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WELL COMPLETION and STIMULATION

Bài giảng được soạn bởi


Bộ môn Khoan – Khai thác Dầu khí
Khoa Kỹ thuật Địa chất và Dầu khí
Đại học Bách Khoa TP. HCM
Tel: (08) 8647256 ext. 5767
GEOPET
CONTENTS

1. Basic Completion Methods

2. Completion Procedure

3. Perforating

4. Stimulation

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1. BASIC COMPLETION METHODS

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INTRODUCTION
 Once the design well depth is
reached, the formation is tested
and evaluated.
 To complete the production well, PLATFORM

casing is installed and cemented,


and the drilling rig is dismantled. SEA BED

 A service rig is brought in to 30’’ CASING

20’’ CASING
perforate the production casing 13 3/8’’ CASING

and run production tubing along 7’’ LINER


Production casing (9 5/8)
with downhole equipments.
 Production begins after surface
safety equipment installation RESERVOIR

inished.

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WHAT IS COMPLETION?

Well completion creates a


dependable pathway to the surface
for the hydrocarbons.

The term ‘completion’ describes


the assembly of downhole tubulars
and other safety equipments that is
required to enable the safe and
efficient production of oil or gas
from the well after it has been
drilled.

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BASIC WELL COMPLETION TECHNOLOGY
 Each drilled wellbore awaiting completion is unique. Even nearby wells
drilled to the same reservoir can have differencies in:
 depths,
 formation characteristics,
 and hole sizes
 A wide variety of equipment designs and procedures have been
developed to provide safe, efficient conduits from subsurface
reservoirs to the surface in different situations.
 The ideal completion design
 minimizes initial completion and operating costs,
 providing for the most profitable operation of an oil or gas well over
its entire life.
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TYPE OF COMPLETION
Natural Completions
Natural completions are those in which little or no stimulation is required
for production. Sandstone and carbonate systems with good permeability
and mechanical stability are ideal for natural completions.

Stimulated Completions
These completions are generally applied to improve the natural drainage
patterns of hard, low-permeability formations. It is used to remove
barriers that prevent easy passage of fluids into the wellbore.

Sand-Control Completions
Sand-control completions support the formation while allowing the flow of fluids.
They are performed in young, unconsolidated or less mechanically competent
sandstones.
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TYPE OF COMPLETION
The design of a particular completion depends on:

1. The number and type of productive zones,

2. The expected pressures and flow rates,

3. The need to control sand production,

4. The need for artificial lift or stimulation the regulations


governing operations in the area.

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WELL COMPLETION ACTIVITIES
Well completion activities include:
 Conducting well test
 Setting production casing
 Running production tubing along with
downhole equipments
 Installing surface safety equipments
 Starting production flow

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BASIC COMPLETION METHODS

 Once we drill to the target and evaluate our well by


 Mud analysis: density & viscosity
 Well logging (electrical, ascoustic, nuclear, etc…)
 Coring: at bottomhole or sidewall
 Welltest: bottomhole pressure vs time -> reservoir properties
Next decision is whether to complete or abandon it????
 In the latter case:
 set a cement plug or plugs in the hole,
 possibly recover whatever casing can be removed,
 and return the drill-site to its original condition.
 The more fortunate is one in which our well not only is productive, but
economically justifies a completion.

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BASIC COMPLETION METHODS

The next step usually involves the running of the final string of casing - the
production string.

The manner in which this is done determines the basic completion


method and may follow one of several configurations: (interface between
the wellbore & reservoir)

 the openhole completion,


 the liner completion,
 the cased and perforated completion
• Without liner
• With liner

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BASIC COMPLETION METHODS
 The openhole completion: the producing formation is not isolated by
the casing, which extends only to the top of the producing interval.
 The slotted liner completion: which is not cemented and not "tied back"
to the surface.

