Summary In Ecuador, shutoff of an underperforming interval through plug and abandonment (P&A) and perforation of a new interval are traditionally completed with a combination of wireline (WL) and tubing conveyance. An alternative method using enhanced coiled tubing (CT) is presented here; it enables a rigless and efficient workflow that leverages real-time downhole data for on-the-fly optimization. The new workflow relies on CT-conveyed technologies without requiring any additional conveyance methods. CT delivered four different services to start the abandonment by anchoring a 7-in. cast-iron bridge plug (CIBP), complete the abandonment with a low-viscosity cement plug, simulate wellbore dynamics during nitrogen pumping to generate the required underbalanced conditions for perforating, and perforate with a 40-ft ballistic payload of 4 1/2-in. guns. Coupled with real-time downhole telemetry, the enhanced CT workflow provided critical downhole conditions, including fluid levels, accurate depth placement and control, bridge plug setting confirmation, underbalanced conditions, perforating head activation and detonation, and postperforation inflow monitoring. Compared with traditional methods, the enhanced CT workflow introduces several benefits toward completing P&A of old intervals and perforation of new ones. These benefits include enabling a rigless workover (WO) intervention, eliminating the need and cost of a WO rig, reducing operational duration by 13%, and potentially reducing asset footprint and field crews by 95 and 70%, respectively. Elimination of a WO rig reduces environmental impact and the number of personnel on location (i.e., risk). The workflow also extends the reach and efficiency of the service in horizontal wells, enables underbalanced perforation, and delivers actionable real-time downhole data. These data elevate traditional P&A workflows and create a step change in efficiency. First, they allow tracking key downhole parameters that help guarantee a reliable operation of each of the tools and services. Second, they provide insights into the actual downhole conditions throughout the intervention to enable the operator and the field crews to make on-the-fly decisions to deliver a safe and optimal service. Those decisions may include fine-tuning the prescribed treatment or extending the scope of the intervention by leveraging the CT’s pump-through capabilities to maximize well performance and meet, or exceed, the operator’s objectives. The innovative combination of real-time telemetry with abandonment and perforating technologies proved a step change in operational efficiency and range, fueled by the quantity and quality of data recorded during the operation. This case study also marks the first documented perforation with 4 1/2-in. guns with fiber-optic real-time downhole telemetry. Furthermore, the integrated, rigless solution provides operators with an opportunity to extend their WO activity pipeline and free up their WO fleet for other activities.

The importance of real-time cementing monitoring was discounted by the oil & gas industry for years, until the Deepwater Horizon accident in 2010. The subsequent updates to US federal regulation 30 CFR Part 250 (released in 2016) caused a re-evaluation of the importance of real-time cementing services because of the role real-time well monitoring plays in the safety of critical well operations including cementing. Currently, cement job monitoring is limited to the acquisition of pressure, rate, and density measurements. Based on those measurements, a basic evaluation is performed during the job. A new software tool has been developed to improve the ability to make real-time interpretation to diagnose critical job parameters while the cement job is in progress. Acquisition of real-time data for cementing has evolved by using simulation models, which have helped to predict unstable wellbore conditions. These simulations enable both the well operator and service provider to take immediate decisions to eliminate or at least reduce an inadequate zonal isolation, which will affect the future of the well in the completion and productivity phases. The objective of this paper is to explain and demonstrate how the integration of cementing real-time data acquisition and cement design can be used as a successful technology to monitor and control critical job parameters like pressure behavior, flow rates, and equivalent circulating density (ECD) at different depths. The combined data can be broadcast to anywhere the operator is located to remotely follow the job execution and to perform hydraulic simulations and pressure match interpretation. At the same time, this process helps to ensure flawless service delivery and quality assurance during the cement job, providing critical information while delivering greater certainty and reduced risk of costly errors. A new real-time software tool was designed using an innovative platform that brings together cross-domain workflows based on a data management layer extended across different disciplines: petrophysics, geology, drilling, reservoir and production engineering, and geophysics. The platform offers a tightly integrated environment and it is the foundation for integrating future development of well-centric applications.

