Petrocedeño is one of the companies that operate in Junín Block of the Orinoco Oil Belt. This block is located on the southern flank of the eastern basin of Venezuela and produces 150 thousand barrels per day from about 700 wells. Exploitation of this field began early in 2000 year, draining the sands with greatest potential (rock quality in terms of thickness and homogeneity). Today, the amount of this type of sand is reduced; however huge reserves still are in this complex reservoir. About 20 wells have been drilled in Unit C2, deltaic depositional environment with average sand thickness ranging from 10 to 20 ft. and heterolitic beds. Due to these characteristics of the sands, production results of these wells are far away from estimations. Multilateral technology has been used to increase the amount of reservoir exposure in these heavy-oil fields with great success. Sandy problems, observed in most of the 15 multilateral wells drilled in the area, have been solved by cementing the system junction. On the other hand, application of a real-time geosteering technique has allowed a flawless wellbore placement within a reservoir with a challenging stratigraphy and complex sedimentological environment in Junín Block of Orinoco Oil Belt. Petrocedeño used Multilateral System level 4 together with Azimuthal Deep Resistivity technologies to face this challenge. Multilateral advanced drainage architecture to increase reservoir exposure from a single surface location, minimizing collision risk, and to improve production. And Logging-while-drilling with Azimuthal Deep Resistivity tool in conjunction with specialized modeling and wellbore positioning techniques was used to enable swift reaction to maintain the well path within the reservoir boundaries in these thin laminated sands. First Multilateral level 4 well was drilled and geosteered in deltaic C2 Unit on November 2011. Geoscientists and drilling engineers worked as a multi-disciplinary team to make the best wellbore trajectory decisions to position YC36 hole into the best zone of the reservoir along of 5,265 feet. This publication will describe application of multilateral and geosteering technologies in YC36 well. Economical analysis will be presented and explained, as well as production results.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has recently drilled the first multilateral well in a North Kuwait field to improve oil production in productive layers subjected to water coning problems by increasing reservoir exposure using Level 4 multilateral technology. The multilateral well targeted the same sand in different directions with two laterals. Both of the laterals were drilled using rotary steerable drilling systems to reduce drilling time. The drilling process used a full suite of logging while drilling (LWD) tools, including azimuthal deep resistivity technologies, to ensure the well path is precisely geosteered within the reservoir boundaries and density/porosity tools in real-time, combined with specialized modeling software to position the well in the best possible reservoir.Level 4 multilateral technology was selected after performing an extensive geological assessment and studying the challenges of exploiting oil in the target sand reservoir. The 12 1/4-in. main section was cased and cemented with 9 5/8-in. casing to the landing point; the 8 1/2-in. lateral-I was drilled and completed with 5 1/2-in. inflow control devices (ICDs). The sidetrack was performed by cutting a window from a specialized latch coupling in the 9 5/8-in. casing; the 8 1/2-in. section was drilled to the landing point, and the 7-in. liner was run and fully cemented. The 6 1/8-in. lateral-II was drilled and completed with 4 1/2-in. ICDs.The fully cemented and cased junction or bifurcation should help achieve greater well integrity and prevent fluid migration from the adjacent area, while the specialized latch coupling should help ensure easy access to either of the laterals, as required. The ICD technology and swellable packers were selected to delay water breakthrough from an active aquifer.This publication describes the application of multilateral and geosteering technologies, and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the first multilateral well drilled in North Kuwait that began with a campaign of higher order (Level 4) multilateral. The well is considered to be a pilot well to identify the feasibility of using multilateral technology as a production model to help enhance oil recovery and reduce drilling costs in the field by replacing the cost of drilling new wells.

