Practical Intervention Barriers

• A barrier is defined as a means of

containing wellbore pressure and fluids.
• Two effective barriers are required for most
intervention operations.
• Consider when barriers are effective (and
when they are not) and how to back them
up for safety.
• Must be rated to the maximum pressure
that can be encountered.
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 Common Barriers

• Kill weight fluid column (not just a fluid column) –

monitored and tested
• Pipe rams when pipe is in the well
• Blind/Blind-Shear when no pipe is in the well
• Master valve when pipe is not in the well
• CT Flapper valves (dual flappers = one barrier)
• Stuffing box/Stripper Rubber
• Downhole plugs
• Grease seal/ram for braided line (both are one
barrier)
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 1. Nipple
Down Tree
2. Nipple Up
BOP

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What’s Left?
1. Hook up test and kill lines.
2. Test.

Hammer Union
& Bull Plug Flanged Choke
Ported w/1-1/2”
NP & Threads
& 2- 10K Needle Valves

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 Kill Weight Fluid

KWF = Formation Pore Pressure (psi) / (0.052 * TVD to mid perfs (ft))
where: KWF = kill weight fluid in ppg

The kill weight fluid must occupy both the annulus

and the tubing with no voids or other fluids
involved.
TVD If the density and level of the fluid are not
monitored, can the fluid be an effective barrier?

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 Difference between Surface and
Downhole Barriers
• A surface barrier prevents escape of fluids
from the well.
• A downhole barrier may also prevent cross-
flow between formations.

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The barrier during drilling is a well control barrier that
has both hydrostatic and mechanical control points.
A column of kill weight fluid, monitored and tested, is
a common active barrier.

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During wireline intervention, the control
method is pressure control with two or
more barriers.
The barriers for wireline include:
1. Grease or oil seal on the wire (for
dynamic sealing);
2. Packoff for static application
3. Blind/Shear rams
4. Master valve (can cut some wire, but
poses a risk of valve damage).

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Barriers for Intervention with Coiled Tubing
Barriers include:
1. Stuffing Box
2. Coiled Tubing BOP
3. Annular Preventer (for sealing around BHA
string)
4. Pipe ram below circulating cross or Tee.
5. Master Valves – when CT and BHA are
above the top Master Valve.

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Barriers for Producing Wells – usually only one
barrier for many areas:
1. Almost all flow/gathering lines,
separators and pipelines.
2. The flow cross, choke body and other
areas above the tubing hanger
3. Below the tubing hanger for gas lift
supply
4. At any open shoe with gas lift supply
5. Uncemented casing below the packer

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 Live Well Workovers
• Top Hole - plug (WL or CT) set at or below
packer - top of well is isolated.
Used for:
press test
pickle/cleanout
tubing replacement
fluid unload/swap

equalizing plug
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 Typical Conditional Barriers
• Considered a barrier during certain operations
but not at other times.
• Examples:
– Pipe rams – barrier only when pipe is in the well
– Blind ram, master valve, stripper rubber – barrier
only when pipe is out of the well
– Braided line rams – barrier only with grease
injection

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Ram blocks
Lower left – slip blocks
Lower Right – seal blocks
Upper Right – shear or cutter blocks

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Greased ram section in a BOP prior to the job. Effect of excess grease?

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CT Crushed by ram closure – now, how do you recover it?

Rams for CT must:

1. Center the CT in the BOP body
2. Center the CT in the ram element

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 BOP accumulator – pressure source

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An effective BOP rig-
up. Note dual valves
and flow control
below the flow cross.

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 Unusual Cases
• When running a BHA that cannot be sealed
with a pipe ram or cut with a blind shear. Is a
special barrier needed for the BHA?
• When changing the elements on a ram or
stripper rubber. Is a backup needed?

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 The Two Barrier Rule
• Barriers may be the same in some instances.
• Both must be capable of controlling the full
well pressure.
• Many barriers are conditional – may need
back-up.

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 Some Special Cases
• Snubbing or hydraulic workover – The two
(minimum) pipe rams are barriers, but a blind-shear
is required for a second barrier while pipe is in the
well.
• What is needed when an pipe ram element has to be
changed?
• A second blind or blind-shear or master valve or
other device is required when pipe is out of the well.

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 Pipe seal elements

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Hydraulic workover
unit showing the gas
bypass tube
between pipe rams.

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 Special cases, continued
• Large BHA or BHA that cannot be cut.
– Annular preventer?
– Downhole valves (SSSV as a barrier????) – SSSV’s
are not a good barrier if an object can be dropped
from the tool. A dropped object can breach/break
the seal offered by flapper type SSSV.
– Pressure operated downhole valves

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 Special cases, continued
• Fracturing Tree Saver
– Hydraulic deployment
– Second set of valves – temporarily replaces
wellhead valve control
– Stinger with seal isolates and “locks-out” wellhead
valves

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Tree Saver – isolates existing wellhead with hydraulically deployed stinger with external seals
and second set of valves.

Frac Iron Hydraulic cylinders

Connection Tree saver inserted and
Remote operated
locked down.
master valve

Manual operated
master valve

Mandrel or stinger – with

seals on exterior

Hydraulic pistons

Existing master valve

Vent on well
Valve Well master
3/14/2009 valve is closed
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 Special Cases, continued
• What is stability of the barrier?
– To outgassing (seal face failure)
– To high or low temperatures (does it weaken barrier?)
– To corrosion (components weakened by attack?)
– To erosion – erosion of sealing surfaces
– To high or low pressure spikes
– To high or low tensile loads

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Special Example - Inflatable Packers

• Are they barriers?

• What is the reliability?
• Do they stay put?
• Has a great deal to do with how much they are
expanded and where they are placed.
– Good reliability when set in pipe
– Good reliability when placement “slide” is short (less
than 1000 ft)
– Good reliability when expansion from initial to set is
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 Quiz - Barriers
1. What type of equipment must not be
sheared in a well control attempt?
2. What type of event or action may render
the following barriers useless?
a. Blind ram, no pipe in the hole.
b. Pipe ram w/ pipe in the hole.
c. Stripper rubber on Coiled Tubing.
d. Grease injector with E-line in the well.
e. Flappers on coiled tubing.
3. For each challenge in problem 2, what is a
possible solution?
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 Quiz – Barrier Failure Recovery from
Problem #2.

Failure Type Cause Recovery

Blind Ram, face seals
destroyed.
Pipe Ram, w/ pipe in
hole, no seal.
Stripper rubber leaking
on CT
Grease leaking on E-line
grease injector, not
holding pressure.
Flappers not preventing
backflow on cleanout.

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