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Completion Tools Successful

in Deepwater Frac Packs


create the turbulence required to
transport solids from the open hole yet
not exceed the bottomhole fracturing
pressure. Specially developed software
models are used in the planning and
operations phases to evaluate circulating rates and pressures necessary for
effective hole cleaning. Correct drill-in
fluids and hole cleaning procedures
provide a clean borehole for the openhole gravel pack

Horizontal Gravel Packing


Acid treatments to remove filter cake
after gravel-pack installations are not
necessary if the hole is properly conditioned. Deepwater high-rate completions with possible sand production require premium completion
systems to maximize component life
and avoid well interventions. In the
Campos basin, Petrobras uses a combination of premium completion
tools, premium screens, and gravel
packing as the preferred completion
for producers and injectors in unconsolidated formations. For this high
risk environment, sand screens are
made with a wire cloth membrane filtration layer to provide sand retention
and plugging resistance. Techniques
to gravel-pack extended lateral wells
have been under development for
more than 10 years. The gravel-packing process for a long horizontal well
is straightforward if certain conditions are met. The borehole must be
drilled with a specific drill-in fluid to
form a thin, conditioned filter cake.
The drill-in fluid must create a very
thin low-fluid-loss filter cake that
controls fluid loss to very-high-permeability formations. The filter cake
must stay in place during the entire
gravel-packing operation yet degrade
or clean up during the production or
injection phase.

Gravel Pack. After the open hole is


cleaned, the gravel-pack screen and
gravel-pack packer tool assembly are
picked up and run in the well. The
gravel-pack screen assembly is run
with screen from the toe to one joint
inside the casing, and is followed by
several joints of blank casing, shear-out

This article, written by Assistant


Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 74492,
Completion Tools Proven Successful
in Deepwater Frac Packs and
Horizontal Gravel Packing, by Leo E.
Hill, SPE, Gene Ratterman, SPE,
Perry
Baycroft,
SPE,
and
Anderson da Silva Amaral, Baker
Oil Tools, originally presented at the
2002 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference,
Dallas, 2628 February.
For a limited time, the full-length
paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt. The paper
has not been peer reviewed.

Offshore Completions

Refinement of horizontal gravelpack-completion procedures resulted in development and optimization


of special drill-in fluids and gravelpack tools specifically designed to
meet pumping requirements. Enhanced tool capabilities combined
with procedural changes resulted in
consistently successful execution of
deepwater, extended-reach horizontal gravel-pack completions.

Wellbore Cleaning. Wellbore cleaning


is accomplished by turbulent flow of
nonviscosified completion brines
combined with displacement pills
before running the screen. Sufficient
circulating rates must be achieved to
49
AUGUST 2002

Offshore Completions

safety joint, and the gravel-pack tool. Washpipe is run inside


the screen to form an annular clearance of approximately 0.8
times the ratio of washpipe outside diameter to screen inside
diameter. The washpipe is run to the end of the screen for
effective circulation to the toe of the open hole.
The gravel-pack tool must maintain hydrostatic pressure
on the openhole section at all times or risk borehole collapse. Failure to maintain hydrostatic pressure will permit
the open hole to collapse and cause a failed gravel pack.
Maintaining a hydrostatic overbalance throughout all
operations and proper fluid characteristics selection eliminates the need to run alternate flow path devices.
Gravel-pack slurry is pumped after the screen is
installed. Completion brine most often is the chosen proppant or gravel carrier fluid because of its low viscosity and
transport properties.
The gravel placement process forms a stable dune height
in equilibrium with the fluid velocity across the top of the
dune. Gravel is deposited in front of the dune because fluid
velocity results in a Reynolds number less than that
required for gravel transport. The dune, or alpha wave,
propagates from the heel toward the toe of the openhole
section. A large-diameter washpipe controls annular flow
of the completion fluid in front of the dune and keeps the
fluid outside the screen. The dune height is 0.5 to 0.7 times
the openhole height and is controlled by the fluid return
rate and proppant specific gravity and concentration. Once
the alpha wave reaches the toe, the gravel begins to backfill the cavity above the alpha wave.

Gravel packing with brine produces a tighter pack and


maximizes the retained permeability of the gravel by avoiding damaging gels. By use of the correct gravel-packing
process and tool assemblies, extremely long horizontal
wells can be gravel packed successfully.
Tools
Openhole gravel-pack packers have differential pressure
ratings that address both gravel-pack and production
modes. Standard openhole gravel-pack packers have
6,000 to 7,500-psi differential rating in the production
mode and a 10,000-psi rating in the gravel-pack service
positions. The system has a rotational locking device that
permits the screens to be rotated in the open hole. The
gravel-pack packer has a crossover tool that uses a minibypass flow path to maintain hydrostatic pressure across
the gravel-pack packer assembly during all operational
movements. The crossover tool uses only one setting
ball that is locked in place during gravel packing. A
soft hydraulic release mechanism activated by applied
tubing pressure with little set-down weight is used to
address torque and drag in deviated wellbores. The crossover tool has an enlarged fluid return bypass flow area
to reduce pressure drop through the crossover area and
permit gravel placement in long-reach low-fracture-gradient completions.
Flapper Antiswabbing Valve. As part of the crossover
tool, a flapper valve can be activated by the tool operator to
control fluid loss from the annulus to the washpipe. The
flapper design includes a small bypass to prevent the tool
from becoming stuck or surging and removing the filter
cake during tool movement. The tool is used to provide
unrestricted annulus pressure readings during minifracture pressure decline operations and is activated before the
proppant fracturing operation to enable the slurry to be
reversed out from the work string.
Multiacting Reposition Tool System. A locating device is
required to positively locate gravel-pack crossover tools
downhole during gravel-pack operations so seals can be
kept in a static position. In gravel-pack and frac-pack operations, large work string movement can result from temperature and pressure changes. The repositioning tool
allows weight to be set down selectively and repeatedly on
the service tool in all required positions, making it suitable
for platform or floater operations.
Tool Position From Floating Rigs. One complication arising when working from a floating rig is locating and maintaining crossover tool position. To ensure proper tool positioning, the repositioning tool provides positive tool placement by allowing significant set-down weight to enable
motion compensator engagement to keep the work string
stationary. Two or three indicating couplings are placed
below the gravel-pack extension so their relative positions
correspond to the desired crossover tool positions. When
the positioning tool is landed on the lower indicating coupling, the tool is in the test packer position and the
crossover port is within the upper part of the extension.
The second indicating coupling marks the circulating position. When the tool is landed on the upper indicating coupling, the port is in the spotting/reverse position.
JPT

50
AUGUST 2002

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