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IPA09-E-003

PROCEEDINGS, INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION

Thirty-third Annual Convention & Exhibition, May 2009

TAML LEVEL 3 TRI-LATERAL WITH SAND CONTROL APPLICATION FOR SAUDI

ARAMCO

Anwar Assal*
Jeremie Fould*
Tim O’Rourke*
Ibrahim Refai**
Muhammad Habib Haque**
Nawaf Sayed Akram**

ABSTRACT WORKOVER No. 1: Cement was drilled out and

A number of wells reached their economic
production limit and were consequently abandoned
or mothballed until viable solutions became
available.
Existing wells in the same area are standard 9-5/8”
vertical cased wells with perforations at the
producing interval with electrical submersible
pumps (ESPs) ESP set in the same casing. A work-
over program was initiated by Saudi Aramco in the
late 90s to re-complete these wells as horizontal
producers using various sand control techniques.
While converting from vertical, cased and
perforated wells to single horizontal producers has
helped to improve production, multilateral wells are
needed in this area to achieve and maintain
economical production rates. In addition sand
control solutions are required to safely deploy
several branches off one main vertical well.
This paper will describe the history of the well X-1
and workover’s performed during its life span. It
will also discuss the latest achievement deploying
Saudi Aramco’s first Technology Advancement
Multi-Laterals (TAML) Level 3 multilateral
completion of a tri-lateral well.
INTRODUCTION
Well X-1 was drilled to a total depth of 6,662' and
completed as a vertical cased and unperforated oil
producer. The well was then suspended with cement
plugs and the wellhead blind flanged. The 7" liner
was run and cemented from 6661’ to 4907’ with
100% circulation.
* Schlumberger
** Saudi Aramco
well cleaned to 6563' (PBTD).
The reservoir was perforated with 4-1/2" TCP Guns
selectively from 6264' to 6392'. The well was
completed with a new ESP with bypass assembly
ran on 3-1/2" EUE x 4-1/2" tubing.
WORKOVER No. 2: The ESP was pulled out and
the hole cleaned out to 6563' (PBTD). The lower set
of perforation were plugged by performing a
cement squeeze operation and the reservoir was re-
peforated with 4-1/2" TCP gun selectively from
6264' to 6373'. A new ESP was run to re-complete
the well (59 stage and 63 HP motor) with a by-pass
assembly on 3-1/2" EUE x 4-1/2" VAM tubing.
WORKOVER No. 3: was completed after an ESP
failure. The bottom set of perforations were plugged
again (6367’ – 6373’) following the same cement
squeeze procedure below a bridge plug (6360’).
Drill out and clean out procedures followed to
6563’. The ESP was changed for a different system
(116 stages, hardened pump and 50 HP motor) with
a by-pass assembly on 3-1/2” EUE x 4-1/2" VAM
tubing.
WORKOVER No. 4: was completed after another
ESP failure. The well was cleaned all the way
through the perforations (6563’) which were then
plugged following a cement squeeze procedure. A
sump packer is then set at 6355’ and the reservoir
was selectively overbalanced perforated with 4-1/2”
TCP guns (6264'-6293', 6304'-6321', 6330' -6340').
A cased hole gravel pack is then run to limit the
sand production ESP failures. The well was then re-
completed with a similar ESP and by-pass assembly
run on 3-1/2” EUE x 4-1/2” VAM tubing.
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WORKOVER No. 5: was completed to replace the • Log and collect samples from the new well bore
faulty ESP pump. to define properly the water-oil contact and to
define the various targets to reach during the
DE-COMPLETING WORKOVER: Well X-1 following workover operations
was prepared for sidetrack: the well was de- • Plug back the pilot hole and sidetrack (open
completed and cement was squeezed through all the hole) from the pilot hole to drill 8-1/2” curved
perforations. The well was suspended with cement section to the top of reservoir
plugs and ready to be sidetracked. • Run and cement 7” liner across the curved
section
Through this history it is clear that the sand control
method chosen in this reservoir is critical to avoid • Drill +/- 1,500’ of horizontal hole in the
sand production and ESP failure. Several methods reservoir and run expandable sand screens
have already been tested in this field, but now the
challenge was to implement the same basics sand • Sidetrack from the 7” liner inside the anhydrite
control techniques, while increasing the reservoir formation (hard and consolidated formation,
exposure by drilling several branches off of the new KHFF), drill 6-1/8 section to the reservoir and
sidetracked main bore. continue drilling in the reservoir +/- 1,500’ of
horizontal section
Objective • Complete the well with stand alone screen and
Multilateral Level 3 completion
Well X-1, a vertical oil producer had been
mothballed since 2004 due to low oil production • Repeat above to drill and complete the third leg
rate and high water cut. A main deviated side track
of the well
was planned for the well, from which several
horizontal branches were going to be drilled to
• Re-complete the well with a new ESP set in the
allow drainage of unswept oil from the top of the
9-5/8 casing with a by-pass assembly run on 3-
reservoir at this location in the field. Technology
1/2” EUE x 4-1/2” VAM tubing
Advancement Multi-Laterals (TAML) Level 3
Junctions were selected to provide increased
