Well Completion

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This paper presents a multidomain integrated workflow that combines geophysics, borehole geology, fracture modeling, and petroleum systems analysis for characterization and resource assessment of basement plays. A 3D fracture model is developed by integrating image log interpretation and seismic data to assess the reservoir potential of fractured basement. The 3D fracture modeling is done using the discrete fracture network (DFN) approach with image log interpretation and other fracture drivers serving as the main input. The DFN is upscaled to generate fracture porosity and fracture permeability properties in a 3D grid. The upscaled fracture porosity is used to estimate the petroleum initially in place (PIIP) for the prospects. Multiple 2D petroleum system modeling is performed where large fault throws are identified from seismic interpretation. The petroleum system study helps in identification of areas with most prolific hydrocarbon generation and expulsion centers, which, coupled with the cross-fault juxtapositions, are the main locales of charging for basement reservoir. Further analysis of all the elements of basement play (i.e., source, reservoir, seal, trap, and migration) is done, and prospective areas within the basement play are delineated with high geological chance of success.

In offshore platforms, with high well density, slot recovery technique is an efficient way to target new / un-swept avenues to boost the production levels in a mature field. This leads to utilization of an appreciable length of parent bore which is an advantage to the operators globally in terms of surface facility retention and associated rig time saved. This paper discusses an actual case-study wherein dual casing exit was achieved in an offshore platform well resulting in significant time and cost savings.

For the subject well the subsurface targets were quite far from the mother-bore, resulting in a plan to side-track the well at a shallow depth where double casing existed, i.e. 9-5/8″ × 13-3/8″. The options available were pilot milling and dual exit using whipstock. Unlike multi-casing exits, pilot milling is a time consuming method which requires multiple trips and involves large volume of metal swarf handling at surface. The CBL-VDL verified the presence of cement outside 9 5/8″ casing that further supported the case of dual casing exit operation. Consequently, associated risks were discussed and plans to mitigate the same were put in place.

Single-trip 8-1/2″ whipstock-milling system was used to cut a window suitable for running drilling BHAs, liner, and completion equipment. The 9-5/8″ × 13-3/8″ annulus was monitored during milling and FIT test to check for any pressure communications. For well control scenario, arrangements were made for connecting the annulus to the choke manifold to ensure a closed system and thereby have provision of circulating through choke in case of gas migration in the 9-5/8″ × 13-3/8″ annulus. The window milling operation was done using sea water & intermittent Hi-vis sweeps. The window was milled successfully in a "single trip", thereby saving considerable rig time. No excess drag or held-up was observed and gauge loss on mills when pulled out of the hole was negligible. Well integrity was intact with no pressure communication in the annulus. The job was a successful one that led to finishing the well within the planned time and thereby, led to timely release of the jack up rig before the onset of adverse weather conditions.

Multi-casing exit technology in two or three casing strings opens the multi-level advantages to well intervention techniques especially in situations where the wells are old with limited access due to presence of fish or other restrictions that makes the deeper section of the well non-usable. Such sections can be avoided by sidetracking at a shallow depth and also provides an opportunity to access targets that are quite far from the original mother-bore.

The significant temperature difference between the fractured and non-fractured regions during the stimulation fluid flow-back period can be very useful for fracture diagnosis. The recent developments in downhole temperature monitoring systems open new possibilities to detect these temperature variations to perform production logging analyses. In this work, we derive a novel analytical solution to model the temperature signal associated with the shut-in during flow-back and production periods. The temperature behavior can infer the efficiency of each fracture. To obtain the analytical solution from an existing wellbore fluid energy balance equation, we use the Method of Characteristics with the input of a relevant thermal boundary condition. The temperature modeling results acquired from this analytical solution are validated against those from a finite element model for multiple cases.

Compared to the warm-back effect in the non-fractured region after shut-in, a less significant heating effect is observed in the fractured region because of the warmer fluid away from the perforation moving into the fracture (after-flow). Detailed parametric analyses are conducted on after-flow velocity and its variation, flowing, geothermal, and inflow temperature of each fracture, surrounding temperature field, and casing radius to investigate their impacts on the wellbore fluid temperature modeling results.

