-surface and surface conditions. This paper will highlight the full story of the Gas lift technology implementation and describe in details the entire process starting from the Well candidate selection screening criteria, concept detailed design, critical success factors, project assurances and controls, Injection rate and operating parameters, facility capex, life time cycle and the result tested gas & condensate and water production. Also, the learning and challenges like halite accumulation effects will be shared along with the proven practical mitigation plan that ensured and sustained Well production resulting to significant project success of the technology.

Seismic Response Analysis of Shaft Tower Based on The Interaction of Soil-Well Bore-Shaft Tower

To study the influence of soil-well bore-shaft tower interaction on the seismic response of the shaft tower. A numerical analysis model of rigid foundation (without considering the interaction of soil-well bore-shaft tower ) and II site considering soil-well bore-shaft tower interaction is established by the finite element analysis method. The mode period, tower layer displacement and inter-story displacement of shaft tower are analyzed. The results show that, compared with rigid foundation, considering the interaction of soil-well bore-shaft tower, the mode period of the system is prolonged, the tower layer displacement and inter-story displacement of the shaft tower is enlarged. In the engineering design of shaft tower, the influence of the soil-well bore-shaft tower interaction on the seismic response of the shaft tower cannot be ignored.

Experimental Setup for Swellable Elastomers in Cased and Open Holes

A full scale experimental setup was designed and commissioned for testing of swelling elastomer seals against a casing (cased hole) and formation (open hole). Actual replicate of wellbore was designed with varying inside diameters and roughness to reproduce the effect of actual formation. The Dynaset packer mounted on a 7-inch tubular was allowed to swell against a 9–5/8-inch casing, while the fast swell packer mounted on a 9–5/8-inch tubular was allowed to swell against the 12–1/4-inch replicated well bore. This one-of-its-kind test setup can demonstrate the way the elastomers swell out and fill the asperities against smooth outer casing (cased hole) or against rough wellbore surface (open hole). Dismantling of the test setup midway through the testing scheme revealed a severely dimpled surface of the swelled elastomer.

Optimization of the Reservoir Pressure Maintenance System in a Low-Permeability Carbonate Field

The investigated field is located in the Solikamsk drawdown in the northeast of the Perm Territory. The oil content level of this field is composed of Tournaisian-Famennian, Radaevsky, Radaevian, and Tula formations. This article will analysis carbonate deposits from the Tula formation using the multiwell retrospective testing (MRT) technology. Currently, the development system has been already formed, and there is ongoing compaction drilling and targeted drawdown increase that is carried out at certain wells. A pressure support system has been formed. Before the surveys have been conducted, there was a trend in production decline, for reasons that are currently unknown. To identify the causes of production decline at the carbonate reservoir in the field, special technology was used to analysis production history data and bottom hole pressure - this technology is called multiwell retrospective testing (MRT). Four sections were selected for further analysis, MRT was able to reconstruct the reservoir pressure variations and production coefficient at the tested well, the influence of the offset wells on the tested wells has been evaluated, along with transmissibility at the cross-well interval and well-bore skin of the tested wells.

Paradigm Shift in Completion Limits: Open Hole Gravel Pack in Highly Depleted Reservoirs Drilled with Well Bore Strengthening Technology

Open Hole Gravel Pack (OHGP) completions have been the primary completion type for production wells in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in Azerbaijan for 20 years. In recent years, it has been required to use well bore strengthening mud systems to allow drilling the more depleted parts of the field. This paper describes the major engineering effort that was undertaken to develop systems and techniques that would allow the successful installation of OHGP completions in this environment. OHGP completions have evolved over the last 3 decades, significantly increasing the window of suitable installation environments such that if a well could be drilled it could, in most cases, be completed as an OHGP if desired. Drilling fluids technology has also advanced to allow the drilling of highly depleted reservoirs with the development of well bore strengthening mud systems which use oversized solids in the mud system to prevent fracture propagation. This paper describes laboratory testing and development of well construction procedures to allow OHGPs to be successfully installed in wells drilled with well bore strengthening mud systems. Laboratory testing results showed that low levels of formation damage could be achieved in OHGPs using well bore strengthening mud systems that are comparable to those drilled with conventional mud systems. These drilling fluid formulations along with the rigorous mud conditioning and well clean-up practices that were developed were first implemented in mid-2019 and have now been used in 6 OHGP wells. All 6 wells showed that suitable levels of drilling mud cleanliness could be achieved with limited additional time added to the well construction process and operations and all of them have robust sand control reliability and technical limit skins. Historically it was thought that productive, reliable OHGP completions could not be delivered when using well bore strengthening mud systems due to the inability to effectively produce back filter cakes with large solids through the gravel pack and the ability to condition the mud system to allow sand screen deployment without plugging occurring. The engineering work and field results presented demonstrate that these hurdles can be overcome through appropriate fluid designs and well construction practices.

Acoustic Evaluation of Annulus B Barriers Through Tubing for Plug and Abandonment Job Planning

The need to evaluate cement behind multiple casing strings has become critical in the context of well plug and abandonment (P&A) or slot recovery. A particularly important case, addressed in this work, is the application to optimize P&A operations in offshore wells where the capability to evaluate barriers behind casing using tools deployed inside an inner tubing would reduce the costs associated with rig time and potentially (in case the presence of barriers outside the casing is confirmed) the unnecessary removal of casing strings. We present an approach using a combination of sonic and ultrasonic tools deployed inside tubing to characterize the near well bore environment and in particular, the annular fill and bond behind the outer casing, i.e. in annulus B. Extensive modeling and experiments were used to characterize the sonic response in a dual string geometry and identify features that inform on the state of annulus B. Some of the complexities and ambiguities in this complex scenario are addressed by using the ultrasonic tool to characterize the annulus behind the tubing (annulus A) as well as the tubing location inside the casing. Additionally, we combine the single feature answers with those using deep machine learning to learn the complex relationship of the subtle features in the through tubing sonic response to the finer variations of the annulus B state as indicated by ultrasonic cement maps acquired in the outer casing. We test and validate these answers on a number of field jobs and show the results of the through-tubing logging answers with the reference cement evaluation maps obtained after removing the tubing.