Summary An innovative coiled tubing (CT) real-time flow measurement tool was introduced in Ecuador to reformulate the stimulation workflow in water injectors, which comprised evaluation and treatment. This new technology enabled an integrated, single-run workflow instead—initial injectivity measurements, diagnostics, treatment, post-stimulation injectivity measurements, and final diagnostics. This novel, rigless approach reduced equipment footprint, operational time, and cost, and it improved production as compared with the conventional approach, despite accrued capital discipline constraints. Conventionally, operators rely on workover rigs and multiple product lines to diagnose, stimulate, and evaluate injector wells. Several challenges and inefficiencies were addressed by deploying the CT real-time flow measurement tool. Each intervention was designed to be completed with a single CT run and without the need for a workover rig, thus saving cost and time. Tailored diversion methods substituted the need for drillpipe to set mechanical packers. Prestimulation injection logging test (ILT) results obtained with that innovative tool, coupled with real-time control of depth and high-pressure jetting during execution, enabled effective placement of the stimulation treatment. Ultimately, post-treatment ILTs confirmed treatment effectiveness and final wellbore downhole conditions. Introduction of the CT real-time downhole flow measurement tool allowed operational objectives to be met in a single run, without additional interventions, with or without a workover rig on site. When workover rigs were present, this improved workflow saved an average of 15% operational time. In cases without a workover rig, 105 hours of rig time were saved (without considering rig mobilization time). Four case studies are presented. The first two cases demonstrate how acquisition of ILTs throughout the intervention enabled optimization of fluid placement and introduction of diverter methods. The third case covers a scenario where there was an initially low injectivity and highlights the challenges and lessons associated with recovering injectivity. The fourth case presents challenges unique to flowmeter measurements in heavy-oil environments. In each case, effectiveness of the optimized treatment was measured by two metrics: improvements in net injectivity and uniformity of injection profile, both of which drive the effectiveness of secondary recovery in connected producer wells. On average, wells intervened with this approach featured an improvement in injectivity of 301% (compared with 226% conventionally) and in their injection profile homogeneity by 13%. As a result, the productivity in connected wells improved by as much as 74% and an average of 39% (compared with 14% conventionally). This innovative workflow is a step change over conventional approaches to rejuvenate waterflooding. It combines the capabilities of delivering treatments via CT and the power of real-time downhole flow measurements to break the paradigm of multiline, multirun operations to remediate and stimulate injector wells. This yields logistically leaner operations, which are less costly, and it enables breakthroughs in secondary recovery through data-enriched interventions in times of budget pressure, not only in Ecuador, but also across the globe.

As oil fields approach maturity, unwanted water production often starts negatively affecting oil recovery. Under these circumstances, operators may extend the well's useful life by plugging and abandoning (P&A) underperforming intervals and perforating a new formation. In Ecuador, this workflow is traditionally completed with wireline or tubing-conveyed perforating. An alternative method using enhanced coiled tubing (CT) is presented here; it enables a rigless and efficient workflow that leverages real-time downhole data for on-the-fly optimization. The new workflow relies on CT-conveyed technologies without requiring any additional conveyance methods. CT delivered four different services to initiate the abandonment by anchoring a 7-in. cast-iron bridge plug, complete the abandonment with a low-viscosity cement plug, simulate wellbore dynamics during nitrogen pumping to generate the required underbalance conditions for perforating, and perforate with a 40-ft ballistic payload of 4 1/2-in. guns. Coupled with real-time downhole telemetry, the enhanced CT workflow provided critical downhole conditions, including fluid levels, accurate depth placement and control, bridge plug setting confirmation, underbalance conditions, perforating head activation and detonation, and post-perforation inflow monitoring. Compared with traditional methods, the workflow with enhanced CT introduces several benefits toward completing P&A of old intervals and perforation of new ones. These benefits include enabling a rigless workover, eliminating the need and cost of a workover