THE DEFINING SERIES

Intelligent Completions Flow Control

To control flow from the formation, well operators may remotely open, close
Rick von Flatern or adjust the choke setting of downhole valves. The on-off option allows
Senior Editor operators to shut off production from a zone from which they may wish to
delay production, has become depleted or begins to produce unwanted gas
Because they took place in relatively shallow waters, early offshore explora- or water. In addition, by closing all but one zone and monitoring a pressure
tion and production operations were similar in many ways to those taking gauge at the sandface, operators can replicate much of the information that
place onshore. However, by the 1980s, operators were drilling for resources is available from wireline production logs (Figure 1).
found in remote areas and far from land in water depths that exceeded 300 Additional downhole flow control valves allow operators to regulate flow
m [1,000 ft]. To tap deepwater discoveries that can extend over many square rates at the sandface. Changing choke settings by varying the size of the
kilometers, operators drill wells from floating drilling units; these wells may valve flow port, production engineers can control the pressure and volume
extend laterally thousands of meters. contribution from a formation without shutting it off. This feature allows
To reduce the number of platforms required to exploit a field, operators operators to commingle production from differently pressured zones with-
use subsea completions for most wells completed in deep water. Subsea out creating crossflow, in which flow from a higher-pressured zone flows
completions are remotely controlled and accessed through wellheads that into a zone of lower pressure.
rest on the seafloor. Production flows from subsea wellheads and through By varying choke sizes at the sandface, engineers can also change the
flowlines on the ocean floor to a central surface processing unit. relative contribution of each zone to overall well production. This ability
What may be considered minor downhole operations on land and in shal- allows operators to optimize production over time as individual zones expe-
low water are often extremely costly when carried out on these wells located rience changes in rate, pressure, gas/oil ratio or water/oil ratio. Changing
in deep water where interventions require the use of floating rigs. Faced flow rates from individual zones allows operators to reduce drawdown pres-
with the specter of maintenance costs and production delays large enough sures at specific points in the reservoir and thus control water and gas con-
to upend well economics, the industry sought completion strategies that ing. Coning is the unwanted preferential flow of water or gas that results
would minimize well interventions. Central to those efforts was refinement from pressure drawdown at a perforated interval. Engineers can also opti-
of downhole monitoring and control systems, which were standardized and mize sweep efficiency by using adjustable flow valves to increase or decrease
packaged as intelligent completions (ICs). Intelligent completions include gas or water injection rates at targeted intervals.
pressure and temperature sensors that are able to deliver measurements to Operators may place flow control valves at multilateral well junctions,
the surface in near real time and remotely adjustable downhole chokes and where the main wellbore and high-angle and horizontal wellbores, or later-
sliding sleeves with which engineers can, from the surface, control flow at als, drilled from it are joined. To optimize production from each lateral,
the formation. Chokes are devices that control and regulate fluid flow; slid- engineers equip the lateral production liner with inflow control devices
ing sleeves are downhole hardware that can be opened or closed to manage (ICDs), which create increased backpressure as flow velocity through them
fluid flow into the well.
Because ICs were complex and expensive, operators limited their use
Annulus sensor Tubing sensor
almost exclusively to high-rate subsea wells. Over time, however, systems reads the Zone 1 reads the
became less costly and were integrated with software that enhanced their reservoir pressure. Zone 2 FBHP.
capabilities. Software designed for use in IC planning and management
emerged at roughly the same time as did drilling technologies that allowed
operators to drill long high-angle and multilateral wells that could access
numerous production zones from a single main wellbore. FCV 1 closes

Zonal Isolation Zone 1 Zone 2

The ability to simultaneously access and isolate numerous zones connected
to a main bore is an essential feature of ICs. In basic vertical wells that have Tubing sensor Annulus sensor
reads the reads the Zone 2
two or three producing formations, completion designers may accomplish Zone 1 FBHP. reservoir pressure.
this by deploying a dedicated tubing string for each zone. In wells that have
many producing intervals, operators set packers above and below each tar-
get zone. Packers use elastomer elements that expand to create a seal
against the wellbore. FCV 2 closes
Operators use feed-through packers to isolate zones in ICs. These pack-
ers have penetrations through which electrical cables and hydraulic lines Zone 1 Zone 2
can be passed without compromising the seal. The lines passed through the
packer are attached to the devices and sensors that control and monitor Figure 1. Production log-type data without intervention. In a multizone IC,
flow at each zone. each zone is isolated, monitored and controlled. The flowing bottomhole
pressure (FBHP) may be measured as flow from Zone 2 (red arrows) by
closing the flow control valve (FCV) across Zone 1 (top), while reservoir
buildup pressures in the shut-in Zone 1 are measured. By closing the FCV
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Adrian Francis, Houston, Texas, USA. across Zone 2 and opening Zone 1 (bottom), reservoir pressure may be
Oilfield Review 2016. determined in Zone 2 and FBHP from Zone 1. This technique may be applied
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. to any number of zones.
www.slb.com/defining

increases. By exerting backpressure at intervals along the liner that is 3,700

Gamma ray Postproduction Preproduction
inversely proportional to fluid velocity, ICDs hinder the flow of high-pres- DTS profile DTS profile
sure fluids or fluids flowing through highly permeable strings within an 3,800
interval. This allows fluids from lower-pressured or less-permeable intervals Nonproducing zone
to flow into the lateral wellbore. In addition, ICDs are used in oil wells to 3,900
reduce water and gas flow rates in lateral wells when these phases are able

Depth, m
to flow through the formation more easily than does the oil. 4,000

Monitoring 4,100 Producing zone

Effective flow control is only possible when used in conjunction with per-
manent downhole gauges that are able to accurately monitor production 4,200
variables in real time. In recent years, the ability to gather pressure and Constant DTS profile below zone
temperature measurements at the formation and transmit them to the 4,300
surface in real time, along with greatly increased sensor longevity and 65 70 75
Temperature, °C
reliability, has changed the role of ICs from intervention avoidance to res-
ervoir management tool. Figure 2. Distributed temperature sensor (DTS) profile. Changes in
Unlike earlier pressure-temperature gauges that remained downhole for temperature profiles along the length of a well are caused by commingled
flow from multiple zones. By comparing flowing temperature profiles
a few hours or days, modern downhole permanent pressure and tempera- captured using permanent fiber-optic DTSs over time and correlated to a
ture gauges are designed for long-term deployment. Rated to work in pres- gamma ray log, operators are able to detect the origin and cause of changes
sures and temperatures as high as 172 MPa [25,000 psi] and 180ºC [356ºF], to that profile. In this instance, deviation between the original DTS profile
above the monitored zone (green shading) and the later DTS profile can be
they derive their longevity and reliability from the use of quartz and sap-
clearly traced to the zone defined by the gamma ray log (tan shading) because
phire transducers, welded assemblies, corrosion-resistant alloys and dura- the profile becomes constant below the producing zone (gray shading).
ble electronic components.
Because data obtained from permanent downhole gauges are acquired To maximize the benefits of real-time downhole monitoring and control
over an extended period of time, engineers are able to use them as a means capabilities, operators must process and act on a significant volume of data
for gathering insight into the reservoir. Monitoring systems have been throughout the life of the well. To accomplish this, downhole data are sent to
designed that also measure flow rate and fluid density. These measurements operator offices through supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)
can be used in pressure transient analysis to estimate the permeability, skin systems, where they are analyzed using production optimization software. A
and drainage area over the life of the well. Skin is an estimation of flow steady-state, multiphase flow simulator uses modeling algorithms for nodal
efficiency; positive skin values refer to reduced flow compared to that from analysis to compare the data with those expected from optimal settings and
an undamaged formation. Engineers can use that data to identify produc- take corrective actions such as changing choke settings and flow rates at one
tion and reservoir anomalies such as water and gas breakthrough. or more intervals.
Operators may use fiber-optic cables deployed along the length of the In some advanced systems, the operator inputs a target production rate or other
production tubing to monitor downhole conditions. These distributed tem- parameters such as water production levels, and the program adjusts the down-
perature sensors (DTSs) provide data that may be analyzed to quantify hole chokes to achieve the desired result. The target parameter may be set for a
inflow profiles along the entire length of the well, allowing operators to zone, well or entire field. Software programs designed for intelligent well con-
immediately see, understand and react to changes in flow patterns from trol and monitoring may be expanded fieldwide to notify operators of equipment
individual zones (Figure 2). performance deviations or to capture production trends in the field over time.

Well Design Refining the System

Because intelligent wells include complex assemblies, engineers typically As a consequence of the development of more precise remote monitoring,
rely on computer programs to help them select, coordinate and manage control capabilities and design and management software, operators now
them. These software programs allow designers to import wellbore and tra- deploy ICs in a variety of well types, not only to minimize interventions but
jectory information into modeling programs that are used to create and ana- also to optimize operating efficiency and production. At the same time, the
lyze various casing and tubing designs. Available reservoir data—such as E&P industry is shifting from analog to digital data recording, providing
number and depths of zones, oil and gas gravities, hydrocarbon composi- operators with a tool for integrating and processing large amounts of data
tion, initial and final reservoir pressures and productivity indexes—are from many sources. The ability to treat these data from a fieldwide perspec-
used as input for production modeling. tive has been critical in allowing operators to realize the full potential of ICs
Using production models, operators are able to calculate total flow rate and, by extension, the reservoirs the completions are designed to access.
and production contribution from each zone. They can then add restraints The latest iteration of IC systems includes in situ measurements of pres-
to the design, such as the number of control lines available or the number of sure, temperature, flow rate and water cut across the formation face in each
zones to be produced, and choose the well design and production scenario zone of each lateral. All sensors are packaged in a single station together with
that optimizes hydrocarbon recovery. By varying choke settings within the an electric flow control valve that has infinitely variable settings controlled
model, the operator can observe the impact on individual zonal contribution from the surface through a single electric control line. This ability to monitor
and overall production and customize flow control valve settings before the and control large numbers of zones in a well has significantly increased opera-
wells are completed. tor production and reservoir management in heterogeneous or multilayered
reservoirs and in extended-reach developments.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Well Intervention— Guide arch

Maintenance and Repair (gooseneck)

Rick von Flatern CT string

Senior Editor Reel
Injector
head
Few oil and gas wells perform efficiently and produce uninterrupted from Stripper
BOP
initial production to abandonment. Moving parts and seals wear out, tubu-
lars develop leaks, sensors fail and formation pressures decline. To address
these and other problems, operators rely on well intervention specialists.
Interventions fall into two general categories: light or heavy. During light
interventions, technicians lower tools or sensors into a live well while pres- > Coiled tubing unit. Coiled tubing (CT) is flexible pipe that may be spooled
sure is contained at the surface. In heavy interventions, the rig crew may on and off a large reel using an injector head. The hydraulically driven
need to remove the entire completion string from the well to make major injector head uses a series of slips to grip and pull the tubing off the reel or
from the well and through an arched guide called a gooseneck. The
changes to the well configuration, which requires killing the well by stop- gooseneck bends the tubing toward the wellhead or for spooling back onto
ping production at the formation. the reel. The coiled tubing enters and exits the wellbore through a stripper
blowout preventer (BOP), which contains components that seal against the
tubing to contain well pressure. A second set of sealing rams (not shown) in
the BOP may be closed against the coiled tubing to provide a pressure
barrier alternative in the event the stripper BOP fails.
Sheave

The Lighter Side

Pressure- Well service personnel typically perform light interventions using slickline,
control wireline or coiled tubing. These systems may allow operators to clear the
equipment
well of sand, paraffin, hydrates or other substances that may form blockages
and reduce or completely halt production. Operators also use light interven-
tions to change or adjust downhole equipment such as valves or pumps and
to gather downhole pressure, temperature and flow data. In many cases,
because light interventions are relatively inexpensive and require minimal
equipment, they are included in routine well maintenance programs.
A slickline is a single strand of thin wire that conveys tools and sensors
into and out of the well (left). Slickline-based interventions include remov-
Lubricator ing sand and paraffin, running or retrieving subsurface control valves and
running sensors into a well to record bottomhole temperatures and pres-
sures. Slickline is reeled on and off a hydraulically driven drum. A heavier
Wireline
valve cable may be deployedOilfield
from a Review
second drum when the tensile strength
required to complete an Winter
operation08/09
exceeds the rating of the slickline cable.
Wireline also conveys ACTive fig. 1tools and sensors on wire; the advan-
downhole
Sheave ORWin08/09-ACTV Fig. 1
tage to wireline is that downhole data can be delivered to the surface in
Wireline or near real time. The wireline cable acts as a conduit for electric power and
slickline drum
data transfer between the surface and downhole tools and sensors. After a
well has been put on production, wireline may be used to run production
logs or other sensors.
Christmas Coiled tubing also conveys tools downhole, but its primary use is as a con-
Load cell
tree duit for fluid (above). Engineers use coiled tubing to wash out production-
inhibiting sand or scale that has built up inside production tubing or to place
acid or other treatments at precise locations within the well. Because coiled
> Basic slickline or wireline rig-up. A wire or cable runs from the drum to tubing has some rigidity, it may be more effective at pushing slickline or wire-
the lower sheave, which redirects it upward toward a second sheave. The line tools, which typically depend on gravity or tractors to move downhole in
sheave at the top of the pressure-control equipment turns the wire 180° high-angle wells. When real-time data are desired, a wire may be inserted in
and feeds it into the well. The wireline valve above the Christmas tree
contains opposing rams (not shown) that may be closed to seal against the coiled tubing and connected to a sensor being conveyed downhole.
each other without having to remove the wire, thus providing a pressure Light intervention systems usually include a mechanism that ensures well
barrier alternative in the event the pressure-control equipment higher in the pressures are contained as the slickline, wireline or coiled tubing passes
system fails.
through it into the wellbore. Slickline and wireline system seals are maintained
via equipment above the wellhead. Coiled tubing systems use a self-contained
Oilfield Review Winter 2014/2015: 26, no. 4.
pressure-control system that allows the tubing to pass into the wellhead.
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Heavy Lifting Operators are sometimes reluctant to use kill weight mud to perform
To perform heavy interventions, or workovers, rig crews remove the wellhead heavy interventions because the dense fluid may permanently damage pres-
and other pressure barriers to allow full access to the well. Crews fill the well sure-depleted formations. One option is to perform the heavy intervention
with kill weight mud to contain the formation pressure during an interven- with the well under pressure, as in light interventions, using a snubbing
tion. Kill weight mud is a dense fluid that creates a hydrostatic pressure at the unit. Snubbing operations use a hydraulic jack to snub, or push, joints of
formation that is greater than the formation’s pore pressure. pipe into a live well against well pressure. Although snubbing operations are
Heavy interventions require a rig to remove and reinstall the completion similar to coiled tubing operations, the former use joints of stiff tubing or
hardware. In many cases, the operator’s objective is to replace leaking or casing and can be performed in wells with significantly higher pressures
worn-out parts. Typically, this requires replacing only the failed parts and than are possible with coiled tubing. Because snubbing equipment is more
running the completion equipment back into the hole. In some cases, how- robust than that used in coiled tubing operations, it can be employed to
ever, operators perform workovers to adapt the completion to reservoir con- perform nearly all operations that typically require use of a drilling rig.
ditions that have changed as a result of production. These changes may
include the onset of water and sand production or formation pressure that Offshore Work
has fallen too low to push fluids to the surface. Assuming the formation has Since the introduction of subsea wells in the 1970s, service companies have
reserves with economic potential, an operator may make adjustments that been developing methods to perform light interventions without costly off-
shut off water production, deploy sand control equipment or run artificial shore drilling units. Using specially designed vessels, service companies
lift systems into the well. perform slickline, wireline and coiled tubing operations through subsea
Operators may perform a special type of workover option—a recomple- wellheads using riserless or riser-based methods (below left).
tion—to abandon one zone and open and complete another zone that was Riserless interventions deploy wireline and slickline tools from a subsea
tested and left behind pipe when the well was drilled. In some cases, slick- intervention vessel to a subsea pressure-control package on the wellhead.
line may be used to shut off the first zone by running in the hole with a These open-water operations are currently limited to relatively shallow
special tool to close a sliding sleeve that had been placed across the perfora- waters of less than about 400 m [1,300 ft]. Use of coiled tubing in open-water
tions as part of the original completion. Slickline is then used to open a operations is restricted almost exclusively to operations requiring hydraulic
sleeve to allow production from a secondary zone. interventions such as placing kill weight mud or performing stimulation or
Typically, however, because of initial well conditions, sleeves are not a flow assurance treatments.
viable completion option and operators must first abandon the primary pro- Subsea interventions may also be performed through a riser, or casing
ducing zone by placing a cement plug across it. They then install new com- string, that connects the subsea wellhead to a surface system. Because ris-
pletion equipment with which to produce from the secondary zone. ers must be deployed from offshore drilling rigs, this method is more expen-
sive than riserless methods. However, the riser effectively extends the
wellbore to the surface, which permits engineers to use all light and heavy
Wireline or slickline
intervention options available.
Coiled tubing