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BASIC COMPLETION METHODS
 The cased and perforated completion
 Without liner: cementing the production casing across the
productive interval and then perforating the casing for production
 With liner: a liner is cemented and perforated as a cased and
perforated completion

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BASIC COMPLETION METHODS

 One of these configurations will be the basis for the completion design,
which may incorporate:
 one or multiple strings of tubing: single, dual, or triple, etc
 and a variety of tubing components to facilitate production
(production method): pumping, flowing, etc.
 from one or multiple zones: single or multiple zones
 For our purposes, a cased and perforated well with a single tubing
string will serve to illustrate the typical completion procedure.

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SUBSEA COMPLETION
Subsea production systems are wells
located on the sea floor, as opposed to
at the surface. The safety equipments
are installed underwater on the seabed.

They enable early production from


deepwater, remote, and marginal fields.

Subsea production system offer a


means of producing field extremities not
reachable by directional drilling from
existing platforms, or where field
economics do not justify the installation
of one or more additional platforms.

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2. COMPLETION PROCEDURE

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 After the contract casing crew runs the final casing,


cementing follows the usual procedure, although stage
cementing may be necessary to cement an extremely long
string.

 The production string has been hauled out to the location


and the inside diameter checked to make sure that
imperfections will not prevent the subsequent running in of
tubing and packers after the string is set.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 Special care: to prevent the possibility of future leaks.


 If stage cementing is necessary:
 the bottom section is first cemented in place and then
 a series of plugs are pumped down the casing to open ports that
allow the upper end of the annulus to receive cement.
 After the cement has set, the inside of the casing must be
 drilled out and
 flushed clean of cement and other debris to a depth below that of
the proposed completion.
 It is important that the inside diameter of the production casing be
clean and smooth.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

It is also important that the cement


form a competent seal between the
casing and borehole over the entire
openhole interval. To ensure this,
 an acoustic cement bond log is
sometimes run on wireline
 to determine if voids exist
between casing and hole
because cement has bypassed
the drilling fluid.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 If the bond is poor in an area, particularly if the area is between


productive formations, a cement squeeze will be required.
 Often the cement bond log is run in conjunction with a gamma ray log
and a casing collar log. The drilling engineers can correlate this
gamma ray log with the logs run earlier during formation logging.
 This correlation is important because as we zero in on the target - the
productive formation - our need to locate tools precisely relative to that
formation is critical.
 The open hole logging sondes are subjected to a greater amount of
"drag" when being pulled up the hole, the depths at which formations
are recorded may differ somewhat from the formation depths on the
gamma ray log run inside the casing.
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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 If we were to perforate the casing according to the openhole log


depths, we might miss the formation entirely. By using the correlation
log and casing collar log to set packers and perforate, we are assured
of precise placement.
 At this point, many operators
 move the drilling rig off location and
 replace it with a less expensive, and often less powerful,
completion rig.
 This gives the operator time to design the rest of the completion,
provide for a sales contract, and order equipment.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

Whichever rig is used, the next step in the completion is to measure the
tubing while running it into the hole.
 A careful count must be kept of the exact number of tubing joints run
into the hole and their total length.
 With the tubing in the hole, the BOP stack, which is now attached
above the tubing head where the tubing will hang, may be tested.
 The casing may also be pressure tested,
 and a filtered completion fluid may be circulated into the well to
displace the drilling mud prior to perforating.
 This fluid is usually a heavy brine, because it:
o provides the hydrostatic pressure needed to control the well,
o does not contain solids that can plug the perforations and
damage the formation.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 If perforating is to be done at this point,


 the tubing is removed and
 the perforating gun is lowered and positioned according to the
correlation log and casing collars.
 It is critical that the gun be placed precisely;
 once inaccurate perforations are made, they can only be plugged
off with a costly cement "squeeze."

