SPE-173835-MS

A New Approach that Enables Simpler Well Completion and Higher

Recovery
Johnny Bårdsen, Terje Skeie, and Neil Hannah, Welltec

Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Bergen One Day Seminar held in Bergen, Norway, 22 April 2015.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract:

Objectives/Scope: Focusing on a new way to complete and maintain wells, this paper will explain how
a newly developed completion approach enables safer, more sustainable operations with higher production
and recovery rates from a simple, durable and cost effective well construction.
Methods, Procedures, Process: The approach, here referred to as the flex-well, concentrates on
simplicity while providing all the components an operator requires to design and construct a completion
that is fit-for-purpose; it can be as minimalistic or as intricate as the operator requires in order to
accomplish maximum reservoir drainage. The flex-well has been engineered to provide a low total-cost-
of-ownership solution that meets global operators’ current and future drilling, deployment, and production
challenges.
The flex-well integrates intervention solutions through a full-bore completion designed for easy access
and proactive adjustment. Diagnostic solutions that convey information to surface through wireline data
retrieval allow operators to achieve a detailed understanding of well characteristics without permanent
cables to surface. This understanding allows for better decision making to optimize and manage the
reservoir for maximum recovery throughout the life of the well. Based on the operators data driven
decisions production and stimulation valves can be adjusted through wireline interventions, eliminating
the need for control lines to surface. With no lines to surface the well design offers complete flexibility
for inclusion or addition of multilaterals for infill drilling.
Results, Observations, Conclusions: The benefits, simplicity and design flexibility of the concept
makes it applicable for operators across all resource plays, conventional and unconventional. However,
some factors and conditions do enhance the attractiveness of the solution, such as when traditional
cementing is challenged, when high-pressure differentials are present, or when full-bore liner design is
desired.
Novel/Additive Information: This new way of designing and intervening in oil and gas wells offers the
industry a safer approach that results in fewer people required offshore, simpler procedures and opera-
tions, and less equipment deployed for shorter time.
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Introduction
Resource plays are finite, therefore it is essential that producers optimize the ways in which they extract
hydrocarbons from the ground while maintaining safety, environmental responsibility, and maximizing
cost effectiveness. In this vein operators have designed and constructed smart wells. The goal of a smart
well is to maximize reservoir drainage by applying control theory to the well. In order to create a smart
well the production zone must be isolated and segmented, down-hole and production data must be
recorded, and the flow of each segment of the production zone must be controlled. If these three objectives
are met then a feedback system can be created by which a well can be produced, measured, and modified
to achieve maximum reservoir drainage. Conventionally these three objectives, simplified to isolation,
measurement, and control, are achieved by cement and packers, surface read-out gauges, and surface
controlled valves, respectively. Installing a conventional smart well is expensive, complex, and prone to
failure.
The industry has undergone a shift from heavy rig work overs to efficient electric line (e-line)
interventions over the past two decades. Well construction and completion can benefit from this shift by
designing wells that incorporate planned light weight interventions in place of complex, expensive, failure
prone permanently installed equipment. The purpose of this paper is to describe the flex-well, a newly
developed way to complete and maintain wells. This new well construction method enables operators to
achieve the control of a smart well, from a simple, durable, and cost effective design.

Isolation
Achieving zonal isolation in smart wells is important for multiple reasons: to prevent cross-flow from
higher to lower pressured zones within reservoirs, to prevent cross-flow between separate reservoirs
during shut-ins, to minimize unintended gas or water intrusion, and to allow for efficient focused
stimulations.
Conventional smart wells face two challenges when attempting to achieve zonal isolation, and thus
segment production for control. First the rock face must be isolated into zones or married to the casing
with cement, and then the casing must be isolated into zones via the inner completion to allow for full
control over the segmented production.
Traditional methods to achieve zonal isolation against the rock face have issues. The skin effect from
cement can damage sensitive formations and the safe use of cement in exhausted zones and long reach
horizontals can be challenging. External casing packers (ECPs) have their own challenges, compression
set ECPs reduce the inner diameter (ID) of the casing string and lead to limited production, inflatable
ECPs are often unsuitable for high temperature and high pressure applications, and swellable ECPs require
substantial time and near perfect centralization to seal, resulting in costly deferred production (Bårdsen et
al. 2014), and often failed isolation. Additionally conventional ECPs of all types are susceptible to damage
when run into long reach horizontal wells due to their heavily elastomeric designs.
With a casing string in place and the rock face isolated either via cement, as in Figure 1, or using ECPs,
as in Figure 2, internal segmentation is then required to create a smart well. This necessitates the running
of an internal completion string with packers to separate the production zones for individual valves to
control flow from. There are many types of packers and their use adds to capital expenditure (CAPEX)
and increases well complexity, especially when the need for feed through lines for gauges and valves is
considered.
SPE-173835-MS 3

