The aim of this project is to reduce the water cut in highly deviated well and subsequently enhance gas production of an offshore gas producer. Well A is located in a mature field in the Andaman Sea and contains 10% CO2 and 400 μg/m3 mercury. Due to the high-water cut, the well was struggling to meet its daily gas nomination, and any further decline in production would reduce the national daily gas supply, thus leading to penalties to the operator if not tackled properly. With limited historical data acquisition opportunities at the location, adjacent well performance and well test data were correlated to pinpoint the problematic zones that were contributing to the high-water production being shut off. The well construction posed several challenges for installation, as severe completion ovality and minimum internal diameter (ID) at landing nipple restricted conventional plug application. Elastomers with high expansion capability were made-to-order to fully seal around the casing liner ID for effective downhole barrier isolation. Furthermore, the presence of CO2 content in produced gas may potentially cause elastomer swelling and embrittlement, leading to downhole failure. Guided by the lessons learned from previous operations, a structured engineering approach was undertaken to select a bridge plug with a customized deployment method to ensure the successful zonal shut-off operation for Well A. A high expansion mechanical plug (>30% ratio) dressed in customized swellable elastomers was selected instead of conventional inflatable plugs to tackle swelling and embrittlement concerns due to high CO2. The elastomer was required to meet the gas-tight requirement without the need to spot cement above it and should be economically viable. The plug was to be deployed through coiled tubing to enable activation of the plug mechanism via the hydraulic setting tool and cater for contingencies post-plug setting such as nitrogen kickoff. During execution, the water production layers were successfully shut off within the planned duration while meeting safety objectives. Upon flowing the well, the instantaneous gas gain increased by 190% and WGR (Water Gas Ratio) reduced by 70%, allowing production to flow without any unplanned shutdown. Despite the successful operation, it is highly recommended that production logging is performed post-operation to confirm the state of the downhole condition. Dealing with a mature well with declining production due to water loading is a problem for any operator. Every solution must lead to cost savings & able to prolong the production life of well. As iterated above, zone shut-off using the high expansion mechanical plug was able to enhance production from Well A, thus meeting the gas nomination supply. This paper will help other operators who are experiencing the same problem and drive replication efforts.
This study aims to validate and track valve positions for all the zones applying recorded distributed temperature sensing (DTS) data interpretation to propose the best combination of downhole inflow control valve (ICV) openings to optimize Well X-2 multizone commingled production. Fiber DTS is relied on as an innovation against downhole conditions that has compromised the three out of four downhole dual-gauges and valve position sensors. For zonal water control purpose, ICV cycling and positioning have been attempted in 2019. The valve position tracking derived from the compromised downhole dual gauges and valve position sensors does not tally with the surface flow indication overall. Consequently, the original measurement intention of the fiber DTS as back-up zonal-rate calculation profiling and as potential sub-layer flow-contribution indicators is brought in as contingency zonal valve-opening tracking and guide that proved valuable for subsequent production optimization. Downloaded DTS data is depth matched and validated against known operating conditions like time of each cycling stage and surface well test parameters (i.e. Liquid Rate, Watercut, Tubing Head Pressure (THP), Total Gas, Gas-Oil Ratio (GOR)), etc. To establish a baseline, several DTS traces of historical operating condition during a known stable period were selected, i.e. stable flowing condition at only Zone 4stable shut-in condition at surface with only ICV Zone 4 is opened Downhole valve-position tracking can be interpreted alternatively from induced fiber temperature activities across the valve depth with a good temperature baseline benchmarking from DTS temperature profiling. In one of these alternative interpretations based on fiber temperature, it is found and validated that Zone 1 ICV is Closed, Zone 2, 3 and 4 are in opened position and continuously producing at any cycles. This is in conflict of zonal production control understanding initially based on the compromised downhole sensor indicating that all the zonal valves are supposedly in fully closed position. In this case-study, DTS data has been proven useful and as an innovative alternative to determine downhole valve opening with analogue to flow contribution derivation methodology. Therefore, anytime in the future where Well X-2 valves cycling is planned to be carried out, there is a corresponding operating procedure that needs to incorporate onsite real-time DTS data monitoring to validate tracked valves positioning.