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 With the well perforated, it may now be time to stimulate the well by
either
 acidizing or
 hydraulically fracturing the formation.
 Acid can be used to dissolve formation-damaging particles left by the
drilling mud or, in carbonate formations, to create flow passages by
dissolving portions of the rock itself.
 Hydraulic fracturing involves the high-pressure pumping of fluid into
the formation to split the rock apart and increase its flow capacity of
tight formations.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

Normally, a completion packer is run and set next, either incorporated


into the tubing string or set independently on electric wireline.
 The packer is pressure tested to ensure its sealing ability. (Many
shallow, low pressure wells, however, do not require a packer to isolate
the casing from produced fluids.)
 The tubing must then be "spaced out."  This requires that a length of
tubing be removed from the upper end so that it can be "landed" in the
tubing head, which is some distance bellow the rotary table.
 Once the tubing has been landed in the tubing head, a temporary plug
can be set inside the tubing while the BOP stack is removed and the
surface flow control equipment ("Christmas tree") installed.  This plug
is then removed through the Christmas tree, and the well is completed.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

 Of course, this procedure will vary according to


 the specific brands of equipment being installed,
 the characteristics of the well,
 and the policies of different companies,
 but the essential sequence of operations will be followed.
 One variation is the procedure for perforating, which may be done after
the tubing has been run.
 This approach allows the formation to be perforated and immediately
"cleaned up" by allowing it to flow as soon as the perforations are
created.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

The rig will often be moved off location at this point, allowing the well to
brought on production. On an offshore platform, the rig may be skidded
to the next well slot.
 If a rod pump is required on the well, it may be installed at this time
and the necessary rods and downhole pumping mechanism run
into the tubing.
 If gas lift valves have been incorporated into the tubing string, gas
may be used to blow the completion fluid out of the tubing and
permit the well to flow on its own.
In some cases, the well will be "swabbed in" at this point, by running a
close-fitting plunger into the tubing on wireline and pulling it back up,
thereby displacing the completion fluid in the tubing and allowing the
formation to flow.

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COMPLETION PROCEDURE

After an initial well test, which may be conducted with temporary test
facilities, the flow line needed to produce the well on a continuous basis
will be connected.

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3. PERFORATING

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PERFORATING
 The use of cemented steel casing to line the wellbore and isolate
producing zones is only practical when a method for easily reopening
those zones for production exists.
 Jet perforating is the procedure whereby an explosive charge is used
to selectively open passages to the formation through the casing and
cement sheath. This method:
 the most widely used today, because of its versatility and power.
 Having evolved from the military bazooka, the jet perforator relies
on a conical-shaped charge of explosives to produce a high
pressure stream of particles.
 Bullet perforators fire metal projectiles at the inside of the casing to
penetrate casing, cement, and rock.
 This technique has pressure, temperature, and penetration
limitations that have made jet perforating the more popular choice for
completions.
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PERFORATING

 Jet perforating guns consist of


 a carrier with a series of explosive charges linked together by a
detonating cord.
 A variety of gun designs exist; they vary according to:
- the gun is to be run on an electric conductor line or attached to the
bottom of the tubing;
- the gun is to be run through the casing on electric line or tubing, or
is to be lowered through the tubing on electric line;
- the gun is retrievable following detonation or is expendable
(meaning it is destroyed when the gun is fired);
- the diameter and length of the perforation desired.

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PERFORATING
 Wider, longer perforations require
 larger, stronger jet charges,
 and, larger guns to hold them.
 The charge itself is held in a metal case
that is linked to similarly shaped charges
by a detonating cord ending in an electric
detonator.
 When the gun is fired, an electric current
from the surface sets off the blasting cap
detonator, which secondarily ignites the
detonating cord leading to the main
explosive charges.
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PERFORATING