To Intervene or Not to Intervene

Interventions are an economic choice; operators must balance the cost of
the operation against the value of potential additional production. Decisions
to intervene may be made as early as the planning stage when, for instance,
operators include sliding sleeves in the completion. Or engineers may con-
Control Guidelines ROV umbilical
umbilical clude that potential secondary zone production justifies installing an intel-
Coiled tubing, ligent well completion equipped with permanent sensors and remotely
slickline or
wireline actuated sliding sleeves that require little or no intervention to reach known
reserves behind pipe.
Operators’ decisions are also influenced by new or enhanced interven-
ROV tether tion methods. For example, engineers have developed a slickline that
Well enables digital two-way communication and may be deployed using a stan-
intervention ROV dard slickline unit. This digital slickline confirms tool depth and operations
package
as they are performed and allows operators to conduct numerous operations
that were at one time available using only heavier and larger wireline units.
Subsea BOP The greatest intervention challenges and opportunities are offshore.
Subsea wellhead Recovery from subsea wells is as low as 20% compared with about 50% to
60% from land-based and platform wells. The difference lies in the economic
> Riserless light well intervention rig-up. Using a monohull vessel with dynamic decision-making process. Because subsea well interventions in water depths
positioning capabilities, service providers perform riserless wireline and greater than 400 m must be performed from expensive offshore rigs, expected
slickline interventions. A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) may be used to view production gains often do not justify the cost of an intervention. By increas-
the operation and to monitor and guide the landing of the well intervention
ing depth capability of much less expensive light interventions, experts
package onto the subsea wellhead. The well intervention package includes
the pressure-control hardware and the subsea BOP. A control umbilical allows believe they can increase deepwater ultimate recovery in some fields by
technicians to manipulate the BOP and subsea tree valves from the surface. 15% to 30%.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Jet Pumps tion inlet chamber. The two fluid streams combine in a short mixing tube
known as the pump throat, where some of the power fluid’s momentum is
Ted Moon transferred to the produced fluid. When the fluids reach the end of the
Contributing Editor throat, the streams have been thoroughly mixed, and the single mixed fluid
stream contains significant kinetic energy. The fluid mixture then transfers
to an expanding area diffuser that converts the kinetic energy to static pres-
At some point during production, most wells experience a drop in reservoir sure in the fluid. This pressure is sufficiently high enough to lift the fluid
pressure that hinders hydrocarbon production and requires operators to mixture to the surface through a second tubing string.
deploy an artificial lift system. Various artificial lift technologies are avail-
able to bring wells back to profitable production rates and to delay the deci- Sizing the Pump
sion to abandon an asset; no single artificial lift technique is applicable for Jet pump performance depends primarily on pump discharge pressure,
every scenario. which in turn is influenced by the gas/liquid ratio in the power fluid–reser-
For example, in deviated wells rod pumping units have limitations due to voir fluid mixture returning to the surface. Optimizing this ratio to maximize
friction between the rod and the tubing wall. The efficiency and run life of lift is a complex process of fine-tuning the mixture by accounting for the gas/
electric submersible pumps (ESPs) suffer in wells that produce significant oil ratio in the reservoir fluid and the volume of power fluid entering the
volumes of sand, gas, or both. These lift technologies also contain moving throat. The optimal volume of power fluid is dictated by the size of the nozzle
parts that inevitably wear out and have to be replaced, adding significant and the operating pressure of
Power fluid
cost and deferred production to each well. the surface pump supplying the
Because they have simple downhole architecture and no moving parts, power fluid. Balancing the
jet pumps have become an increasingly popular artificial lift option in chal- power fluid rate, nozzle size and
Pump tubing
lenging production scenarios. The principles underlying the operation of a pump discharge pressure is an
jet pump have been known for hundreds of years, starting in 1738 when Casing iterative process requiring suc-
Bernoulli’s principle was introduced; the principle states that an increase cessive refined estimates.
in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in its pressure. Many jet pump suppliers
Although the first patents for oilwell jet pumps were issued in the 1860s, have developed in-house com-
jet pump technology was not applied in the oil field until the late 1960s, and Nozzle puter programs that use these
only in onshore wells. Hardware improvements and the introduction of com- Production inlet
parameters to make the neces-
puter models enabling improved pump designs led to more widespread use chamber sary iterative calculations for
of jet pumps throughout the 1970s, and their application to other produc- Throat application design. The objec-
tion scenarios has increased steadily since then. tive of the calculation sequence
Diffuser is to superimpose the jet pump’s
Architecture and Operation performance curve onto the
Jet pumps generate high-velocity fluid jets to lower downhole pressures and inflow performance relation-
increase production rates. The basic operating principles of the subsurface jet ship (IPR) curve for the well,
pump mimic those of the jet engine. Both the pump and engine contain a which is a graphical representa-
nozzle that converts pressurized, slow moving fluid into lower pressure, fast- Combined fluid tion of the relationship between
return
moving fluid by adiabatic expansion. In the case of a jet engine, the fast- the flowing bottomhole pres-
moving fluid—a burning mixture of air and jet fuel—generates the thrust sure and liquid production
that propels a plane forward. The thrust generated by the movement of a high- rate (Figure 2). The intersec-
velocity jet pump fluid, on the other hand, lifts hydrocarbons to the surface. tion point between the two
The jet pump is deployed downhole through the casing string to a depth curves represent the pump’s
at which it is immersed in the production fluids in the wellbore (Figure 1). performance in that well based
A pump at the surface moves a pressurized fluid called a power fluid—typi- on the original parameters.
cally refined oil, water or a mixture of oil and produced water—downhole Starting here, the supplier can
through tubing to the jet pump, where the fluid flows through a nozzle in the make successive changes to
nose of the pump. The nozzle introduces a constriction in the power fluid’s program inputs such as nozzle
flow path that causes the fluid speed to increase through the nozzle per the size and surface pressure until
Venturi effect, a corollary to Bernoulli’s principle that describes the reduc- arriving at a design that deliv-
Packer
tion in fluid pressure that results when a fluid flows through a constricted ers the desired pump perfor-
section of pipe. mance for the well.
Formation fluid
Because the power fluid exits the nozzle at a higher velocity and thus
lower pressure than that of the surrounding wellbore fluid, the wellbore
fluid is drawn into the low-pressure section of the pump through a produc- Figure 1. Typical components of a downhole jet pump. Pressurized power
fluid from the surface enters the pump from the top and travels through the
nozzle. The power fluid mixes in the pump throat with the reservoir fluid,
Oilfield Review 2016. which enters the jet pump from below. The fluid mixture passes through the
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. diffuser, where it picks up sufficient velocity to travel to the surface through
the combined fluid return.
www.slb.com/defining

Benefits and Shortcomings

Well IPR Power fluid injection = 4,000 psi
In many field applications, jet pumps provide a variety of operational advan- 2,500
tages, including versatility, over other forms of lift. When the size of the

Pump intake pressure, psi

nozzle and throat are changed, a jet pump can produce wells ranging in
2,000
depth from 300 m [1,000 ft] to 5,500 m [18,000 ft] and production of less
than 8 m3/d [50 bbl/d] to more than 3,200 m3/d [20,000 bbl/d]. Cavitation
Because jet pumps have no moving parts to generate mechanical wear, 1,500

they can operate for several years at a low risk of failure and with minimal
maintenance requirements. They also tend to be more rugged and tolerant 1,000
of corrosive and abrasive well fluids than other types of downhole lift sys-
tems. As a precautionary measure, production chemicals can be mixed 500
with the injected power fluid to help control downhole corrosion, paraffin 2,500 5,000 7,500
and emulsion problems. Jet pumps can handle significant volumes of free Production, bbl/d
gas in the production stream. Operators install jet pumps via wireline or by
Figure 2. Performance plot for a jet pump system. In this jet pump system
using pressurized power fluid to transport the pump downhole. By redirect- performance plot, the intersection of the well’s inflow performance
ing the flow of the power fluid, technicians can bring the jet pump back to relationship (IPR) curve (dark blue) and jet pump’s performance curve
the surface for repair or replacement without incurring the expense of a (light blue) represents the pump performance in the well. In this example,
to achieve a targeted production rate of 5,000 bbl/d using a power fluid
workover or pulling unit that is commonly required to retrieve a downhole
injected at a pressure of 4,000 psi, the pump intake pressure should be 2,000
pump. To optimize pump efficiency as well conditions change, pump noz- psi. Jet pump operation should be maintained such that the IPR curve stays
zles and throats can be quickly changed at the rig site and the pump rede- to the left and above the cavitation line (red).
ployed downhole.
Jet pumps are prone to some design drawbacks, including the risk of solids production. By incorporating high-temperature elastomers for its seal-
cavitation—the formation of vapor cavities—at the entrance of the throat ing elements, a jet pump can operate reliably in high-temperature production
section caused by the rapid acceleration of the production fluids as they environments. Heated power fluid can be pumped through the jet pump to
enter the pump body. As the fluid’s velocity increases quickly, fluid pressure dilute viscous crudes and enable consistent flow in heavy-oil production.
can decline to its vapor pressure. Vapor cavities form at this low pressure, Jet pumps have been successfully deployed in marginal offshore wells in
resulting in restricted flow into the throat. These vapor cavities may col- which high intervention costs make the use of ESPs prohibitive. The pumps
lapse as pressure rises in the pump, causing cavitation damage—erosion of have also been used to dewater gas, coalbed methane and shale wells. In
internal pump parts. Field experience has shown that cavitation-induced flowback operations following hydraulic stimulation, jet pumps deliver
erosion rates are low in most oil wells, but the rate could increase in high quick and cost-effective recovery of fluid and proppant at rates of 300 m3/d
water-cut wells in which little gas is present. [2,000 bbl/d] or more.
The choice of oil as the power fluid can prove problematic. Not only does
oil introduce a fire hazard to the well site, but the large oil inventories Future Developments
required for such an operation also lower the profitability of the well. Jet pump suppliers continue to evolve pump designs to help oil and gas
Because they are essentially high-velocity mixing devices, jet pumps are operators increase production at minimal operating expense. Current
prone to significant internal turbulence and friction, which drops horse- trends in well placement include positioning multiple wells on one site,
power efficiency—the percentage of the total power supplied that goes into which creates logistics and footprint problems for some conventional lift
lifting fluids out of the well—to approximately 35%. Although this is lower systems. A jet pump can be configured through a manifold system to run
than the efficiencies typically achieved by using positive displacement multiple wells, which serves to reduce lease operating expenses by limiting
pumps, the operational benefits of jet pumps combine to make them a more the amount of equipment on location.
dependable and economic solution for many wells. Although earlier versions of the jet pump had a reputation for high energy
consumption and raising operational costs, new technologies are allowing the
Diverse Applications and Well Conditions surface pump to be powered with gas coming directly from the well. Integrated
Jet pumps are flexible enough to boost production in a variety of scenarios control systems precalibrated for the particular engine model help to opti-
but are commonly deployed in wells that are difficult to produce because of mize the engine’s performance during fluctuations in gas flow rate or in BTU
challenging geometries and fluid compositions. The pump’s compact size levels while ensuring that the field operation maintains emission compliance
and rig-free installation make it well suited for use in horizontal and highly by flaring less gas to the atmosphere.
deviated wells. A jet pump can be deployed through wellbore turns of up to As design innovations continue, jet pumps seem well positioned to
24° per 30 m [100 ft], and have demonstrated equally reliable operation in address the industry need for cost-effective and reliable lifting solutions for
both deviated and straight holes. all manner of marginal production scenarios.
Because the pump is able to handle high volume, high gas and high sol-
ids, it is a good fit for early well production applications. The jet pump can
reliably operate in high-volume production wells by raising the horsepower
of the surface pump to increase the power fluid flow rate.
Jet pumps are manufactured with high-strength, corrosion-resistant alloys
for deployment in wells that have highly corrosive produced fluids and high

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Introduction to Wireline Logging

Mark A. Andersen
Executive Editor

Oil and gas reservoirs lie deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Geologists and
engineers cannot examine the rock formations in situ, so tools called sondes
go there for them. Specialists lower these tools into a wellbore and obtain
measurements of subsurface properties. The data are displayed as a series of
measurements covering a depth range in a display called a well log. Often,
several tools are run simultaneously as a logging string, and the combination
of results is more informative than each individual measurement (right).

The Dawn of an Era

The first well log was obtained in 1927 in Pechelbronn field in Alsace,
France. The tool, invented by Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger, measured
electrical resistance of the earth. Engineers recorded a data point each
meter as they retrieved the sonde, suspended from a cable, from the bore-
hole. Their data log of resistivity changes identified the location of oil.
Today, geologists depend on sets of well logs to map properties of subsur-
face formations (below). By comparing logs from many wells in a field,
geologists and engineers can develop effective and efficient hydrocarbon
production plans.

