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Introduction

Perforation, a key link in well completion, has advanced greatly in the past
decade. It plays an important role in enhancing oil and gas production of wells. The
well will have been drilled so that it runs close to the area of the rock formation
designated for production of oil or gas. The completion process involves preparing
the newly drilled well so that it is ready for production. The perforating process is
depending on the type of completion neither open hole nor cased hole completion.
With cased hole completions, a cement liner or casing will have been deployed in
order to separate the oil or gas producing formation from the well bore. When the
well is ready to be brought into production, the final stage of completion is to
perforate the liner so that the well can flow. This involves using a perforating gun to
fire shaped charges over precise intervals in the casing. The intention being to open
up a good connection to the reservoir behind the casing or liner and the well bore, so
the gun selection has to be precise too. But with open hole completions generally
have no liner – the reservoir is directly connected to the well bore – so there is less
requirement for perforation. However, perforation is sometimes carried out with the
intention of providing a better connection to the reservoir, especially if the wellbore
has been damaged during the drilling process.

2-Guns

The primary objective of a perforating gun is to provide effective flow

communication between a cased wellbore and a productive reservoir. To achieve this,
the perforating gun “punches” a pattern of perforations through the casing and
cement sheath and into the productive formation.

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2.1 The main Perforating Gun components

1. Detonator

2. The individual shaped charge.

3. Detonating cord.

4. A conveyance for the shaped charge.

Fig.1 Shaped charge and the Perforating Gun components.

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 Fig.2 The Perforation geometry.

2.1 Detonator system

Once on depth, charges are fired by an initiator or detonator. Detonator systems

have been redesigned in recent years to improve safety and to prevent several
perforating problems that occur from leaks, pressure problems, and temperature
effects. Any wire-line-conveyed, hollow-carrier gun should have a detonator system
that will not allow the charges to fire if the gun is completely or partially filled with
water.

2.2 Types of guns

 Casing guns
 Through tubing guns.
 Tubing conveyed guns.

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2.3.1 Casing Gun System (Wire-line Convey)

The casing gun system is the oldest perforation technique and it involves running
perforation in order to perforate a well before running a completion. Wellbore
conditions can be either overbalanced or underbalanced when perforating.

2.3.1.1 Advantages of a casing gun

 Perforation guns can be run with wire-line or electric line in order to get an
accurate depth control.
 Larger diameter guns can be utilized.
 Effective well control.
 Operations are mechanically simple and reliable.

2.3.1.2 Disadvantages of casing gun

 Takes rig time for perforation

 Requires rig up equipment on the rig floor.

2.3.2 Through-tubing gun

The smaller through-tubing guns should be run through a lubricator and typically
are limited to approximately 40 ft in length, less for larger, heavier guns. The
advantages of through-tubing guns are:

2.3.2.1 Through-tubing gun types

 Hollow-carrier gun.
 The exposed gun.

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2.3.2.1.1 Hollow-carrier gun

Hollow-carrier guns can be run either on wire-line or on tubing. They may carry
large charges, which normally minimize casing damage. The carrier contains most of
the debris from the charge and the alignment system. Hollow-carrier guns are tubes
that contain the shaped charges. The guns may be of a small size, able to pass through
tubing and restrictions and place initial perforations or add perforations, or of larger
sizes that are run through casing, conveyed by either work strings or the production
tubing.  Both reusable and single-use guns are offered, although higher pressure and
more expensive wells typically use the single-use guns to minimize leaks and
problems. Single-use guns are designed as expendables because the shaped charge
perforates through the gun body. There is usually a “scallop” spot milled in the
outside of the hollow-carrier tube at the charge location. The scallop contains the exit
burr from the charge firing, which prevents scoring of polished bores if the gun is
moved after firing and may minimize gun swelling. The scallop also may minimize
the metal thickness penetrated, although this affects the perforation charge
performance less than 10%. Keeping the charge exit point within the scallop becomes
critical when through-tubing guns are used in which polished bores must be traversed
with the gun after firing or when tubing clearances are critical. Hollow-carrier guns,
depending on their diameter and design, may be loaded with 1 to 27 shots/ft and have
all the commonly used phase angles as well as specialty phasings.

2.3.2.1.2 The exposed gun

 Expendable gun.
 Retrievable gun.

