Successful Coiled Tubing Fishing Operation Uses Hybrid Cable Connected Tools to Evaluate/Validate Downhole Data in Real-Time: A Case Study in the Eastern Foothills of Colombia

Day 1 Tue, March 26, 2019

Frotte

2019

Deepwater fields present challenges to the pre-commissioning of the pipelines responsible for transporting oil and gas. Hydrostatic pressure exerted by long water columns to the downline system must be addressed and overcome because it can collapse the downhole equipment that had previously been used only in shallow waters. With the development of deepwater fields, coiled tubing (CT) provides several advantages over regular downlines. Considering that the pipelines are longer than 200 km and larger than 20 in. diameter, months of continuous work are necessary during their pre-commissioning; consequently, higher flow rates are required to reduce time and costs. Large-bore CT as downline has proven to be a cost-effective and reliable means to access deepwater pipeline pre-commissioning. With reduced layout and costs, as compared to regular downline systems, CT can provide the only economically feasible solution for some scenarios. To extend CT life without compromising its integrity and the operation, on-site pipe management and high cycle fatigue studies were conducted. A multi-skilled crew also helped to reduce personnel on board for a small vessel application without reducing health, safety, and environment (HSE)/service quality (SQ) levels. Customized and reduced equipment layout was implemented to address deck load and space restrictions. The use of a regular downline dramatically affects costs because several external layers must be added to provide suitable collapse pressure resistance, increasing its diameter and requiring a larger storage reel in accordance with minimum bending radius (MBR) to avoid damage to the downline, compromising deck layout. Complex manufacturing increases procurement costs and timing, and makes on-site repair capabilities impossible. However, 3.5 in. CT considerably reduced the final operational time, reducing friction pressure losses while maintaining a feasible layout. Improvements made on rig-up and operational procedures, as compared to previous similar project experience, enhanced technology advantages and reduced the deployment and recovery time needed. Because of vessel limitations with rough weather conditions on this project, the CT eventually had to be recovered to the surface. Consequently, these improvements reduced rigging time and safely extended the operational window, enabling multiple deployments, even within shorter intervals of fair weather. An optimized deck layout for CT and monoethylene glycol (MEG) collection spreads was necessary for small vessel use; it reduced customer costs, considering that a much larger vessel was simultaneously operating on the other pipeline end for the largest high-pressure dewatering spread ever installed on a vessel for a pre-commissioning operation. The CT control cabin was placed perpendicularly to the reel; consequently, a closed-circuit TV system was mounted behind the reel to allow pipe spooling. Brazil's largest and deepest pre-commissioning operation was performed safely with service quality excellence, increasing efficiency levels of the industry within this scope of work. Several lessons learned have been assessed for further improvements.

Deepwater Pipeline Pre-Commissioning Operation Using Large Diameter Coiled Tubing Instead of Standard Downline: State of the Art of This Technology

Rodrigues

Day 1 Tue, March 26, 2019

Frotte

2019

Real-Time Hybrid Coiled Tubing Service Redefines the Concept of Open Architecture Establishing a New Generation of Diagnostic and Coiled Tubing Intervention

Vera

Torres

Day 3 Wed, November 13, 2019

et al. 2019

The oil industry is continuously evolving and the need to be more dynamic and efficient is always present. A new downhole Coiled Tubing (CT) technology is now available, capable of performing intervention with both conventional CT tools, and wireline cased hole tools in the same well, allowing optimization of time and reducing any restriction on logging time, by providing a continuous power supply. Additionally, it is possible to execute diagnostic distributed acoustic and temperature sensing if more details are required for a specific zone. Older techniques used in coiled tubing logging sometimes require several runs to achieve the objective. In the well reviewed in this paper, two runs were performed with conventional techniques without achieving the purpose of the intervention. The high gas production rate of the well and the inability to have real-time monitoring of the Production Logging Tool (PLT) data were significant obstacles to success using these methods. This paper presents an optimized intervention wherein a milling operation, a production log, and pressure buildup test are necessary to understand the production profile of the well, identify the gas-oil ratio per reservoir, understand if additional production is impeded because of cross flow or casing leaks, and identify reservoir pressure of the zone. The real-time hybrid integrated system was designed with an open architecture to accommodate any wireline or mechanical tool available in the industry to address operator challenges, such as milling operations where the operator was able to monitor the weight on the bit, the torque, and the differential pressure through the bit; or a PLT job operation where the operator was able to monitor the weight on the bit, and use Casing Collar Locator (CCL) and/or Gamma Ray (GR) sensors to correlate with wireline logs, all in a single CT rigup without the need to change the hybrid bottomhole assembly (BHA), CT string, nor the CT Connector (CTC). Real-time communication with the wireline tool is achieved with a conductor line installed in the CT, which also provides power to the tools. Communication with the integrated bottomhole sensors and distributed profiling capability utilizes the fiber optic lines to transmit the data in real time. Because the communication of the tools is independent, there is no concern over running combinations of multiple downhole sensors. This case study is the first known instance wherein CT was used in conjunction with downhole tools that were supplied with continuous power to sensors to enable measurement of parameters while milling followed by a PLT job where the same cable not only powered but communicated with the wireline tools. Because of the flexibility illustrated during the operation of the study, a campaign of production and injection logging jobs could be executed in the field without any communication issues or nonproductive time, increasing the efficiency of the intervention.

Offshore Plug and Abandonment Operations with Coiled Tubing Service from Light Workover Vessel: A Case Study from Brazil Deepwater

Day 1 Tue, March 24, 2020

Rodrigues

Nunes

et al. 2020

The demand for well plug and abandonment (P&A) operations in Brazil has increased significantly during the last 3 years, resulting in a steep learning curve that can lead to development of state-of-the-art methodologies that save time, reduce operational risks, and provide reliable cost-effective solutions. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of recent well abandonment operations in a mature field in Brazil, which included wells that were depleted or no longer economically viable. A methodology is discussed and highlights the use of a casing collar locator (CCL) to perform depth correlation before setting packers and placing cement plugs, real-time pressure signals to monitor packer setting, and coiled tubing (CT) internal and external pressure management to help ensure that all cement is pumped out of the CT.