When a charge is fired


 The metallic liner collapses to form a stream of
high pressure, high velocity jet particles.
 Traveling at 30,000 ft/sec (9100 m/sec), the jet
stream strikes the casing at some 15x106psi
(100x 106kPa) a fraction of a second after
detonation, to form a perforation.
a) before detonation
b) after detonation, showing
collapsing liner & swelling casing.
c) volatilizing metal liner and
formation of particle
d) jet lengthens as process continues
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PERFORATING
 Retrievable hollow carrier guns have cylindrical steel bodies with
closed ports opposite each jet charge.
 Fully expendable guns enclose the charges in a frangible aluminum or
ceramic case that disintegrates on firing.
 while semiexpendable guns consist of wire or metal strip carriers that
are retrieved after firing.
 Through-casing and through-tubing guns of these types differ primarily
 in the diameter of the gun
• 3 to 5 inches [7.6 to 12.7 cm] for casing guns,
• 1 to 2 inches [2.5 to 5.1 cm] for tubing guns
 and in the size of the jet charges.

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PERFORATING

Type of perforating guns

• Retrievable hollow carrier guns

• Fully expendable guns

• Semi expendable guns

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PERFORATING GUNS

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PERFORATING

As mentioned earlier, perforating can be carried out in several different


ways:
 Conventional overbalanced perforating is done through casing with an
electrical conductor line and heavy fluid in the hole. This completion
fluid is usually a low-solids solution of sodium or potassium chloride, or
sodium or potassium bromide.
 Conventional underbalanced perforating is usually carried out after
tubing has been run and equipment is installed to control the sudden
pressure surge when the higher pressure formation is opened to the
lower pressure wellbore.

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PERFORATING

 For a typical formation the difference between wellbore and formation


pressure may be 300-500 psi (2000-3500 kPa).
 For a low permeability formation, the typical difference between
wellbore pressure and formation pressure may be 2000 psi (13,800
kPa) or higher. -> the immediate surge of formation fluids to prevent
the clogging of the perforation tunnels with debris.
 When a maximum pressure differential is desired, a tubing-conveyed
perforating gun may be used.
 it is possible to have the tubing run empty with a ported vent, which
opens when the packer is set.
 After firing, the gun component of the tubing is released with a
wireline shifting tool to allow full flow into the tubing.
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PERFORATING

 In addition to perforation diameter and length, two important


considerations in all types of perforating are
 the shot density
 and phasing of the perforations.
 The shot density, or shots per foot, is usually 2, 4, 8,12, or 16 holes in
each foot of perforated interval.

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PERFORATING

 Phasing pertains to the direction of each successive shot relative to its


neighbors;
 if each charge is pointed 90 away from the next, we have 90
phasing.
 In the case of 180 phasing, each shot points directly opposite from
the next one in the carrier.
 Gun phasing can be particularly important when perforating a fractured
well, a highly deviated well, or a multiple completion, where the gun
must be oriented to avoid perforating an adjacent tubing string.

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PERFORATING

 The decision about the interval to be perforated is often made by the geologist
or by the engineer and geologist responsible for the area in which the well is
drilled.
 Consideration will be given to maximizing flow rate and minimizing
production problems such as produced sand, water coning, or excessive
gas production in an oil well.
 The decision is often made after careful review of the log and core data
back at the company office.
 The geologist's input concerning net pay, sidewall core descriptions, and
the areal extent of sand intervals can be crucial in determining the best
interval to be perforated.
 One of the advantages of the cased and perforated completion: ability to
selectively stimulate specific formations.

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MULTI-LAYER PERFORATION

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4. Stimulation
• Acidizing
• Fracturing

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STIMULATION

 In many cases,
 acidizing
 or fracturing
is a routine part of the completion program.
 Either type of stimulation may also be applied soon after a well
 has been completed and
 has tested at lower production rates than expected.
 Stimulation may also be part of a remedial or "workover" program
designed to improve productivity following a decline in production.

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STIMULATION

 Stimulation will often follow a formation pressure buildup test that was
run to determine if the cause of low productivity was
 permeability reduction near the wellbore,
 low permeability throughout the reservoir,
 or low reservoir pressure.
 Acid stimulation can improve the first condition,
 while fracturing is necessary to significantly improve the second
condition.
 Of course, the third condition can only be helped by pressure
maintenance.

