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Middle East

Engineered Perforating Solution Saves Operator 13 Days

  • Region: Middle East
  • Topics: All Topics
  • Date: Jul, 2017

Engineered Perforating Solution Saves Operator 13 Days Valued At $7.8 Million

CASE STUDY: OIL COMPANY CHALLENGE

Perforate the inner 9 5/8 in. casing of a well whose bottomhole temperature ranged between 300°F – 400°F using the largest possible diameter gun system to deliver 0.7 in. entry holes and less than 0.1 in. damage to the inner surface of the 13 3/8 in. outer casing.

OWEN SOLUTION

Develop, test, validate, build and deliver a unique gun system with the required performance characteristics.

SUCCESSFUL RESULTS

Acustom PAC™ casing puncher system was designed that exceeded the client’s requirements. On the first well, a 7.0 in. diameter 21-ft gun loaded 18 shots/ft with HMX explosives was fired successfully saving 13 days of on-site work compared with section milling. A successful cement plug was squeezed through the perforations to fully comply with abandonment regulations. Entry hole size averaged 0.75 in. and actual damage to the 13 3/8 in. casing was 0.01 in. to 0.015 in.

TIME SAVED = $7.8 million

Owen Oil Tools’ Energetics Technology Group undertook a special project for a major North Sea Service Company. Owen’s new PAC™, was designed, tested and produced to enable the operator to penetrate the inner string of two concentric casings as part of an abandonment program previously enabled by a time-consuming section milling technique.

Once the physical limits (9 5/8 in. casing ID) were considered, the engineering team addressed charge and gun system variables to achieve the requested performance. Maximum gun size imposed by the casing ID was 7.0 in. To ensure hydraulic isolation, the operator requested an 18 spf shot density to maximize communication of cement to the annulus. Explosive load, stand-off and shaped charge liner design along with casing properties were considered to determine entry hole size and depth of penetration. Centralization using a traditional bow-spring or solid fin stand-off ensured equal 360-deg performance around the casing.

Single prototype charges were tested using gun carrier sections and concentric casing targets under worst-case conditions to assess ballistic results. Tests confirmed the through hole size and damage to the outer string were within specifications.

Figure 1: Single charge test results (9 5/8 in. plate above, and 13 3/8 in. plate below)

A full system test confirmed that results could be achieved in a fluid-filled environment. Gun swell was checked to ensure the fired gun would not become stuck in the 9 5/8 in. casing. The last step was making a full production run of gun systems to satisfy the operator’s needs.

Owen Oil Tools
P.O. Box 568, 12001 County Road 1000
Godley, Texas 76044
P. 800.333.6936 – www.corelab.com/owen

Middle East Well Integrity Whitepaper

  • Region: Middle East
  • Topics: All Topics, Integrity
  • Date: Feb, 2017

There are different definitions of Well Integrity. The most widely accepted definition is given by NORSOK D-010:

“Application of technical, operational and organizational solutions to reduce risk of uncontrolled release of formation fluids throughout the life cycle of a well”.

Another accepted definition is given by ISO TS 16530-2:

“Containment and the prevention of the escape of fluids (i.e. liquids or gases) to subterranean formations or surface’’.

Well Integrity is undoubtedly a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, well integrity engineers need to interact constantly with different disciplines (e.g. well intervention and drilling) to assess the status of well barriers and well barrier envelopes at all times.


 

Download Attachments: Download PDF

Aging Well Stock Management in the Middle East

  • Region: Middle East
  • Topics: All Topics, Integrity
  • Date: Feb, 2017

Introduction

The Middle East offshore market generally has shallow water depth operations in high salinity water environments. As fields in the Arabia Peninsula mature and production declines they need extensive recovery enhancement and workovers which place added stress on the asset. In conjunction with the age and salinity of the water these works can effect the structural integrity of aging wells. This forces further works to take place, including diagnostic runs and tubing remediation.

