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I3 and I4 in black
Fig. 1—The Celtic field in the Lloydminster region and Wells I3, I3A, and I4 in SAGD-well-pair placement.
because adjacent wells had experienced drilling challenges when top of the reservoir pay. The surface casing was set at approxi-
they penetrated the reservoir from unconsolidated sand into a tight mately 129-m MD, and cement return was confirmed.
streak of siderite/calcite. Composition of the sediment is not During drilling of the build section of Well I3, lost-circulation
known exactly because there have been no core data that inter- volumes (8 m3) occurred in the Waseca formation, but were cured
sected the carbonate. However, several striplogs have reported following standard procedure. Then, the drillpipe became stuck in
high-density carbonate in the samples. This could be interpreted the Sparky formation (90 inclination at approximately 600-m
as a facies boundary caused by subaerial exposure during a minor MD) near the intermediate-casing point (ICP). Because the fishing
lowstand tract (e.g., small evaporatic pool). Fig. 3 shows effective job failed, the BHA was left behind and the hole was plugged back.
pay and base pay of the formation highlighting I3/I4 in Section 17 The drilling rig successfully sidetracked Well I3 and ran casing to
Township 52, Range 23, W3. the ICP. Fig. 4a presents the schematic of the wellbore, which was
submitted to the Ministry of Energy and Resources in Saskatche-
wan. The intermediate casing (95=8 in.) was set at 698-m MD. A
SAGD-Well-Pair History good cement bond was found at approximately 257-m MD, with
Husky had experienced drilling challenges in deeper zones aound one marginal cement bond from 151- through 190-m MD. The
this area up to 600 m. There was also a bottomhole-assembly bond-log interpretation confirmed that an adequate zonal isolation
(BHA) loss while drilling the build section of adjacent SAGD between the Sparky and the upper Mannville zones was achieved.
well pairs. Well I3 was spudded in February 2005. This well was However, to maintain integrity of the wellbore and safety of the
one of the 12 wells that formed the second expansion stage of the SAGD operation, a maximum injection pressure of 3900 kPa was
Celtic field’s commercial development. The bottomhole-assembly advised for the startup program. Well I3 was rig released in early
(BHA) loss was the Sparky formation, in which 463-m true verti- April 2005. A cross-sectional view of Wells I3 and I4 is plotted in
cal depth [467.5-m measured depth (MD)] was identified as the Fig. 4b, in which the first leg of Well I3 is illustrated. Effective lat-
eral length of Wells I3 and I4 are 434 and 428 m, respectively.
The pair was completed with a liner completion comprising an
alternating wire-wrapped screen with blank joints in the producer
well and an alternating slotted liner with blank joints in the injec-
tor well. The producer liner was 7 in. with 0.008-in. wire-
Formation Sparky-GP
Fig. 3—Effective pay (left) and base pay (right, in subsea elevation) of the Sparky formation with subject-well trajectories.
wrapped-screen size. A downhole fiber-optics instrumentation voir temperature was estimated at more than 140 C. However, the
string was deployed inside Well I3 to monitor the subsurface con- I3/I4 pair has not fully delivered the expected oil recovery
dition and flow assurance. (approximately 50%) because of productivity challenges. In 2009
Steam injection on Wells I3 and I4 began in October 2005, and when Well I3 was abandoned, the recovery factor was
and first oil was produced in December 2005. In 2006, and as part approximately 18%. Thus, a follow-up process was imperative in
of ongoing monitoring of the steam chamber in the new SAGD order to recover reservoir energy and produce remaining reserves.
