A Review of Industry-Wide Advanced Completion Best Practices

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

Anikanov

et al. 2020

Summary Sand control screens are installed with an internal string (wash pipe) as required which, among other functions, provides a circulation path. In long horizontal wells, running a wash pipe consumes considerable rig time and may limit the ability to reach target depth. In cases in which fluid losses are experienced after screen installation, isolating the open hole with a fluid-loss control valve can be prolonged. This paper describes a wash-pipe-free solution for screen installation using a check-valve inflow control device (CV-ICD). ICD screens are commonly used to delay/restrict the influx of unwanted fluids such as gas or water. The wash-pipe-free solution integrates a check valve with the ICD to prevent outflow through the screen during circulation and allows inflow through the screen when placed on production. This solution uses a check ball that seals against the ICD during circulation but falls back on a porous retainer plate during production. The check ball and retainer plate can be dissolved by spotting a reactive fluid inside the screen or made to erode over time with production. Laboratory testing yielded the following results: the ICD with the check ball was shown to seal up to 5,000 psi; the check ball and retainer plate can be dissolved by a reactive fluid, which can be tailored to bottomhole temperature and the required time of dissolution; and the pressure activation test demonstrated that the maximum differential pressure to seat the ball was less than 5 psi. This CV-ICD solution has been applied worldwide in more than 35 wells, most of which were targeted to avoid running a wash pipe. However, in two wells the technology was successfully used to set openhole packers with a 5,000-psi setting pressure. In this paper, we present the wash-pipe-free ICD screen installation with a dissolvable check valve and the capability of setting a hydraulic packer without a wash pipe or intervention in the open hole. The novel contribution presented herein is the ability to integrate a ball and cage to existing nozzle-based ICDs by using dissolvable material to achieve the preceding results in this application.

Sand Screen with Check-Valve Inflow Control Devices

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

Anikanov

et al. 2020

Single-Trip Completions Made Simple with a New, Field-Proven Valve Technology

Woiceshyn

Day 1 Mon, November 09, 2020

2020

Interest is high to reliably run single-trip completions without involving complex/expensive technologies. The reward: significantly reduced rig time and completion costs. As described herein, a unique pressure-activated sliding side door (PSSD) valve was developed and field-tested to open without intervention after completion is circulated to TD and liner hanger and open-hole isolation packers are set. A field-proven sliding-sleeve valve that required shifting via a shifting tool run on coil tubing, slickline or wire-line, was upgraded to open automatically after relieving tubing pressure once packers (and/or liner hanger) are set. This PSSD technology, which is integrable to any type of sand control screen, is equipped with back-up contingency should the primary mechanism fail to open. Once opened, the installed PSSDs can be shifted mechanically with unlimited frequency. The two-or three-position valve can be integrated with ICDs (includes AICDs/AICVs) and allows mechanical shifting at any time after installation to close, stimulate or adjust ICD settings. After a computer-aided design stage to achieve all the operational/mechanical requirements, prototypes were built and tested, followed by several field installations. The design stage provided some challenges even though the pressure-activation feature was being added to a mature/proven SSD technology. Prototype testing in a full-scale vertical test well proved invaluable as it revealed failure mode that could not have appeared in the smaller-scale lab test facilities. Lessons learned from the first field trial helped improve onsite handling procedures. PLT logs run on first installation confirmed the PSSDs with ICDs opened as designed. The second field installation involved a different size and configuration, where PSSDs with ICDs performed as designed. The unique two-or three-position PSSD accommodates any type of sand control or debris screen and any type of ICD for production/injection, which can be easily adjusted at the wellsite. The scope of application is extremely broad. Consequently, more wells that normally could not justify the expense of existing single-trip completion technologies can now benefit from the enormous cost savings of single-trip completions, including ones that require ICD and stimulation options.

Design to First Deployment: Pressure-Activated Sliding Sleeve for Single-Trip Completion

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

Woiceshyn

2021

Summary Interest is high in a method to reliably run single-trip completions without involving complex/expensive technologies (Robertson et al. 2019). The reward for such a design would be reduced rig time, safety risks, and completion costs. As described herein, a unique pressure-activated sliding side door (PSSD) valve was developed and field tested to open without intervention after completion is circulated to total depth (TD) and a liner hanger and openhole isolation packers are set. A field-provensliding-sleeve door (SSD) valve that required shifting via a shifting tool run on coiled tubing, slickline (SL), or wireline was upgraded to open automatically after relieving tubing pressure once packers (and/or a liner hanger) are set. This PSSD technology, which is integrable to almost any type of sand control screen, is equipped with a backup contingency should the primary mechanism fail to open. Once opened, the installed PSSDs can be shifted mechanically with unlimited frequency. The two- or three-position valve can be integrated with inflow control devices (ICDs) (includes autonomous ICDs/autonomous inflow control valves) and allows mechanical shifting at any time after installation to close, stimulate or adjust ICD settings. After a computer-aided design stage to achieve all the operational/mechanical requirements, prototypes were built and tested, followed by field installations. The design stage provided some challenges even though the pressure-activation feature was being added to a mature/proven SSD technology. Prototype testing in a full-scale vertical test well proved valuable because it revealed failure modes that could not have appeared in the smaller-scale laboratory test facilities. Lessons learned from the first field trial helped improve onsite handling procedures. The production logging tool run on first installation confirmed the PSSDs with ICDs opened as designed. The second field installation involved a different size and configuration, in which PSSDs with ICDs performed as designed. The unique two- or three-position PSSD accommodates any type of sand control or debris screen and any type of ICD for production/injection. The PSSD allows the flexibility to change ICD size easily at the wellsite. Therefore, this technology can be used in carbonate as well as sandstone wells. Wells that normally could not justify the expense of existing single-trip completion technologies can now benefit from the cost savings of single-trip completions, including ones that require ICD and stimulation options.