Subsea well completion design and implementation in TotalFinaElf's Aconcagua Field and Marathon Oil Company's Camden Hills Field posed unprecedented challenges. Water depths in the area of planned development (up to 7209 ft) were greater than for any well previously completed in the world. Limited gas reserves in this high-cost, deepwater environment precluded future economic intervention, so the completion design had to balance the potential complexity of multiplezone production with high life-of-well reliability. Conducting the completions from a dynamically positioned (DP) drilling vessel, which had not yet been done at the time completion planning was underway, presented additional challenges. The extensive pre-planning, preparation for contingencies (for both the installation and production phases), and application of lessons learned for continuous improvement throughout the six-well installation program are presented in this paper. Because of limited space, only the most essential lessons can be discussed here.

Economic success of deepwater and ultra-deepwater developments often depends on the use of innovative technologies that can increase production and minimize workover needs to achieve the sought-after field efficiency during the productive life of the field. Intelligent completion technology, a new concept for the oilfield, is one of the technologies that can support these needs. This well completion concept allows the operator to obtain real-time or near-real-time reservoir data, and then, to reconfigure the wellbore production/injection architecture to adapt to the information obtained. Along with pipeline, platform, and subsea system synergies, three fields in the Gulf of Mexico – Aconcagua, Camden Hills, and King's Peak – are using intelligent completion technology to optimize a marginal reserve base. Located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 173, 217, 305, 348 and Desoto Canyon Blocks 133 and 177 in 6200- to 7200-ft of water, the production from the three fields will be tied to the Canyon Station host platform, 55 miles from the most distant well location. Though slight variations exist between the intelligent completion systems being installed in the three fields, the basic design in each consists of:A production packer with a hydraulic and electric bypassA gauge package for measuring shut-in and flowing pressure from two sand-controlled zones2 control valves with metal-to-metal seals to control flow from both production intervalsA shroud to isolate flow between upper and lower production intervals. The piston-actuated control valves will be functioned through a direct hydraulic link from the subsea control module. Pressure applied at the subsea control module will allow hydraulic fluid to be directed to the open side of one piston, the open side of the other piston, or the close line, which is common to both valves. Introduction The three individual offshore fields, King's Peak, Aconcagua, and Camden Hills, that will tie production to a common platform are described below. The field locations are shown in Fig. 1. King's Peak. Mississippi Canyon 173 and 217 and Desoto Canyon 133 and 177 comprise the King's Peak Field, operated and owned 100% by British Petroleum. Located in 6200–6800 feet of water, three of the four King's Peak wells will be completed using intelligent completion techniques. The dry gas field has an initial reservoir pressure of approximately 6800 psi. This water drive gas reservoir is part of a sub-salt development constrained by the deepwater depositional environment. The King's Peak basic configuration is shown in Fig. 2. Aconcagua. Located in Mississippi Canyon Block 305 at a water of depth 7000 ft and operated by TotalFinaElf, the Aconcagua Field will produce from four Text W aged reservoirs, designated as the Red, Green, Orange, and "C" sands. There are four production wells planned for this development owned by TotalFinaElf 50%, Mariner Energy 25%, and Pioneer Natural Resources 25%. The layered sands contain dry gas at approximately 6600 psi.

The economic success of deepwater and ultradeepwater developments often depends on the use of innovative technologies that can increase production and minimize workover needs to achieve the sought-after field efficiency during the productive life of the field. Intelligent completion technology, a new concept for the oil field, is one of the technologies that can support these needs. This wellcompletion concept allows the operator to obtain real-time or nearreal-time reservoir data, then reconfigure the wellbore production/ injection architecture to adapt to the information obtained.Along with pipeline, platform, and subsea system synergies, three fields in the Gulf of Mexico-Aconcagua, Camden Hills, and King's Peak-use intelligent completion technology to optimize a marginal reserve base. Located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 173, 217, 305, and 348 and Desoto Canyon Blocks 133 and 177 in 6,200 to 7,200 ft of water, the three fields' production will be tied to the Canyon Station host platform, 55 miles from the most distant well location.

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