Accumulation of hard scale in the production tubing will not only affect the well accessibility it will also lead to a dramatic decline in production rate and locking the allocated production. Maintaining wells accessibility to wellbore for well intervention operations in order to run logs, water shut-off jobs, well securement operation,…etc. is part of well integrity and performance assurance program. The traditional operation approaches in other areas and reservoirs include isolating the active reservoir prior to operations are not suitable for all cases especially when formation damage is expected to take place. The implementation of underbalance mechanical de-scaling operations using coiled tubing; will lead to restore wells to production faster, regain well productivity and avoids the formation isolation stage. The candidate oil producer; located in Southern Area of Ghawar Field; had accumulations of hard Iron Sulfide scale inside the tubing at different depths. Acid de-scaling operation using bullheading technique utilizing 20% HCL went vain to restore well accessibility and productivity. Hence, the underbalanced coiled tubing de-scaling operation was successfully executed for the first time ever in an oil well in Saudi Arabia. The operation consisted of two CT runs executed in underbalanced conditions, where the first CT run was with milling tool and second CT run was with jetting tool. It is worth to mention that the well is equipped with two different tubing sizes (6,500′ of 4 ½″ & 300′ of 3 ½″ TBG). This variation on the tubing size resulted in operation optimization as will be illustrated on the paper. This paper will illustrate the operation in terms of planning, risk assessment, execution, results and well performance prior and after restoring well accessibility and productivity. Moreover, the paper will highlight the optimization done during the field operation execution after obtaining extra information from the first run using milling tool. This operation has resulted in cost saving of more than $1 MM, 30% production gain and restoration of the well full accessibility.
Stuck wellhead gate valve at surface offers and demand an extreme well integrity operation. Subsequently; well intervention operation needs more attention and might become more complex using conventional milling techniques. Conventional milling techniques have also fail to meet required well control or found to be lengthy and costly operation. The world's first novel gate valve milling operation using e-line has been performed safely and successfully in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco; land based oil producer well; located in Southern Area of the Ghawar field; was shut-in due to malfunction of Tubing Master Valve (TMV) on closed position for Signal Stack-Up X-Tree. 3,000 BOPD and well accessibility were locked with expected 1,600 psig as shut-in wellhead pressure underneath the stuck valve gate is the case. The objective of this paper is to provide a safer and faster operation solution for milling gate valve that would adhere to the operator's well integrity safely and well control polices. This paper will describe detailed job design, operational steps of this novel milling operation, and other technical considerations that resulted in the successful execution of challenging operation.
As the overhead expenses for production was beginning to increase in the South Ghawar oil field, an operation optimization opportunity became a basic need to fully utilize resources. The optimization called for shutting down and mothballing of three gas-oil separation plants (GOSPs) and rerouting wells production to the nearest respective GOSP. This process was expected to have minor effect on the production potential of individual wells, due to subsequent increments in the length of the flow line. Evaluation of production potential for all the rerouted wells within a very short time was made possible through the installation and commissioning of two multiphase flow meters (MPFMs) per GOSP to cover low and high flow rate range producers. In a well-planned and executed campaign, each group of wells were rigorously tested through their designated MPFM, the results analyzed, compared with historical data and further assessed against results of downhole production logging and wellhead samples for validation 4. This paper discusses the unique experience gathered and lessons learned during this major resource optimization program, starting from the selection of MPFM type to the fine-tuning of the MPFM parameters to fit a relatively wide spectrum of flow ranges by using appropriate geochemical and pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) data and to finally arrive at a fairly accurate production rate measurement for the field. Each step in this process presented a challenge for the implementation team that mandated tremendous analysis and teamwork to overcome these challenges.
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