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STIMULATION

 Both acidizing and fracturing procedures involve the pumping of fluids


down the tubing or drillpipe and into the formation.
 In fracturing, the objective is to apply enough pressure to actually split
the formation apart, thereby enhancing its flow capacity.
 In acidizing
 sandstone formations, the objective is to squeeze acid into the
existing pore spaces of the rock matrix; this improves productivity
by removing formation damage and dissolving clay particles.
 In carbonate formations, acid treatments are designed to enhance
permeability by actually dissolving part of the rock matrix.
Acid-fracturing treatments are designed to create fractures that are
simultaneously widened by acid dissolution.
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Acidizing

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ACIDIZING

 Successful acidizing involves more than


simply
 pumping acid down the well
 and allowing it to dissolve part of the
formation.
 The type of acid used, the chemicals
added to improve its efficiency, the
Acidizing
volumes pumped, and the pumping
pressures maintained are dependent on
 the characteristics of the reservoir rock
and fluids
 and the configuration of the well.
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ACIDIZING

 Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is the most common chemical used in


acidizing.
 A solution of 15% HCl by weight is most often used in limestone or
dolomite formations,
 while a mixture of 12% HCl and 3% hydroflouric (HF) acid is often
used on sandstone formations with interstitial clays, particularly in
areas such as the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast of the United
States.
 Organic acids, such as acetic acid, or formic acid, are also sometimes
used.

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ACIDIZING

A variety of additives help the acid work more efficiently.


 Inhibitors prevent the acid from attacking the steel tubing and casing at
high bottom hole temperatures.
 In some applications, retarders can prevent the acid from spending
quickly on the first formation rock it encounters, allowing the acid to be
pumped further into the formation.
 Surfactants added to the acid help prevent acid/oil emulsions from
forming and reducing the ability of the fluids to flow.
 Because the reaction of acid and iron compounds can create
precipitates within the formation, iron sequestering agents are added
to control these deposits.

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ACIDIZING

Some acid treatments are even designed to generate acid within the
formation, again allowing deeper penetration of active acid.
 In acid fracturing, it is important to keep the acid from leaking away as
a fracture spreads out from the wellbore. Fluid loss agents can be
added to keep the acid inside the fracture and allow it to penetrate
farther into the formation.
 Temporary plugging agents are also added, during matrix acidizing
jobs, to divert the acid into different layers of the formation and improve
overall permeability.

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ACIDIZING

 Preflush fluids designed to prepare the formation for


 the acid,
 the acid plus its additives,
 and the displacing fluid that follows the acid,
are all pumped at rates ranging from less than one barrel per minute to
perhaps more than ten barrels per minute.

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ACIDIZING

 The actual rates will depend on the calculated fracture pressure


required to split the formations, and whether a matrix or fracture
treatment is preferred.
 Volumes of 50 to 200 gallons of acid per vertical foot of formation are
typical for most reservoirs, depending, of course, on the porosity and
rock type.
 The acid solutions are delivered to the wellsite in specially lined tanks
brought by truck to land locations and delivered by boat to offshore
wells.

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ACIDIZING

 High-pressure piping is connected to the well and the acid is pumped


down the hole ( Figure ).

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ACIDIZING

 The size and configuration of the tubing in the well is important in


calculating the volume of fluid required to completely displace the acid
into the formation.

 If gas lift valves or other points of communication exist between tubing


and casing, precautions must be taken to ensure that acid is not
 pumped into the casing/tubing annulus
 and allowed to corrode the casing.

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Fracturing

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FRACTURING

 As early as 1900, oil producers used explosives to "shoot" wells.

 By detonating nitroglycerin opposite the producing formation,


 the wellbore was enlarged and
 the surrounding rock shattered.