pair, a few changes were applied to uniformly condition the well-
bore and workovers were performed to maintain production vol-
umes. As an example, an optimization program was planned to Drilling Well I3A
improve steam distribution along Well I4, and the expected result Husky conducted a risk evaluation on whether to drill a new pro-
was achieved. Figs. 5 and 6 present Well I3 temperature enhance- ducer well or to commence a sidetrack. The new horizontal well
ment from January through May 2006 as a result of the plan. By was to serve as a SAGD producer, using the existing injector well
comparison, it was noted that the steam chamber progressed to- (I4). Three options were assessed:
ward the second part of the Well I3 wellbore. However, the last Option 1: Whipstock Well I3 at higher elevation and side-
50 m of Well I3 was found to be approximately 40 C colder than track 95=8- or 7-in. intermediate casing.
the rest of the well, explained by lack of heat support caused by Option 2: Drill a new well from the surface location of Wells
the landing point of the injection string in Well I4. I3 and I4.
In Q4 of 2006, Husky field operations reported frequent pump Option 3: Drill a new well from the opposite side of Well I4.
failures because of sand problems. In September 2007, a large A few risk factors were addressed, including:
amount of baked sand was discovered in the liner of I3 during a To position the well, an active ranging tool was considered.
service job. The service rig tagged the solid material close to the However, the Well I4 wellbore temperature (Fig. 8) was greater
ICP, implying that the liner’s integrity had been compromised at than the tool’s specification. It was advised that applying cool-
approximately 760-m MD, approximately 50 m inside the liner. down water in Well I4 might cause surface congestion by the
The liner hanger was tested, but the result was positive. Since service rig and drilling rig, a simultaneous operation risk.
then, Well I3 has experienced numerous pump changes, a sonic Because of the presence of the SAGD well pairs in the area,
stimulation workover, and an underreaming job. The sanding issue anticollision design was essential.
and production downtime were on the rise. As an example, more Circulation losses in the depleted zone could impose opera-
than 20 m3 of fine sand was recovered (November 2008) in one tional risk to the active wells.
cleaning job. In Q1 of 2009, and during the underreaming job, the The remaining BHAs and the abandoned well in the area
coil was parted and following an unsuccessful fishing procedure, could impair drilling results.
the coil assembly was left inside the liner. The well-pair perform- There was some degree of uncertainty in encountering multi-
ance continued to diminish until April 2009, when its operation ple steam chambers and oil banks while drilling into the zone of
was suspended. The producer wellbore was no longer accessible interest.
because of mechanical failure. In November 2009, Husky per- The subsurface team reviewed each case and weighted oppor-
formed an abandonment job with two plug sets, one inside the liner tunity vs. impact. The team recommended advancing Option 1:
and another bridge plug inside the intermediate casing. To perform whipstock drilling through the existing 95=8-in. inter-
Fig. 7 exhibits the I3/I4 well-pair field production history. mediate casing and sidetrack a new parallel leg approximately 5
Water production did not reach steam injection because of down- m to the north of Well I3. To ensure suitability and safety of the
time and mechanical challenges that operations experienced in program, it was suggested running a caliper log or a dummy whip-
2007 and 2008. To date, the SAGD well pair produced approxi- stock before plan execution. In February 2010, a multiple-arm
mately 35 000 m3 of oil and consumed approximately 140 000 m3 caliper tool was run in Well I3, and results indicated that the inter-
CWE of steam, which amounts to a 4.0-m3/m3 CSOR. On the ba- mediate casing near to the ICP was deformed. Therefore, Option
sis of subsurface pressure and downhole temperature and pressure 1 was dismissed and Options 2 and 3 were reconsidered. The lat-
(T/P) data, the formation has been well-heated and average reser- ter was realized as a viable option, with lower-risk severity and
Whipstock
(a)
450
I3 first leg
455 I4 producer
I4 injector
460
Sparky top pick
Depth (m, true vertical depth)
465
470
475
I3-first leg
480
I4
485 Pump set
I3
490
495
500
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
East/west horizontal projection (m)
(b)
Fig. 4—(a) Well I3 completion program in 2005. (b) Wells I3 and I4 trajectories with elevation profile.
