This paper discusses the first successful in-Kingdom coiled tubing intervention in a well without conventional stripping-out of the well leading to significant cost savings, reduced risks, and compliance to Saudi Aramco environmental protection policies by adhering to a zero flaring initiative. Conventionally, wells are shut-in, secured, and stripped out (depending on the operation, stripped out refers to the disassembly and removal of directly connected piping, cathodic protection, and other production system components) in preparation for performing any high pressure coiled tubing (HPCT) interventions (to allow crane and HPCT units to spot and rig-up). Wells are then again re-manifolded to the production system. These stages consume a tremendous amount of manpower, cost, time, and production loss. Unfortunately, some wells have severe condensate loading issues, to the extent that they tend to die again, during shutdown (re-manifolding period) after the lifting operation. A new approach was required to be developed to avoid asset depletion in problematic wells. The new approach suggests eliminating the need for stripping out and re-manifolding by lifting the well while it is connected and flowing to the gas plant. Many challenges were encountered during this effort, including the limited space for spotting equipment around the well connections, well control, and well response monitoring. In addition, it was difficult to overcome the downstream pressure across the pressure control valve (PCV) to allow unloading the well under its own pressure drive. The operation served as a benchmark for future wells. The operation turned out to be a huge success in terms of cost and safety. The avoidance of strip-out, re-manifolding, testing package, and producing to the gas plant instead of flaring resulted in significant cost avoidance and reduction in production time. This paper will provide an insight on the reasons behind selecting this well as a potential candidate for the job. It will also shed light on the risk assessment aspects, both technically and environmentally, and the operational safety backup plan that was thoroughly discussed and implemented. In addition, the challenges faced throughout the whole process of selecting the well, conducting risk assessment, issuing the Management of Change (MOC), designing the rigless program, and finally commencing operations will be discussed to ensure obstacles in future operations can be minimized. At the end, lessons learned and recommendations will be shared to ensure that the highest levels of operational efficiency are maintained for similar cases in the future.
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