The inversion procedures characterize each fracture considering the exponential distribution of temperature based on the analytical solutions in fractured and non-fractured regions. Inflow fluid temperature, surrounding temperature field, and after-flow velocity of each fracture can be estimated from the measured temperature data, which present decent accuracies analyzing synthetic temperature signal. The outputs of this work can contribute to production logging, warm-back, and wellbore storage analyses to achieve successful fracture diagnostic.

Well interference in unconventional CBM reservoirs is often desired. It reduces reservoir pressure; significantly increasing gas production through desorption. However, identifying interference between wells and extracting quantitative reservoir information using production data analysis is a challenge. The primary objectives of this study are to identify production characteristics of interfering CBM wells, evaluate reservoir parameters, demonstrate the application of interference data using field examples to predict well performance and develop guidelines to optimize geospatial well-pattern.

A field wide interference study has been undertaken to track changes in gas rate, water rate, wellhead pressure and fluid level in each well. An ‘event-based’ filter is applied to the dataset to correlate production behaviour of a well with any unplanned ‘event’ in its offset well. Planned well tests are then conducted to ascertain these evidences of interference. Using production data analysis of interfering wells, a set of semi-analytical correlations have been developed based on the transient drainage radius model to determine production-governing permeability of coal formation, and also quantify the flow contribution of natural fractures and reservoir matrix.

Preliminary analysis of the study demonstrates several forms of interference. Well specific field examples have been presented for each case. Interference between producing wells having long production history show a trend reversal in gas flow rate due to additional dewatering support by its offset well. Similar behaviour is observed in the production characteristics of an old producer when a new well is drilled in a nearby location. However, effects of interference are more dominant when a well stimulation activity (fracturing or re-fracturing) is carried out in an offset well. During stimulation activity, offset wells show an abnormal decline in gas rate and wellhead pressure due to fracking fluid (water) load up in the reservoir. Conversely, a significant positive impact is seen in gas rate of both wells after the well is put back on production due to improved water production rate in the stimulated well. Permeability calculations show that natural and artificial fractures dominate production behaviour of CBM wells. The study also presents results of various simulated geo-spatial well patterns. Furthermore, it is shown that planned interference at an early time with an economically designed well spacing can maximize the production NPV of an asset for an operator.

The optimal well spacing to maintain and/or increase gas production with the right amount of resources is critical for maximised returns. This result of this study can be used as foundation to help operators optimize multi-well pad and future infill well development program based on the assessment of short-term and long-term recovery targets.

The use of high viscosity friction reducers (HVFR) as alternatives to guar-based fluids to improve proppant transport and lessen formation damage has increased rapidly. While several product options are available, the criteria for selection of a product has focused on viscosity at 300 RPM (511s^-1) that meets or exceeds that of linear gel fluids. However, there has been limited data available on what the target viscosity should be, how it influences the fluid's ability to transport sand, and the potential for damage to proppant conductivity. This study presents methodology used to screen HVFR's and results on product performance, which identified a need for alternative specifications to viscosity to achieve maximum performance.

The proppant transport capacity in dynamic conditions was evaluated for twenty-eight commercially available friction reducers and HVFR's in field waters which could have up to 40,000 TDS. A slot flow apparatus was used to mimic fluid flow through a fracture under different shear and flow rate conditions. Viscosity and elasticity measurements were also obtained using an advanced rotational rheometer. For comparison, linear gel and crosslinked guar fluid were also evaluated.

While viscosity at 300 RPM (511s^-1) and more recently high viscosity at lower shear rates, have been used for selection of HVFR's, these parameters alone do not indicate proppant carrying capacity. The authors did not find a correlation between higher viscosity and better proppant transport, rather they propose that too high a viscosity can negatively impact transport. The results provided insight into the effect of flow rate on proppant transport, with some HVFR's that exhibited higher viscosities at low shear, losing their transport capacity at the same low shear. Elasticity testing of those same products suggested that HVFR's have a critical elasticity range at which they will provide optimal performance. Polymer residuals were also evaluated on proppant post-test and compared to traditional linear gels and crosslinked fluids. Results suggested potential for damage if HVFR's are used without breakers. Different viscosity targets should be set when selecting a HVFR and coupled with other testing criteria such as elasticity and dynamic proppant transport.

