OTC 23629 Drill Stem Test Design Optimization Improves Quality of Reservoir Data and Time Requirements for

Deep and Ultra Deep Water Well Testing

Tomas Cervantes, Gerardo Bravo, PEMEX, Jan Loaiza, and Pablo Ruiz, Halliburton

Copyright 2012, Offshore Technology Conference This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 30 April3 May 2012. This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of OTC copyright.

Abstract Energy requirements are continuing to rise, and because the oil and gas industry has been one of the largest contributors to the fulfillment of energy needs worldwide, it is imperative that the technology needed to explore new arenas that can expand oil and gas production be available. Since exploration for new reserves has had to move into more complex environments that include deep and ultra-deep water reservoirs more difficult to access, all involved in exploration must also address the new challenges for deepwater. For operators, attempting to produce these areas represents huge investments for development of the new deeper reserves; for service companies, attempting to service these new developments means that new technologies must be available to ensure that sufficient high-quality data is gathered in exploratory wells to justify subsequent production. This requires that updates to technology be ongoing. Drill-Stem Testing (DST) provides one of the most important reservoir evaluation methods for the incorporation of new hydrocarbon reserves, because DST allows dynamic reservoir characterization and can assess potential production as well as the proposed production plan. When target reservoirs produce heavy oil, gas, and condensate, DST in deep and ultra-deep water requires prolonged periods of exposure to low temperatures and heat loss, which may not only affect viscosity for oil but also result in hydrate formation in gas presence; in order to control all these variables, the DST design must focus on gathering reservoir quality data that also consider safety and risk mitigation. To achieve the above objectives, a new methodology that focuses on DST test design in deep and ultra-deep water has been developed that considers new workflow criteria. It includes: Analysis of hydrate formation Injection design of viscosity-reducing systems Realtime data acquisition Operative decision making. This paper presents details of this state-of-the-art method that enables reliable DST testing to be conducted in deep and ultra-deep water and that can increase the quality of the reservoir data as well as reduce testing time and operational risk. Introduction Usually, exploratory wells drill many possible production reservoirs to evaluate the best exploitation scenarios, the number of production intervals, and their productivity potential. One of the most important areas in the evaluation is gained through well testing (Earlougher, R. J, 1977) (Soliman, M.Y., 2000). This is accomplished with a DST that consists of a pressure test using a temporary string that evaluates all potential intervals that were identified through previously run openhole log results. Initial information from seismic, perforation data, openhole logs and DSTs are necessary for a thorough calculation of the potential reserves. The DST is particularly important as it can obtain reservoir fluid samples at surface and bottomhole as well, measure hydrocarbon rates, and reservoir border effects. DSTs are initiated after the well is drilled to evaluate hydrocarbon reserves at deep and ultra deep sea beds. A temporary string composed of several tools that include a test packer, downhole shut-in valve, circulating valve and bottom pressure/temperature gauges is run. The DST will flow the reservoir, which disturbs reservoir pressure, and then, shuts-in the well to perform the build-up test. Valves are controlled with annulus pressure; hydrocarbon and water rates are measured using surface well-testing equipment, since it is possible to take fluid samples at surface in real time in order to characterize the hydrocarbon and water flow. Figure 1 illustrates the equipment used in a typical DST Test.