In the Middle East companies including Saudi Aramco, QP, Zadco and ADMA-OPCO have become experts in dealing with mature offshore wellstock, and below is a case study from the region highlighting the best practice that has been learnt.

Middle East Experience of Aging Well Stock Management

With a global slowing of drilling activities, we are often finding ourselves working over mature fields with old well stock to encourage greater recovery volumes and meet the demand for hydrocarbons. Mature assets have unpredictable behaviors, and this demands highly skilled teams and well thought out intervention activities to ensure the continued production of these assets. >Case One: The Well

In one example the Middle East operator observed live wells having fluid mobility into annulus space, resulting in the bleeding of hydrocarbons at the surface. The Annulus-B pressures were reaching 1000psi, and there was clear evidence of communication within casings. The hydro-testing of annulus space showed the wells were unable to withstand the test pressures, so ultrasonic testing, cement bond logging, and other logging techniques were used to quantify the integrity and accurately identify leak paths ahead of restoring the well integrity of failed Annulus-B wells. It was decided to repair the conductor pipe and perform casing patches externally and internally and cement consolidated rock formations, then cover with a tie back. As a remediation strategy, a cement barrier was placed in production casing above the reservoir using sleeves, patches, perforating two-zone techniques and milling to mention a few.

The utilization of section milling as a remediation measure is interesting. Its effectiveness was later verified with cement bond logging to ensure that integrity was assured. The operational challenge faced from leveraging milling technology was a failure to pass the bottom of section mill cut. This was then solved by using a taper mill to drill the required section.

The root cause of the integrity issues were understood to be generic aging (the wells were approximately thirty-years old), poor cement jobs and the possibility of ineffective drilling practices used at the initial stages of the well’s life. The core objective was to restore to well integrity of production and injection wells and rule out well abandonment as an option. This was achieved and the programme was a success – resulting in the extension of the mature asset’s life.

Case Two: The Conductor

In this case the operator discusses two fields in the Arabian Peninsula, one consisting of 99 wellhead towers, and the other having 116 wellheads towers – cumulatively the integrity department is having to manage 217 wellhead towers. The technical challenge faced by the operator is that over 60% of these wellheads towers are in life extension phase.

If offshore conductors corrode to the point their structural integrity fails, they are bound to buckle leading X-mas tree and other related critical equipment to fail.

The wellhead towers are typically 3-legged and 4-legged (with 9 slots) having above water guide support and near seabed conductor support. One of the main issues the operator is facing is having 9 slots conductor’s exposure to the huge amount of wave load which may transfer through conductor guides followed by jackets to piles. It is important to highlight conductor guides support for the wellhead towers is necessary, otherwise, the conductor will be free standing and may subject to vortex induced vibrations which could fail under free vibration or due to fatigue.

When designing conductor supports it is essential that the weight from X-mass tree, BOP, lateral support, vortex induced vibration, corrosion protection and marine growth should be considered among other requirements with respecting code and standards established by NORSOK, API, and ISO.

In the region operators have typical well conductor loading depth varying from 100ft to 300ft, having two types of loadings axial compression and global bending. The operational integrity is assured by conducting scheduled screen inspection (visual inspection) followed by detailed inspection using Saturated Low-Frequency Eddy Current (SLOFEC) and Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) quantifying the minimum wall thickness, external and internal detections, separate mapping and other techniques.

By executing these inspections and then coupling them quickly with remedial works, abnormalities in the aging conductor were identified and rectified within the scheduled inspection window. In one example it was discovered there was at least a minimum wall thickness and therefore efficient strength to assure the stability of the asset against atmospheric, splash and full submerged segments of the conductor – and therefore its ability to cope with the stress of a work over for production enhancement applications was established.

The results of applying this conductor programme across the two fields showed that a robust remedial strategy, as emphasized by this operator, reduced rig intervention for replacement and fewer rig repair strategies such as reinforced cement, bolted clamps and welded sleeves just to mention a few.