Temporary Isolation of a Prolific Open Hole Gas Zone using a Non-Damaging Methodology - A Multi-Well Case Study in a Field of Kurdistan N. Iraq

Objectives/Scope A case study is presented detailing the methodology used to place a non-damaging temporary isolation barrier in a group of naturally fractured, prolific gas wells in a field in Kurdistan. The temporary isolation facilitated removal of the original completion string and installation of the redesign. Wells were returned to production with-out the need to stimulate proving success of the non-damaging methodology employed. Methods, Procedures, Process The operator had 4 wells with OH sections ranging from 33-181m which were completed in the 1980’s - 1990's with no production packer. In order to preserve well bore integrity the completion string needed to be pulled and replaced by a string with production packer and DH gauges. A procedure was developed to fill the highly fractured OH with a mixed particle size CaCO3 carried into the wellbore by a non-damaging surfactant based gel. Caliper logs were not available and the presence of natural fractures posed a challenge to calculating the actual OH volume. A system was developed to carry the CaCO3 into the wellbore in stages and slickline was employed to measure fill after each stage. Once the OH was filled with CaCO3 and well would support a fluid column coil tubing was used to place an acid soluble cement plug in the short interval between casing shoe and end of tubing (8-10m) Results, Observations, Conclusions The first well in the campaign required more than 10 times the theoretical volume of CaCO3 to fill the open hole. It was concluded the surfactant gel was likely carrying the CaCO3 into the fractures. The procedure was modified to tie in a line of breaker solution to the well head allowing sufficient viscosity of the fluid to carry the CaCO3 from surface but immediately lose viscosity and allow the CaCO3 to settle in the wellbore without being carried into the formation. Specific coil tubing procedures were employed to allow the setting of ultra-short acid soluble cement plugs (<10m). All wells were successfully isolated to allow the safe workover of the completion string and returned to production with no loss of gas flow, with-out the need to stimulate after the work over. Novel/Additive Information The campaign exhibited a new method of employing existing technologies to achieve the objective in a highly challenging and relatively new oilfield of Kurdistan. The campaign also demonstrated the benefit of the operator and service company closely collaborating on each step of a novel process. The workovers would not have been successful with-out the close collaboration of the two companies.

Improving 4-1/2" Liner Deploy Ability in 6" Horizontal Hole with Utilization of Improved Characteristics Brines and Friction Reduction Devices

A large operator of a brown field offshore in the middle east has decided to provide full lower Completion accessibility and ensure prevention of open hole collapse as it can lead to various gains throughout the life of the well. Among those benefits, it provides a consolidated well bore for various production logging & stimulation tools to be deployed effectively, as well as full accessibility, conformance control and enable to provide production allocations for each zones. However there are multiple challenges in deploying lower completion liner in drains involving multiple reservoirs and geo steered wells: Well Bore Geometry, dog legs/ tortuosity etc. & differential sticking possibilities and of course the open hole friction. Due to the size of the open hole, restricted casing design and utilization of limited OD pipes further add to the complications of deploying the Lower completion liner in such brown Field wells. This paper intend to review the multi-step methodology approach implemented in recent years by the company to effectively deploy 4-1/2" Liner in 6" Horizontal Open Hole section. Among the techniques used to assist successful deployment of lower completions are: Improving hole cleaning, ensure smooth well bore with the use of directional drilling BHA, reduction of the Open Hole friction by utilizing Lubricated brines, fit for purpose Centralizers, use of drill pipe swivel devices to increase weight available to push the liner & reduce buckling tendency. With the length of open hole laterals reaching up to 10,000 ft for 6" Lower drains, open hole drag, friction & cleanliness are major components that causes challenges in deploying the Liner till TD. The use of specially formulated brines with fixed percentage of lubricants proved to significant reduce friction compared to the drilling mud used for drilling the horizontal drain. The combination of low friction brine with proper centralization / standoff which resulted in reduced contact area with the formation has also shown good results in preventing differentials sticking while running the liner through multilayer reservoirs having significantly different reservoir pressures. Another major constrain to deploy the lower completion liner in this offshore field is the very nature of the wells being primarily workover. This involves generally Tie back liners run to shallow depths to restore the integrity of wells. This limits our ability in the selection of drill pipe that can be used as only smaller OD drill pipes and HWDP can be utilized in order to deploy the Liner to bottom. On many occasions this provides only limited weight to push the Liner down to TD and impact our ability to set the liner top packer. Drill pipe rotating swivel devices have been utilized to improve our weight availability & transferability to push the liner down and to set the liner top packers. In order to provide independent deactivation mechanism for the drill pipe swivel and to have complete success in our liner deployments, a dedicated ball activated sub was designed to deactivate the swivel acting as back up in case primary deactivation methods fails during liner setting. The combined use of all these techniques enabled the company to deploy 4.5" Liners in 6" Horizontal drains with high success in this offshore Brown Oil field of UAE. This resulted in better well construction and complete access to lower drains over the life of the wells.