2.3.2.1.2.1 Expendable gun

Expendable guns have charges that are exposed to well fluids and pressures.
They are more vulnerable to damage, but without the bulk of the gun body.The
expendable and semi-expendable carriers normally can use a larger charge for a given
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tubing or casing size than the hollow-carrier guns. With expendable guns, there is
also more flexibility because some bending can be achieved. The charges are lined
together by a common strip, wire/cable, or a linked body design.

2.3.2.2 Advantages of through tubing gun

 Perforate a well with a completion string.

 Rapid deployment and retrieval by using wireline or electric line units.
 Minimizes loss of production.
 Accurate depth control.
 Reduced cost because no completion retrieval is required.

2.3.2.3 Disadvantages of through tubing system

 Smaller diameter of perforation charges can be used when compared to other

perforation system.
 Limited penetration (small entry hole).
 Length of perforation in one run is limited by surface equipment.

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Fig.3 Three conveyance methods for perforating guns: through casing, through tubing and tubing
conveyed systems.

2.3.3 Tubing Conveyed Perforation System (TCP)

For this system, the perforation gun is attached and run with a completion string.
This system requires drilling an additional hole called a “sump” in order to
accommodate a perforated gun to be dropped and left in the well after a gun is fired.

3.2.2.1 Advantages of tubing conveyed technique

 Long reservoir interval can be perforated by one run.

 Larger explosion charges than through tubing system.

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  Perforation can be done within the underbalanced condition so formation
damage can be minimized.
 Significant reduction in rig time.

Fig. 4 Through-tubing gun. Fig. 5 Hollow-carrier gun. Fig. 6

Expendable gun.

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 The two candidate techniques for our reservoir are :

1. Casing guns.
2. Through tubing guns(The exposed gun’’Expandable gun’’).

2.4 Engineering Parameters

2.4.1 Basic perforating design.

 The formation variables 

 The best-known design considerations for perforating .
 Temperature effect
 Perforator phasing

Many early studies ignored the damage around the perforation tunnel and focused
on the importance of length and entrance hole diameter. Putting damage effects aside,
the length of the perforation tunnel is theoretically the most critical factor in a natural
completion in which no further stimulation or sand control is planned. Entrance hole
diameter becomes more important when some sand control completion designs are
planned or fracturing is needed. Because of the early studies that ignored the effects
of formation damage, the primary selling points of perforating charges became
perforated length and entrance hole diameter. These two elements diminish in
significance when the effect of formation damage is studied

Perforating charge performance in producing both entrance hole and perforation

length is related more closely to charge design than charge size. The charge variables
include:

 Propellant type.
 Propellant size.
 Propellant design.

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2.4.1.1 The formation variables 

 Formation strength.
 Pressure.
 Porosity.
 Grain size.
 Fluids in the pores.

Perforating charge power is provided by the explosive and focused by the case and
liner to produce a jet. The jet may be shaped to maximize either entrance hole or
tunnel penetration. The completion type dictates the type of perforation needed and
thus the type of charge. No matter which charge is selected, however, the flow path
must have a higher flow capacity than the formation can supply. Otherwise, it
becomes a restriction in the reservoir-to-wellbore connection. Flow connection
should be the primary consideration when selecting a perforating charge. Charge
penetration can be optimized for specific non permeable targets such as cement and
may produce a phenomenally long perforated length and very low flow capacity.
Flow capacity should be the requirement in any producing environment.

As the jet penetrates the formation, the material in its path is thrust to the side,
creating a zone of lowered permeability. The amount of permeability loss depends on
the structure, porosity, and fluid of the formation and the size and design of the
charge.

2.4.1.2 The best-known design considerations for perforating

 Perforation length.
 Shot-phase angle.
 Perforation density.
 Entrance hole size.
 Perforating flow efficiency.

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2.4.1.3 Temperature effect

The higher the wellbore temperatures, the shorter the time that the perforating jet
charge is stable. Illustrates stable time at temperature for charges made from common
types of explosives. Guidelines for high-temperature charge selection vary, but most
wire-line-conveyed charges should be stable at the temperature for 16 to 24 hours.
Tubing-conveyed perforating charges, for operations involving extended time at the
buttonhole temperature, must remain stable for approximately 100 hours or more to
allow for running the tubing and nippling up the wellhead. Higher temperature
charges for operations involving extended time at temperatures greater than 300°F
(149°C) are available, although they are more costly. When selecting a high-
temperature charge, all parts of the system must be rated for the time at temperature
and must work together, including:

 Detonator.
 Detonation cord.
 Charges.
 Mechanical component.

