This paper discusses the increasing importance of intelligent completion technology in presalt developments. The Brazilian oil and gas service industry was challenged when a major oil company decided to implement large-scale intelligent completion technology for exploratory and development campaigns for two important exploration blocks, due to the limited experience and expertise in this region. The technology is considered important for reservoir risk management because of its flexibility. An intelligent completion provides a means to remotely control inflow as necessary by a reservoir management team. This additional functionality maximizes oil production and reduces unwanted water or gas influx. The technology comprises several important multizone systems, such as remotely operated flow control valves, permanent pressure and temperature monitoring, digital infrastructure, and chemical injection valves. With limited experience and infrastructure available in the region at the time, considerable planning and interface management was necessary to ensure successful execution. The deep water presalt application imposed several challenges and uncertainties related to long-term reliability and flow assurance, such as calcium carbonate scaling, vibration, erosion, corrosion, etc. Additionally, human resources and local technical expertise along with a strong infrastructure had to be developed. Within approximately five years, the industry effort to reduce the learning curve made it possible to deliver intelligent completion technology with a proven track record into the country. During these intensive preparation years, several key findings were realized. Standardization became important early during the process, which was crucial for accelerating learning. However, as the understanding of the technology evolved, new applications and well designs were implemented. Intelligent completions are currently being considered during all stages of the field life cycle, from extended well testing to the mature field stage, with different benefits expected for each application. With an increasing need to optimize value from the presalt wells, a holistic approach was necessary that integrated recovered data and active control into a digital platform to allow a more informed and strategic decision making process using the intelligent completion technology capability to maximize the reservoirs’ value. Results achieved to date allow a much wider application range, with increasing importance for upcoming deepwater presalt cluster development. A milestone of 50 wells installed in several fields using this technology was achieved in the Brazilian deepwater presalt with an accelerated learning curve. Many uncertainties existed initially; however, multiple successful installations have proven this technology implementation to be reliable, with small differences in capital expenditures (CAPEX) compared to conventional wells.
Intelligent completions and electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) are realizing greater oilfield acceptance because of their capabilities to improve recoveries, especially in multi-zone wells where production can be controlled and optimized without intervention. Previously, when ESPs had to be removed for routine maintenance, the whole completion had to be pulled, which would require significant time, risk, and cost. Now, an electrical disconnect tool exists that enables ESPs to be changed out without requiring the lower intelligent completion to be removed. This paper discusses the equipment and methodology recently used in a trial test offshore Brazil to reliably disconnect an ESP in the upper completion from the lower intelligent completion that had two interval-control valves (ICVs) and two dual-sensor pressure/temperature gauges. The trial test required the disconnect sub to be disconnected from the receptacle, then reconnected again, followed by an ICV and gauge function test to prove the reliability of the wet mate connector in the electro-hydraulic disconnect tool. This paper highlights the successful case history of the new disconnect tool installed in January 2013 in the Carapeba field, offshore Brazil. The paper will discuss the technical aspects of the concept, the well-planning details, completion procedures, installation lessons learned, and tool design improvements that will be adopted for use in future wells. This installation will initiate the use of electrical disconnect tools for upcoming intelligent completions involving ESPs, sub-surface safety valves, or long horizontal sections that may require the lower completion to be installed on drill pipe.
This paper describes an extended well test (EWT) campaign using intelligent completions in a presalt reservoir. Brazil is recognized as a promising deepwater province because of large oil discoveries in the presalt polygon. One such discovery contains an estimated eight billion barrels of recoverable oil and is considered to be one of the largest fields recently identified. Several challenges and risks are associated with ensuring economic returns, such as properly constructing wells and extracting value from their lifecycles. Most presalt fields contain thick carbonate reservoirs with significant variations in vertical permeability and unknown behavior affecting long-term production. Most of those uncertainties can be reduced using extended well testing; however, the solution implemented uses multizone completions to perform EWT, providing a new level of reservoir understanding. To better understand reservoir behavior during production, several options were analyzed for the first EWT to help minimize uncertainties concerning the extensive pay zone. Drilling wells provides valuable rock and formation knowledge; however, this information is not sufficient to simulate formation flow behavior during the field lifecycle and reduce production uncertainties. In addition, current oil market conditions imposed another challenge to maximize output during EWT, impacting some well designs and the campaign strategy. A triple-zone intelligent completion was envisioned as the optimum solution to be applied for properly understanding how each interval would behave under production or injection. EWT was performed on two producers and one injector. Based on project requirements, gas and water had to be reinjected into the reservoir. Additionally, using two producers allowed the operator to maximize oil output while performing the EWT with production details from each zone rather than the entire well. Both producers were completed with dual-zone intelligent completions systems because of technical limitations, while the injector was completed as planned with three zones. Proper planning, preparation, and experience from other projects contributed to the campaign success in such a challenging exploratory completion. During preparation, several evaluations and studies were performed to help ensure the proper technology was selected and the system could withstand the extremely high flow rates with high scaling potential expected along with other flow assurance concerns. A future commissioning campaign in this field should allow further evaluation of the applicability of this concept to other fields, which is promising for reservoir evaluation studies.
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