SPE-195122-MS

Smart Dual ESP Completion To Develop Stacked Reservoirs

Ghassan Alsafadi and Saud Siyabi, PDO / oil and gas

Copyright 2019, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference held in Manama, Bahrain, 18-21 March 2019.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Drilling less wells to produce more oil is the ultimate goal that any oil producing company operator is
chasing especially during economic hurdles, in fields with stacked reservoirs, producing long term arrested
oil behind casings due to un-ability to commingle two formations at the same time is one of the worldwide
production challenges faced oil industry which is always looking for methods that allow producing two
reservoirs simultaneously and independently from the same wellbore utilizing one production tubing.
The Smart Dual ESP Completion provide an innovative solution for this common production challenge in
fields with stacked reservoirs, this Smart Completion has been tested successfully in one of Alghubar wells
in PDO, the results was superior as it reduces the UTC by 74% as well maximize the NPV by approximately
200% (adding new formation and save drilling new dedicated well for each formation)
Alghubar field has a multi–highly- fractured carbonate reservoirs (Natih-A/B, Natih-E and Shuaiba),
where the main production is from Natih-E and Shuaiba, the majority of the wells in this field used to be
completed with dual gas lift strings in 9 5/8" casing. However due to high operating cost of running an aged
gas lift compressor, decision was made to phase it out and start ESP conversion campaign instead. Therefore,
producing both Natih-E and Shuaiba formations separately and simultaneously from same wellbore was
raised as a key challenge.
The project consists of running Smart Dual ESP in parallel separated by a packer (to separate the two
reservoirs) in one completion string with a modified Y-tool (to carry the weight of lower ESP and Packer).
They are both producing through one string in the wellbore to surface starting from Y-tool block; both ESP's
can be optimized separately and controlled by VSD at the surface, while other completion jewelry were
introduced based on the reservoir conditions and well control requirements, the trial supported by detailed
simulation analysis using a hybrid model from Prosper and GAP (IPM) to design both ESP's capacity and
calculate required motor loads at a different reservoir, wellbore and operation conditions.
This successful trial of smart ESP completion design and the sophisticated installation would open a
new horizon in production optimization through reducing the total number of development wells to be
drilled in the fields of stacked reservoir from one wellbore. Further value were also obtained such as
commercialization of marginal layers through existing wells and utilizing one of the ESP as a backup while
waiting for workover in case of break down, subsequently further reduction in UTC and additional project
value.
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Background
Alghubar field is a multi – highly- fractured carbonate reservoirs (Natih-A/B, Natih-E and Shouiba). Main
field production is currently from Natih-E and Shouiba, where the dual string in 9 5/8" casing and Gas Lift
mechanism was used as an artificial lift.
A rationalization project was introduced to improve the lifting and power efficiency as well wells uptime,
as the gas compressor reliability has been low (~55%) due to aging and resulted in significant deferment
in production rates.
Hence, to maximize oil production, it has been decided to go with an ESP as artificial replacing the Gas
lift and the phased out gas compressor.
Historically, commingling both formations Natih-E and Shouaiba has not been an option due to the delta
in reservoir pressure and potential cross flow while well is down. Isolating one of the reservoirs, most
likely the lower one (Shouiba) would reduce the existing production rate by ~50% (Natih-E to Shouaiba
production split is ~50/50% in most of the wells). This is true until new development project is commenced.
Hence, producing both formations individually in a single existing well in an optimized way was the
main challenge in the rationalization project, considering the fact that this trial is unique to PDO or by any
vendor contracted with PDO before.
This paper will describe the approach to select the completion and methodology used to design the
two ESP's as well the detailed completion accessories and their functionalities, the completion running
challenges and the optimization process also described, finally, the economic impacts followed by the
candidate's selection criteria was mentioned.

The proposed completion

The suggested completion consists of running two ESPs in parallel separated by a packer in one completion
string with a modified Y-tool (to carry the weight of lower ESP and Packer). Both ESP's are producing
through one string from wellbore to surface starting from Y-tool block; both can be optimized separately
and controlled by individual VSD at the surface.
It is also includes performing detailed hybrid simulation model analysis using Prosper and GAP (IPM)
to design both ESPs capacity and the required motor loads at a different reservoir, wellbore and operation
conditions.

Selecting the adequate completion scenario

Different completion options were investigated and the Dual ESP with single tubing was the one landed on
considering the well and reservoir conditions, the figure below illustrates those options and the main pros/
cons for each completion:
SPE-195122-MS 3

Figure 1—different completion options were investigated to recomplete existing wells with two reservoirs from GL to ESP.

Analysis of different completion options

Producing two reservoirs independently under different pressure regimes in controllable way from the same
wellbore through 9 5/8" casing utilizing ESP as an artificial lift was the main challenge; as there is no
completion at the moment can handle this particular issue at these conditions.
Few scenarios were examined on how to convert the 9 5/8" completed wells from single / dual gas lifted
wells to ESP wells without commingling both formations.
The suggested scenarios are presented in the table below with the main Pros and Cons relevant to each
scenario:
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*Figure 2—The sketch above shows well head modification to accommodate two ESP cables with one tubing.