reservoir contact for increased production and
Multilateral Objectives and Specifications
effective deployment of expandable and standalone
screens for sand control.
The 9-5/8” casing was exited with a standard 1 trip
permanent whipstock system and 7” liner was run
Either a TAML level 2 or a level 3 completion
and cemented in the anhydrite formation, above the
could be applied for X-1. As formation throughout
reservoir. This hard and tight anhydrite formation
the 7” liner was tight sand, there were concerns that
was selected for casing exit as it usually eases the
it could eventually collapse under high draw down
milling operation by maintaining the mill assembly
or during shut off of the well, this is why a TAML
stability on the whipface to cut a long and straight
level 3 junction was preferred to ensure that each
window, which will then ease of drilling operation
zone will produce during the entire life of the well.
as well as facilitating the running of the sandface
This was important as the main objective of this
completions. A hard and tight formation at the
trial was to optimize the reservoir exposure from an
TAML Level 3 junction provides hole stability
existing well bore, which seems to have become the
through the drilling and completion processes, as
only viable sustaining solution for this mature field.
well as during the life of the well and eliminate the
Another concern was selecting the right multilateral
requirement of sand control at the junction.
system as to lower risk and cost of any down time.
Description of a TAML Level 3
Workover program
A Level 3 junction (see Figure 1), as defined by
the TAML forum, must have the main bore cased
• Sidetrack the well in the 9-5/8 casing in the
and cemented, the lateral cased and not necessarily
SUDR formation above KHFF and drill a 8-
cemented. The lateral liner must be anchored to the
1/2” pilot hole across the reservoir
main bore.
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Multilateral system chosen
Multilateral applications have been historically
constrained by complex construction processes and
deemed risky by many operators. In some instances,
current economics have outweighed these risks and
newer technology deem more acceptable. To
construct this multilateral, in a re-entered hole, a
milling assembly picked up and run into the well
bore and a 15’ +/- oblong shape window/hole is cut
into the side of the casing. Drilling assemblies are
then run into the well bore and the lateral drilled.
This can be challenging for well control issues even
in a case where the field is depleted and where the
well will not be producing by methods on its own.
Many times isolation of one zone while drilling the
other one is required and preferred. Fishing
operations can also lead to issues where debris are
deliberately added to the well bore and then
completion operations can be cumbersome/difficult
where proper alignment is required after the milling
operation.
Isolation system: minimum risks were associated
in this plan as the well will not produce by itself.
Mature fields are known to incur losses, and drilling
this soft and unconsolidated formation requires a
very good mud control system to prevent the
formation from collapsing either on the drilling
BHA or on the completion string. In addition to
these two parameters, the economics called for a
safe and cheap device. It was decided to use a
ceramic disk, providing tubing isolation in both
directions below a casing packer.
Fishing operations: In most multilateral
applications, a whipstock needs to be run to create
the casing exit and to perform the drilling operation
but it also needs to be retrieved without
compromising the lower main well bore and lower
laterals’ sandface completion. A standard whipstock
system are run with an anchor device that will
isolate the lower zone and will position the
Whipstock where required and towards the proper
orientation. Retrieving such a system brings two
major problems:
• The reference point and alignment are lost and
re-entering the window with the completion
string can become difficult if not impossible
• The packer fish features an OD close to the
casing ID and will be fished after several days
of drilling (inducing debris). It is frequent that
this operation leads to issues and can lead to
more than one fishing trip
To remedy to these two main problems a different
approach was taken. First a permanent packer is run
on tubing and set on depth. This packer is run with
the above-described ceramic disk proving the
required zonal isolation. Cautious needs to be taken
when running a plugged packer in a wellbore as the
element could swab and in some cases lead to
mechanically pre-setting the packer at an
undesirable depth. A second trip with a MWD and
dummy anchor latch system is run to determine the
orientation of the packer. Further improvements of
the system will combine these two runs to limit the
rig time required to deploy this solution. And third
the whipstock is run with a debris retainer and latch
mechanism to land inside the anchor packer.
To achieve the desired orientation, the whipstock
and latch are aligned at surface on location,
depending on the orientation of the anchor packer
defined during the second run. Running the
whipstock this way will ease the fishing operation,
as the packer does not need to come out of the hole.
