Advancing Horizontal Well Sand Control Technology: An OHGP Using Synthetic OBM

Sutton, L.W.; Elliott, F.

doi:10.2118/48976-ms

Cited by 41 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…A predrilled liner is run in SBM, and the entire wellbore is then displaced to water-based fluids using one of the options discussed in the preceding; screens are then run in hole, and gravel packing is performed with a viscous fluid using the shunt-tube technique Hecker et al 2004) or brine using the ␣/␤ packing technique (Gilchrist et al 1998;Murray et al 2002). This approach ensures screen installation to target, as supported by numerous treatments in West Africa and India, but involves two trips and results in a reduced screen size compared with single-trip approaches Hecker et al 2004;Tolan et al 2009), which may be insignificant in certain environments (e.g., relatively low rig costs, no impact on production because of smaller screen size).…”

Section: Two-trip Predrilled-liner Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Openhole Gravel-Pack Case Histories Using Alternative Fluid Displacement for Synthetic-Based Mud

Ripa¹,

Rossi²,

Staltari³

et al. 2011

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

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Openhole gravel packing is one of the popular completion techniques in challenging, high-transmissibility reservoirs. Many of such wells are drilled with synthetic fluids and completed with either a single-or a two-trip technique.In single-trip approaches, the entire wellbore is displaced to water-based fluids before running screens and subsequent gravel packing. Although successful in some cases, this technique has been problematic in reactive-shale environments because of problems in screen installation to target depth, resulting from shale swelling and/or collapse. Such problems led operators to a twotrip approach in which a predrilled liner is installed in syntheticbased mud (SBM), displacements are performed to water-based fluids, and the screens are run in a solids-free (SF) water-basedfluids environment, followed by gravel packing. In recent years, another approach was introduced, in which the displacements to water-based fluids are performed after the screens are installed in conditioned mud and the packer is set, followed by gravel packing with a water-based fluid. Although this approach eliminates the difficulties associated with screen installation as well as allowing a single-trip completion (no predrilled liner), it cannot be used in cases where conditioning is impractical.In this paper, we present case histories where screens were installed after the open hole was displaced to a solids-free SBM and the cased hole was displaced to completion brine, and gravel packing was performed using a water-based carrier fluid. This approach provides a cost-effective alternative to displacement of the entire wellbore to SF-SBM as well as eliminating the risk of screen plugging, and it was implemented successfully on two oil producers in Oyo field. Details of design, execution, and evaluation for drilling and completion stages, as well as well productivity measures, are provided. Review of the Practices to DateMany of the deepwater developments in West Africa use SBMs for both upper hole and reservoir drilling, and almost all of them require some form of sand control, openhole gravel packing being one of the widely used techniques. Gravel packing in SBM environments evolved substantially over the years, with a variety of options that can be categorized on the basis of the type of carrier fluid used for gravel packing [note that the terms SBM and oil-based mud (OBM) are used interchangeably in the context of this paper].Oil-Based Carrier Fluid. In this approach, the screens are necessarily installed with oil-based fl uids in the entire wellbore, where the wellbore fl uids can be any combination of (a) conditioned SBM, (b) fresh SBM (no cuttings), and (c) SF-SBM or oil-based carrier fl uid. The conditioned-SBM approach requires that the mud be passed through shaker-screens of suffi ciently small openings to prevent plugging of sand-control screens during installation and subsequent operations. As such, the type of screens used in the completion (wire-wrap or premium/metal-mesh) and the size of screen openings, and t...

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Section: Two-trip Predrilled-liner Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Openhole Gravel-Pack Case Histories Using Alternative Fluid Displacement for Synthetic-Based Mud

Ripa¹,

Rossi²,

Staltari³

et al. 2011

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

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“…1 After screen only completions incurred sand control failures rates > 70%, open hole gravel packing was identified as the preferred completion option for horizontal wells. The 8.5-inch, 1,635-ft long open hole was drilled with a 10.7-ppg synthetic oil-based mud (S/OBM) with CaCl 2 internal phase, CaCO 3 bridging and barite weighting agents using a 75/25 Oil/Water ratio.…”

Section: Bp-gulf Of Mexico Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Gravel Packing Wells Drilled With Oil-Based Fluids: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Future Applications