Trial assessment
The trial was assessed based on five parameters; summary of the assessment has been done in the table
below:
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Following the two completions for running the dual ESP's, the important points were captured for further
improvement and optimization, which are summarized below:
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*Scenarios of different operating conditions

In addition to proper ESP design, simulation helps in optimizing the off take rate from each zone when
different scenarios like RP, WC, and GOR parameters are changing. A sensitivity analysis was performed
to capture the full range of the operating envelope for this reservoir, as described in the following table:
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The smart dual ESP completion accessories and its functionality

The table below is describing the functionality of the main pieces of completion accessory. The completion
engineer specialist has the final call to keep, modify or drop any of the parts in the following table based
on well geometry, reservoir and operational conditions.

Typical Dual ESP completion. Figure 3 below is depected the proposed dual ESP completion planned for
the current wells. It shows the main components required to fullfill the specific wellcontrol and production
requirements.
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Figure 3—Typical completion for dual ESP in the existing well.

The detailed funcunality of each component has been described in the table above.

Modeling dual ESP

Modeling the two ESPs in the same well is essential task to ensure proper sizing for both ESP's, and calculate
the required power to run each of them (size the motor). Moreover, to validate and confirm if the full system
would able to run smoothly over the period of ESPs target run life, Hence, different reservoir conditions and
changing fluid ratios (GOR/ GLR/WC..Etc) were simulated to assess its impact on the system performance
and the implication n reservoirs parameters changing on all system performance.
Currently there is no single commercial nodal analysis software that can simulate the performance of
both ESP's running together in the same wellbore as in this case. Therefore, an integrated model of Prosper
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and GAP (IPM) software has been used to simulate the combined effect of this completion against different
back pressures, as seen in the figure 4.

Figure 4—Conceptual model for dual ESP via combination of Prosper and GAP.

Commissioning and optimization process

The commissioning process went through three main steps:
Step 1: Optimize the lower ESP:
Start the lower ESP, adjust frequency and THP to achieve the production target. Operating point should
be at the up-thrust side of the Best Efficiency Point (BEP) line. Check the motor load. Produce the well
until production stabilizes and report the test results (especially the WC %). Record the ΔP (head) delivered
by the pump.
Step 2: Optimize the upper ESP:
Stop the lower ESP, and start the upper ESP. Adjust frequency and THP to achieve the production target.
Operating point should be also at the up-thrust side of the BEP line. Check motor load. Produce the well
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until production stabilizes and report the test results (especially the WC %). Record the ΔP (head) delivered
by the pump.
Step 3: Optimize the total system:
Restart the lower pump at the latest optimized frequency, while the upper one is still running. Adjust
the THP through the surface choke to achieve the maximum gross production and same delta P; (the THP/
friction will increase once both ESP's are running as result of increasing the fluid volume in the flow line).
The table and the plots below are summarizing the above steps showing the values as well plot of both
ESP's trends, which were followed while commissioning the successful trial of the dual ESP installation in
Alghubar field and the production results:
SPE-195122-MS 11

Figure 5—illustrates the steps of Commissioning and optimization process.

The above graph is the summary of the three steps mentioned above in the commissioning and
optimization process, as seen the impact of running both ESP's resulted in increase of THP which later
on adjusted (Open Up choke) to reduce the back pressure / head on both pumps to achieve the targeted
production. (Detailed production numbers are in the table above).

Economical impact
It's evident that ESP has better control on the off take rate compared with GAS lift especially in our case,
The gross production and net production during the dual ESP testing and optimization period has been
increased compared with previous average production figure (Valid tests) during the latest year of the gas
lifting period as depicted in the plots below.
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Conclusion and way forward

It is evident that the Dual ESP completion has been successfully achieved the target production in producing
the two formations in an independent way from a single well bore. This completion has been validated and
proves successful by:
1. Producing both formation simultaneously.
2. Both ESP's was running for more than 18 months of continuous smooth production.
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3. Well testing, which evidently showed gross production of more than 1000 m3/d compare with 850
m3/d averages gross over the year prior Dual ESP installation.
Companies are aggressively screening for opportunities that are being matured, this smart completion
has been considered as a successful enabler to unlock reserves at relatively low cost and would open up
the door for future development and production optimization of stacked reservoirs provided the selection
criteria are followed and the proper ESP design and preparations are taking place.
No tangible challenges were encountered during the operation; hence, it went smooth and straightforward.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Petroleum Development Oman and the Ministry of Oil & Gas of Oman for
granting permission to publish this paper. We also would like to acknowledge our colleagues in Petroleum
Development Oman as well Baker-Hughes for stimulating discussions and their contributions to this work.