In addition, the debris barrier run below the
whipstock will prevent debris from falling between
the packer and whipstock latch, which could lead to
sticking problems.
Completion operations: as the packer stays
downhole, the reference point required to run the
completion remains at the exact same spot as the
casing exit, and there is no need to rely on a bent
sub or other device that will make the sand face
completion run unnecessarily risky. In this
application, a production deflector is used to guide
the completion string outside the casing
exit/window and to commingle the flow from the
lower and upper zones at the window.
Sand Control solution chosen
Stand alone and expandable sand screens are chosen
for the sand face completion of the three legs. The
lower zone which should be the major producer, as
set in the best part of the reservoir, was completed
with expandable sand screens, solution that was
proven to be efficient in this same field during
single horizontal workover of other declining
producer wells. Stand alone screens are run the two
upper legs due to equipment availabilities and as the
targets did not justify an expensive expandable sand
screen completion.
Soft and unconsolidated sands in the formation, lead
to extreme care when drilling these wells. Any
sticky point or high dog leg must be properly fixed
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by running proper clean out and reamer BHA. This
is time consuming as another run has to be
performed but it is necessary to guarantee that the
liner will go properly to bottom. As a way of
isolation, between the reservoir (sandy) and the
anhydrite formation where the casing exit is
performed, a 10’ long swellable packer is run
outside the milled window. This is critical to avoid
sand migration from the reservoir to the main bore
casing. And thus, it is critical to be able to run the
screens to bottom or the swell packer could remain
in the main bore casing and plug the lower zone
(main producer).
Once the hole is properly reamed and the wiper trip
is performed without any problem, the mud system
is swapped to solid free mud compatible with the
sand screens selection and all the required flow
through tests were performed on surface prior to
running the sandface completion.
ML System Deployment (Figure 2)
Once the lower sandface completion (expandable
sand system) was run as per standard procedures,
the anchor packer with ceramic disk was deployed
on tubing. The run of this hydraulic set packer is
similar to any standard permanent packer, however
as the packer is plugged, running speed in the 7”
liner must be carefully controlled and all shock
avoided in attempt to eliminate any non-desired
scenario (tools run and lower formation damages).
Once on depth the packer was set as per standard
procedure.
The second run used a MWD system scribed up to
an anchor latch to accurately determine the
downhole orientation of the packer. Run with a
circulation sub the anchor latch features an aligning
key that will be oriented on top of the packer
orientation scoop head (similar design as a UBHO
sub). The latch will only latch when properly
oriented and overpull will confirm proper latch and
orientation. A circulation sub is required above the
anchor latch as the clearance between the latch and
packer are not sufficient to maintain the minimum
flow rate required to activate the MWD signal on
surface within acceptable circulating pressure for
the surface equipment.
Additional lesson learnt of this was to combine
these two runs using a special device enabling
circulation for the MWD system, as well as
providing isolation to the main wellbore. This will
be deployed at a later stage.
The whipstock was than picked up and run into the
well. Using a similar latch as the one used to define
the packer orientation; the whipstock was aligned,
on surface relatively to the latch key and the desired
exit azimuth. In this case the whipstock was aligned
30 degrees left of high side. A debris sub is run
below the whipstock to limit the amount of debris
(during milling and drilling) falling between the
packer and the latch. To guarantee easy operations
after this one, the milling parameters were kept
extremely conservative as not to rush the job and
not to prematurely exit the casing, thus creating a
shorten window. This operation, although a bit
longer and time consuming, was proven to be
extremely profitable for the rest of the operation as
no drag whatsoever was seen with any of the
drilling BHA of the sand face completion.
Once the lateral was drilled, a reaming assembly
was used to guarantee a proper hole condition with
minimum dog legs. Once confirmed, the mud in the
well bore was displaced to a solid free system. The
whipstock is then retrieved using a hook type tool
as well as an MWD to limit the fishing time on
bottom. Again, this proved to be extremely
efficient. Once the whip face was out of the hole
and analyzed, milling marks down the whip face
confirmed that the mills did ride along the entire
whip face, proving that the window was long and
straight as required.
The next operation was a clean out operation on
tubing, smaller size tubing with a no-go was run on
depth to open the isolation device and to clean out
the packer of any potential debris. This is a critical
operation at this moment as the lower formation
could have experienced losses and it is very