Figure 1—Cemented Intelligent Completion

Figure 2—External Casing Packer Isolated Intelligent Completion

The flex-well is made possible by a new annular barrier, shown in Figure 3, characterized as a
cement-less annular isolation solution built of expandable metal. Conceived and constructed in response
to the industry’s need for achieving zonal isolation in deeper and longer reach wells where ECPs and
cement are often unreliable or unavailable, this new annular barrier is engineered with a hydraulically
expanded steel body backed seal to reliably function where other solutions fail.
4 SPE-173835-MS

Figure 3—Expandable metal annular barrier mounted on 7 5/8 in. base pipe liners

The goal for designers of this new tool was to create an open-hole packer that could be used in the place
of cement, where cement was not possible or undesirable, without succumbing to the major shortfalls that
make running conventional ECPs risky. The barrier had to be capable of running in hole (RIH) while
attached to the outside of liner or casing strings without being damaged or creating unbearable limits on
running parameters. The barrier needed to be capable of high expansion— up to 25% of its running outer
diameter (OD)—and be able to deliver delta pressure sealing capability in excess of 10,000 psi. The
sealing and delta pressure bearing ability could not be dependent on the expanded diameter or temper-
ature, and instead had to function at the maximum rating across the full expansion diameter and
temperature range. Additionally the barrier could not exert excessive force on the rock face while setting
to ensure it sealed without causing damage to the formation.
A unique high-pressure seal was designed based on these objectives. The steel body expands and sets
against the borehole when exposed to setting pressure. This action creates a hermetic seal, which acts as
an inline component attached to the liner. The sleeve conforms to the open-hole and expands to cover
badly washed out sections while simultaneously hardening against differential pressures, a drawing of this
expansion is presented in Figures 4 & 5. The combination of the hydraulically expandable metal sleeve
with the high-pressure seal creates a packer that conforms to the formation while maintaining a tight
interference fit. This steel molded fit provides the barrier a high axial load bearing ability. The barrier is
simple to expand and can be set under surface control via pressure applied by either a rig or cement pump
in a matter of minutes.

Figure 4 —Cross-section of expandable metal annular barrier pre expansion

Figure 5—Cross-section of expandable metal annular barrier post expansion

The barrier allows the flex-well to create solidly isolated compartmentalization without cement, a
reduction in liner ID, highly accurate centralization, reduced rotational capability, or an inner string with
additional packers. These improvements amount to wells that can be longer, cheaper, faster to install, and
have better production due to a reduced risk of formation damage and exposure to more pay.
Measurement
Conventional smart wells have pressure and temperature gauges located in every isolated zone as to
properly characterize the well and optimize production based on their readouts. Tubing encapsulated
SPE-173835-MS 5

conductor lines running to surface power these sensors and supply surface readouts. The need to spool out
the conductor lines, attach them to tubing, and feed them through packers and other down-hole equipment
while RIH adds time to operations and creates possible uncontrolled pressure paths up the well bore. The
gauges and lines create a completion that is increased in complexity and risk, and their girth contributes
to a reduced production tubing ID as the sensors and lines are mounted on the outside of the production
tubing as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 —Standard external mounted permanent downhole gauge with line to surface

The flex-well uses battery operated gauges in place of those with lines to surface to drastically reduce
the risk and complication of the installation. Instead of powering and reading the data from surface the
data is routinely collected during intervention runs by tractor conveyed e-line tools. The flex-well gauges
communicate to e-line tools through the casing using ultrasonic frequencies allowing the data to be read
at surface. The flex-well gauges are mounted such that the readout of pressures and temperatures is in the
annulus of the casing, in the open-hole compartments created by the annular barriers, as shown in Figure
7. This mounting technique ensures that the production ID created by the full bore liner is not affected by
the use of one or many gauges. Ultimately these wireless gauges reduce rig time, reduce high risk
operations, and create a safer well by removing paths to surface.