 As would be expected, this technique was


 dangerous and
 often damaging to the casing.
Hydraulic fracturing

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FRACTURING

 In the 1940s: the inadvertent splitting of the strata during drilling or


cementing might be purposefully carried out in a potentially productive
formation to increase permeability.

 The idea was


 to pump fluid into a cased and perforated wellbore until the
hydraulic pressure caused the formation to part;
 continued pumping would force the fluid into the fracture,
 propagating the fracture farther and farther from the wellbore.

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FRACTURING

 Early researchers realized that the fracture would close once the
hydraulic pressure was relieved,
 a solid material is added to the fracturing fluid to "prop" open the
fracture.

 Initial jobs consisted of perhaps 500 to 1000 gallons of gelled kerosene


(napalm) as a fracturing fluid, with perhaps 1/2 lb of sand per gallon
(Neely 1977).
 These early fractures were assumed to be horizontal, following
the bedding planes of the rock.

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FRACTURING

 Since that time, an enormous amount of research and field application


of fracturing techniques has been carried out.
 Theoretical mathematical models have been developed that permit
engineers to predict the type of fracture and productivity increase that
will result from a certain magnitude fracture treatment.
 These calculations prevent the unnecessary use of enormous amounts
of
 costly fracture fluid,
 proppant material,
 and equipment horse power
by tailoring the treatment to the particular well.

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FRACTURING

 Although there is still some disagreement among theorists concerning


the behavior of rock under stress, we now know that:
 Fracture orientation is dependent upon geologic conditions,
 And that most fractures are vertical rather than horizontal.

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FRACTURING

 In order to significantly improve a well's productivity, a fracture must


conduct fluid at a rate that is several orders of magnitude greater than
the conductivity of the rock itself.

 Creating a high-conductivity fracture involves


 selecting the appropriate fluid, additives, and proppant,

 determining the optimum volume of material to be pumped,

 pumping the material at the appropriate rate and pressure.

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FRACTURING

 Desirable features for a fracturing fluid include


 the ability to remain in the fracture and not leak off into the formation,
 the viscosity necessary to transport the proppant into the fracture,
 the ability to flow back into the well easily after depositing the
proppant,
 and low cost.
 Water-based polymer solutions are popular, as are gel led hydrocarbons
for water-sensitive formations.
 A wide variety of additives are available to reduce fluid friction in piping,
prevent fluid loss from the fracture, control contamination, and insure
compatibility with the formation.

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FRACTURING

 The standard proppant used to hold open the fracture is silica sand.
 Sand can be crushed, however, in deep formations where fracture-
closure stresses are high.
 In such cases sintered bauxite, zirconium oxide, or other high-
strength materials are substituted for sand.

 The goal is to create at least a partial monolayer of proppant within the


fracture, holding the fracture open, but not plugging it completely.

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FRACTURING

 High-strength proppant forms a single layer of particle that holds open


the fracture and permits flow

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FRACTURING

 At the wellsite, the equipment required for a large fracturing job is


somewhat more sophisticated than that required for an acid
stimulation.
 The fracturing fluid is held in tanks, where any necessary additives are
mixed.
 Proppant is sorted in similar containers, from which it is conveyed to
high-rate blenders.
 Blenders combine the fracture fluid with the proppant and send the
mixture to the pumping system.

Well Completion and Stimulation  66


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FRACTURING

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FRACTURING

 These blenders are critical to the fracturing procedure because, once


the pumping process is under way, interruption of it can result in
bridging of the proppant in the tubing or the fracture.
 The job will fail and retreatment will be required.
 Often, for major fracturing treatments, large volumes of fluid must be
pumped at high pressure. This usually means that standard size pump
trucks must be hooked up in parallel to a manifold.
 The fluid is pumped down the tubing, drillpipe, or casing by this system
into the formation.
 A wellhead protector is often inserted through the Christmas tree to
protect its interior from the abrasive, high-pressure fracturing fluid.

