PENG 316: WELL COMPLETIONS &

STIMULATION DESIGN LECTURE

NOTES
Lecturer: Justice Sarkodie-Kyeremeh
Office: Lab 4
Telephone: +233 (0)503671146
E-mail: justice.sarkodie-kyeremeh@uenr.edu.gh
 Grading:
Assignments & Quizzes: 20%
Midterm Exams: 20%
End of Sem Exams: 60%

Class code:onymht
 COURSE OUTLINE
•Introduction
•Completion Design
•Upper Completions
•Lower Completions
•Perforation
•Sand Control
•Horizontal Completions
•Multilateral Completions
•Intelligent Completions
•Well Stimulation Design
Introduction
• A horizontal well is basically a directional well.
• Directional drilling is defined as the science of directing a well
bore along a predetermined trajectory to intersect a designated
subsurface target.
• Based on the angle of inclination, wells are classified as:
Vertical well Wells with less than 10° deviation
High inclination well Wells between 60° to 85°
deviation

Horizontal well Wells with more than 85°

deviation
Extended reach well Horizontal/TVD displacement
greater than 2.5
• The major purpose of horizontal wells is to
enhance reservoir contact and thereby
enhance well productivity.
• As an injection well, a long horizontal well
provides a large contact area and therefore
enhances well injectivity which is highly
desirable for EOR applications.
• In general, a horizontal well is drilled parallel
to the reservoir bedding plane.
• A vertical well is a well which intersect the
reservoir bedding plane at an angle of 90°.
 Types of Horizontal Well
• There are three main types of horizontal wells: short-radius,
medium-radius, and long-radius.
• Short-radius wells typically have a curvature radius of 20 to 45
feet, being the 'sharpest turning' of the three types.
• Medium-radius wells typically have a curvature radius of 300
to 700 feet with the horizontal portion of the well measuring
up to 3,500 feet.
• These wells are useful when the drilling target is a long
distance away from the drill site, or where reservoirs are
spaced apart underground.
• Long-radius wells typically have a curvature radius of 1,000 to
4,500 feet, and can extend a great distance horizontally.
• These wells are typically used to reach deposits offshore, where
it is economical to drill outwards from a single platform to reach
reservoirs inaccessible with vertical drilling.

Applications of Horizontal Wells

• Horizontal wells have been used effectively in the following
applications:
• Horizontal well improves drainage area per
well and reduces the number of wells
required to drain the reservoir.
• In high permeability reservoirs, where near
wellbore gas velocities are high in vertical
wells, horizontal wells can be used to reduce
near wellbore velocities. Thus horizontal wells
can be used to reduce near wellbore
turbulence and improve well deliverability in
high permeability reservoirs.
• A long horizontal well provides a large reservoir
contact area and therefore enhances injectivity of an
injection well. This is beneficial in EOR applications
where injectivity is a problem.
• A proper orientation of horizontal wells, especially in
naturally fractured reservoirs ,could enhance sweep
efficiency in EOR applications

Limitations of Horizontal Wells

• The major disadvantage is that only one pay zone
can be drained per horizontal well.
• Horizontal well costs are 1.4 to 3 times more than a
vertical well.

Completion Techniques
• It is possible to complete horizontal wells as open
hole with slotted liners, liners with external casing
packers (ECPs), and cemented and perforated
liners.
• The choice of completion method can have a
significant influence on well performance.
1. Open Hole:
• Open hole completion is limited to competent rock
formations.
• It is difficult to stimulate openhole wells and control either
injection or production along the well length.

2. Slotted Liner Completions:

• The main purpose of inserting a slotted liner in a horizontal well is
to guard against hole collapse.
• Additionally, a liner provides a convenient path to insert various
tools such as coiled tubing in a horizontal well.
• Three types of liner have been used:
• Perforated liners, where holes are drilled in
the liner;
• Slotted liners where slots of various width
and depth are milled along the liner length
and
• Pre-packed liners.
• Slotted liners provide sand control by
selecting hole sizes and slot width sizes.
However, these liners are susceptible to
plugging.
• In unconsolidated formations, wire wrapped
slotted liners have been used effectively to
control sand production.
• The main disadvantage of a slotted liner is that, effective
well stimulation can be difficult due to the open annular
space between the liner and the well.
• Similarly, selective production and injection is difficult.

3. Liner with Partial Isolation:

• External casing parkers (ECPs) are installed outside the
slotted liner to divide a long horizontal wellbore into
several small sections.
• This method provides limited zone isolation
but can be used for stimulation or production
control along the well length.
• Practically, horizontal wells are not horizontal,
rather they have many bends and curves. In a
hole with several bends, it may be difficult to
insert a liner with several external casing
packers.
4. Cemented and Perforated Liners:
• It is possible to cement and perforate medium and long radius
wells.
• Cement used in horizontal well completion should have
significantly less free water content than that used in vertical well
cementing.
• This is because in horizontal well, due to gravity, free water
segregates near the top portion of the well and heavier cement
settles at the bottom. This results in a poor cement job.
• To avoid this, it is important to conduct a free water test for
cement at least at 45° instead of the conventional API free water
test which is conducted vertically.
Completion Considerations
•Several factors should be considered before
selecting an appropriate completion scheme:
Rock and Formation Type:
•If an open-hole completion is considered, then
it is important to ensure that the rock is
competent and the drilled hole will be stable.
Several early horizontal wells drilled in
competent limestone formations have been
completed as open holes.
• Present field experience reported in literature indicates that
when the horizontal wells are drilled along the direction of least
horizontal stress, they exhibit excellent hole stability.
2. Drilling Method:
• With short radius holes, only an open-hole or a slotted-liner
completion is possible.
• With a medium and long radius wells, they can be completed
either as open hole, open hole with slotted liner, or with
cement and perforated.
3. Stimulation Requirements:
• A cemented horizontal well is preferred if the well is to be
fractured.
• In enhanced recovery application, the injected fluid such
as water may show a premature breakthrough along a
small portion of a long producing horizontal well.
• In such cases, certain portion of a long well would have
to be plugged off.
5. Workover Requirements:
• Before selecting a completion option, workover
requirements must be considered, but they are difficult
to anticipate.
• For example, completing a medium radius horizontal
well in a competent but fractured limestone reservoir
with bottom water drive, the possibility of water
breakthrough can be anticipated.
• The following completions scenarios are possible:
a. Inserting a slotted liner and pulling it out later when
water breaks through. After pulling out the liner, a
casing can be inserted and cemented to stop water
production.
b. Cementing the well and perforating it.
c. Completing the well as an open hole and wait till
water breakthrough occurs and then design a course
of action.
• Each of these options has cost and risk associated
with it. The completion choice is based on local
operating experience and the operator’s willingness
to assume a degree of risk.
6.Abandonment Requirements:
• An operator should design well completion
so that the well can be abandoned safely.