Multilateral technology can provide a higher recovery factor by achieving a longer field life supported by the cumulative production of the multiple laterals, turning otherwise unviable reservoirs into economically sound targets, keeping construction costs down and minimizing risk. This paper will focus on TAML 5 systems that meet well integrity requirements by isolating the junction from reservoir pressure or stimulations and provide independent accessibility on both laterals during the life of the well. This capability eliminates the requirement to pull the completion should access be required to the lateral for cleaning, stimulation, zonal isolation, or data acquisition. Using this technology also leads to a reduction in the cost of well construction as well as intervention. This paper discusses challenges faced to provide accessibility to both laterals from surface without using a re-entry deflector as well as solutions including segregated and commingled flow installations. Discussion will also cover completion designs that tie new laterals into existing production casing. Case studies will include a discussion of workover operations, isolation methods, and lateral creation systems. In the Middle East, older TAML 4 wells have been converted to TAML 5 in order to prevent detected gas migrating into the mainbore at the junction. This conversion of a cemented junction well has enabled production to resume on the wells. This application has also been applied to the installation of new wells in the region. New and re-entry wells were completed with intelligent upper completions to enable flow control of each lateral. The paper focuses on the challenges, solutions, and successful case studies of multilateral wells constructed in the Middle East. The paper also provides insight as to methodology for continually improving reliability of multilateral installations to maximize efficiencies.

The challenges of high heterogeneous multi-layer reservoirs were a driver for ADNOC to establish new well completion requirements. Based on this, the well completion strategy was revised in order to improve the completion design for a Dual Oil Producer (DOP) initially well planned without accessibility into the upper drain. The solution was successfully implemented by drilling the well having a Multilateral Dual String Level 5 Completion System to have full reservoir isolation and mechanical accessibility to TD in both drains. A major approach was implemented giving the utmost importance to all operational risks concerning drilling and completion. The design relies on the Latch Coupling (LC) pre-installed with the production casing as the foundation for the successful drilling and cementing the upper drain liner and for different completion runs. Thus, a level 5 multi-lateral completion coupled with Inflow Control Devices and Pre-perforated Liner in the upper and lower lateral respectively was successfully deployed. The main advantages of this technology compared to the initial proposal are: Brings effectively two single wells from one slot of the wellhead tower as it provides independent access & control for enhanced reservoir management (well stimulation, production logging and water shut-off). Substantial cost savings due to the utilization of one slot only. Conventional single designs need two slots to deliver equivalent completion requirements. The completion technology meets the Well Integrity Policy & Completion Guidelines stated by ADNOC to have full accessibility to all drains. This is the first Level 5 configuration installed in UAE integrated with a lower completion. The design enhances the benefits of the multilateral construction by providing full mechanical & pressure isolation at the junction throughout the life of the well. Furthermore, accessibility to both laterals from surface without the use of a re-entry deflector or any constraints was deemed to be paramount for a successful well construction.

Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) Petrocedeno has encountered challenges in achieving higher production rates and maximizing extra-heavy oil recovery from complex reservoirs in the Junin block of the Orinoco oil belt of Venezuela. These complex reservoirs are located in heterolytic deltaic depositional environments, with heterolitic thicknesses ranging from 10 to 20 ft. This block produces 150,000 B/D from more than 700 horizontal wells. Most of these wells were drilled in relatively homogeneous sands with good thickness; however, large extra-heavy oil reserves are trapped in a more geologically and operationally complex deltaic reservoir sand. Horizontal wells in this area show poor production results. For these reservoirs, the geosteering technique with azimuthal deep resistivity technology was proposed to maximize oil recovery by positioning the wellbore in a better pay-zone; advanced drainage multilateral architecture was proposed to improve production rates by increasing reservoir exposure. Multilateral technology has been used successfully in the area. Sand problems, observed in some multilateral wells, were solved by using a junction support tool to provide mechanical and hydraulic integrity at the junction area. A real-time geosteering technique enabled a flawless wellbore placement within this reservoir with challenging stratigraphy and complex sedimentological environment in which more than 60 wells have been drilled with azimuthal deep resistivity tools. The well YC-36 well plan included drilling two laterals with the geosteering technique, which would improve the production rate to an estimated 343 B/D. After installing a multilateral level IV junction and positioning YC-36 100% in the net oil sand, the reported production increased to 650 B/D for an increase of approximately 300%, as compared to an average single well production from the block. This paper describes the combined application of multilateral and geosteering technologies in the YC-36 well and details about the results of the application.