Well Completion and Stimulation  68


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Sand Control

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SAND CONTROL

 While a certain amount of sediment will always be produced along with


formation fluids, sand control is the technology and practice of
preventing sand flow from unconsolidated sandstone formations.

 Such a problem is often found


 in Tertiary sediments,
 at shallow depths,
 and in areas such as Nigeria, Indonesia, Trinidad, Venezuela,
Canada, the U.S. Gulf Coast, and the Los Angeles Basin (Patton
and Abbott 1982).

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GEOPET
SAND CONTROL

Sand production leads to any or all of the following problems:

 Casing collapse;

 Abrasion of downhole and surface equipment;

 Reduced productivity;

 Completely plugged ("sanded-up") wells.

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SAND CONTROL
 Methods for controlling sand production have generally involved one of
three approaches:
 an epoxy resin that can be injected into the formation near the
wellbore and allowed to harden; this cements the sand grains
together and by consolidating them prevents their movement.
 a metal screen and sand grain barrier that screens out the
formation sand but does not inhibit fluid flow into the wellbore; or
 a combined treatment involving fracture stimulation and sand
control, known as a “frac and pack” treatment.

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GEOPET
SAND CONTROL

 Metal wire-wrapped screens and gravel packs work in a manner


analogous to a large crowd of people trying to leave a theatre through
a small door. Each could pass through the door individually, but when
several try at once they form a "bridge" that prevents those at the rear
of the pack from moving at all.
 In sand control, bridging methods employ wire-wrapped screens or
slotted casing, both of which have carefully sized openings that allow
the formation sand to be deposited against them.

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SAND CONTROL

In the case of gravel packs, carefully sized


clean sand is placed outside the screen to
retain the formation sand at its outer edge.

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SAND CONTROL

 Correct sizing of both


 the gravel pack sand
 and the gravel pack screen
requires knowledge of the information about formation grain size
distribution that had been obtained from cores.
 Guidelines have been developed to select sand and screen sizes that
will prevent formation sand movement but not inhibit formation fluid
flow.
 Gravel packing may be carried out in an openhole completion in which
under-reaming has enlarged the volume of the pack to enlarge the
hole prior to placing the gravel pack sand outside the screen by the
reverse circulation technique.

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SAND CONTROL

Typical Open Hole Gravel Pack Installation Typical Cased Hole Gravel Pack Installation

Well Completion and Stimulation  76


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SAND CONTROL

 An inside gravel pack may also be accomplished in a cased and


perforated completion.
 Three common types of inside gravel packing are shown in
1. Wash down, where the gravel is placed in the hole and the screen
“washed” through it by circulating,
2. Reverse circulation, where the sand is pumped down the annulus
and the carrying fluid returned up the tubing,
3. Crossover allows the sand slurry to be pumped down the tubing,
depending on the method of sand placement.

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SAND CONTROL

Wash down Reverse Cross over


circulation

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SAND CONTROL

Gravel packs require


 There is a good bond between casing and formation,
 The perforations be large and free of debris,

and that the gravel pack sand is


 Evenly placed around the screen
 And not mixed with formation sand or dirty completion fluid.

Well Completion and Stimulation  79


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SAND CONTROL

 Sand consolidation techniques are best applied to shorter completion


intervals.
 Careful mixing and injecting of the plastic resins is important to prevent
the mixture from hardening either too far into the formation from the
wellbore or inside the casing.
 Although some permeability is lost in this technique, no restrictions to
flow are placed inside the casing as is the case in gravel packing.
 This is attractive if future downhole work is anticipated and the
wellbore may need to be cleaned out.

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SAND CONTROL

 “Frac and Pack” completion methods combine


 hydraulic fracturing
 and gravel packing into a single well treatment.

 They are designed to create relatively short, highly conductive


fractures in reservoirs of moderate to high permeability.

