A Review of the Impact of the Use of Formate Brines on the Economics of Deep Gas Field Development Projects

Downs, John David

doi:10.2118/130376-ms

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…A previous paper has compiled and reviewed the published statements made by operators about their experiences of using cesium formate brine in HPHT gas well constructions [Downs, 2010]. Some key drilling-related highlights from this review are summarised below.…”

Section: Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Without Barite: Ten Years of Drilling Deep HPHT Gas Wells With Cesium Formate Brine

Downs

2011

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The tradition of using barite to increase the weight of drilling fluids dates back to the early-1920's and, while it has been of great benefit to the oil industry over the past 90 years, it has also caused some chronic and persistent well construction problems along the way. These problems, which are very familiar to drillers, include well control difficulties, stuck pipe incidents and formation damage.The oil industry has known since the 1970's that replacing barite with suitable non-damaging solutes in reservoir drill-in fluids is an effective way of reducing formation damage, simplifying operations and eliminating the need for expensive formation damage by-pass operations. The development of brine-based drill-in fluids opened up the opportunity to connect more effectively with hydrocarbon reserves by allowing the construction of long high-angle reservoir sections completed in open hole. Despite the advantages on offer, the industry was unable to exploit this novel technology in deep HPHT gas field developments until the mid-to late-1990's when drill-in fluids based on potassium and cesium formate brine became available in commercial volumes.Cesium formate brine was first used as a reservoir drilling fluid in the Huldra gas/condensate field in the North Sea in January 2001, and has now been used to drill a total of 29 deep HPHT gas wells. The information presented and reviewed in this paper confirms that the use of potassium and cesium formates as the sole weighting agents in reservoir drill-in fluids has enabled operators to enjoy the full economic benefits of creating low-skin open-hole completions in deep high-angle HPHT gas wells. The review also concludes that the use of these heavy formate brines as drill-in fluids over the past 10 years has facilitated the safe and efficient development of deep HPHT gas reserves by:• Virtually eliminating well control and stuck pipe incidents • Enabling the drilling of long high-angle HPHT wells with narrow drilling windows • Typically reducing offshore HPHT well completion times by 30 days or more • Improving the definition and visualization of the reservoirs • Eliminating the need for clean-ups, stimulation treatments or any other form of post-drilling well intervention to remove formation damage caused by the drilling fluid This has all been made possible by the operators' acceptance and adoption of the award-winning Chemical Leasing (ChL) and fluid management programmes that form the basis of their contracts with the sole producer of cesium formate brine.BP Devenick 1 385 4,560 <1 135 Petrobras El Campamento 1 650 --126This paper begins by providing a summary of these operations, field by field, and looks in some detail at the original drilling campaign in Huldra. It then lists some key highlights from ten years of drilling deep HPHT gas wells with barite-free cesium formate brine. The paper concludes that the use of cesium formate brine as a reservoir drill-in for deep gas field development enhances well construction efficiency, well safety and well productivity. Su...

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Section: Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Without Barite: Ten Years of Drilling Deep HPHT Gas Wells With Cesium Formate Brine

Downs

2011

All Days

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“…Over the past 18 years formate brines have been used as reservoir drill-in and completion fluids in more than 40 HPHT gas condensate field developments, accessing some of the deepest, hottest and highest-pressured reservoirs in Europe [Downs, 2010;Downs, 2011]. The UK and Norwegian governments publish monthly updated figures for the gas and condensate production from fields in their sectors of the North Sea.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Long-Term Production Performance of Deep HPHT Gas Condensate Fields Developed Using Formate Brines

Olsvik

Howard

Downs³

2013

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Formate brines have been in use since 1995 as non-damaging drill-in and completion fluids for deep HPHT gas condensate field developments. The number of HPHT fields developed using formate brines now totals more than 40, and includes some of the deepest, hottest and highly-pressured reservoirs in the North Sea. The well completions have been both open-hole and cased-hole.An expectation from using formate brines as reservoir drill-in and completion fluids is that they will cause minimal damage to the reservoir and help wells to deliver their full productive potential over the life-time of the field. The validity of this expectation has been tested by examining the long-term hydrocarbon production profiles of eight HPHT gas condensate fields in the North Sea where only formate brines have been used as the well completion fluids. In five of these fields the wells were drilled with oil-based muds and completed by perforating in cased hole with high-density formate brines. In another two of the fields the wells were drilled with formate brines and completed with screens entirely in open hole using the same brines.The last of the eight fields was drilled with formate brine and the wells were then completed with same fluid in either open hole or cased hole.The results of the production analysis provide a unique insight into the impact of a single type of specialist drill-in and completion fluid on the rate of recovery of hydrocarbon reserves from deeply-buried reservoirs in the North Sea.

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Development of a novel packer fluid for high-temperature and high-pressure oil and gas wells with using design of experiments and artificial intelligence

Mahdavi Kalatehno,

Khamehchi

2024

J Petrol Explor Prod Technol

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This study introduces a novel phosphate-based packer fluid, designed for use in high-temperature and high-pressure oil and gas wells. The research aims to evaluate the performance of this innovative fluid in comparison with traditional acetate and formate-based fluids. The study highlights the enhanced performance metrics of the phosphate-based fluid, which include a higher density of 114 pcf, moderated pH levels from 13.5 to 10, and a significantly reduced corrosion rate to below 4 mpy, achieved through the addition of diammonium phosphate and potassium vanadate. Moreover, the research presents two machine learning models (an artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP)) developed to predict the penetration depth of the phosphate-based fluid. Both models demonstrate high accuracy, with R-square values of 0.9468 and 0.9140, respectively, with the ANN model exhibiting slightly superior performance. The findings of the study indicate that the phosphate-based fluid, free of solubilizers and enhanced with innovative corrosion inhibitors, provides optimal thermal stability, minimal formation damage, and shallow penetration depth, thus representing a significant advancement in well completion technologies. The fluid’s distinctive properties and the predictive models’ high accuracy highlight its suitability for challenging environments, marking a notable progression in well completion technologies.

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A Review of the Impact of the Use of Formate Brines on the Economics of Deep Gas Field Development Projects

Cited by 10 publications

References 12 publications

Life Without Barite: Ten Years of Drilling Deep HPHT Gas Wells With Cesium Formate Brine

Life Without Barite: Ten Years of Drilling Deep HPHT Gas Wells With Cesium Formate Brine

The Long-Term Production Performance of Deep HPHT Gas Condensate Fields Developed Using Formate Brines

Development of a novel packer fluid for high-temperature and high-pressure oil and gas wells with using design of experiments and artificial intelligence

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