Electric Line Deployed In-Well Rectification of Damaged Completion Components Re-Enables Well Access and Subsequent Intervention, Reinstating Production of Shut-In Wells

Abstract

There are wells shut in because of damaged completion components which hinder their production control or integrity, or prevent a remedial intervention from being carried out. Often, the option to pull the completion has inherent risks from an operational, environmental and/or reservoir damage perspective and require extensive resources and time to execute. Rectifying completion component damage through a light but effective in-well intervention solution offers highly valuable options to reinstate production from such wells. This paper will discuss the rapid engineering development of an expander tool run in conjunction with an electric line deployed electrohydraulic mechanical stroker tool. Through a simple but highly-effective design, an expander tool was engineered to harness and magnify the axial force delivered by the stroker to generate a radial expansion with a force magnitude sufficient to prize out a defect in a completion component. Critical to the design was a precise measurement and control of the expansion extent and the radial force exerted, so the component in question and the other components of the completion were not damaged. This toolstring combination, coupled with real-time control and surface readout of key tool parameters, enabled a precise and measured high-magnitude expansion capability to be deployed in two different wells with ease, at pinpoint depth, and applied repeatedly across the length of the defect it was addressing. Furthermore, immediate validation of the repair was available through a drift verification pass. In both cases the in-well repair operation eliminated the need for a high cost, high risk completion retrieval and the repair operation was executed flawlessly in hours, enabling the subsequent intervention operations to be carried out and the wells be brought back on line with positive production results. The tool development was an exemplary case of rapid-response engineering, whose ingenuity stemmed from a direct customer request to solve a challenging completion defect. It resulted in a world first for an electric line deployed in-well expansion solution, the resulting value of which was well acknowledged by the customer.