important to have fluid available at this stage to
compensate any losses as not to reduce the
hydrostatic head on the formation. Cases have been
seen when the losses are so important that the
casing joint with the window could collapse under
formation pressure, which would totally
compromise the completion operations.
The production deflector was then run on tubing
and the first attempt proved to be difficult as
formation/sand fell in the packer bore making it not
possible to engage into the packer. A second clean
up run was performed and confirmed sand in the
well bore. Future evolutions of this system will
combine the clean out trip and the production
deflector setting procedure. This will eliminate an
extra trip and will also limit the time the hole
remains open without the sandface completion. The
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production deflector is designed to feature a flow
through outlet to commingle the lower formation,
but to also create a by pass flow below it to limit the
washing or hotspots of the completion string just
above it due to the higher fluid velocity. The
production deflector is designed to be smaller than a
whipstock to allow a by-pass flow in the casing
string. This design induces a very accurate space
out in the already milled window to deflect the
sandface completion in the gauge area of the
window to avoid eventual damages.
Screens were then run with a bull nose being
deflected off the production deflector and out the
lateral. With the screens in place a standard liner
hanger was used to hang off the string. An extra
joint of screen was run in the main bore casing
above the window to commingle the flow from the
main bore and to avoid any particle from the
window to be produced.
The same procedures were used to drill the upper
lateral, this time exiting to the right (see Figure 3
for Well plan and Figure 4 for Completion
diagram).
Economics and Production Data of this solution
The objective of the trial test of the Tri-lateral
solution was to evaluate the capability of this
technology to improve the production of the field
and to reduce the cost which is already approved.
The uncertainty of the sand equality is one of the
main concerns for the reentry project in this field,
drilling problem (hole instability in the reservoir) is
another factor that increases significantly the cost of
a single reentry.
The Tri-lateral or multilateral technology will
improve and optimize the field development of the
field in term of production and cost. The pilot hole
is required for each workover to improve the well
placement as the reservoir is already depleted. Plus
the 8-1/2” section with cemented 7” liner is required
to cover unstable shale sand above the reservoir.
When drilling and completing a tri-lateral well, it is
possible to save on these two costly operations as to
drill three legs of equal length only one workover
was required including only one pilot hole and one
8-1/2” section with 7” liner.
Compared to several workover operations, a saving
of over $1 million is estimated, which does not
include the extra ESP and surface equipment
required for each well. Compared to other
multilateral technology, a saving of approximately
150K$ is estimated per well.
Initial clean up showed approximately 4,000 bpd of
light crude oil production and the steady production
rate is approximately 3,500 bpd. This is
significantly more than the 850 bpd of average
production given for a standard horizontal workover
(an equivalent of approximately 2,500 bpd for 3
wells worked over). No sand is produced which will
increase the ESP life expectancy and water cut is
minimal now (10%).
In addition to the money saved on the workover, the
time saved is important, especially in a scenario
where the well is actually producing more than
three separate wells put in production one after the
other. It is estimated that approximately seventy
days have been saved in this program.
CONCLUSIONS
This safe/straightforward multilateral system
enabled Saudi Aramco to multiply by three the
exposure to the reservoir from an existing well bore
with minimum cost and major savings compared to
three workover operations. This technology and
workover solution will be applied to other wells in
the same area to help improve the total production
of this mature field.
REFERENCES
Diggins, E.: “A proposed multi-lateral well
classification matrix”, World Oil (November
1997) 107.
Zaki A.Al-Baggal, Ibrahim Refai, James Abbott,
SPE 101538.
TAML classification.
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TAML Classification

Level 1: Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Barefoot main bore & Lateral either Lateral liner anchored to Both bores cemented at the Achieved with the Achieved with sealed
lateral or slotted liner barefoot or with liner main bore but not cemented junction completion, i.e., straddle casing (cement alone
hung off in either bore hung off in open hole at junction packers (may or may not is not sufficient)
be cemented) Includes reformable
junctions and non-
reformable, full
diameter splitters that
require larger
diameter wellbores
Completion shown for information only and not required in the TAML classification

Figure 1 - TAML classification

Figure 2 - Completion steps

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Figure 3 - Well Plan

Figure 4 - Completion Diagram