 Frac and pack techniques have come into wide use, and in some
areas have largely supplanted the more conventional sand control
methods described above.

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SAND CONTROL

 Areas of application include


- bypassing near-wellbore formation damage that can’t be removed
with acid treatments.
- increasing formation support of casing in reservoirs that have
formation compacting tendencies.
- vertically connecting productive intervals in thin, laminated sand-
shale sequences.
- Improving productivity in some low-permeability reservoirs
- alleviating problems caused by high wellbore differential pressure.

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SAND CONTROL

 The decision to complete a well with sand control is not always easy.
 For example, in a formation where sand production may occur, the completion
designer may risk the cost of a future workover in order to save the immediate
expense of a gravel pack.
 This may be particularly true if multiple producing zones in the well will
require future work down hole.
 Of course, the cost of remedial work to clean out and gravel-pack a sanded-up
well may be much higher than if the work had been done during the original
completion.
 This is particularly true at some offshore locations where the cost of simply
moving a work over rig on to a producing structure can be enormous.
 With sand control, as with other facets of the completion procedure, decision
making is dependent on a number of factors.

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GEOPET
Completion Components

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COMPLETION COMPONENTS

Oil Well After Completion Tubing


hanger

Well Head
X-mas Tree

Hydraulic
Control Line

Safety
Valve Production
Tubing

Reservoir
Gas Lift
Valve

Perforation
Packer

Pump Out
Plug Sump

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COMPLETION COMPONENTS

PLATFORM WELL HEAD EQUIPMENT


Only this casing
is visible
from outside
SEA BED
PRODUCTION TUBING 30’’ CASING

20’’ CASING
13 3/8’’ CASING

Production casing (9 5/8)

9 5/8’’ CASING
7’’ LINER

RESEVOIR

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DOWNHOLE EQUIPMENT

The parts of a downhole equipment are:

Hydraulic Control Line

Safety Valve

Gas Lift Valve

Packer

Pump Out Plug

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DOWNHOLE EQUIPMENT

Packer
Packer is a device consisting of a
sealing device, a holding or setting
device and an inside passage for
fluids. It expands externally to seal the
well bore. It helps in blocking the fluids
through the annular space between
the pipe and the well bore wall.
Packers use flexible, electrometric
elements that expand. It is set
hydraulically from the surface.

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GEOPET
DOWNHOLE EQUIPMENT

Gas Lift Valve


The gas lift valve is a device installed on a gas
lift cylinder or mandrel. This device is used to
control the flow of gas between the exterior and
interior of well tubing. It consists of an inlet,
outlet, a main valve, a main chamber and so
on. The design of the side pocket is such that
the components that are installed do not
obstruct the flow of production. This enables
access to the well bore and the other
components of completion.

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DOWNHOLE EQUIPMENT

Safety Valve
A safety valve is a device that is
installed in the upper well bore to
provide emergency closure of the
channels that produce oil. The
valve has a housing and a movable
valve element that controls the flow
of fluid in the
well.

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GEOPET
DOWNHOLE EQUIPMENT

Hydraulic Control Line

Hydraulic control line is a device filled with hydraulic fluid and connected
to a hydraulic fluid source.

Hydraulic control line is used to operate the safety valve. When the
control line is pressurized up to a certain pressure limit, the safety valve
opens. Its one end connects at the top of the safety valve and the other
end to a pressurizing panel at the surface. It is lowered along with the
safety valve while lowering the tubing string during completion.

Well Completion and Stimulation  91


GEOPET
SURFACE CONTROL EQUIPMENTS

Well Head
The surface termination of a wellbore
that incorporates facilities for installing
casing hangers during the well
construction phase is the well head.

The well head is installed on top of the


casing before starting to drill. It has
two or three sections. Each section
has two flanges to facilitate the
connections at both the ends.

Well Completion and Stimulation  92


GEOPET
KẾT THÚC

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