rig, reducing operational duration by 13%, and potentially reducing asset footprint and field crews by 95% and 70%, respectively. Elimination of a workover rig reduces environmental impact and the number of personnel on location (i.e., risk). The workflow also extends both reach and efficiency of the service in horizontal wells, enables underbalanced perforation, and delivers actionable real-time downhole data. These data elevate traditional P&A workflows and create a step change in efficiency. First, they allow tracking key downhole parameters that help guarantee a reliable operation of each of the tools and services. Second, they shed insights as to the actual downhole conditions throughout the intervention to enable the operator and the field crews to make on-the-fly decisions to deliver a safe and optimal service. Those decisions may include fine-tuning the prescribed treatment or extending the scope of the intervention by leveraging the CT's pump-through capabilities to maximize well performance and meet, or exceed, the operator's objectives. The innovative combination of real-time telemetry with abandonment and perforating technologies proved a step change in operational efficiency and range, fueled by the quantity and quality of data recoded during the operation. This case study also marks the first documented perforation with 4 1/2-in. guns with fiber optic real-time downhole telemetry. Furthermore, the integrated, rigless solution provides operators with an opportunity to extend their workover activity pipeline and free up their workover fleet for other activities.

An innovative coiled tubing (CT) real-time flow measurement tool was introduced in Ecuador to reformulate the stimulation workflow in water injectors, which comprised evaluation and treatment. This new technology enabled an integrated, single-run workflow instead: initial injectivity measurements, diagnostics, treatment, post-stimulation injectivity measurements, and final diagnostics. This novel, rigless approach reduced equipment footprint, operational time, and cost, and it improved production as compared to the conventional approach, despite accrued capital discipline constraints. Conventionally, operators rely on workover rigs and multiple product lines to diagnose, stimulate, and evaluate injector wells. Several challenges and inefficiencies were addressed by deploying the CT real-time flow measurement tool. Each intervention was designed to be completed with a single CT run, and without the need for a workover rig, thus saving costs and time. Tailored diversion methods substituted the need for drillpipe to set mechanical packers. Prestimulation injection logging test (ILT) results obtained with that innovative tool, coupled with real-time control of depth and high-pressure jetting during execution, enabled effective placement of the stimulation treatment. Ultimately, post-treatment ILTs confirmed treatment effectiveness and final wellbore downhole conditions. Introduction of the CT real-time downhole flow measurement tool allowed operational objectives to be met in a single run, without additional interventions, with or without a workover rig on site. When workover rigs were present, this improved workflow saved an average of 15% operational time. In cases without a workover rig, 105 hours of rig time were saved (without considering rig mobilization time). Four case studies are presented. The first two cases demonstrate how acquisition of ILTs throughout the intervention enabled optimization of fluid placement and introduction of diverter methods. The third case covers a scenario where there was an initially low injectivity and highlights the challenges and lessons associated with recovering injectivity. The fourth case presents challenges unique to flowmeter measurements in heavy-oil environments. In each case, effectiveness of the optimized treatment was measured by two metrics: improvements in net injectivity and uniformity of injection profile, both of which drive the effectiveness of secondary recovery in connected producer wells. On average, wells intervened with this approach featured an improvement in injectivity of 301% (compare to 226% conventionally) and in their injection profile homogeneity by 13%. As a result, the productivity in connected wells improved by as much as 74%, and an average of 39% (compared to 14% conventionally). This innovative workflow is a step-change over conventional approaches to rejuvenate waterflooding. It combines the capabilities of delivering treatments via CT and the power of real-time downhole flow measurements to break the paradigm of multi-line, multi-run operations to remediate and stimulate injector wells. This yields logistically leaner operations, which are less costly, and it enables breakthroughs in secondary recovery through data-enriched interventions in times of budget pressure, not only in Ecuador, but also across the globe.