2.3.1.3 Perforator phasing

Phasing is the angle between the charges. There are many possible angles, the
five common values are:

 180°
 120°
 90°
 60°
 45°
 0°

Depending on the permeability of the formation, we will choose the perforating

phasing, so we will choose phase angle equal 90 because the formation
permeability is very law.

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Perforation intervals From geology and logging data
For Matullah Formation
We should make a perforation in more than one zones because of the
shale barrel

.at zone 1 ) 3835 - 3825 (

. at zone 2 ) 3877 - 3864 (

For Nubia Formation

We should make a perforation in more than one zones because of the
shale barrel

. at zone 1 ) 4258 - 4249 (

( 4279 - 4292 ) at zone 2 .

Fig. 7 Gun Phasing

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 Perforation length

3. Deployment of gun inside the well

 Coiled tubing.
 Wire line.
 Snubbing Pipe.

3.1 Coiled tubing

Coiled tubing perforating is ideal for live wells. There are several ways to activate
guns run with coiled tubing, including hydraulic delay firing heads; drop ball firing
heads; the eFire-CT coiled tubing–deployed firing head. Hydraulic coiled tubing
allows stimulation fluids to be pumped without the risk of damaging a wire-
line cable.

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 Fig.8 Coil tubing unit.

3.2 Wire line

Wire-line (or electric line) is the traditional way to run perforating guns and with
good reason: Wire-line provides the advantages of real-time depth control and
selectivity along with reduced logistics compared with deployment on tubing.
Although wire-line perforating guns were initially categorized by whether they
are used before the completion is run (casing guns) or through the completion
(through-tubing guns), today any type of engineered perforating system can be run on
wire=line along with a wide variety of other explosive devices. Regardless of the type
of perforating gun, our engineered perforating systems are optimized for the gun and
charge combination with respect to the wellbore environment, reservoir and fluid
content, and completion geometry.

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3.3 Snubbing Pipe

During snubbing or stripping operations, a combination of the surface BOPs,

wire-line plugs or string floats, and hydrostatic pressure may be used to control the
well. The surface BOPs are in constant use and are the primary form of well control.
Snubbing is mainly used on projects where it is desirable to maintain the well in
underbalanced conditions at all times. Many oil companies use snubbing on projects
ranging from simple completions to high pressure work-overs to underbalanced
situations. Hydraulic rig assist units are the most common style of snubbing units in
use today. They are highly mobile and typically truck mounted. The unique, short
design of the unit is the result of an innovation that places the BOPs inside the
hydraulic jack making the rig assist unit highly compatible with all sizes of service
and drilling rigs.

Figure.9 snubbing pipe.

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4. Well perforation techniques

 Overbalance.
 Under balance.
 Balance.

4.1 Overbalance

 Hydrostatic pressure of fluid in well bore greater than reservoir pressure.

 Provide control over well while performing completion specially in gas wells.
 Perforation can be plugged with debris in well bore "difficult in cleaning
process".

As the guns are detonated, creating holes in the casing, cement, and the
formation, particles from the charge; liner particles, charge case particles
and mud are pushed into the formation as debris. This large energy
released bowdlerizes formation rock grains, making a low-permeability
crushed zone around the perforation cavity and hindering fluid movement.

4.2 Under balance

In underbalance perforation the wellbore pressure, before perforation, is kept less

than the formation reservoir pressure. This way, with high permeability, the initial
fluid influx in the tunnel helps in breaking the crushed zone loose and taking it out
from the tunnel into the wellbore. But as the reservoir pressure equalizes with bottom
hole pressure, the rate of clean up decreases throughout the total number of

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perforations. Therefore, complete cleanup is based on the assumption that the
wellbore pressure remains constant during perforation and cleanup process.

4.3 Balance

Hydrostatic pressure of fluid in well bore is equaled to the reservoir pressure. To

provide control to the well bore and do not damage the reservoir.

Figure 10. Well perforation techniques.

We can conclude that each technique has advantages and disadvantages, but we
will use overbalance technique for more safety.

Conclusion
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Gun Type Through tubing guns(Expandable gun).
Casing gun
Deployment method Coiled tubing. Wire line
Phasing 90 deg 90 deg
No.of shots/ft 4 4
Technique Over balance Over balance
Perforation Length No test Data No test Data

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