Well B-2 is a dual-string producers with Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) fiber installed along the long string (i.e. Well B-2L) across the reservoir sections. Each zone comprises of sub-layers. This system enabled the operator to continuously monitor the wellbore temperature across all the producing intervals including gas-lift monitoring, well integrity identification, zonal inflow profiling and stimulation job evaluation. This paper mainly discusses the post matrix acid stimulation job with interpreted DTS and zonal Permanent Downhole Gauge (PDG) data. Well B-2L has been selected for matrix acidizing treatment to improve the productivity due to potential formation damage, proven by the declining production over the years. Prior to the execution of the acidizing job, several conformance jobs such as injectivity test, tubing pickling were performed. This is followed by the main acid treatment and flow back. DTS & zonal PDG data were acquired throughout the operation. A transient simulator model was built incorporating all the reservoir properties including well trajectory and completion schematic to analyze the DTS profile and understand the zonal inflow profiling for each zone post treatment. A baseline temperature was acquired for the geothermal evaluation. The DTS data has been studied according to actual event schedules. Some significant findings are; i) completion accessories effect (feedthru packers) creates temperature anomalies, ii) leak points detected at top producing zone signifies cooling effect due to injected fluid. The main treatment was intended at zone 2 and 3 using nitrified acid. However, leak points at top zone caused bypassed injection into Zone 1 and 2 instead. Fiber optic DTS warmback profiles post main-treatment was analyzed to quantify the fluid intake from sub-layer in each zone. Qualitatively from the DTS-interpreted zonal profiling, the data clearly shows most of treatment fluid is being injected into Zone 1 and 2 with no intakes at Zone 3. Furthermore, warmback analysis confirmed the high intake zones from sub-layers within the main zone based on the permeability contrast. This paper will further discuss the zonal injectivity understanding for improvement from the zonal-inflow profiling evaluation by incorporating DTS, PDG and surface production data.
The first horizontal oil well was drilled through an anticline structure in the Block-7E of East Flank, S-field, penetrating three production sands Sand I, Sand II and Sand III. Based on a comprehensive pre-drill study through steady-state and 3D dynamic time lapse simulation, Inflow Control Device (ICD) with integral sleeve (on/off function) attached to the ICD's joint is the optimum development of the fault block that maximizes zonal control for contrasting water encroachments. Due to the unconsolidated nature of the target reservoir, this well is designed for Open-Hole Gravel Pack (OHGP) with specialty 3D filtration screen to manage sanding issue. This paper highlights 2-in-1 application of ICD with enabled zonal shut-off sleeves and the OHGP completions with external screen. A pre-drilled ICD dynamic modeling is constructed to evaluate the well performance with ICD configuration. The design criteria for an optimum ICD design configuration is based on number of compartments and size, packer placement, ICD nozzle sizes and numbers. This dynamic single well model was used to justify the technology value which resulted in production improvement (maximizing oil and minimizing/delaying water). However, during the drilling of this well, the pre-drilled model is then updated in real time with the input of actual petrophysical data from Logging While Drilling (LWD) measurements along the OH section. Actual well trajectory and structure adjustment encountered while drilling were also co-utilized to determine the final optimum ICD design for the field run-in-hole (RIH) completion. Target fault block in S-Field East Flank requires optimum development strategy for its economic viability (Kumaran, P. N et al. 2017). Only one open-sea discovery well proved the oil bearing sands to-date, but a lot of uncertainties remains: geological structure, fluid contacts, fluid characterization, existence and nature of an aquifer, etc. Hence, all these uncertainties are incorporated in the ICD optimization through sensitivity analysis and uncertainty range estimation. Oil production improvement with water reduction while delaying water encroachment are key in the optimization of the ICD design, which is achieved by evaluating the impact of ICD's influx balancing throughout the horizontal section. Study shows that water encroachment is effectively controlled with 9 compartmentalization zones along the horizontal section, each one separated using oil swellable packer. After 7 months of stable flow, well test is showing zero-water and zero-sanding to surface with well controlled production rate that can produce more if required. This is the testimonial of the deployment success from its initial conceptual design to its ultimate completion.
As part of the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) field development plan (FDP), four immiscible water alternating gas (iWAG) wells with intelligent well completions were successfully completed. Inflow control valves (ICV) with dual-permanent downhole gauges (PDG) in each zone were installed to allow remote injection control and monitoring. Each well has three zones. One of the iWAG wells was installed with the DTS cable behind casing. This enabled the injection profile monitoring across each sand in order to optimize the injection rate distribution and representatively amongst the four wells. The paper further discusses the injection strategy to meet the required zonal injectivity and reservoir zonal voidage replacement over field production life. Downhole water injection conformance is critical for managing thin oil rim reservoirs. The injection plan considered several factors including uneven zonal split injection, short-circuiting injector to producer issues, and unfavourable zonal water-front propagation and changing injection scenarios over time. Hence, zonal control with optimal valve design is critical in achieving the EOR reservoir management plan. Injectivity and conformance modelling was performed on four iWAG wells across three reservoir zones to ensure optimal valve-sizing configuration for comingled injection multizone. A base case simulation assuming no downhole zonal control (all zones fully open) was first performed to understand the zonal injection performance and distribution contrast for both water and gas injection. This subsequently served as a guide for the zonal injectivity control strategy. This was followed by modelling valve sizes across a variety of injection scenarios. This was done to ensure the design working range for balancing future zonal injection selectivity under expected uncertainty range. Post deployment ICV modelling was performed with cross-reference to actual petrophysical data, reservoir properties, and well trajectories. Petrophysical evaluation showed some zones are having lower permeability with low fracture pressure. Step rate injection test data was used to calibrate the model and to further validate whether the valve sizes were within the design ranges prior to the injection phase. Based on the simulation using surface injection rates and PDG pressure data, most of the zones were able to meet the target injection rate within the set fracture pressure. The model will then be further updated with the zonal injection data in the future as the iWAG injection program is implemented.
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