higher probability of success. Well I3A was drilled in January duction profile of the new SAGD pair (I3A/I4). A 3D full-field
2011 with no major re-entry problems. The I3A wellbore was model was built using the CMG (2007) STARSTM simulator
secured with good cement returns. The wellbore was completed incorporating the PETRELTM geological maps (Petrel E&P Soft-
and equipped with a rod pump. The Well I3A drilling samples ware Platform 2009). The model is heterogeneous, and water satu-
showed an excellent sand quality in the lateral section of the well. ration, porosity, and permeability are based on geostatistical
Fig. 9 depicts 3D views of Wells I3, I3A, and I4 relative to the ad- distribution of hard data. The horizontal permeability was based
jacent SAGD well pairs. on an established correlation between porosity and permeability
from the core analysis. The kv/kh ratio was varied slightly depend-
ing on the Vsh (shale volume recorded from log data). The ratio
Reservoir Simulation was an input parameter and did not train during the history-match-
The objective of reservoir modelling was to generate a static ing process, given low variation to the range of the log data. The
model representing the reservoir condition and to realize the pro- grid-cell numbers of the model are 23 in the x-direction (each 25
170
160
150
140
130
120
ICP of I3
110 TD of I3
100
2051 2071 2091 2111 2131 2151 2171 2191 2211 2231 2251 2271 2291 2311 2331 2351 2371 2391 2411 2431
Distance from surface DTS box (m)
Fig. 5—Temperature profiles from 28 January through 1 February 2006 in Well I3.
170
160
150
140
130
120
110 ICP of I3 TD of I3
100
2051 2071 2091 2111 2131 2151 2171 2191 2211 2231 2251 2271 2291 2311 2331 2351 2371 2391 2411 2431
Distance from surface DTS box (m)
Fig. 6—Temperature profiles from 25 May through 30 May 2006 in Well I3.
350
Field_Oil
325 Field_Water
300 Field_Steam
275
250
225
Rate (m3/d)
200
175
150
125
100
75
50
25
0
May- Aug- Nov- Feb- May- Aug- Nov- Feb- May- Aug- Nov- Feb- May- Aug- Nov- Feb-
05 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 08 08 08 08 09
Field Operation (month)
120
100
80
60
Temperature (°C)
I4
I4
I3
I3A
I3A
Fig. 9—3D view of Wells I3, I3A, and I4 with adjacent SAGD pairs in the field (left). Looking south, Wells I3A and I4 with their gamma
ray in green (right).
m), 108 in the y-direction (each 1 m), and 38 in the z-direction aligned well with field data, confirming the model’s validity to
(each 0.5 m). The grid-cell number totals 94,392, covering approxi- forecast production performance of the I3A/I4 pair. In early days,
mately 302 400 m3 of pore volume. Fig. 10 (right) shows a 3D underpredicted oil production from the model was explained by
view of porosity distribution with Wells I3A, I3, and I4. The model data precision and fluid-cut measurement in the field.
was validated by matching the pressure/saturation-dependent prop-
erties with the injection/production rates of I3/I4 and the reservoir
pressure. Although the model could not explain field production Results and Discussion
data from January through July 2006, its trend was reasonable. On the basis of the temperature surveys from 2009 through 2010,
Demonstrated in Fig. 10 (left), the rest of the I3/I4-pair history was it was expected that the I3A/I4-pair production fluid rate would
350
Field_Oil
325 Field_Water
Porosity 0.50
300 Field_Steam
Model_Oil 0.45
275
Model_Water
250 Model_Steam 0.40
225 0.35
Rate (m3/d)
200 0.30
175 0.25
150 0.20
125 0.15
100 0.10
75 0.05
50 0.00
25
0
May- Aug- Nov- Feb- May- Aug- Nov- Feb- May- Aug- Nov- Feb- May- Aug- Nov- Feb-
05 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 08 08 08 08 09
Field Operation (month)
Fig. 10—I3/I4 SAGD-pair production profile comparing field data and the reservoir model (left) and porosity of the reservoir model
with projected well path (right).