Neutron Porosity
45 % –15
Gamma Ray Depth, Resistivity Bulk Density
0 gAPI 150 ft 0.2 ohm.m 20 1.90 g/cm3 2.90
7,000
Shale

> Assembling a logging tool on a rig floor. One logging operator holds a
Gas
logging tool in place (left) while another assembles a connection (right).
7,100 The upper part of the tool is suspended from the rig derrick (not shown,
Hydrocarbon
above the men). The operators will connect that to the lower section of the
tool, seen protruding above the rig floor between the men. That part of the
Sand Oil tool is suspended in the wellbore, held in place at the rig floor by the flat
metal C-clamp. Most logging tools have a small diameter but can be the
height of an average one-story building. The combination of several sondes
7,200 in one toolstring can be many stories tall.
Brine Brine

Shale
Types of Logs
7,300
Immediately after a well is drilled, the formations are exposed to the well-
bore. This is an opportune time to determine the properties of the rocks
> Basic log. A common combination of logging measurements includes
using openhole logging tools. In some cases, particularly in wells with com-
gamma ray, resistivity, and neutron and density porosity combined on one
toolstring. The gamma ray response (Track 1) distinguishes the low gamma plex trajectories, companies include logging tools as part of the drilling tool
ray value of sand from the high value of shale. The next column, called the assembly. This approach is referred to as logging while drilling, or LWD.
depth track, indicates the location of the sonde in feet (or meters) below a Drillers typically stabilize formations by cementing metal casing in the
surface marker. Within the sand formation, the resistivity (Track 2) is high
where hydrocarbons are present and low where brines are present. Both well. The metal of the casing interferes with many logging measurements,
neutron porosity and bulk density (Track 3) provide measures of porosity, but over the past 30 years the industry has dramatically improved its ability
when properly scaled. Within a hydrocarbon zone, a wide separation of the to measure formation properties and even locate bypassed oil behind casing
two curves in the way shown here indicates the presence of gas. using cased-hole logs. In addition, many cased-hole tools measure fluid flow
rates and other production parameters in the wellbore or examine the
integrity of the metal casing and its cement.
Oilfield Review Spring 2011: 23, no. 1. The first objective of logging in an exploration area is to locate hydrocar-
Copyright © 2011 Schlumberger. bons in a well. Next, the operating company wants to determine if enough
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Austin Boyd, Rio de Janeiro; Michel Claverie,
Clamart, France; Martin Isaacs, Sugar Land, Texas, USA; and Tony Smithson, Northport, (continued on page 59)
Alabama, USA.
www.slb.com/defining

Geomechanical Geologic Geologic

Measurements Resistivity Porosity Lithology Mineralogy Saturation Pore geometry Permeability Fluid properties properties structure bedding
Electrical resistivity
Laterolog
Induction
Microlaterolog
Spontaneous potential
Electromagnetic propagation
Nuclear
Gamma ray density
Neutron porosity
Natural radioactivity
Induced gamma ray spectrometry
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Acoustic
Dipmeter and imaging
Formation testing and sampling
Rock sampling
Fluids sampling
Fluids pressure testing
Seismic

Measurement provides direct information about the reservoir property. Measurement is influenced by or is sensitive to the reservoir property.
Measurement contributes to understanding the reservoir property.

> Logging measurements used to determine reservoir properties. Some tools provide a direct measurement of a reservoir property (blue) and some provide
partial information that is combined with other measurements to determine the property (green). In addition, tools are often sensitive to a property, even
though they do not provide a measurement of that property (brown).

resource is present to economically justify completing and producing the based on the rock type, and the average of the two, a density-neutron log, can
well. Logging indicates the basic parameters of porosity (fluid-filled por- be a good measure of porosity. In the presence of gas, the two detection methods
tion of the rock); the water, oil and gas saturations and the vertical extent separate in a distinctive manner that is recognized as a gas indicator. Some
of a productive hydrocarbon zone, or net pay (above). Logging tools are contemporary tools use a pulsed neutron generator, which can generate neu-
calibrated to properly determine these and other quantities from the res- trons only while power is applied.
ervoir so companies can calculate accurate reserve values. Most logging The chemical makeup of minerals in a formation can be determined
tools designed for formation evaluation are based on electric, nuclear or with a neutron source that uses elemental capture spectrometry. This infor-
acoustic measurements. mation helps geologists determine the rock composition.

Electric Logging Acoustic Logging

Oil and gas are more resistive than the salty water that fills most deeply The speed at which sound travels through rock depends on its mineral com-
buried rocks. Engineers created two types of electric sondes; both of them position and porosity. An acoustic or sonic logging tool transmits a sound
measure that difference. One type, a laterolog, measures formation resistiv- pulse into the formation and a receiver on another part of the tool detects the
ity by creating an electric circuit. Current flows from a tool electrode transmitted pulse. The travel distance of the pulse is known, so its travel time
through the formation and back to another electrode. The other design uses provides a sound velocity that is proprotional to a porosity measurement.
induction coils to measure conductivity, the inverse of resistivity. This has The mechanical properties of a solid affect properties of sound waves
similar physics to an electric transformer: A tool coil induces a current loop passing through it. Some sonic tools measure these changes to quantify
in the formation that is measured by a pickup coil on the tool. An extensive those mechanical properties.
zone filled with hydrocarbon is apparent on an electric log typically as more
resistive than an adjacent water-filled zone. A Multitude of Measurements
Geoscientists and engineers have access to a wide variety of logging tools
Detecting Radiation that provide much more than the basic information described above.
Quartz and carbonates, which compose the most common hydrocarbon reser- Nuclear magnetic resonance tools obtain information about pore sizes and
voirs, have little or no intrinsic radioactivity. Shales, which often act as seals fluids in situ. Imaging logs can provide a high-resolution and 360° view of
above reservoirs, include several naturally occurring radioactive components. various formation properties at the wellbore wall. Other tools can bring rock
Most logging strings include a gamma ray sonde to detect this radiation and or fluid samples to surface or measure properties of fluids as they flow into
discriminate geologic layers. A characteristic pattern on the gamma ray log the wellbore. And at a larger scale, measurements made with a source in
often repeats in logs for wells throughout a given area. Geologists correlate one well and a receiver in another indicate formation and fluid properties
these patterns from well to well to map geologic layers across the field. between them.
Some logging tools use chemical sources that generate radioactive particles. Well logging requires robust technology because of harsh well conditions
The particles interact with the surrounding formation, and detectors on the and cutting-edge technology because of complex reservoir properties.
sonde pick up the resulting signals. Gamma radiation is absorbed proportionally Scientists use sophisticated methods to design new tools and evaluate the data
to the density of the formation. Other radioactive particles—neutrons—are they collect. Most hydrocarbon discoveries today are in remote areas and often
absorbed proportionally to the amount of hydrogen. Measurements from both of are difficult to produce. These resources—and the people to find, evaluate and
these types of logs can be converted to porosity values. Each has a variability produce them—are vital to fulfill the growing energy needs of the world.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Basic Well Log Interpretation

Matt Varhaug
Senior Editor
Resistivity, Shallow
0.2 ohm.m 20
Well logs present a concise, detailed Gamma Ray Resistivity, Medium Neutron Porosity
plot of formation parameters versus 0 gAPI 150 0.2 ohm.m 20 45 % –15
depth. From these plots, interpret-
Spontaneous Potential Depth, Resistivity, Deep Bulk Density
ers can identify lithologies, differen-
–80 mV 20 ft 0.2 ohm.m 20 1.90 g/cm3 2.90
tiate between porous and nonporous
7,000
rock and quickly recognize pay
zones in subsurface formations. The Shale
Hydrocarbon
ability to interpret a log lies in rec-
ognizing the significance of each
measurement.
Logging tools record the magni-
Gas
tude of a specific formation prop- 7,100
erty, such as resistivity, measured as
the tool traverses an interval
defined by depth; a well log is a
Sand Oil
chart that shows the value of that
measurement plotted versus depth.
During the early days of commercial
well logging, logs were primarily 7,200
used qualitatively for making forma- Brine
Brine
tion correlations; within a given
field or local geological province,
certain formations have distinctive
characteristics that appear remark-
Shale
ably similar from one well to the
next, providing geologists with a 7,300

basis for locating the depths of vari- Figure 1. A basic log. A suite of logging measurements might include spontaneous potential, gamma ray, resistivity,
ous strata in the subsurface. In neutron and density curves in a single presentation. The gamma ray response (Track 1) distinguishes the low gamma
ray value of sand from the higher value of shale. The spontaneous potential curve generally follows a trend similar
1942, the relationship between to that of the gamma ray. The next column, called the depth track, indicates the depth at which the measurement
resistivity, porosity and water satu- was made. Across the sandstone formation, the resistivity measurements (Track 2) are noticeably higher in the
ration (and thus its inverse: hydro- hydrocarbon zone than in the water-saturated zone in the lower part of the sand. Both neutron porosity and bulk
carbon saturation) was established density (Track 3) provide measures of porosity. Within the hydrocarbon-bearing zone, the separation of the curves
varies depending on the type of fluid encountered.
by G.E. Archie, paving the way for a
quantitative evaluation of formation
properties using well logs. The spontaneous potential (SP) log was developed next and was pre-
Early electric logs, or e-logs, plotted only formation resistivity measure- sented along with resistivity logs. It is a measurement of the voltage
ments. The resistivity of a rock is a measure of the degree to which it can difference between a movable electrode in the wellbore and a fixed electrode
impede the flow of an electric current. It is measured in ohm.m2/m, which is at the surface. This electrical potential is primarily generated as a result of
usually referred to simply as ohm.m. The reciprocal of resistivity is conduc- exchanges of fluids of different salinities—those of the mud system and
tivity, which is typically expressed in terms of millimhos or mmhos. The those in the formation. During the course of drilling, permeable rock within
ability to conduct electrical current is a function of the conductivity of the the wellbore becomes invaded by drilling mud filtrate. If the filtrate is less
water contained in the pore space of the rock. Fresh water does not conduct saline than the formation fluids, negatively charged chlorine ions from the
electricity; however, the salt ions found in most formation waters do. Thus, formation water cause the SP curve to deflect to the left from an arbitrary
unless that water is fresh, water-saturated rocks have high conductivity and baseline established across impermeable shale formations. The magnitude
low resistivity. Hydrocarbons, which are nonconductive, cause resistivity of the deflection is influenced by a number of factors, including permeability,
values to increase as the pore spaces within a rock become more saturated porosity, formation water salinity and mud filtrate properties. Permeable for-
with oil or gas. mations filled with water that is fresher than the filtrate will cause the curve
to deflect to the right. So, simply by the nature of its deflections, the SP curve
Oilfield Review 2016. can indicate to a geologist which formations are permeable. A permeable
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. formation with a high resistivity is more likely to contain hydrocarbons.
www.slb.com/defining

Over time, the measurements that constitute electric logs have been the data. For example, gas, fractures and lack of compaction require correc-
substantially refined and expanded upon. In addition to the SP curve, tions to be applied to the sonic log. Lithologies affect the density, neutron
today’s basic suite of logging measurements includes a gamma ray (GR) and sonic logs. Invasion of mud filtrate into porous formations affects resis-
curve, multiple resistivity curves, as well as porosity readings obtained from tivity readings, and temperature affects the resistivity of both filtrate and
density, neutron and sonic tools. saline formation water. Some resistivity tools work in nonconductive bore-
The GR device measures naturally occurring radioactivity from the for- hole fluids, others only work in salt saturated mud systems. Pad-contact
mation, and a GR log helps geologists differentiate nonreservoir rocks— logging tools may be affected by borehole washouts. If data are compro-
shales and clays—from reservoir rocks, such as sandstone and carbonates. mised by hole conditions, analysis may not be possible.
Shales and clays are derived from rocks that tend to contain naturally
occurring radioactive elements, primarily potassium, uranium and thorium. Figuring It All Out
As a consequence, shales and clays are more radioactive than clean sand- An initial review of the log should identify deviations from baseline trends
stones and carbonates. Quartz and calcium carbonate produce almost no that could indicate changes in lithology, fluid content, porosity or borehole
radiation. Log analysts look for formations with low background radiation diameter. Recognizing the significance of such deviations is the key to
because they have the potential to contain moveable hydrocarbons. determining which intervals on the well log merit further analysis. For
Resistivity tools measure the formation at different depths of investiga- example, a deflection of the GR curve to the left of the baseline established
tion. The resulting log presents shallow-, medium- and deep-reading curves. for shales might indicate a sandstone that warrants additional evaluation.
The shallow curve, charting the smallest radius of investigation, shows the When accompanied by increases in resistivity and porosity, this interval
resistivity of the flushed zone surrounding the borehole. The medium curves should be scrutinized more thoroughly. A particularly useful indicator for
indicate the resistivity of the invaded zone. The deepest curves show the gas is the telltale decrease in neutron porosity, which can cause the neutron
resistivity of the uncontaminated zone, which is presumed to be the true curve to cross over the density curve. This gas effect is created because gas
resistivity, although even the deepest reading curves may be affected by the contains fewer hydrogen atoms than oil or water.
presence of mud filtrate. By evaluating the separation between these curves, After a potential pay zone is identified, it must be analyzed to determine
a geologist can estimate the diameter of invasion by the mud filtrate and porosity and hydrocarbon saturation. The neutron porosity is transformed
may be able to determine which zones are more permeable than others. from the HI measurement. To evaluate porosity (Ø) from ρb or ∆t measure-
Formation bulk density provides a key measure of porosity. The bulk den- ments, the log analyst must factor in the respective densities or interval
sity (rhob or ρb) of a formation is based on the ratio of a measured interval’s transit times of the rock matrix and the drilling fluid.
ρmatrix – ρb
mass to its volume. In general, porosity is inversely related to the density Ødensity = ρmatrix – ρb
of the rock. The ρb measurement is derived from the electron density of a Ødensity = ρmatrix – ρfluid
ρmatrix – ρfluid
formation. This measurement is obtained by a logging device that emits
gamma rays into the formation. The gamma rays collide with electrons in the The equation for converting the sonic measurement to porosity is similar.
formation, giving off energy and scattering in a process known as Compton ∆tlog – ∆tmatrix
Scattering. The number of such collisions is directly related to the number Øsonic = ∆tρlogmatrix
– ∆t – ρb
Ø
Ødensity== ∆tfluid – ∆tmatrix
of electrons in the formation. In low-density formations, more of these sonic ∆tρfluid
matrix
– ρmatrix
– ∆t fluid
matrix
scattered gamma rays are able to reach the detector than in formations of Having established the porosity of the zone of interest, the next step is to
higher density. determine its true resistivity and the resistivity of a nearby interval contain-
Because hydrogen is a major constituent of both water and hydrocar- ing water. True
a∆tlog –R∆t resistivity
1/n (Rt ) is based on the deep-reading resistivity
w matrix
bons and because water and hydrocarbons concentrate in rock pores, the S = a
measurement,
Øwsonic = m × R 1/n
corrected for filtrate invasion. A nearby water-bearing inter-
Sw = Ø∆t × R–wt ∆tmatrix
fluid
concentration of hydrogen atoms can be used to determine the fluid-filled val can beØm used to
Rt compute the water resistivity Rw. These readings may be
porosity of a formation. Hydrogen atoms have nearly the same mass as neu- combined in the formula developed by Archie to calculate the water satura-
trons. Neutron logging tools emit neutrons using a chemical source or an tion Sw in the pore spaces of a rock.
electronic neutron generator. When these neutrons collide with hydrogen
a Rw 1/n
atoms in a formation, they lose the maximal energy, slow down and eventu- Sw = ×
Øm
Rt
ally reach a very-low-energy—or thermal—state. The rate at which neutrons
reach the thermal state is proportional to the hydrogen concentration or The values for a, m and n are often based on the formation properties. After
index (HI). Neutron porosity tools measure the HI, which is then converted Sw is computed, the log analyst can arrive at a hydrocarbon saturation by
to neutron porosity. subtracting that value from 1.
The sonic log may be used to determine porosity by charting the speed of Initially all logs were obtained from logging tools lowered into the well-
a compressional sound wave as it travels through the formation. Interval bore using a logging cable. Today sensors embedded in the drill collars of
transit time (∆t), measured in microseconds per meter [foot] and often MWD and LWD toolstrings provide alternatives to wireline tools. Although
referred to as slowness, is the reciprocal of velocity. Lithology and porosity manual interpretation of log data is still common, log evaluation has also
affect ∆t. Dense, consolidated formations characterized by compaction at evolved beyond calculations using Archie’s water saturation equation.
depth generally result in a faster (shorter) ∆ t while fluid-filled porosity Modern log analysis is more frequently carried out using computers. With the
results in a slower (longer) ∆t. proliferation of production from unconventional reservoirs, more informa-
Measurements are also uniquely affected by formation and borehole tion is required to properly evaluate and complete these formations. As such,
conditions. Log analysts perform quality control on the data and determine computer processing has become an essential element in log interpretation.
what corrections are required before carrying out quantitative analysis of