Figure 7—Flex-well gauge

Control
Indexed and non-indexed surface controlled valves allow smart wells to adjust flow based on the wells
characteristics after initial production and throughout the life of the well. Indexing allows for a multitude
of valves to be controlled on a limited number of lines. This is necessary in complex completions because
the number of lines that can be fed through a tubing packer is restricted by annular space between the
production tubing and liner. Every valve and line added to a smart well increases complexity and with it
the risk of leaks that will render valves useless and possibly bring reservoir pressure to surface. The
spooling out, connecting, feeding through, testing, and running of hydraulic control lines for valve control
is a time intensive, complex, expensive, high risk operation. Done in conjunction with the running of
gauges and packers this operation requires hefty crews and large amounts of specialized equipment to
6 SPE-173835-MS

complete. Additionally the more zones, valves, and control lines run in a completion the smaller the
production tubing to accommodate them becomes, creating a tradeoff between control and capacity. This
constricting effect limits the length a smart well can be before segmentation is forfeited. The reduction in
tubing size also restricts intervention access to components and well sections that may require future work
over. A drawing of a standard surface controlled sliding sleeve valve with control lines can be seen in
Figure 8.

Figure 8 —Standard downhole surface controlled sliding sleeve valve

The flex-well design takes the complexity of down hole valves out of the well and puts the onus onto
wireline tools. On-off or adjustable setting sliding sleeve valves are installed as part of the liner string
without control lines or feed through channels. These independent valves are adjusted via e-line
interventions with shifting tools to control production. This allows an unlimited number of valves to be
installed in a single well or zone without the complexity of the well exponentially increasing with the
quantity of valves installed. A drawing of the flex-well sliding sleeve valve can be seen in Figure 9.

Figure 9 —Flex-well sliding sleeve valve

The design focus of these valves is on sealing ability and simple installation and operation. Sealing
ability is important as a valve that degrades over time or is washed out due to shifting under high
differential pressure will ultimately lose an operator accurate control over their production. Simple
installation and operation is important because it reduces rig time and risk during installation and
throughout the life of the well. Installation of these valves requires limited offshore personnel and
equipment compared to a conventional smart well installation. The valves are simply made up to the
casing string as a standard pup joint would be and RIH without any fuss. The high torque construction
permits the liner string to be rotated down without risk of damage, allowing for longer wells with more
zones than with conventional smart equipment. Additionally sand screens can be incorporated into the
valves to ensure solids are not produced, allowing the valves to be utilized in a variety of formation types
and well designs.
Flex-well
When the isolation, measurement, and control components of the flex-well are combined what emerges
is a single skin, durable, easy to install solution that can be run in wells of varying characteristics
affordably. The modular design allows operators to grow, shrink, and change their well designs without
the need to order different equipment to accommodate their changes. And the design focus on production
ID allows operators to re-think their drilling plans with the knowledge that longer horizontals with flow
control will not ultimately prevent interventions and choke production. This in turn allows for smaller hole
SPE-173835-MS 7

sizes to be drilled by operators, resulting in faster well construction and a reduced CO 2footprint. An
example of a flex-well lower completion design can be seen in Figure 10.

Figure 10 —Flex-well diagram

Conclusion
It is possible to extract more hydrocarbons from the ground in a more cost effective, environmentally
conscious and safer way. Utilizing modern lightweight intervention technology, complexity can be
removed from well design and completion without sacrificing the benefits smart well technology has
brought to these segments.
This approach, referred to as the flex-well, provides several advantages to oil & gas operators
including:
● Cementless zonal isolation
● Proactive use of e-line interventions to maintain and modify well production
● Continuous data monitoring
● Full-bore completions allowing for multilaterals and extended reach horizontal wells
● Smaller drilled hole sizes than required for smart wells
● Smaller CO2 footprints
● Low total cost of ownership
● Simple, durable, mechanical permanently installed downhole tools

Nomenclature
ECP – external casing packer
OD – outer diameter
ID – inner diameter
PSI – pounds per square inch
RIH – run in hole
CAPEX – capital expenditure

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Welltec® management for permission to publish this paper.

References
BÅRDSEN, J., HAZEL, P., VASQUES, R., HJORTELAND, Ø., EIKESKOG, Ø. Improved Zonal
Isolation in Open Hole Applications. SP 169190 presented at SPE Bergen One Day Seminar,
Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway, 2 April 2014.