Traditionally Wireline logging tools are rated for continuous operation to 350°F and 20,000 psi downhole conditions. With many reservoirs exceeding these limits, the need for specialized, High-Pressure and/or High-Temperature Wireline tools has been an issue for some time. Sensors were accordingly developed to ratings of 500°F and 25,000 psi. Recently, Ultra-Deep drilling has pushed the boundary to above 25,000 psi, resulting in the development of 30,000 psi and 500°F rated wireline tools. Currently, basic Petrophysical evaluation Quad-combo strings are available and wells in excess of 480°F, 26,000 psi have been successfully evaluated. Significant work is underway to upgrade specialized wireline services such as pressure testing, fluid sampling, dipmeter imaging, sidewall coring, Dipole Sonic, Magnetic resonance, natural and spectral Gamma ray measurements. Like most other oilfield services, Wireline HPHT technology development pauses serious challenges. When the extreme is temperature or pressure only, the solution is relatively simple. Significant complications arise when both extreme conditions occur simultaneously, requiring at times timely and costly redesign of sensors and related electronics. The paper follows Wireline HPHT evaluation development to date, outlines technological challenges and barriers to continuously expand current tool rating limits while increasing the range of services. Recent case histories from North America are presented. Finally future development and well evaluation technology trends are discussed. Introduction HPHT Logging Across the US and Gulf of Mexico is becoming an increasingly larger part of the oil & gas industries focus. As the shallower, easy markets continue to dry up, focus will fall on deeper, Hi-pressure, Hi-temperature or " Hostile" reservoirs known to have difficulties in drilling and evaluation.
The recent breakthrough developments of polymer-filled armor cables with crush-free electrical cores, effectively eliminate inherent limitations of wireline logging cables. These novel cables deployed with a complete high-tension conveyance package have effectively reduced deepwater-wireline tool sticking occurrences and the subsequent lengthy fishing operations in emerging Deepwater and depleting reservoirs.Unique composite polymer technology locks the normally unbound cable armors to the core. Further Coldflow and crush resistant protection is added to the cable core itself. The result is a mechanically rigid, torquebalanced and crush-free wireline cable that effectively eliminates known issues with core codlflow, cable rotation & plastic stretch, armor stranding & bird-caging, while enabling high-tension spooling on a drum without the use of tension relief system (Capstan). With spooling tensions up to 13,000 lbf, instantaneous pulls of 18,000 lbf and a safety margin of 9,000 lbf, the complete high tension package offers tool sticking mitigation capabilities only possible previously with a Capstan package. Additional benefits include but not limited to fully seasoned new cable and reduced frequency of cable maintenance. Furthermore, the elimination of the dual drum Capstan eliminates significant operational risk.TuffLINE 18000 -a composite cable was deployed successfully without Capstan in Deepwater Australia for an operation including formation pressure and sampling in a reservoir with a high tool sticking potential. In a particularly challenging situation in the Mediterranean where Capstan could not be deployed, TuffLINE 18000 was used in 5 descents resulting in 96 hrs of rig time savings while reducing HSE and operational risk.With the proven financial and HSE benefits, polymer filled composite wreline cables and the high-tension conveyance package reduce wireline tool sticking risk.
Due to adverse hole conditions, Operators in the Nam Con Son Basin have had difficulties carrying out their wireline logging programs. Unplanned wiper trips and pipe conveyed logging have often been necessary to acquire log data. These remedies are expensive and time consuming and lead to substantial inefficiencies during execution. In search for operational efficiency, a revolutionary conveyance technology was used with the wireline logging tools. The conveyance system consists of wheeled carriages which are secured to the exterior of the logging tool housings and aligned at regularly spaced intervals. The carriages have large diameter wheels with an active bearing lubrication system and carry the tool-string over and above wellbore cuttings. The wheels significantly reduce tool drag, facilitating conventional logging in very high angle wells. The carriwages orientate the logging tool sensors to enhance sample recovery and data quality. The holefinder consists of an upturned nose cone, analogous to a ski tip, which effortlessly slides over ledges without stopping. The intermediate logging operation continued over 5 days, during which 5 runs were made with up to nine carriages and a hole-finder on each tool string. All tool-strings ran seamlessly to TD and logged out smoothly without issues, facilitating excellent data acquisition. Following success in the intermediate hole section, the conveyance system was deployed on all wireline runs in both the main wellbore and sidetrack with similar results. The conveyance devices allowed the drilling and exploration team to achieve all of the pre-drill objectives while eliminating the unplanned costs experienced with previous logging programs. The conveyance system provides a cost effective method for managing high deviation wellbores while enhancing the operator's data acquisition needs for exploration evaluation. By avoiding pipe conveyed logging and wiper trips, 11 days of rig time was saved on a floating rig, with associated cost savings of USD 9.4M. Together, these complimentary devices form a complete conveyance system that uniquely resolve all the challenges that have plagued wireline logging for over 50 years while enhancing data quality. The technology also has applications in well intervention operations.
The combination of a newly developed extreme-tensile-strength steel wireline cable armor and polymer encapsulation technologies has recently created a second generation of low-torque, extreme-strength wireline cables. The high-pull system is complemented with high-capacity winch units for surface data acquisition, tension-relief capstans, and downhole well accessories. The resulting surface pull capacity of wireline conveyance reaches 26,000 lbf, a 25% increase over the strongest system available previously. When the 21,000-lbf system was introduced in 2010, deepwater fishing incidents dropped to less than 1% of total descents. However, with 3 days per fishing operation, associated deepwater fishing time remains high. The new high-pull system has been deployed in the Gulf of Mexico since October 2014. Pulls exceeding 21,000 lbf made it possible to prevent four instances of otherwise unavoidable fishing incidents, saving more than 12 deepwater fishing days and USD 9 million of rig time. In 2015 Gulf of Mexico fishing incidents have dropped to a record low 0.4% of total descents.
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