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Mechanical Earth Model

Facies and Rock

Rock-Strength

Pore Pressure
Stresses and
Mechanical

Constitutive

Parameters
Properties
Structural
Thomas Bérard Romain Prioul Data Sources

Geology
Typing
Principal Research Scientist Research Program Manager Versus MEM
Properties
Petrophysical logs X (Pp)
Density logs X Sv
A mechanical earth model (MEM) is a repository of data—measurements
Cuttings X
and models—representing the mechanical properties of rocks and fractures
as well as the stresses, pressures and temperatures acting on them at depth. Image logs (X) X AzSh and (Sh)
Engineers and geoscientists use it to understand how rocks deform, and Sonic logs X (X) X (X) AzSh, (Sh), (SH) and (Pp)
sometimes fail, in response to drilling, completion and production Stress tests Sh and (SH)
operations. Each data point in an MEM is referenced to its 3D spatial
Pressure tests Pp
coordinates and time of sample collection.
Rocks deform in a variety of ways in response to stress. Some rocks, such Drilling mud weight (Pp)
as granites, are stiff and strong; some, such as mudstones, are soft and weak; Core lab tests X X X
and some, such as salts, with sufficient time can flow. An MEM provides 3D seismic: X X
information about mechanical behavior and strength by using relationships structural data
between rock properties, induced deformations and ambient conditions. 3D seismic: X X (Pp)
Because of the layered fabric of rocks or the presence of fractures, rock mechanical data
properties are frequently anisotropic—their properties are not the same in Regional database AzSh
all directions as they would be with isotropic media.
An MEM documents the ambient conditions, including the stress, fluid Figure 1. Main sources of information used to build a mechanical earth
model. The properties of MEMs are in columns and the data sources for
pressure, temperature and fluid content, relevant for a geomechanical
determining the properties are in rows. The magnitudes of the principal
analysis. An MEM may represent a snapshot at a time of interest—for stresses are vertical stress (Sv), minimum horizontal stress (Sh), and
instance, the virgin conditions of a reservoir—or it may track how conditions maximum horizontal stress (SH). The azimuth of the minimum horizontal
evolve as the reservoir is being produced. stress is AzSh; the pore pressure is Pp. The items inside parentheses are
indirect measurements or available only under certain circumstances.
Calibration and validation of the MEM involve a range of monitoring data (not
Constructing an MEM listed here) such as drilling events.
To build and calibrate an MEM, geoscientists characterize the reservoir and
overburden and then use monitoring measurements and modeling techniques.
Measurements come from a variety of sources such as seismic data, well logs,
image data and in situ temperature, pressure and stress measurements. The MEMs are calibrated using laboratory or in situ measurements and
Additional sources are mud logs, cuttings data and laboratory mechanical test by comparing drilling, completion or production observations with their
data on core samples (Figure 1). Knowledge from external databases, such as MEM-based geomechanical predictions. If necessary, the MEM data may be
the World Stress Map—a compilation of present-day tectonic stresses—can refined until they produce a satisfactory match to observations. Many of the
also be included in MEMs. Earth’s mechanical properties and conditions are interdependent. For
The data are integrated to derive the various elements of the MEM, example, the pore pressure and state of stress must be consistent with
including the mechanical properties, pore pressure and magnitude and general stability constraints on the geomechanical system. In addition, an
orientation of the maximum, intermediate and minimum principal stresses MEM needs to be consistent with geologic and reservoir models.
(Figure 2). These elements come from direct measurements, such as pore
pressure and in situ stress testing, as well as from indirect derivations based Sizing an MEM
on rock physics modeling, such as pore pressure and principal stress models, Mechanical earth models encompass various levels of detail. Depending on
and empirical correlations between datasets. Pore pressure modeling the application, MEMs may be simple or complex, of high- or low-resolution,
accounts for the effects of reservoir fluids accumulated over geologic at the meter scale in the near-well region or the tens of kilometers scale in a
history, cumulative present-day hydrocarbon extraction and fluid injections sedimentary basin and in 1D, 2D or 3D. For example, a 3D model will be
to stimulate recovery. Principal stress modeling accounts for gravity, the more appropriate than a 1D model for modeling how structural features,
far-field tectonic stresses—distant stresses that result from tectonic plate such as salt bodies, affect the in situ stress field. In addition, the data in
movements—which are modified by regional, basin and local geologic MEMs may document a single event or a time-lapse record of events. The
structures, by human engineering and by the current pore pressure. MEMs are likely to evolve as more data become available or new applications
and situations arise.
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to John Cook, Cambridge, England; Richard For geomechanical applications, the region of interest often extends
Nolen-Hoeksema, Houston, Texas, USA; Fabiola Pacheco, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Richard
Plumb, Plumb Geomechanics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; and Adrian Rodriguez beyond the reservoir. When the challenge is to keep hydraulic fractures
Herrera, Gatwick, England. contained within a zone, the MEM encompasses the formations expected to
Oilfield Review 2016. act as barriers above and below the zone to be fractured. When the concern
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

is the potential for encountering hazards during drilling, the MEM spans
from the surface to the reservoir. In addition, the region of mechanical
influence may extend beyond the region of interest (Figure 3). For a well
drilled near a salt diapir, the state of stress around the well probably
includes the mechanical influence of the diapir.
Another practical aspect to consider is the computer run time. During
drilling, results are required in near real time. Operational decisions
affecting many wells in a field or basin over several years require results
less urgently.

Using an MEM
An MEM is the data repository of in situ characteristics for an earth volume.
These characteristics may be useful on their own, for example, stress
orientation for planning a horizontal well and its completion. Moreover, an
MEM contains all available information required to assess how rocks and
fractures deform in response to drilling, completion and production 0.45 Intermediate principal stress gradient, psi/ft 0.85
operations. Geoscientists conduct these assessments by linking the MEM to
Figure 3. The 3D stress field around a salt diapir. Strong stress direction
other, specialized simulation software such as reservoir, hydraulic fracture, rotations occur in the vicinity of the salt body (pink). The crossed arrows show
the orientation of the maximum (vertical to subvertical) and intermediate
(maximum horizontal to subhorizontal) principal effective stresses; the
Clay Volume Young’s Modulus Unconfined Compressive Pore Pressure minimum principal stress is perpendicular to the page. The size of the arrows
Strength indicate stress magnitude. The distance between crossed arrows is 3,000 ft
0 fraction 1 0 GPa 60 0 MPa 150 0 MPa 80 [914 m] horizontally and 900 ft [274 m] vertically.
Lithology Poisson’s Ratio Angle of Internal Friction Minimum Horizontal Stress

Shale 0 0.5 0 degree 50 0 MPa 80

basin and structural geology reconstruction models. In addition, engineering
Sand Tensile Strength Maximum Horizontal Stress
software tools use geomechanical information from MEMs as input to
Limestone 0 MPa 150 0 MPa 80
determine how in situ deformation and changes in stress and rock properties
Marl Vertical Stress
affect an operation’s performance. For instance, by simultaneously
0 MPa 80
combining reservoir and geomechanical models, engineers can assess how
production influences the effective stresses, the opening and closing of
natural fractures and the corresponding change in rock mass permeabilities.
Such effects are important when engineers assess the reservoir behavior,
production rates, recovered volumes and economics of a proposed
production schedule.
Engineers use MEMs to understand past experiences and identify the
root causes of unexpected events such as early water breakthrough or
drilling fluid loss. Drilling and completion engineers can take lessons
learned from MEMs to plan future operations that are more efficient and
safer than they would be without this information. They can assess the
500 m

consequences of geomechanical effects for various scenarios of oilfield

operations as a function of the development plan or design parameters. Well
engineers can conduct wellbore stability analyses to decide well orientation,
casing architecture and drilling mud properties such as density. Stimulation
engineers can select perforation intervals for hydraulic fracturing based on
the stress profile along wellbores to improve reservoir contact and ensure
fracture containment.
The integration of mechanical earth models into operators’ workflows is
important for nearly all aspects of well construction and production. An
MEM can be crucial for reducing risk, cutting costs and increasing opera-
tional efficiency. Not only are MEMs important during the early exploration
and development phases—when little is known about the field—but also
late in life when the field requires revitalization through such activities as
infill drilling, refracturing and enhanced recovery operations. Geoscientists
continue using and updating MEMs as they accumulate and integrate data
Figure 2. Vertical log display of a 1D MEM. This log presents lithology and the
volumetric fraction of clay (Track 1), elastic properties (Track 2), strength throughout the life of a field. Mechanical earth models are becoming vital
properties (Track 3) and the state of stress (Track 4) characterized by stress and indispensable repositories of data for many oilfield activities.
magnitudes and directions (not shown).

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Mud Logging
Matt Varhaug Standpipe

Senior Editor
Kelly Flowline
Gas trap
Since its commercial introduction in 1939, the mud logging unit has become Mud logging Rotary table
unit Shale
a hub for monitoring formation responses to the drilling process. Initially, Drill floor Suction line shaker
the mud logger’s mandate was to record the depth and describe the lithol- Bell nipple
ogy of formations encountered by the drill bit then determine whether those Blowout
formations contained hydrocarbons. However, the scope of mud logging has preventer

expanded as additional sensors brought more data into the logging unit— Mud Shaker
pump pit
such as gas chromatographs, weight-on-bit and mud pit level indicators.
Basic mud logging services now typically track drilling rates, lithology, Casing Suction Reserve
pit pit
visual hydrocarbon indicators, total combustible gas in mud and individual
hydrocarbon compounds in the gas along with numerous drilling parame-
ters. The mud logger monitors and evaluates a broad range of surface indi-
cators to compile a concise record of subsurface geology, hydrocarbons
Drillpipe
encountered and significant drilling events. These days, the term surface
logging is sometimes used to encompass a range of enhanced mud logging
services that incorporate advanced sensor and computing technology to
provide monitoring for wellbore stability and early kick detection .
Bit
The practice of mud logging relies heavily on the mud circulation system.
High-pressure mud pumps draw mud, or drilling fluid, from surface tanks and Figure 1. Monitoring the formation. Drilling mud, pumped downhole through
direct it downhole through the drillpipe (Figure 1). The mud exits the drill- the center of the drillpipe, enters the open borehole and carries away
string through nozzles in the bit. As a bit drills through the subsurface, the formation cuttings and fluids as it moves upward to the surface. There, the
rock it grinds—along with water, oil or gas in the formation—is carried back mud, formation fluids and cuttings are diverted through a flowline to the
shale shaker. Gas is separated from the mud, and a suction line siphons the
up the hole by the drilling fluid. Upon reaching the surface, the fluid exits gas to the mud logging unit for analysis. Cuttings are sampled at the shaker
through a flowline above the blowout preventer and is deposited over a vibrat- screen and examined inside the unit. When these evaluations are combined
ing mesh screen at the shale shaker, which separates formation cuttings from with drilling parameters—drill rate, pump rate, pump pressure, weight on bit,
mud properties and other inputs—the mud logger can identify potential pay
the liquid mud. The liquid portion of the drilling fluid falls through the screens
zones and ascertain how the formation is reacting to the drilling process.
to the mud pits, ready to be pumped back into the well; the rock cuttings on
the shaker screen provide the basis for determining downhole lithology.
porosity, texture and other characteristics relevant to rock type. This infor-
Depth of Samples mation is plotted in the lithology column of the mud log, which displays an
The type of material flowing over the shaker and the timing of its arrival are estimate of gross lithology as a percentage of cuttings, reported in 10%
fundamental to the mud logging process. To characterize the lithology and increments. Because the presence of hydrocarbons may not be obvious—
fluid content of a particular interval, the mud logger must account for the even under a microscope—each sample is examined for fluorescence under
transport velocity of the cuttings to determine the time it takes cuttings to ultraviolet (UV) light.
travel from the bit to the shaker. This lag time increases as depth increases, Fluorescence can be an extremely sensitive indicator of the presence of
taking just a few minutes while the upper section of a well is drilled but hydrocarbons in drill cuttings. Sample fluorescence is evaluated in terms of
extending to several hours in deeper sections. Lag time, a function of depth color (ranging from brown to green, gold, blue, yellow or white), intensity
and mud pump rate, is usually measured in terms of pump strokes, which and distribution. Fluorescence color may indicate oil gravity; dark colors
are counted by a pump stroke counter at the mud logger’s console. are suggestive of low API gravity heavy oils, and light colors indicate high
The lag time dictates when formation cuttings from a given depth will API gravity light oils. Following application of a solvent on the samples,
arrive at the shaker. Lagged cuttings samples are collected at regular depth hydrocarbon fluorescence will appear to flow and diffuse into the solvent as
intervals—typically every 3 m [10 ft] or 10 m [30 ft] of drilling—and prior the oil dissolves. This diffusion is known as cut fluorescence, or more com-
to tripping out of the hole. Lagged samples are also collected to examine monly just cut. Under UV light, hydrocarbons may be seen to stream from
changes in formation characteristics, as indicated by significant changes in the rock pores into the surrounding solvent, turning the solvent cloudy.
drill rate or gas curve trends. To measure gas, the mud logger relies on an automated gas detection sys-
tem. Suction lines transport a constant stream of air and gas from the gas
Sample Analysis trap, located at the shale shaker, to the logging unit. There, sensitive instru-
Inside the logging unit, the mud logger rinses and dries cuttings samples ments process the gas samples extracted from the drilling mud. The primary
before examining them under a binocular microscope. The mud logger gas measurement tool is a flame ionization detector (FID), which can sense
describes each sample in terms of lithology, color, grain size, shape, sorting, hydrocarbon gas concentrations as low as 5 parts per million. From FID mea-
surements, a total gas curve can be plotted on the mud log. Background
Oilfield Review 2015. gas—a more or less constant, minimum level of gas—establishes a baseline
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

on the total gas plot. A gas show is any Clay Shale Sandstone Sand Limestone Dolomite Anhydrite Coal
significant increase in detected gas,
FG Formation gas CG Connection gas TG Trip gas Oil and gas Oil Gas Bit change, trip Shoe
which is usually associated with a zone of
Chromatograph, ppm
increased porosity or permeability. ROP
C1 C2 C3
ft/h Depth, Cuttings, Total Gas, units Mud Weight,

Fluorescence
Lithological Description
For more detailed hydrocarbon analy- 100 50 0 ft % 0 125 250 375 500
iC4 nC4 ppg
and Notes
iC5 nC5
sis during shows, the mud logger employs 0.5k 1k 1.5k 2k 2.5k

1,000k
100k
a gas chromatograph. The chromatograph

100

10k
10

1k
7,500 Sandstone: Clr-lt gy-frst, m-f gr,
separates the gas stream into fractions sbelg-elg, sbang-sbrnd, m srt, tr Glau,
calc mtx, p-m cmt, qtzc i/p, m ind,
according to molecular weight. Commonly fri-m hd, p-fr intgran por, no fluor.
9 7/8-in. casing set at 7,580 ft MD/
detected components fall within the 6,691 ft TVD. LOT = 14.8 ppg.
In: 10.8
alkane group: methane [CH4]—denoted 7,600 Out: 10.8
Clay: Lt brn-tan, arg, calc, plas,
sft, sol, slty, rthy, grty.
as C1—as well as the following constitu- Shale: Lt gy-lt brn, grnsh gy, arg, calc,
frm-hd, occ sft, p-m cpt, sbblky-blky,
ents: ethane [C2H6] or C2, propane [C3H8] Trip for new bit Increase splty-ppy i/p, rthy, grty.
TG: 1,548 U
MW to 11.3
or C3, the normal and isopolymers of 6.3 bbl gain
Sandstone: Clr-lt gy-frst, m-f gr,
butane [C4H10] or nC4 and iC4 and pentane sbelg-elg, sbang-sbrnd, m srt, tr Glau,
calc mtx, p-m cmt, qtzc i/p, m ind,
7,700 CG: 35 U Increase
[C5H12] or nC5 and iC5. The measurement MW to 11.5 fri-m hd, p-fr intgran por, no fluor.

of these light hydrocarbons helps geolo- CG: 39 U Increase Shale: Lt gy-lt brn, grnsh gy, arg, calc,
MW to 11.7 frm-hd, occ sft, p-m cpt, sbblky-blky,
gists characterize reservoir fluid composi- CG: 45 U splty-ppy i/p, rthy, grty.

tion while drilling. The quantity of gas Clay: Lt brn-tan, arg, calc, plas,
7,800 sft, sol, stky i/p, rthy, grty.
recovered and the ratios of the various
Sand: Clr-frst, trnsp-trnsl, m-c gr,
gases are useful in identifying zones of WOB 38 to 53 klb occ f, sbelg-sbsph, ang-sbang, m srt,
RPM 78 to 84 tr Glauc, uncons-p cmt, p ind, lse, n por,
producible oil or gas. Flow 650 gpm Qtz, no fluor.