Conclusion

Well integrity is becoming increasingly important in maturing fields in the Middle East. The asset integrity lifecycle is ever evolving, and lessons learned must be added to our codes of practice and become ‘the norm’ for future projects. This will ensure that collectively we are able to continue the efficient production from our existing assets for the benefit of future generations.

The insights captured in this document are indicative of a culture where we need a continuous improvement across training our personnel to increase competency, safety and cost-effectiveness of operations and use innovative approaches in low price environment.

From these examples, a scheduled approach to preventative maintenance workovers are shown to be more cost-effective overtime rather than dealing with sever and critical integrity works which are bound to follow.

Slickline Camera for Safety Profile Inspection & Parted tubing

  • Region: Middle East
  • Topics: All Topics
  • Date: Feb, 2017

Slickline Camera for Safety Profile Inspection & Parted tubing

This Video of the Month is from a well in the Middle East. The operator utilized EV’s Optis™ HD Memory camera to inspect the flow tube and flapper valve condition of a surface-controlled safety valve. Earlier intervention work had resulted in the need to fish tools at the valve but now the functionality of the valve was in question. There was communication across the valve but there was no access through it.

First, the operator decided to run a Lead Impression Block, which returned to surface with a half-moon shape impression. After seeing the impression, the Operator was not satisfied the results were conclusive and wanted a visual answer to identify what the obstruction was down hole.

EV were called in as an urgent service to give a clear answer. EV’s Optis™ HD colour memory camera capable of capturing 30 frames per second for up to 4 hours was deployed on Slickline to investigate. Once the camera program had completed, tools were pulled out of hole, footage was quickly downloaded and all soon became apparent.

The video shows the tubing had parted just below the DHSV. The camera exits the upper section of parted tubing and continues to run in. 4m below, the lower section of the parting can be seen, answering the half-moon shape on the LIB. With the assistance of the collapsible bowspring centralizers, the 1 11/16” OD toolstring was able to re-enter the lower section of tubing and continued to run in a further few meters.

While Pulling out of hole the camera exits the lower section of parting and re-enters the upper section of tubing capturing the DHSV components found to be in good condition.

The quick reaction from call-out to wellsite for EV to run EV their Optis™ Memory Camera allowed a definitive answer to the problem downhole in a matter of hours, saving the operator vital time & cost from making further unnecessary runs in hole, instead allowing them to plan ahead for the problem at hand.

Flapper Valve Milling Inspection

  • Region: Middle East
  • Topics: All Topics
  • Date: Jan, 2017

Flapper Valve Milling Inspection

This Video of the Month is from a well in the Middle East. The operator utilized EV’s Optis™ HD Memory camera to inspect the flow tube and flapper valve condition of a surface-controlled safety valve. Earlier intervention work had resulted in the need to fish tools at the valve but now the functionality of the valve was in question. There was communication across the valve but not access through it.

EV’s HD memory camera was deployed on slickline and here we find the actuated flow tube shifting up and down properly while the camera is stationary. The operator prepped the well by pumping clear water and shutting the well in to allow a gas phase to build at this shallow depth from the surface. On the same camera run but one meter deeper is the flapper valve which should open as the flow tube is cycled. However, the flapper is jammed in a partly open position allowing fluid to pass by but not equipment.

The operator decided to mill through the flapper with a hydraulic workover unit and requested EV’s HD memory camera to check milling progress if there were issues. The flapper valve was successful milled through but a subsequent gauge run stacked out 32m below the valve. The camera was deployed to inspect the milled area of the safety valve and the cause of the deeper obstruction. The video shows a very clean milling job in the flapper area with no potential hazards to hang up tools. 32m deeper we find part of the milled flapper has fallen and is now stuck across the well bore. The operator elected to install a temporary safety valve and return the well to production and will attempt to recover the fish at a later date.

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