SPE 782273

Swelling Packer for Zonal Isolation in Open Hole Screen Completions

Rune Freyer/EWS Arve Huse/Norsk Hydro

Copyright 2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

stable emulsions with the formation water. A long term well
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE 13th European Petroleum Conference test in 1996 revealed that an open hole completion with sand
held in Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K., 29–31 October 2002.
screens will give extensive annular flow and possible screen
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 of the paper, as
plugging. ECPs run in the well caused operational problems
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to and did not give the desired effect as 2 of 5 failed to set. A
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at quantitative risk assessment (QRA) was done for the pre-drill
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
wells on Grane identifying ECPs as the single most critical
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is element in the well completion design. The criticality was
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous linked both to a high operational risk and the possibility of
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
plugging the screens during production in case they fail.
Hence developing a new packer with higher reliability and
lower operational risk has had high focus in the Grane license.
Abstract
Open hole screen completions are efficient in installation and Table 1
reliable in use if designed properly. The major weakness of
Open Hole screen completions have been lack of zonal
Grane field data
Planned producer wells 27
isolation. An Open Hole Zonal Isolation packer has been Predrilled producer wells 8
developed and installed in 5 wells with up to 14 packers per Test production well 600m horizontal with 2months flow
well. No downtime, operational time or installation failures period
were experienced. The packer construction is based on the Horizontal reach 600-3100
Reservoir completion 7” single wire wrapped screens in 9,5”
swelling properties of rubbers with crude oil. open hole
Pres 176bars
Introduction Tres 77C
The lack of reliable open hole annular sealing has limited the Permeability 6-12D
application of open hole screen completion solutions. No zonal Drive mechanism Phase 1; GI, Phase 2; WI
isolation means that zones can not be independently inflow
controlled. This limits the use of screen completions where Table 2
there are potential of water or gas inflow problems. Smart well Major completion concerns Swelling packer remediation
systems, inflow control devises, multilaterals or inflow Water production from toe Isolate annulus toe part
controlling interventions may be used when effective annular Annular flow of particles plugging Packers every 100m directs flow
screen through screens
isolation exist. Previous technology has been inflatable Packers up- and downstream loss zones
elements, (External Casing Packers (ECP)) or gravel pack Packers downstream shale sections
(GP). The ECPs are activated by pumping from surface Gas breakthrough in heel Packers isolate landing section
through a tool on the end of the service string and into the Emulsion formed in annulus Packers every 100m directs flow
inflatable element. A project was initiated between Easy Well plugging screen through screens
Solutions and Norsk Hydro to develop a packer that did not
have the same inherent risk. An oil swelling packer was Rubber swelling in solvents
successfully developed and used in the field. Swelling of rubbers is a thermodynamic absorption process.
All liquids have a solubility parameter. Solubility parameters
The Grane field can also be determined for polymers and other solids and
The Swell packer was developed for the Grane field. The gases. The solubility parameter is defined by the energy
reservoir pressure and temperature is low and consists of required to vaporize the liquid. When a polymer is submerged
unconsolidated sandstone. There are no pressure barriers in a liquid or a gas with a solubility parameter that is close to
within the reservoir, but some internal shale has been seen. the polymers solubility parameter, there will be a strong
The fluid is relatively heavy and viscous oil which forms affinity between the polymer and the liquid. Combined with
2 R. FREYER, A. HUSE
Figure 1 The jagged line shows the development of
sealing pressure above the surronding pressure. A
circular rubber plate was confined between two plates
and stepwise released to allow expansion. The force
between the two plates was measured. The pressure on
the top peak equals 3bars. (The rubber generic type is
the same as the commercial product, but the
compounding is different.)
the flexible polymer network in a rubber this causes swelling.
In some instances this swelling can be several 100%. The
solubility parameter of methane is out of range with most
rubbers and adapting the system to dry gas well conditions is
therefore unpractical. Depending on the methane level, it may
still be applicable for condensate conditions, but this will be
investigated on a case by case basis.
Unlike the hydrolysis effect that appears in some other
rubbers, or oxidative ageing, swelling does not in itself
degrade the chemical bonds of a rubber. Most rubber
compounding recipes includes extender-oils or processing oils.
In some instances there may be more than twice as much
extender-oil as there is rubber base in a compound.
The swelling will expand the rubber up to a level of
equilibrium. With equilibrium, the mechanical properties and
the volume stay constant. Any further expansion from initial
equilibrium is generally caused by thermal chain degradation
in the polymer. When the expansion of the packer is limited
by the hole walls, the rubber will not reach equilibrium and it
will continue to expand until it fills the annulus. Before
equilibrium is reached, the packer will exert a positive sealing
pressure against the walls of the well (figure 1).
The challenge was to find a combination of chemical and
thermal ageing stability with high swelling in crude and in the
same time get good mechanical properties in both unswollen
and swollen condition. A number of different compounds were
evaluated.
SPE 782273
The current rubber compound have been tested by accelerated
testing to qualify for continues use at 1300C. However
modified compounds aimed at increased swelling are currently
under ageing tests. Increased swelling will mean improved
sealing properties in larger, overgauge and deformed
boreholes.
Mechanical property effects
There are always mechanical property effects when a rubber is
swollen. The swelling generally cause reduced mechanical
strength properties. Tear strength, tensile, hardness, elongation
at break and modulus will generally decrease. Other properties
may be improved, like the resilience, low temperature
properties and sealing pressure. Once the rubber reaches
equilibrium with the solvent (crude oil) these properties will
for practical purposes stay constant. The tensile strength is
dependent of the degree of swelling and will not differ
significantly between different crudes with the same degree of
swelling. Equilibrium swelling for the rubber is not dependent
on the temperature (≤190degC). The time to reach equilibrium
will be reduced with increase in tempertaure.
Fig 2, Fig 3; Packer design
Oil swelling packer for water based mud
The oil swelling packer (figure2 and 3) for a water based mud
consist of:
Perforated mandrel; The rubber core is attached to the
perforated mandrel. The main purpose of the perforated
mandrel is to provide axial strength of the assembly.
End connections; are welded to the mandrel and in one end
contains a set screw assembly to attach the packer to the blank
pipe, such as a screen pin end or a blank pipe. The end
connection has a smaller OD than max OD of the packer
rubber.
SPE 782273 SWELLING PACKER FOR ZONAL ISOLATION
Element core; is the main pressure sealing element. It consists
of three sections; two end parts that are vulcanised with
bonding to the perforated mandrel, a middle part that is not