FG: 427 U
Clay: Lt brn-tan, arg, calc, plas,
7,900 sft, sol, stky i/p, rthy, grty.
Coordination with the Drill Floor Increase
Sand: Clr-frst, trnsp-trnsl, m-c gr,
Gas monitoring is also important to the FG: 920 U
MW to 12.0 occ f, sbelg-sbsph, ang-sbang, m srt,
tr Glauc, uncons-p cmt, p ind, lse,
driller and company representative. Qtz, no fluor.

Mud gas trends that develop while drill-

8,000
ing are integral to the evaluation of mud
balance and identification of potentially Figure 2. Excerpt from a basic mud log. A mud log typically displays ROP, depth, cuttings lithology, gas measurements
overpressured formations. By carefully and cuttings descriptions along with notes on mud rheology or drilling parameters. This log documents fairly routine
tracking gas and drilling parameters, drilling. Casing was set in a shaly interval at 7,580 ft. After drilling out of casing, the driller ran a leakoff test (LOT).
Drilling ROP was about 25 to 30 ft/h [7.6 to 9 m/h]. A trip for a new bit at 7,650 ft resulted in 1,548 units of trip gas (TG).
the mud logger can recognize deviations During drilling at near-balanced conditions, small increases in connection gas (CG) were observed following
from normal trends and give advanced each connection, prompting the driller to raise the mud weight. An increase in ROP at 7,890 ft signified a drilling
warning so the driller can mitigate break, which was accompanied by increasing sand content and a gas show, which reached a peak of 920 units of
impending problems. Thus, the success formation gas (FG).
of a well and the safety of the drilling
operation may hinge on how quickly a mud logger can synthesize and inter- logs from offset wells and help the operator track the bit’s position in relation
pret myriad pieces of data. to target formations. Because the mud log is based on physical samples, it can
A sensor mounted on the drawworks tracks the drill rate, or rate of pen- provide a direct, positive identification of lithology and indication of hydrocar-
etration (ROP), to determine the amount of time spent drilling each meter bon content. This information can be especially useful when formation char-
or foot of depth. The mud logger’s role takes on added importance when a acteristics make wireline or LWD log interpretation complicated or ambiguous.
drilling break, or significant increase in ROP, is encountered. Then the mud The mud log provides independent evidence for a more comprehensive under-
logger alerts the company representative to request that drilling be stopped standing of reservoir conditions and geology.
until mud and cuttings from the bit face can be circulated to the surface. If Advances in computing and networking systems, surface sensor design
these cuttings are accompanied by an increase in gas, or if sample analysis and sample analysis are bringing mud logging technology into the 21st cen-
reveals the presence of oil, the mud logger notifies the company representa- tury. Today, even more sensors lead into the logging unit, each acquiring
tive and geologist of a show of gas or oil. The operator then has the option to data at a frequency of several times per second. To handle this increase in
further evaluate the potential pay zone through coring or testing. data rate and volume, a context-aware processing system—based on com-
The mud log serves a variety of functions (Figure 2). The ROP curve is puter-generated trend lines and a library of established models—makes the
plotted as a step chart or a continuous line, increasing from right to left. When data easier for the mud logger and other end users to evaluate. Digital
displayed in this manner, the ROP curve responds to changes in rock type or images of samples viewed under the microscope can be rapidly transmitted
porosity in a manner similar to that of a spontaneous potential or gamma ray from the wellsite to the client office. New approaches to gas sampling and
curve, making for easy correlation between LWD or wireline curves. As a cor- analysis have been developed to extract geochemical properties at the well-
relation tool, the mud log’s ROP and total gas curves often exhibit a remark- site. The mud logging unit has long been a hub for monitoring drilling opera-
able correspondence to gamma ray and resistivity curves, respectively. tions; its role as a source of crucial information for the company
Throughout the drilling process, mud logs provide real-time correlations with representative, the driller and the geologist continues to evolve.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Multilateral Wells Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Rick von Flatern

Senior Editor

In the mid-1990s, multilateral wells proliferated worldwide as innovative

drilling and completion technologies made construction of laterals less
costly and less technically challenging. Multilateral (ML) wells comprise
more than one wellbore drilled from and connected to a single main bore. In
certain reservoirs, operators can leverage this approach to improve reser-
voir production by accessing numerous production zones or by increasing
the contact area between a wellbore and a formation with minimal increase Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
in drilling and completion costs. These techniques also reduce the environ-
mental footprint of drilling rigs and subsequent production trees, particu-
larly for land operations.

Multilateral Configurations—TAML Levels

Operators have used rudimentary ML wells since the 1950s. However, by
1997, they were applying the strategy in an expanding variety of configura-
tions, inspiring an industry group of operators and service companies to
form a consortium—Technology Advancement of Multilaterals (TAML)—to
develop a classification system for ML wells. The consortium chose to cate-
gorize the wells according to the type of junction used to join the main bore
to the lateral, and produced standards that were designated TAML Levels 1
Figure 1. Multilateral wells are characterized according to definitions
through 6. The ascending order of these levels reflects increasing mechani-
established in 1997 during the Technology Advancement of Multilaterals
cal and pressure capability of the junction (Figure 1). As a consequence, (TAML) Forum held in Aberdeen. These standards classify junctions as
cost, complexity and risk also increase at the higher TAML levels. TAML Level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 based on mechanical complexity, connectivity
The main bore, lateral and junction of a TAML Level 1 well are uncased. and hydraulic isolation.
This basic lateral is designed to enhance reservoir drainage from
consolidated formations. It has the advantage of low drilling and completion However, because the cement can only withstand limited differential pres-
costs, but the openhole junction makes reentry into the lateral wellbore and sure, the junction does not provide hydraulic isolation.
control of flow from the lateral impossible. TAML Level 5 wells do provide hydraulic isolation at the junction
Wells that have cased and cemented main bores and openhole laterals because pressure integrity is provided by the completion, which includes
are designated TAML Level 2. A cemented main bore significantly reduces production tubing connecting a packer in the main wellbore above the junc-
the risk of wellbore collapse and provides isolation between laterals. By tion and a packer in the lateral wellbore. Because hydraulic isolation and
placing sliding sleeves and packers in the main bore, operators can produce support are provided by the completion hardware, the junction may be a
the bores singly or commingle production. TAML Level 3 or 4 before the Level 5 completion is installed.
Placing a liner in the lateral and mechanically connecting it to the cased TAML Level 6 wells also provide hydraulic isolation at the junction. A well
and cemented main bore results in a TAML Level 3 well. A liner is a string at this level differs from a TAML Level 5 well in that pressure integrity is pro-
of casing that does not extend to the surface but is anchored or suspended vided by the main wellbore casing and a cemented or uncemented liner in the
inside a previously run casing string. This TAML Level 3 well includes a lat- lateral. The cost and complexity of creating a single-metal-element dual-bore
eral that is cased but not cemented at the junction. It is a relatively low-cost casing junction downhole has prevented TAML Level 6 wells from being devel-
option that includes reentry capabilities and a lateral that is better sup- oped. As of today, the category exists as a result of early experiments.
ported than that of Levels 1 and 2. Using sliding sleeves and packer plugs,
operators can produce the bores singly or commingle production. A TAML Choosing a Lateral Design
Level 3 junction does not provide hydraulic isolation and its use is restricted The geometry of an ML well is determined by the production targets, their
to consolidated formations. relative depths and lateral extents. The laterals may be on the same hori-
TAML Level 4 junctions are applicable in both consolidated and uncon- zontal plane at the same true vertical depth or they may be on the same
Multilateral_Fig_01_2.eps
solidated formations because both the lateral and the main bore are cased vertical plane and follow the same direction but at different depths. Within
and cemented at the junction. The junction provides fullbore access to the these two main categories, a nearly infinite number of combinations can be
lateral, and mechanical support is supplied by the tubulars and cement. created that may cover multiple zones or span out in various directions
within a single reservoir (Figure 2).
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Adrian Francis, Houston, Texas, USA; and
Jonathan Park, The Woodlands, Texas.
Oilfield Review 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Stacked dual lateral Dual opposed and stacked Planar dual lateral Planar dual lateral (pitchfork) Planar opposed dual lateral
opposed triple lateral (gullwing)

Planar opposed dual lateral Lateral with herringbone pattern Lateral with opposed Planar quadrilateral Stacked planar quadrilateral
with herringbone pattern herringbone pattern
Figure 2. Stacked laterals are in the same vertical plane; opposed, or gullwing, laterals are in the same zone but run in opposite directions; and fishbone,
herringbone or whalebone patterns are created by numerous laterals that extend outward from a single horizontal main bore to cover the zone.

Because ML wells that have higher TAML designations are more com- and the main bore; TAML Levels 2 through 6 junctions may be used if the
plex, they are more costly and their configurations are more flexible. As they well includes a dual upper completion to keep the flow streams separated.
do with ML geometry, engineers choose a TAML level junction based primar-
ily on reservoir characteristics, costs and function. Handling the Pressure
Junctions can fail as a consequence of high drawdown pressures, and engi-
Common Applications neers must understand the scale of those pressures when choosing a junc-
The most frequent applications of ML wells are in reservoirs that require tion. Because drawdown pressures are exerted directly on the formation in
sand control and in heavy oil reservoirs. In the case of sand control, the TAML Levels 1, 2 and 3 junctions and on a cement sheath in TAML Level 4
reason is often slot management on offshore platforms. More reservoir can junctions, these junctions should be used only in low-drawdown environ-
be accessed from a single casing string to surface. Relatively lower-cost ments. TAML Levels 5 and 6 junctions are separated from the formation by
sand control methods for multilaterals include slotted liners or stand-alone casing and cement and able to withstand significant drawdown pressure.
screens that act as filters to prevent formation sand entering the wellbore.
These are typically Level 5 wells. Reentry
In heavy oil applications, the goal is to access more reservoir from a sin- The ability to reenter the lateral for well intervention operations is another
gle parent bore. The amount of reservoir accessed from a single surface cas- ML design consideration. Because it is a directionally drilled section that
ing can approach 100,000 ft. These are typically Level 1, 2 or 3 wells. has no junction, the lower lateral is almost always easily accessed using
standard intervention methods. Operators must make an economics-based
decision during the well planning stage to include junctions that allow
Artificial Lift through-tubing access, junctions that can be adopted to allow access after
Like many wells, multilaterals may require some form of artificial lift to installation or junctions through which no access is possible.
supplement reservoir energy to bring produced fluids to the surface. The decision to deploy lateral junctions that allow fullbore or restricted
Because most junctions do not contain pressure seals across the annulus, access is a function of the overall well design. Engineers usually opt for
laterals are rarely good candidates for injection wells that operate at ele- fullbore access if a packer is to be placed below the junction or if an artifi-
vated pressures. Pump-type systems are applicable when formation fluid is cial lift system must be located near the lower lateral. In addition, based on
produced naturally to a depth that is above the junction and shallow enough their knowledge of the reservoir, operators may require fullbore access to
for a pump to lift economic volumes of liquids to the surface. perform perforating, gravel packing, cleanout and other remedial opera-
tions. Fullbore access can be adapted to all TAML level junctions but must
Offshore Drilling be specified before installation; some commercially available junctions
Multilateral wells are suited to offshore and subsea operations. Offshore allow no access or only restricted access to the lateral and cannot be
platforms are often slot limited; they are designed to accommodate a finite adapted after installation.
number of casing strings and wellheads at the surface. Should an operator
discover the need for more wells than are allotted in the original platform Costs and Benefits
design, installing laterals that branch from the existing main bore is signifi- The decision to use an ML system and what type to use are the result of cost-
cantly less expensive than acquiring another platform. In addition, the capi- benefit analyses. In general, the less complex junctions present operators
tal and operating expenses of offshore operations are such that the cost of with lower risks and costs. But risk mitigation and cost savings must be
MLs and junctions is small by comparison. balanced against individual well and field development expectations. In
low-value reservoirs, a simple openhole lateral that has no reentry capabil-
Commingled Production ity may increase ultimate reserve recovery or accelerate production while
In many areas, commingled production—in which formation fluids from having little impact on overall drilling and completion costs. In high-value
separate zones are mixed downhole and allowed to flow as a single stream deepwater plays, installing a hydraulically sealed TAML Level 5 or Level 6
to the surface—is not allowed or is impossible because of pressure differ- junction can drive total well costs into millions of dollars and still be a good
ences between zones. Only TAML Level 5 or Level 6 junctions provide the investment because it may save drilling another well or preserve a well slot
pressure integrity required to prevent commingling of flow from the lateral on an existing production platform.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Progressing Cavity Pumps Progressing cavity pumping is a cost-effective form of artificial lift that
simplifies production and withstands erosive attack. Progressing cavity
Ted Moon pumps (PCPs) displace fluid by transferring it through a sequence of small,
Contributing Editor discrete cavities formed from the turning of a helical rotor within a stator.
These pumps are not only efficient in pumping viscous and abrasive fluids
but are easily customized to produce liquids of varying temperatures, pres-
sures, flow rates and solids content. Today, an estimated 50,000 wells world-
Oil production typically flows as a complex mixture of oil, gas, water and
wide are produced using PCPs.
solids that regularly changes composition and rate. This dynamic environ-
ment creates complications for the artificial lift systems that are used on
PCP Architecture
more than 90% of oil wells worldwide. All lift systems are susceptible, in
Most PCP systems consist of a downhole PCP and a drive system (Figure 1).
varying degrees, to corrosive and erosive attack from solids-laden produced
The downhole positive displacement pump comprises a stator and a helical
fluids, and this is a consideration in completion design.
rotor. The stator is a steel tubular housing that has an internal bonded elas-
tomeric sleeve with a helix design on its inner surface. It is run in the well
on the bottom of the production string.
The rotor is a small-diameter screw that has deep, round threads and a long
pitch (distance between consecutive thread peaks). Typically manufactured of
Electric motor
chrome-plated carbon steel, it is run downhole at the bottom of a sucker rod
string. The helix inside the stator sleeve matches the rotor configuration,
except it contains one more thread than the rotor and has a longer pitch. The
rotor seals tightly against the stator and turns eccentrically inside it.
This configuration creates a set of fixed-size cavities between the rotor
and stator that move as the rotor rotates and carry the production fluid
Sucker rod string Stator through the pump in pulsation-free linear flow. The PCP is able to pump at
Produced
extremely low flow rates, but seals may leak at higher pressures. This prob-
fluid lem may be resolved by using a longer downhole pump that has more cavi-
ties; PCPs typically include 2 to 12 cavities.
The PCP drive system is usually located at the surface and consists of a
motor that rotates the rod string, which in turn rotates the rotor within the
Tubing string
stator. However, in wells that have long lateral sections or exhibit a high
degree of deviation, operators may install subsurface electric motors to turn
the rotor and avoid rod and casing wear (Figure 2). In deviated and horizon-
tal wells, these rodless PCP systems may reduce failure rates by 30% to 50%
compared with PCPs that use conventional surface drive systems.