Parlar

Twynam²,

Newberry³

et al. 2004

SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

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TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractMany of the recently discovered reservoirs in deepwater/subsea environments are prime candidates for horizontal open-hole gravel packs. Presence of multiple reactive shale breaks and penetration of different sand bodies along these holes introduce a formidable challenge for selection of proper carrier fluids, considering that most of these wells require oilbased (OB) drilling fluids.Various procedures were practiced for gravel-packing wells drilled with OB fluids, most utilizing water-based (WB) carrier fluids. Primary concern in using WB carrier fluids is the destabilization of the shales.If the displacements to WB fluids are performed prior to running in hole with the sandface completion assembly, inability to run the screen assembly to target zone is the risk. Consequently, operators were forced to use a two-step process, whereby a predrilled liner is run in hole in OB fluid environment, followed by displacements to WB fluids and gravel-packing with WB fluids. This approach introduces additional rig time and increases completion costs.If the displacements to WB fluids are performed after running in hole with completion assembly, primary challenge is the prevention of screen plugging. This necessitates a comparison of the benefits and risks of displacements to solids-free oil-based fluids and conditioning of the OB drilling fluid, considering logistics.An additional consideration in gravel packing with WB fluids in reactive-shale environments is the risk of intermixing of gravel with shales, thus reduced gravel-pack permeability. Various approaches may be taken to minimize this risk. The type of carrier fluid must also be kept in mind from a formation and gravel pack damage standpoints, should losses be experienced during gravel packing.Another approach in reactive shale environments is to use an oil-based carrier fluid and avoid exposure of the open hole to WB fluids both prior to and during gravel packing. This approach, practiced in two applications, also has its limitations.In this paper, a critical review of gravel-packing practices in oil-based drilling environments is provided, along with some of the recent developments and recommendations for future applications based on lessons learned from earlier practices.

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“…[1][2][3] In all three cases, displacement from an OB to a WB fluid was done prior to running the sandface completion assembly into the hole.…”

Section: Gravel-packing With Water-based Carrier Fluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Oil-Based Reservoir Drilling Fluids in Open-Hole Horizontal Gravel-Packed Completions: Damage Mechanisms and How to Avoid Them

et al. 2001

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Open-hole horizontal wells are increasingly used to improve reservoir exploitation and production rates by targeting specific zones and maximizing reservoir exposure. The drilling fluid of choice in many of these wells is "oil based" due to enhanced drilling rates with minimized friction as well as improved wellbore stability. However, in horizontal wells requiring gravel packs, the industry in general has been reluctant to use OB reservoir drilling fluids (RDF) for various reasons. Because the gravel pack (GP) carrier fluids that have been successfully used to date are all water-based and the use of OB-RDF would necessitate displacement of open hole to WB fluids prior to GP, the practice has been to switch to WB-RDF once in the reservoir section. This was due to concerns as to adverse fluid-fluid interactions resulting in sludging and difficulty in maintaining filtercake integrity while displacing OB-RDF in the open hole, leading to complex fluid management issues. An additional factor has been the perception that WB-RDF filtercakes are easier to remove should it be necessary, since most commonly used cleanup chemicals are water-based and the weighting/bridging agents used in the RDF are also water-wet if the RDF is water-based. In this paper, we present results from experiments conducted with OB-RDFs in the presence of gravel packs. We investigate two scenarios:the gravel pack carrier fluid is water-based, andthe gravel-pack carrier fluid is oil-based. In the first case, provided that no sludges are formed during displacement to water-based fluids, the retained permeabilities are comparable to or better than those obtained with WB-RDFs, although values lower than 0.04% can be expected in the presence of sludging. Another issue relevant to gravel packing wells drilled with OB-RDFs is the yield strength of their filtercakes in comparison to WB-RDFs. It is found through yield stress measurements of various RDF cakes that OB-RDFs have several orders of magnitude lower yield strength than their WB counterparts. This finding is consistent with the reported lower flow initiation pressures for OB-RDFs, and indicates that cake erosion during gravel packing is more likely with OB-RDFs. In order to optimize the sequence of fluids to obtain a good displacement of the RDF at field scale, we use a purpose-built numerical simulator. This simulator is a fluids mechanics code that can accurately calculate displacement fronts in field conditions: eccentric deviated annulus with as many fluids as necessary. Its main use is to detect unstable displacements such as channeling of the displacing fluid on the wide side of the annulus or slumping in horizontal portions. Furthermore, we provide data on a new oil-based gravel pack carrier fluid that can be used to eliminate fluid incompatibility and fluid management issues associated with the switch from OB to WB fluids. The laboratory and large-scale yard test results are presented, addressing critical considerations for oil-based GP carrier fluids. It is found that such emulsion systems can thicken or break (depending on the emulsifier concentration) at high shear rates unless the emulsion is made at the highest shear that it will be exposed to. The implications of these results on field practices are discussed along with recommendations on avoiding damage in gravel packed wells drilled with oil-based RDFs.

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Advancing Horizontal Well Sand Control Technology: An OHGP Using Synthetic OBM

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Openhole Gravel-Pack Case Histories Using Alternative Fluid Displacement for Synthetic-Based Mud

Openhole Gravel-Pack Case Histories Using Alternative Fluid Displacement for Synthetic-Based Mud

Gravel Packing Wells Drilled With Oil-Based Fluids: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Future Applications

Use of Oil-Based Reservoir Drilling Fluids in Open-Hole Horizontal Gravel-Packed Completions: Damage Mechanisms and How to Avoid Them

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