This paper provides insight into the need for development of standardized test criteria for HVFR selection. Further testing and screening of HVFR's will help increase the understanding of key factors influencing sand transport and their effect on proppant pack conductivity.

The primary purpose of using traditional friction reducers in stimulation treatments is to overcome the tubular drag while pumping at high flow rates. Hydraulic fracturing is the main technology used to produce hydrocarbon from extremely low permeability rock. Even though slickwater (water fracturing with few chemical additives) used to be one of the most common fracturing fluids, several concerns are still associated with its use, including usage of freshwater, high-cost operation, and environmental issues. Therefore, current practice in hydraulic fracturing is to use alternative fluid systems that are cost effective and have less environmental impact, such as fluids which utilize high viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs), which typically are high molecular weight polyacrylamides. This paper carefully reviews and summarizes over 40 published papers, including experimental work, field case studies, and simulation work. This work summarizes the most recent improvements of using HVFR’s, including capability of carrying proppant, reducing water and chemical requirements, its compatibility with produced water, and environmental benefits in hydraulic fracturing treatments. A further goal is to gain insight into the effective design of HVFR based fluid systems.

The findings of this study are analyzed from over 26 field case studies of many unconventional reservoirs. In comparing to the traditional hydraulic fracture fluids system, the paper summaries many potential advantages offered by HVFR fluids, including: superior proppant transport capability, almost 100% retained conductivity, cost reduction, minimizing chemicals usage by 50%, less operating equipment on location, reducing water consumption by 30%, and fewer environmental concerns. The study also reported that the common HVFR concentration used was 4gpt. HVFRs were used in the field at temperature ranges from 120°F to 340°F. Finally, this work addresses up-to-date challenges and emphasizes necessities for using high viscosity friction reducers as alternative fracture fluids.

A reservoir with bottom water drive mechanism has a high tendency to generate water coning effect in their production life. As a result of water coning phenomenon, the well has a low critical safe rate which limits the productivity of the reservoir. Consequently, a new innovation for completion design in an oil well with a bottom aquifer drive is needed. The author offers a Downhole Water Sink (DWS) system to solve this problem.

DWS is a dual completion design innovation where two tubing strings are installed into the well to produce both water and oil simultaneously by different tubing. The main principle of DWS is to create a stable pressure drawdown in oil and water zone so that a stable oil-water contact is formed. DWS application in a multilayered reservoir expected to be able to resolve the water coning phenomenon thus the recovery factor increased and the well becomes economic to be produced. In this paper, the study approach involved by numerical simulation within IMPES methodology (Implicit Pressure Explicit Saturation) and Thomas’s algorithm to solve iteration. Completion modeling is creating two wells on the similar coordinate in several layered reservoirs aims to produce oil and water separately on tubing on the well.

The percentage of water cut on oil production tubing is 0% while the percentage of water cut on water production tubing is 100%. This thing shows that DWS completion system will give a greater cumulative oil production in a high production rate and the oil is oil-free water. It is observed that the successful implementation of DWS in a multilayered reservoir is taken place. The well with DWS design configuration for the WDP system shows a better performance of oil productivity compares to a conventional well completion design. This result is supported by no water production observed at oil production tubing on the surface well level. There are some parameters that affect DWS system application modeling i.e. mobility ratio, vertical and absolute horizontal permeability (kv & kh) also perforation interval.

Down-Hole Water Sink is an appropriate innovation to eliminate water coning and producing oil with high recovery factor. DWS application in a multilayered reservoir with bottom aquifer driving mechanism shows a better performance of oil productivity compares to a conventional well completion design. This result is supported by no water production observed at oil production tubing on the surface well level.