Pros and Cons

PCP systems often have specific downhole designs for a given set of field
conditions: fluids, solids content and temperature. They deliver overall sys-
tem energy efficiency—the ratio of motor lift power to initial input power
in kilowatts, expressed as a percentage—of between 55% and 75%. PCPs are
relatively easy to install and operate, and require less maintenance.
Rotor When the stator is lined with an appropriate elastomer, the pumps resist
abrasion and are able to produce fluids containing high concentrations of
sand and other solids. They also operate within a wide temperature range;
Figure 1. Progressing cavity pump (PCP) configuration. A PCP used in a well some PCPs operate reliably at temperatures up to 120°C [250°F]. The pumps
frequently consists of a helical steel rotor connected to the bottom of a do not contain valves or reciprocating parts that may clog or lock up and they
sucker rod string and housed inside a stator. The stator consists of an
elastomer sleeve bonded to a steel tubular housing that is part of the tubing are designed to limit the rate of shear, or relative motion between adjacent
string. An electric motor, usually on surface, rotates the rod string and the layers of the flowing production fluid. This shear rate control helps limit agi-
attached rotor. In some cases an insertable PCP is used, in which the rotor tation, fluid emulsification and instances of foaming that might cause pro-
and stator form a single unit deployed on the rod string. The rotor and stator cessing problems downstream. At the surface, the drive system has a simple
are aligned eccentrically to create fixed-sized pump cavities. As the rotor
turns inside the stator, the motion causes the pump cavities to open and design with a small footprint and low profile, and it emits low noise levels.
close and carry produced fluid through the pump. Highly deviated wells However, PCPs have an upper production rate limit of approximately
often use a downhole motor, eliminating the rod string. 800 m3/d [5,040 bbl/d] for large-diameter pumps and significantly less for
small-diameter pumps. Current PCPs have a true vertical well depth limit of
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Lance Mehegan, Bakersfield, California, USA. about 2,000 m [6,500 ft].
Oilfield Review 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Rotor Flexible shaft Motor lead extension Permanent magnet motor Motor centralizer

Power cable Rotor connection coupling Pump intake Motor protector Permanent downhole sensors
Figure 2. A rodless PCP downhole assembly. Rodless systems replace the sensors measure motor performance. The motor drives a flexible shaft and a
surface motor and rotating rod string with a permanent magnet motor rotor connection coupling that turns the PCP rotor, moving the reservoir
downhole. A centralizer is positioned at the bottom of the assembly and a liquids entering the pump through the intake port. Power is supplied to the
motor protector is placed just above the motor. Permanent downhole motor from the surface through the power cable and motor lead extension.

In addition, these pumps are sensitive to the downhole fluid environment; be installed to capture large coal particles before they enter the PCP
for example, the stator elastomer has a tendency to swell or deteriorate when while allowing fines and water to pass. To prevent gas ingress into the
exposed to certain fluids, such as those used in acid stimulation treatments. pump, which might lead to heat generation and pump burnout, the pump
PCPs may exhibit volumetric efficiencies of less than 30% in wells producing intake is typically located below the perforations or near the bottom of
substantial quantities of gas and greater heat retention in the pump, which openhole well completions.
may lead to elevated elastomer temperatures and reduced pump life.
Paraffin control can also be problematic in waxy crude production scenarios Surface Applications
because the rotational movement of the rod string precludes the use of Surface applications of PCPs include transfer of multiphase fluids from wells
scrapers for paraffin removal. to collection stations and transport of crude oil from onsite storage tanks to
Other threats to PCP run life include rod string and tubing failures in offsite storage facilities. Because PCPs exhibit a high tolerance for rocks,
directional and horizontal wells and increased incidents of leakage caused by cuttings, sand and other solids commonly found in drilling mud returns, they
excessive vibrations in high-speed applications. When PCPs operate without may be used to move drilling mud from storage tanks into centrifuges and to
fluid, the pump stator deteriorates rapidly. feed drill cuttings from the shale shaker into the cuttings dryer.
Operators use PCPs to pump produced water to hydrocyclones or flota-
Applications in Artificial Lift tion units and to transfer skimmed oil from these units to storage tanks.
Operators choose PCP systems for wells characterized by high-viscosity They may also be used to return fluid to upstream separators to extract
fluids and high sand cuts. In heavy oil wells, where produced fluid viscosity more oil before final disposal. During hydraulic fracturing operations,
ranges from a few hundred to more than 10,000 cP [10 Pa.s], PCPs may be PCPs are employed to dose chemicals and proppants into the fracturing
deployed as one part of a production system. These systems may include fluid that is pumped downhole.
streamlined rod strings that have minimal flow restrictions, injection of
diluents such as light petroleum products or water to reduce fluid viscosity Recent Developments
and heated or buried surface flowlines. The optimal selection of elastomer Because PCP stators routinely wear out faster than rotors, the industry is
type and pump size may be a trial-and-error process of varying pump param- focused on stator design innovation. In addition to more robust elastomeric
eters and tracking system performance. materials, PCP providers have developed all-metal stators. Such a stator
PCP systems are also used to lift production fluids in wells that have would enable the PCP to withstand the rigorous operating conditions of
highly variable downhole temperature profiles and those containing ele- enhanced oil recovery methods that expose the pump to temperatures as
vated levels of carbon dioxide [CO2], methane [CH4], hydrogen sulfide [H2S] high as 350°C [600°F], to steam and to produced fluids that have diverse
or aromatics and paraffins. Any of these factors, alone or in combination, fluid viscosities, pressures and flow rates.
can impact pump operating life by attacking the elastomeric material in the To address premature pump failures caused by insufficient fluid levels,
stator. Operators must therefore carefully prescreen elastomers to select recent innovations address pump automation and optimization. Known as
the material that exhibits the best performance for the conditions expected. pumpoff, a lack of fluid in the pump causes increased internal temperatures
Wells with reservoir temperatures ranging from 40°C [104°F] to 100°C and elastomer burnout, which forces operators to replace pumps sooner
[212°F] are suitable for PCPs. However, reasonable run lives in these wells than would otherwise be necessary.
require elastomers capable of withstanding these temperatures without Solutions to pumpoff-related failures range in complexity and scalability
experiencing significant swelling or debonding from the metal sleeve; elas- and depend on the needs of the well. Simple variable frequency drives
tomer integrity limits the use of PCPs in extreme-temperature applications, (VFDs) may be deployed to control motor speed and torque by varying input
such as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operations. frequency and voltage, which helps regulate the temperature, pressure and
PCP systems are a common lift method for dewatering coalbed meth- flow rate of fluids moving through the pump. More sophisticated optimiza-
ane wells. Produced water from these wells typically contains high con- tion systems are available that integrate a VFD with a control system that
centrations of suspended sand from hydraulic fracturing, coal particles remotely monitors pump performance and production through surface and
and dissolved solids. Although these pumping systems can handle the downhole sensors. Such control systems can automatically route commands
majority of particles, pumping efficiency drops in the presence of coal par- to the VFD to fine-tune pump performance, thus optimizing flow rates and
ticles that are 20 mm [0.8 in.] or more in diameter; such particles can reducing pump failures and well interventions. Developments such as these
become lodged in the pump and cause increased operating torque, stator promise to extend the applicability of progressing cavity pumping and help
tearing or pump seizing. Slotted pump intake or tailpipe assemblies can operators maximize well production.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Defining and Determining Permeability

Richard Nolen-Hoeksema
Editor

Permeability, which is the capacity of a porous material to allow fluids to

pass through it, depends on the number, geometry and size of intercon-
nected pores, capillaries and fractures (right). Permeability is an intrinsic
property of porous materials and governs the ease with which fluids move
through hydrocarbon reservoirs, aquifers, gravel packs and filters.
Permeability is defined in units of area, which relates to the area of open
pore space in the cross section that faces, or is perpendicular to, the direc-
> The importance of connectivity. Connected pores (green) give rock its
tion of flowing fluid. In the International System of Units (SI), the unit for
permeability, allowing fluid to flow (black arrows).
permeability is m2. The common unit is the darcy (D) [about 10−12 m2]; this
unit is named for the French engineer Henry Darcy, who conducted experi- occupied by pores, or voids. However, this is not an absolute rule. Textural
ments with water flowing through sand. These experiments led to the for- and geologic factors determine the magnitude of permeability by increasing
mulation of Darcy’s law, which describes the steady-state flow of fluid or decreasing the cross-sectional area of open pore space. These factors
through porous media. In most oilfield applications, the common unit is the affect the geometry of the pore space and are independent of fluid type.
millidarcy (mD) [about 10−15 m2]. Materials formed from stacked arrays of identical solid spheres, be they
Permeability is not to be confused with mobility or with hydraulic con- cannonballs, marbles or ball bearings, have equal porosities. However, the
ductivity. Mobility is the medium’s permeability divided by the dynamic pore cross-sectional areas differ dramatically; thus the permeabilities of
viscosity of the fluid flowing through the medium. Hydraulic conductivity, these arrays also differ dramatically. The permeability for rocks made of
or transmissivity, is the discharge, or effective, velocity of fluid flow large, or coarse, grains will be higher than those of small, or fine, grains
through the medium and is equal to the fluid flux—volume of fluid passing (below left).
through a cross section during a time interval—divided by the cross-sec- Sorting is the range of grain sizes that occurs in sedimentary materials.
tional area. Mobility and hydraulic conductivity are collective characteris- Well-sorted materials have grains of the same size, while poorly sorted mate-
tics that combine properties of the fluid with those of the porous medium. rials have grains of many sizes. Permeability decreases as the degree of sort-
ing varies from good to poor because small grains can fill the spaces between
Factors Affecting Permeability large grains.
In many materials, permeability is almost directly proportional to the mate- Permeability is also influenced by grain shape. Measures of grain shape
rial’s porosity, which is the fraction of the material’s total volume that is are sphericity, roundness and roughness. Sphericity is the degree to which a
grain’s shape approximates that of a sphere. Roundness relates to the amount
106
Very well Extremely well of smoothing of the grain surface, ranging from angular to round. Roughness
Sorting Well 0.840
0.590
is the degree of texture on grains. Grain shape affects packing, the 3D
Moderate
0.420 arrangement of grains. Variability in grain shape can prevent grains from
105
Poor reaching their closest possible packing arrangement, which has an impact on
0.297 Median grain
0.210 size, mm
Permeability, mD

Very poor
permeability. As the degree of packing increases from loose to tight, a single
104
0.149 grain contacts an increasing number of neighboring grains. Consequently, the
0.105 spaces between grains and the cross-sectional areas open to flow decrease,
0.074
leading to lower permeability.
103 Diagenesis is the alteration of a rock’s original mineralogy and texture.
Dissolution, dolomitization, fracturing or other rock-altering processes create
additional, or secondary, porosity that may increase permeability. Precipitation
102 of cement between mineral and rock grains decreases permeability. Clay min-
20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Porosity, %
erals may form crystals that line pore walls or grow as fibers and plates that
bridge the pore volume. Authigenic interstitial clays, those that develop in
> Permeabilty as a function of porosity, grain size and sorting. Samples of
artificially mixed and packed sands were measured for porosity and
place between grains, may fill pore space and reduce permeability. Allogenic
permeability. Each symbol corresponds to a particular grain size, and red clays, those that have been transported into pores, can plug them.
dotted lines connect similarly sorted packs. Permeability increases with Stress and pressure increase as rocks are buried deep in sedimentary
grain size and degree of sorting. Each data point represents an average basins. In response, the rock’s bulk and pore volumes are compressed, causing
value of porosity and permeability. [Data from Beard DC and Weyl PK:
“Influence of Texture on Porosity and Permeability of Unconsolidated permeability to decrease. Fluid pressures also affect permeability; an increase
Sand,” AAPG Bulletin 57, no. 2 (February 1973): 349–369.] in fluid pressure opens pores, while a decrease causes pores to close.
Most rocks exhibit some degree of permeability anisotropy, which is the
Oilfield Review Autumn 2014: 26, no. 3. variation of permeability with direction. Grain sphericity and the presence of
Copyright © 2014 Schlumberger. fractures are factors that affect the directionality of permeability. Spherical
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Mark Andersen and Denis Klemin, Houston.
www.slb.com/defining

grains form isotropic packs that allow fluid to flow equally well in all direc- change of pressure and effluent flow rate to solve for permeability. The
tions. Oblate (flattened) and prolate (elongated) grains tend to rest horizon- pressure-decay method is particularly good for measuring the permeability
tally and parallel to one another and form layers that affect the ease of fluid of tight, or low-permeability, samples because steady-state flow through
flow. Anisotropic permeability is higher when fluids flow parallel to a layer these samples takes a long time to achieve.
than when perpendicular to it. Fluids flow more easily through open frac- Analysts apply corrections to compensate for differences between labo-
tures than between grains. If the fractures have a preferred alignment, per- ratory and downhole conditions. They account for stress differences by
meability is highest parallel to this direction and is anisotropic. applying confining stress to one or more representative plug, or core, sam-
As a consequence of the textural and geologic factors that influence per- ples. To determine stress-related effects on permeability, analysts often use
meability, the path that fluid takes through rock may be longer, with many several confining stresses on a few samples and then apply a correction
turns and bends, than the direct linear distance between start and end points factor for the reservoir confining stress to the other samples.
(below). Tortuosity is the ratio of the actual distance traveled divided by the Gas flow in pores is faster than liquid flow because liquids experience
straight-line distance. Permeability is inversely proportional to tortuosity. greater flow resistance, or drag, at pore walls than do gases. This gas slip-
page, or higher flow rate of gases compared with liquids, is an effect that
Measuring Permeability can be corrected by incrementally increasing the mean gas pressure in the
Permeability can be measured in the laboratory and indirectly determined plug, which compresses the gas and increases its drag at the pore wall. The
in the field. In the laboratory, analysts flow a single-phase fluid through a Klinkenberg correction is an extrapolation of these measurements to infi-
rock core of known length and diameter. The fluid has known viscosity and nite gas pressure, at which point gas is assumed to behave like a liquid.
flows at a set rate. When the flow reaches steady state, an analyst measures In the field, permeability can be estimated in the near-wellbore region
the pressure drop across the core length and uses Darcy’s law to calculate using well logging data. The primary logging data come from nuclear mag-
permeability. For routine core analysis, the fluid may be air, but is more netic resonance (NMR) tools. Permeability estimates from NMR measure-
often an inert gas, such as nitrogen or helium. ments require knowledge of the empirical relationship between the
In an alternative laboratory method, analysts apply gas pressure to the computed permeability, porosity and pore-size distribution; estimates are
upstream side of a sample and monitor as the gas flows through the sample often calibrated to direct measurements on core samples from the well or
and the pressure equilibrates with the downstream pressure. During this from nearby wells. Permeability may also be determined from downhole
unsteady-state, or pressure-decay, procedure, analysts use the time rate of pressure and sampling tool measurements.
Permeability on the reservoir scale is typically determined with drill-
stem tests (DSTs). Pressure transient analysis from DSTs assesses the aver-
age in situ permeability of the reservoir. To match the transient behavior to
that predicted by a formation model, interpreters use several techniques.
They can estimate an average effective permeability from the flow rate and
pressure during steady-state production measured during specific tests at
established flow rates. An average permeability can also be calculated from
production-history data by adjusting permeability until the correct history of
production is obtained.