bonded to the base pipe. When exposed by oil (from both
sides) the middle part will expand radially (figure 2 bottom
drawing). It will fill a hole where the packer is not centralised
or a hole that is not round. The perforations give access to the
back side of the element, providing a pressure sealing force.
The end parts of the packer will also expand, but less than the
middle. The end parts can seal against higher differencial
pressure than the middle part, but will expand less to cover
gauge holes.
Figure 4 The packers are generally run in multiples when
sealing differencial pressure. (compared to an application
to avoid annular flow where single packers are run.) Here
are shown 3ea packers on one joint.
When run into the well, the sealing element expands only with
the temperature expansion, which for these purposes is
insignificant. There are practically no swelling effects from
water, brine or glycol in the rubber. Once the well is produced,
the element will be exposed to crude oil and expanded.
Swelling Packer for oil based mud (OBM)
The oil swelling of such a packer may, if expanding before the
string is in place at final depth cause hangup and failure to
reach total depth. The solubility parameter of the oil based
mud is further away from the solubility parameter of crudes
(While base oil for OBM is almost purely aliphatic, a crude is
partially napthenic or aromatic. The crude therefore has higher
solubility parameter values; and closer to the rubber) Because
it was hard or impossible to simulate the combinations of real
well conditions with mechanical wear, OBM, temperature,
circulation in a reliable manner it was decided to do a full
scale test. To investigate the mechanical and diffusion
properties, a packer partially with an outer protective coating
was run on a cleanout run into a well with OBM. The string
was rotated and the well was displaced to water based fluid.
The packer had a residence time of 18 hrs in oil based fluid. It
had a total residence time of 52hrs in the well and were run a
total of 7500 running meters whereof 3750m with OBM. The
results were that the the coated parts of the packer were not
measurably swollen, however the coating was damaged. The
lack of swelling proves that the majority of the wear of the
coating occurred on the way out of hole. This confirms well
3
with friction measurements that have been done The wear will
be less in a lower friction environment. The uncoated part was
swollen only 2mm on the outer diameter of the packer. This is
considered sufficiently slow swelling for packer deployment
into wells with OBM.
Laboratory testing
Ageing tests were important in determining the life of the
packers. A number of rubbers were testes in 2mm standard
samples. Many rubbers were seen to detorioate significantly in
crude at elevated temperature. As a worst case scenario this
would not only over time create a weaker product, but also a
danger of erosional leak paths in the rubber.
Samples were immersed in crude at different temperatures up
to 190ºC for 7 weeks to accelerate thermal degradation
according to the Arrhenius approximation. Even though a
tensile test is not completely representative for the application,
the method was used due to the simplicity for evaluating large
number of samples. This provides however a conservative
estimate of the life expectancy. Even though the tensile is
reduced by 50% there will still be useful life remaining for the
packer.
The finally chosen rubber was selected with life expectancy of
17 years at 130ºC.
Swelling and detoriation was also investigated in different
water based completion fluids, and other likely fluids for the
rubber probably will get contact with, like pipe dope.
Because the friction in long horizontal wells determines
how long open hole sections can be completed, the mechanical
friction against the open hole was also important. The friction
in water based fluids was measured to approximately half the
friction of steel-steel. The friction in oil based fluids was
measured at extremely low values, down to 0,04.
Pressure testing in Autoclaves
A borehole will occationally be out of gauge dimentions. The
borehole may also be washed out later in the life of the well.
Open hole packers therefore needs to be evaluated, also
against larger holes. To evaluate the effect and pressure
sealing ability of the packer an autoclave with ID 216mm was
setup. A 400mm long packer of 207mm OD was inserted. This
packer had already been run in and out of a open hole a total
of 1600m. The autoclave was filled with crude oil and left to
swell at downhole temperature. The packer was moved
350mm inside the testunit after set. The packer held 51bars
differencial pressure for 20 minutes before failure at 56bars.
An autoclave with ID 203mm was setup with an element of
OD165mm. The packer sealed a differencial pressure of
1,6bars. After failure, the packer regained integrity at 1,2bars.
The conclusions of the autoclave testing are;
4 R. FREYER, A. HUSE
The packer can be exposed to high differencial pressures at
limited expansion ratios.
The packer can be exposed to low differencial pressures
with larger washouts.
The packer has a “self healing” effect where a lower
differencial rating than the initial can be reestablished after
failure.
The packer is sufficiently contacted by the crude to provide
sealing pressure along the length of the element even in the
metal pipe.
Even though good results were seen there are still
uncertainties about the significance of seal length, oval holes,
irregular formation faces and exact swelling ability of a packer
as a function of swelling ability of the rubber. A complete
chart of sealing against OD/ID relationship will be required for
wells with high differencial pressures.
Field testing and experience
6ea Swell packers were run on the first installation. (Figure 3
and 4) No rigtime was used for running or operation on this or
the proceeding 4 wells where a total of 44 oil swelling packers
Figure 4 Running the Swell packer in the
Grane field. 6 packers were run in this
well. Neither operational nor downtime
was attributed to running the packers.
SPE 782273
were deployed. Running two Annular inflatable elements
instead would require two additional drillstring runs. The
application of the oil swelling packer saved USD 680.000 in
addition to increased flexibility in regards to the number and
placement of packers. Weather dependent operations and high
risk operations like spotting cement were avoided. Logistics
were simplified because no washpipe or setting tools were
required.
The two runs saving compared to Inflatables were;
1 Set inflatable packers with cement
2 Run temporary isolation assembly (The OCRE
temporary isolation assembly was run in the screen string
instead of as a separate run)
Offshore Norsk Hydro rep stated; “This is heaven compared to
inflatable annular packers. It is not so much the running of the
Inflatables, but rather the inflation that is the problem. Tool
operation, spotting cement and other high risk operations
creates the problems.”
No tests of the sealing effect of the packers are possible during
initial completion because the wells were not flowed back
before the topsides are installed.
Conclusions
A development and qualification program for an oil swelling
open hole permanent zonal isolation packer has been
performed to qualify for downhole environment.
The packer has been successfully introduced and implemented
in 5 wells. Two runs were saved per well.
The installations of the packers have neither required planned
nor unplanned operational rigtime.
A version of the packer has been tested by deployment and
retrieval in a well with OBM, and can be utilized for OBM
with sufficiently slow swelling for safe installation.
Further work is required to get full characteristics relating the
hole and packer dimensions systematically to differencial
pressure sealing ability.
Further work will be performed to extend the use of the oil
swelling packers to expanding pipe systems, more washed out
borehole conditions and isolating zones with feedthrough of
cables.
SPE 782273 SWELLING PACKER FOR ZONAL ISOLATION 5