An offshore drilling campaign comprising of four development wells was conducted to augment oil production from a field located off the western coast of India. All four wells were designed to be sidetracked from existing depleted wells of the field. Historically, preparing existing wells in the field for side-track took ~4 days/well of a drilling rig and associated spread cost. This paper presents a case- history of conducting side-track well preparatory activities by a rig-less well intervention spread leading to significant time and cost savings. This method was also the first instance of such an activity being conducted in an offshore environment in India.

Prior to actual side-track drilling from an existing well in a brown field, it is required to abandon the open zones in the existing well and prepare the well for casing window cutting for further drilling to a new sub-surface target. Typical preparation activities include multiple wireline runs to set/retrieve deep set and tubing hanger plugs, well killing, nipple-down X-mas tree, nipple-up BOP, wireline run to cut tubing, retrieval of existing completion and ultimately placement of cement plugs to abandon the parent wellbore. The routine approach in the organization for all previous offshore drilling campaigns was to utilize the offshore drilling rig for afore-mentioned well preparation activities. Substantial rig time was spent incurring the cost of entire rig spread for an average ~4 days/well equivalent to ~40% of total well completion time.

The paper elaborates on rig-less operations set-up consisting of Cementing and Wireline Units utilized to conduct well killing, placement of cement plugs, production tubing cutting and nippling down X-mas tree prior to the mobilization of the drilling rig at the platform. The only operation left for the drilling rig was to pull-out the existing completion string and then drilling operations could commence.

The execution of planned operations was flawless on three wells while one well posed technical limitation due to its high deviation. The rig less well preparation campaign was concluded incident free, ahead of schedule and within budget. This offline exercise prior to rig-move saved ~12 days of drilling campaign time which helped in cutting down on overall drilling campaign cost and also allowed the flexibility of adding more wells to the campaign within fair weather window.

While this was an effort to simplify operations and save costly drilling rig-time in a side-track drilling campaign by conducting some very critical operations offline, these methods can also be adopted for planning well abandonment and decommissioning activities in a mature field.

Cased hole gravel pack (CHGP) is the most popular method for controlling production of formation sand in oil or gas cased hole wells. CHGP involves the packing of screen and casing annulus, and perforations to inhibit production of formation sand. Success of a CHGP depends on various factors such as perforation packing, cleanliness of completion brine, perforation strategy and minimizing drawdown. Quality of perforation packing aids in minimizing drawdown of gravel pack completions. This led to popularization of high-rate water packs (HRWPs), an evolved sand control method for cased hole wells. HRWPs involve pumping above fracture extension rate and placing gravels outside casing into the critical matrix. This paper discusses maturation process in design, execution, and evaluation methodology devised from a campaign of 16 HRWPs, which included two formation breakdown acid injections, one slim hole completion, two re-stresses and one top-off.

Naharkatiya fields of Oil India Limited, in Assam-Arakan basin are characterized with high degrees of unconsolidated formation sand. Elements of heterogeneity like formation sand ingression rate, PSD, mineralogy and well-profile in these two fields, where most of the HRWP treatments were executed, demanded case-specific pre-gravel-pack workover operations. Installation of screens and pumping of HRWP treatment presented many challenges, such as formation sand ingression, high circulation pressures, uneven slack/pull weights and issues in tool operations. All these challenges were tackled in unique ways and successful HRWP treatments were completed. A holistic approach was developed towards execution of a High Rate Water Pack treatment, by analyzing all interlinked elements such as perforations, cores, cement bond, reservoir saturation, water cut and offset well history. Post-treatment evaluation of HRWPs using bottomhole gauges identified a sequence of downhole events and potential issues during execution phase. Correlating each new HRWP candidate with learnings from previous ones allowed the operator to better plan workover steps towards execution of the sand control treatment. Contingency plans were devised to tackle issues learned from previous wells, and many were successfully tested in the campaign. Production rates and choke strategies were optimized by analysis of offset wells.

This paper presents data analysis of wells while correlating with their offsets. Post-treatment analysis has been discussed and correlations between suspected issues during execution with signatures in bottom-hole gauge data have been presented. Recommendation are further provided for drilling and completion operations. Evolution in design and execution process for case wells has been presented, which can be used as a reference literature for designing case specific sand control treatment program.