Multiphase Flow
Permeability in a porous medium that is 100% saturated with a single-phase
fluid is the absolute permeability, or synonymously, the intrinsic permea-
2.3
mm mm 2.3 mm bility or specific permeability.
2.3
Multiphase flow is the simultaneous flow of multiple fluids in a porous
material partially saturated with each fluid. Each fluid phase flows at its
own rate and competes for flow paths with the other phase or phases. Its
admittance through the porous space is determined by its effective perme-
ability, or phase permeability. The fractional flow of each fluid is related to
its relative permeability, which is the ratio of the fluid’s effective permea-
bility divided by a reference value, typically the absolute permeability.
> Tortuosity and hydrodynamic pore flow simulation. Engineers conducted a Multiphase flow is also affected by wettability, which is the preference
hydrodynamic pore flow simulation (left) of a tracer test through limestone. that solids have to be in contact with one fluid phase rather than another.
The grains are transparent in the model, and the pore space is saturated
with brine (light blue). Flow starts at the bottom. Four steps of the tracer test Wetting affects the local distribution of phases, which has an impact on
are shown; from earliest to latest, the steps are colored blue, red, green and their relative abilities to flow.
gold. The flow path of the tracer is controlled by the tortuosity of the Permeability is the simplest measure of the producibility and injectivity of
interconnected pore space. The digital rock model was obtained from a
subsurface formations. In formations of sufficient permeability, operations
core plug of limestone; a 2D grayscale X-ray image used to construct the 3D
model is on the right. The model was coupled with digital fluid descriptions such as producing fluid hydrocarbons or water, conducting secondary and ter-
to simulate reservoir flow. The limestone sample had 16% porosity and tiary recovery and sequestering carbon dioxide can be accomplished.
12-mD permeability.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Plunger Lift Venting the well to atmospheric pressure, a process known as a well
blowdown, will usually remove fluids from the wellbore and reestablish gas
As they mature, gas wells exhibit a decrease in bottomhole pressures and flow. However, this process results in gas losses and increased emissions of
the production velocities necessary to carry liquids—produced water, oil methane, a greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere. Moreover, it must be
and condensate—to the surface. Over time, this liquid accumulates in the repeated as liquids reaccumulate in the well.
production tubing downhole, creating a condition known as liquid loading.
The well loses energy as the hydrostatic head created by the accumu- Artificial Lift for Addressing Liquid Loading
lated liquids counters the reservoir’s natural pressure. Gas flow becomes Plunger lift is an artificial lift method that offers an economical and estab-
intermittent, lowering the production rate, and eventually stops if liquid lished technique for removing liquids from aging gas wells while minimizing
loading is not addressed. gas losses and methane emissions. As with other forms of artificial lift, plunger
Several methods are used to remove accumulated liquids and restore lift systems remove liquids from the wellbore so that the well can be produced
regular gas flow, including the use of foamers (e.g., soap sticks)— at low bottomhole pressures. Production engineers consider plunger lift to be
surfactants that once injected or dropped into the well, mix with the liquids one of the simplest forms of artificial lift because it uses the well’s own energy
downhole to create a low-density foam, which can be lifted more easily to to remove accumulated liquids and sustain gas production.
surface. This method is simple in principle but introduces chemical costs, The use of plunger lift systems dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, when
often requires a downhole injection system and is less effective if significant their primary application was to assist gas lift systems in oil wells. They
quantities of liquid hydrocarbon are present. slowly gained acceptance as a lift method for liquid-loaded gas wells, and
since the 1980s, this has been their primary application.

Architecture of a Plunger Lift System

Solar panel
Lubricator Whether the system is used in a gas well or an oil well, the mechanics of a
Controller
plunger lift system are the same. A plunger or piston incorporating a bypass
Catcher Motor valve
valve travels through the production tubing to the bottom of the well where it
lands on a bottomhole bumper spring (Figure 1). The plunger has enough clear-
ance to allow it to move unhindered up and down the tubing string. However,
Wellhead the clearance is small enough to create a mechanical seal between the fluids
above and below the plunger when the bypass valve is closed. The up and down
movement of the plunger not only controls gas production from the well but
To flowline
also scrapes any initial appearances of paraffin and scale deposits from the
wellbore walls and lifts them to the surface.
During the plunger downstroke, the tubing string tends to elongate and
Gas on the upstroke, it compresses. A tubing anchor is affixed to the end of the
tubing to minimize this tubing movement. By holding the tubing rigidly in
Tubing place, the tubing anchor also minimizes helical buckling and plunger-on-
Fluid load tubing wear that occurs during load transfer.
At the surface, a motor valve assembly controlled by a microprocessor con-
troller automatically regulates production. The controller is typically powered
Plunger by a solar battery and can use simple timer cycles, or it can consist of a solid-
Casing state memory and programmable functions based on process sensors. A short
section of pipe known as a lubricator extends above the wellhead and serves to
Bottomhole catch the plunger after it reaches the surface.
bumper spring

Tubing stop or Operating Cycle

standing valve Typically, plunger lift operation is a cyclical process of shut-in (or no-flow) and
flow periods (Figure 2). The cycle begins in the shut-in mode with the plunger
resting on the bottomhole bumper spring at the base of the well. The surface
valve is in the closed position, which allows well pressure to build as gas
accumulates in the annular space between the casing and the tubing.
Figure 1. The main components of a plunger lift system on an onshore gas well.
Subsurface components include a plunger (including a bypass valve), a bottomhole When the pressure reaches a preset level, the controller opens the
bumper spring, and a standing valve, which prevents fluids from flowing out of the surface valve. Tubing pressure quickly drops to line pressure, allowing
bottom of the tubing. Surface components are attached to the wellhead and pressurized gas from the annulus to enter the tubing below the plunger. The
include a motor valve that has a solar-powered controller. A lubricator and catcher gas pushes the plunger and the fluid column above it to the surface.
assembly accepts the plunger as it rises through the wellhead, opening up a flow
path for the produced gas to the flowline. A wellhead arrival sensor detects the The fluids above the plunger flow through an upper and lower outlet on the
arrival of the plunger at the surface. wellhead and into the flowline. The plunger stops in a spring-loaded receiver
in the lubricator. When the plunger is no longer in the flow path, the gas that
supplied the lifting energy flows through the lower outlet into the flowline.
Oilfield Review 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Plunger approximately 21 m3/d [130 bbl/d]. While makeup gas or compression can be
used to address inadequate GLR and buildup pressure requirements, these
systems are most effective in wells where formation gas is the only gas source.
1 2 3 4 5 Candidate wells should produce at least 11.3 m3 [400 ft3] of gas per barrel of
liquid per 300 m [1,000 ft] of depth. Wells with a shut-in wellhead pressure
that is 1.5 times the surface flowline pressure are also good candidates.
Plunger
Seal efficiency is critical for effective plunger lift operations These sys-
Plunger tems require a uniform inside diameter along the tubing string to allow the
plunger to travel freely from the bottom of the well to the surface while car-
rying well liquids and producing gas. For wells that produce sand—either
from loose, unconsolidated formations or from sand or proppant used in
hydraulic fracturing operations—operators run the risk of the plunger sus-
Plunger taining erosive damage or getting stuck on its way up or down the tubing.

Figure 2. A conventional plunger lift cycle. (1) Gas production is at a maximum rate Common Applications
without liquid loading. (2) Rate and flowing pressure decline naturally (light red) as While they are commonly associated with increasing gas production in high-
liquid (blue) accumulates in the tubing. (3) After flowing pressure or flow rate
GLR wells, plunger lift systems have also been used successfully to boost oil
drops to a set level, the surface valve closes, and the plunger drops through the
gas and liquid. A bypass valve in the plunger enables efficient descent and closes production in high-GLR oil wells. In addition, they have been used in con-
when the plunger lands on the bottomhole bumper spring. (4) The closed surface junction with intermittent gas lift operations that produce reservoir fluid
valve allows reservoir gas to accumulate and build up pressure (red) in the sporadically by displacing liquid slugs with high-pressure injection gas.
casing-tubing annulus. (5) The surface valve is then opened, allowing the
pressurized annulus gas to push the plunger up the tubing, unloading the liquid The most desirable wellbore configuration for plunger lift is in wells that
via the flowline. The plunger is caught in the lubricator. Gas production restarts at have an open annulus. In this configuration, gas in the annular space can
maximum rate and the cycle begins again. work freely on the plunger and liquid slug to provide lift with little restric-
tion. Plunger lift systems have also been successfully deployed in other
The gas flow rate and pressure at the wellhead will begin to drop as well configurations, including wells with packers, slimhole wells containing
produced gas flows out of the well, causing wellbore liquids to start falling 2 7/8-in. and 3 1/2-in. casing and deviated wells. In addition, plunger lift systems
back down and accumulating in the wellbore. Once the pressure drops can work through coiled tubing installed in the well as a velocity string.
below a preset level, the automatic controller closes the surface valve and
releases the plunger, which falls back down to the bottomhole bumper New Developments
spring. The cycle begins anew as liquid loads above the plunger and annular In recent years, plunger lift operations have incorporated automatic elec-
gas pressure builds. Controlling the plunger travel speed and cycle times is tronic controllers. Battery-powered electronic controls that have solid-state
critical to safety and efficiency. circuitry regulate the cycling of the motor valve in response to plunger
arrival at the wellhead, line pressures, liquid levels or pressure differen-
Benefits and Limitations tials. These controllers also help streamline the installation process and
Plunger lift systems provide several economic and environmental benefits save the man-hours required to manually fine-tune the plunger system.
compared with other solutions for liquid-loaded gas wells. Because they use New information technology systems, such as smart automation, online
the built-up pressure of the well’s own gas to effect liquid removal, they typi- data management and satellite communications, have streamlined plunger
cally do not require outside energy sources. lift monitoring and control by enabling operators to manage plunger lift
The costs of installing and maintaining a plunger lift system are gener- systems remotely, without the need for routine in-person field visits.
ally lower than the corresponding costs for beam pumping equipment. Wireless monitoring and control systems that transmit analog or digital
Overall maintenance costs are reduced because periodic remedial treat- signals via radio or from a central processing device are gaining greater
ments such as well blowdowns or swabbing—in which toolstrings that have acceptance, particularly among operators using plunger lift in many hun-
rubber-cupped seals are run up the tubing to carry liquids from the well— dreds or thousands of wells. Wireless systems can be set up on location in
may no longer be necessary. And unlike these other remedial measures, less than an hour, as opposed to the several days required for conventional
plunger lift provides regular fluid removal, which enables the well to con- wired systems, and without the need for conduits or trenches for buried
tinuously produce gas without halting production. In addition, wells that cables. The wirelessly transmitted data, which include liquid level, flow,
continuously move water out of the well have demonstrated an increased pressure, temperature, plunger location and system alarms, can be moni-
potential for producing greater volumes of condensate and oil. tored remotely and in real time. Operators use this information to optimize
Because of the regular scraping action of the plunger against the tubing their field crew deployments by sending crews to only those wells that
walls, plunger lift systems prevent the buildup of deposits in wells prone to require maintenance or repairs, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
paraffin or scale accumulation. This reduces or eliminates the need for Even with these electronic advances, experienced well personnel are
chemical or swabbing treatments. Moreover, lower methane emissions have critical to effective plunger lift operations. Operators must understand the
been reported when plunger lift systems are used because these systems mechanism for well loading, have a basic understanding of inflow perfor-
reduce or eliminate well interventions. mance and be able to troubleshoot wells based on tubing and casing pres-
Plunger lift systems are most effective in wells that have low bottomhole sures and flow performance.
pressures, high gas/liquid ratios (GLRs) and liquid production of less than

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Measuring Porosity Downhole

Tony Smithson
Editor

When it comes to evaluating conven- The most common reservoir rocks are sandstone ( ρmatrix = 2.65 g/cm3 ),
tional reservoirs, petrophysicists are Porosity Rock grain limestone ( ρmatrix = 2.71 g/cm3 ) and dolomite ( ρmatrix = 2.87 g/cm3 ). These
often concerned with three key matrix density values are used to compute density porosity. The other input,
parameters: permeability, porosity ρfluid, is usually that of water (1 g/cm3).
and the presence of hydrocarbons. Appropriate choice
Permeability is the measure of a rock’s of ρmatrix values, which
Formation
ability to allow fluids to pass through are often derived from
it. Porosity is the volumetric void other measurements,
space in the rock—the space not is crucial to the density Long-spaced
occupied by solid material (right). porosity computation. detector
Without the presence of hydrocar- An incorrect ρmatrix Short-spaced
bons, porosity—which is directly input or a mixture of detector
> Porosity. The void space in rocks
related to production potential—and rock types will yield
not occupied by solid material
permeability may be of little interest may be filled with water, oil or gas. an incorrect density
to log analysts. porosity measurement.
Although porosity is a crucial parameter for evaluating reservoirs, the The same is true for Source
first logs measured formation resistivity. Introduced in the 1920s, resistivity the ρfluid input.
tools helped identify potential hydrocarbon-bearing rocks. High resistivity is Neutron porosity > Density porosity tool. A radioactive source emits
gamma rays into the formation, where they
a characteristic of the presence of hydrocarbons and low resistivity is indic- tools emit high-energy
interact with minerals and fluids; some gamma
ative of water. However, log analysts could not differentiate between rocks fast neutrons (on the rays return to detectors where they are counted
containing hydrocarbons and those with no porosity because both exhibit order of 106 eV) from and their energy levels measured.
high resistivity. Even when hydrocarbon-bearing zones were identified using chemical or electronic
resistivity tools, the volume of hydrocarbon could not be determined with- sources (below). Neutrons, which are neutrally charged subatomic particles,
out a porosity measurement. lose energy when they collide with nuclei of formation materials. The energy
The first porosity measurements, which became available in the early loss is related to the relative mass of the particles with which the neutron
1950s, came from sonic, or acoustic, logging tools. Sonic porosity is com- collides. Hydrogen, which consists of a nucleus with a single proton, is the
puted by comparing the speed of sound through the formation to that of most effective element for slowing fast neutrons. In reservoir rocks, hydrogen
rocks with no porosity. Sound travels more slowly though fluid-filled rocks is associated with the liquids—oil or water—that fill the pore space. Gas has
than through rocks with no porosity. a much lower hydrogen density than oil and water.
Scientists have developed an assortment of porosity logging tools based
on various physical principles. Today, although sonic porosity logs are still
Borehole Electronic source
used, the two predominant porosity measurements are density porosity and Formation Chemical source
neutron porosity. Long- 10 6
spaced
Neutron energy, eV

detector
Porosity Measurements 10 4
Oilfield Review Short-
Density tools emit medium-energy gamma rays into a borehole
AUTUMN 12 wall (above spaced
detector
right). The gamma rays collide with electronsDefining
in the formation,
Porosity lose
Fig. 1energy 10 2
ORAUT
and scatter after successive collisions. The number 12-DEFPOR
of collisions 1
is related to Average thermal
Thermal
the number of electrons per unit volume—the electron density. The elec- neutron 10 0 energy 0.025 eV
Neutron
tron density for most minerals and fluids encountered in oil and gas wells is region Capture
source
directly proportional to their bulk density, ρbulk. 10 –2
10 100
The bulk density measured by the tool, ρlog , results from the combined Time, ms
effects of the fluid (porosity) and the rock (matrix) and is used to compute
density porosity (fdensity ): > Life of a fast neutron. The neutron porosity tool (left) sends out high-
Oilfield Review
energy neutrons that collide with molecules in the formation rocks and
ρmatrix – ρlog AUTUMN
φdensity = fluids, lose energy (right) and eventually reach12thermal energy level
ρmatrix – ρfluid . (0.025 eV) in a region some distanceDefining
from thePorosity Fig. 2of the thermal
source. Some
ORAUT
neutrons return to the tool where they 12-DEFPOR
are counted by the2 detectors. These
counts are converted into a hydrogen index (HI) measurement, which is
used to compute neutron porosity. Thermal neutrons are eventually captured
Oilfield Review Autumn 2012: 24, no. 3. by elements in the formation.
Copyright © 2012 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Matrix: Sandstone Matrix: Limestone Matrix: Dolomite

