TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractCurrent trends in the oil and gas industry are focusing more heavily on operational efficiency and cost reduction than ever before. Therefore, operators and service companies are investigating any technique that offers possibility for improvement in these areas, and this explains the recently renewed interest in the monobore and slimhole concepts.The most obvious savings are those that relate to:• the size of the rig required to drill the hole • the amount of well control material used during the drilling of the hole • the quantity of cement required to cement the casing string in place • the size and quantity of tubing and casing required to complete the well • the discharge of drill cuttings would be dramatically reduced. This paper will review a new equipment design that is ideally suited for use with coiled tubing to perform a cement job in slimhole wells.This innovative technique is performed with 2-in. coiled tubing. A special device, which is made up with an educated J-slot and a 2.55-in. seal at the end of the coiled tubing, will engage and disengage automatically from a seal bore receptacle that is placed at the end of the 3-½-in. casing string.This tool is retrieved, easily redressed and re-used. It can be sheared so that the coiled tubing can be pulled in the event a catastrophic event occurs during the cement job.This tool reduces the contamination of cement. In addition, it offers an economical method for cementing in scenarios in which a standard cement job cannot be performed. For example, when a control-line-activated landing nipple is used in the casing/tubing string, there is risk of depositing cement in the landing nipple bore and plugging the control line when using traditional cementing techniques.This paper describes the operational procedures, benefits of the system, and a slimhole completion design adopted by ENI-AGIP to take advantage of the benefits of the system.

Many mature gas wells worldwide have had to be shut-in due to water loading in the production string, which occurs when the liquid's hydrostatic column pressure equals that of the reservoir pressure, stopping production. Periodically injecting surfactant chemicals from surface has been tried but is only a temporary solution. Continuos injection of a downhole foaming agent can be used to lift the water and restore gas production. If an injection line is not part of the completion string, an external injection line can be installed either with a rig workover or a rigless through-tubing installation. The first solution requires significant rig expense, and the second can cause loss of downhole safety-valve functionality. A more cost-effective, safer problem resolution method was needed.This paper describes the first ENI field trial of a Capillary Deliquification Safety System that can be retrofitted into existing wells with rigless intervention to quickly reinstate production. This method maintains safety valve functionality and eliminates an expensive well workover. The installation equipment includes a modified wireline-retrievable surface-controlled sub-surface safety valve (WR-SCSSV) with capillary tubing attached below. The injection method operates via the control system for the WR-SCSSV. The installation, which uses the existing control line of the safety valve to inject chemicals, does not require wellhead modification.The trial installation of the new system took place in a shut-in well in a Barbara offshore field in the Adriatic Sea. The trial showed that the system could provide a cost-effective alternative to well workovers and occasional surfactant treatments and will significantly increase hydrocarbon recovery from the reservoir while maintaining the well's safety level.