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 The paper has not been peer reviewed.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