Appendix A
Table A1 Comparison between annular flow limitation solutions
Long time sealing efficiency ECP GP Swelling packer
Fills leaks by continues expansion No No Yes
Long seal length No Yes Yes
Affected by string expansion after setting Yes, set before temp equalise Effects not proven, screen damage? No, set at reservoir temp
Temperature dependent, fluids in packer Yes No No

Table A2 Installation properties

Installation ECP GP Swelling packer
Running time for washpipe Required Required Not required
Eqpt. Specific setting/operational tools Required Required Not required
Location of positions of tool Required Required Not required
Fluid displacement If cement Required Not required
Probability of lost time or job failure Medium-high Medium-high Small
Weather and heave dependent Yes Yes No
Can be used in Gravel-packs Complicated Yes
Restriction of completion string ID No +/-50% flow area reduction No
Possible to run concentric DIACS string ? No, small ID Yes

Table A3 limitations of swelling packers

Limitation
Minimal swelling in methane
Ageing resistance of polymer
Length limitation in manufacturing
Gas bubbles goes out of solution in element
Documentation of pressure sealing in
overgauge hole is limited
Effect
Packer is not applicable for gas wells
Temperature limitation; 130ºC
Packers longer than 3-4m currently difficult
At very high and sudden drawdown below the bubblepoint the element may be damaged.
Until working ranges are defined (planned finish Q4 2002) limited

Table A4 Friction measurements against steel

Drilling fluid Friction coefficient
Glycol based (Glydril) 0.16
Na/K water based 0.12
1850kg/m3 OBM (Versapro) 0.04-0.08