Assumed Matrix Density: 2.65 g/cm3 Assumed Matrix Density: 2.71 g/cm3 Assumed Matrix Density: 2.87 g/cm3

Shale Shale effect Shale effect Shale effect

Gas Crossover Crossover Crossover

Sandstone
Formation Oil

Water
60 Porosity, % 0 60 Porosity, % 0 60 Porosity, % 0
Curves overlie 4% difference 12% difference
each other

> Lithology and fluid effects. Density porosity (red) and neutron porosity (dashed blue) are computed from
lithology-dependent relationships. Log analysts use the tools’ characteristic responses to help determine fluid
type and lithology. For example, in a sandstone formation, with porosity computed using correct parameters
(left), the curves overlie one another at the correct porosity of 30% in water, cross over somewhat in oil, cross
over a great deal in gas and separate in shales. If an incorrect matrix is used, such as limestone (middle) or
dolomite (right), the computed porosities are incorrect by 4% and 12%, respectively.

After multiple collisions, the neutrons achieve a low energy state measurements and correcting for environmental and lithologic conditions.
(0.025 eV) and are referred to as thermal neutrons. The number of thermal This total porosity includes fluids associated with shale. Because the fluids
neutrons resulting from collisions with hydrogen is proportional to the hydro- in shales cannot usually be produced, their contributions to the measure-
gen index (HI) of the formation. ment can be subtracted from the total porosity. By quantifying the shale
A conventional neutron porosity tool has two detectors located fixed dis- contribution and removing it from the total porosity measurement, log
tances from the source. The detectors count neutrons that have passed analysts are able to compute the effective porosity, which more accurately
through the formation and attained thermal energy levels. The HI is derived portrays a reservoir’s potential.
from the ratio of counts from these two detectors, and analysts apply a The gas effect results from two physical measurement principles. Gas-
lithology-dependent transform to convert HI to neutron porosity. As with the filled porosity is seen by the neutron porosity tool as low porosity. In contrast,
density porosity, obtaining accurate neutron porosity depends on using the the density porosity measurement may be higher than the true porosity. The
correct matrix. result is that the density and neutron porosity curves are neither overlying
For clean, shale-free formations, in which the porosity is filled with each other—which would indicate water- or oil-filled porosity and the correct
water or oil, the neutron log measures the fluid-filled porosity. Because gas matrix—nor separated from each other, the shale effect. Because the neutron
has a much lower hydrogen density than oil or water, gas-filled porosity porosity is lower than the density porosity, the curves cross over each other,
appears as low porosity. giving rise to the term crossover.
Several environmental factors affect neutron porosity measurements and The shale effect counteracts the crossover effect; however, petrophysicists
corrections have been developed to compensate for them. These include bore- use other measurements to correct for the shale volume and determine the
hole size, mud weight and salinity, mudcake thickness, hydrostatic pressure, effective porosity. The gas effect can also be masked by the presence of deep
formation salinity and temperature. invasion when drilling fluid filtrate displaces the original gas in place. Logging-
while-drilling (LWD) tools, which acquire data before invasion takes place,
Complementary Measurements Oilfield Reviewmay identify the presence of gas zones that are missed by wireline tools, which
Porosity tools respond in well-defined ways to the physical attributes
AUTUMNof12 are run some time after drilling.
fluids and rocks. As part of the log interpretation process, log Defining Porosity Other
analysts Fig. 4 measurement techniques can be used to determine porosity.
account for these different responses. Two of the most easily ORAUT 12-DEFPOR
recognized These4include nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tools and core samples.
examples of tool responses are the shale effect and the neutron-density An NMR tool directly measures liquid-filled porosity. Core data provide an
gas effect (above). empirical porosity value, although damage during the core recovery process
In clean rocks filled with water, the density and neutron porosity logs may affect the measured value.
should overlie each other if the correct lithology input is applied. When shale
is present, the neutron porosity measurement is higher than the density Crucial Parameter
porosity. This results from the neutron responding to the large volume of fluid Porosity is one of the most critical parameters for quantifying hydrocarbon
adsorbed by the shale. The net effect is that, in shales, there is a separation reserves. Petrophysicists have developed numerous ways to determine
between the density and neutron porosity curves—the shale effect. porosity to make sure they have the most accurate data possible. The ulti-
The effects of shale also give rise to another term—effective porosity. mate goal is to use these data to understand a reservoir’s production poten-
Petrophysicists derive total porosity values by combining different tial and ensure that its hydrocarbons are effectively recovered.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Production Logging Principles

Parijat Mukerji
Production Logging Advisor

The term production logging covers a wide array of sensors, measurements computer modeling techniques, which present the fluid velocity profile
and interpretation techniques. Operators use production logs to evaluate across the pipe diameter.
fluid movement in and out of wellbores, quantify flow rates and determine Pressure is a versatile measurement with several applications for reser-
fluid properties at downhole conditions. Completion engineers can evaluate voir and production engineers. Strain, sapphire and quartz gauges are the
production and perforation efficiency and plan remediation or modify future main devices used to measure pressure. Engineers may also measure pres-
completion designs based on the interpretation of production logs. Reservoir sure using a manometer—a device that converts mechanical displacement
and production engineers can use these logs to help manage and optimize to pressure. From wellbore pressure data, engineers can determine well
well and reservoir performance. stability at the time of logging, estimate reservoir pressure from multirate
Production logging traces its origin to the 1930s and the measurement of logging surveys, calculate fluid density and obtain key reservoir parameters
wellbore temperature. Over the decades, other measurements—including by performing transient rate analyses.
pressure, fluid density, flow velocity and holdup (volume fraction of pipe Temperature is an integral measurement for all production logging.
occupied by fluid)—have been added to the service. Although measure- Engineers use temperature data to make qualitative conclusions about fluid
ments of pressure, temperature and flow rate can be obtained at the sur- entries, particularly in low–flow rate scenarios in which a spinner may not
face, surface measurements do not necessarily reflect what is happening in be sensitive enough to detect movement. Gas entries create cooling anoma-
the reservoir. Comprehensive production log evaluation requires that mea- lies that are easily detected using temperature logs. Temperature measure-
surements be acquired downhole. ments are also used in fracture treatment evaluation and to evaluate
injection well performance. Using temperature data, engineers may be able
Production Logging Measurements to evaluate the integrity of well completions, detect casing leaks and iden-
Production logging consists of several measurements, many of which are tify flow through channels behind pipe. Resistance temperature detectors,
used in a complementary capacity to determine fluid and flow properties the most common type of sensor, usually consist of a platinum wire or film
(below). Fluid velocity is commonly measured with a spinner flowmeter—a deposited on a nonconductive surface. Changes in temperature cause varia-
rotating blade that turns when fluid moves past it. In ideal conditions, the tions in resistance, which is calibrated and converted to temperature.
rotational speed of the blade in revolutions per second (RPS) is propor- Fluid density measurements differentiate oil, gas and water. Service
tional to the fluid velocity. Friction in the spinner bearings and effects from companies have developed tools based on a variety of physical principles to
fluid viscosity result in nonlinear velocity responses, requiring calibration of obtain fluid density measurements:
the measurement. This calibration is accomplished by making upward and • differential pressure across two ports separated by a known distance
downward passes at varying logging speeds. Before absolute fluid velocity is • Compton scattering of gamma rays
computed, spinner speed is corrected for relative tool speed. Because of • pressure gradient relation to density
friction near the pipe wall, absolute fluid velocity is not the same as the • flow vibration relation to density and viscosity.
average velocity of fluid moving through the pipe. After applying correction In the case of two-phase flow, engineers can use fluid density—in con-
factors, engineers convert the spinner velocity to an average velocity using junction with other measurements such as fluid viscosity—to compute
holdup. Where multiphase flow is present, they must employ tools with
probes distributed across a wellbore to directly measure the fluid holdup.
One type of tool senses differences in optical reflectance to obtain holdup,
which involves measuring the amount of light reflected back from a fluid.
Another type of tool differentiates water from oil and gas using probes that
measure electrical properties of the fluids.
Auxiliary measurements commonly acquired by production logging
Basic Measurement Sonde Spinner Flowmeter
strings are casing collar logs, gamma ray logs, caliper and deviation. Casing
Batteries, recorder, casing collar Caliper, water holdup,
locator and sensors to measure bubble count, collar and gamma ray logs provide depth control and correlation with com-
gamma ray, temperature and pressure relative bearing, centralizer pletion components. Caliper and deviation data are used in production mod-
> Production logging toolstring. This production logging toolstring eling programs.
consists of a fullbore spinner, fluid holdup and bubble count probes, a Production logs can be difficult to interpret because fluid flow may
pipe diameter caliper and centralizer, a relative bearing sensor, not be uniform, and multiple passes result in large amounts of data,
pressure gauges, a temperature sensor, a gamma ray tool and a casing some of which may produce conflicting answers. Computer programs
collar locator. When engineers run the tool in memory mode, batteries
have been developed to assist engineers in understanding downhole
and a data recorder are used. Surface readout tools use a telemetry and
power section. conditions; computer-generated interpretations remove some of the

Oilfield Review Autumn 2013: 25, no. 3.

Copyright © 2013 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

ambiguities associated with the interpretation process (below). The

Near-Vertical Well Deviated Well Near-Horizontal Well
interpretation product can often help the engineer identify more-pro-
ductive intervals, detect water entry and determine intervals that do not
contribute to production.

Flow Regimes
To analyze production logging data, production engineers must be aware of
downhole flow regimes. Knowledge of expected flow regimes allows opera-
tors to choose measurements suitable for the downhole conditions.
Single-phase flow—when only oil, gas or water is produced—is the sim- • Oil and water mixed • Highly complex flow • Almost stratified flow
across the section of structures structures
plest flow to evaluate; however, it is uncommon in most wells. Two- and the pipe • Water phase at the • Oil at the top, water
three-phase flow—mixtures of two or three fluid types—can exhibit a wide bottom of the pipe at the bottom and a
variety of flow regimes and are complicated by deviated wellbores (right). • Dispersed oil phase in mixture of the two in
the uppermost level of the middle of the pipe
In such cases, gravity ensures that the lighter phase travels at a higher the pipe
velocity than the denser phases. The velocity difference between the differ-
ent fluids is the slip velocity. > Fluid flow. Theoretical work and flow loop experiments have helped
As fluids migrate uphole, the flow regime usually changes. For instance, engineers understand multiphase flow in vertical, deviated and
horizontal wellbores. The parameters of interest include pipe diameter
oil with dissolved gas can enter the wellbore as a single phase. The hydro- and inclination and fluid density, viscosity and flow rate. Each case
static pressure decreases as the oil rises, and gas bubbles begin to form in shows the variation in water and oil holdup based on well deviation.
the oil. The flow regime is then bubble flow. Pressure is further reduced as
the mixture moves uphole; more bubbles form and smaller bubbles aggre-
gate to create larger bubbles. Large bubbles, or gas slugs, travel faster than
both small bubbles and liquids. Gas slugs may initiate slug flow. Slugs tend oil, and both fluids are traveling at essentially the same velocity. This simpli-
to unite and move to the center of the pipe, forcing most of the oil to flow fied example becomes complex in deviated wellbores or when fluids of vari-
along the pipe walls. This flow regime is called froth flow. Eventually, a ous phases enter the wellbore from multiple zones. Modeling programs
mist flow regime may be reached, in which the gas is carrying droplets of attempt to resolve these complexities using production log data.

Cable
Reservoir Surveillance and Management
Speed
Gamma Fluid Fluid Well Water Cumulative
Production logs help engineers diagnose problems that occur during the life
Perforations

60 ft/min
Ray Spinner Density Temperature Pressure Holdup Production Production of a single well and are also used for management and surveillance of mul-
Depth, ft

90 ft/min
1,200 ft/min Oil Water Oil Water tiple wells or of the entire reservoir. A common challenge faced by operators
–120 120 0 gAPI 250 –15 RPS 350 0 g/cm3 1.1 194 °F 196 3,600 psi 3,710 0.8 1.0 0 bbl/d 3,000 0 bbl/d 5,000
in mature fields is identifying zones that produce excessive amounts of
water. Produced water impacts surface handling operations because water
must be separated from the flow stream for disposal. Produced water may
X,900
also affect well performance by limiting the volume of hydrocarbons being
produced. After identifying water-producing zones, production engineers
may perform remediation to reduce or eliminate water production.
Operators may also use production logs to calibrate reservoir simulation
models. During full-field reservoir model history-matching, engineers can
Y,000
use production log data to help identify or match zonal contributions, fine-
> Production log. This log shows data typically provided by downhole tune parameters and alignOilfield
the model with the empirical performance data.
Review
sensors in a production logging survey. Two intervals have open SUMMER 13
perforations (Track 1, red). Engineers make multiple passes at different Lifetime Logging Production Log Fig. 2
logging speeds (Track 2); negative cable speeds represent down passes ORSUMRand 13-PRDLG 2 engineers with a diag-
and positive logging speeds are up passes. Color-coding based on Production logs provide reservoir production
logging speed helps differentiate datasets. Gamma ray data (Track 3) nostic aid for understanding the downhole wellbore environment. These
provide correlation with openhole logs. From spinner data (Track 4), in situ measurements acquired under dynamic conditions are a snapshot
engineers identify changes in fluid velocity associated with inflow from of the existing situation. But that snapshot captures the situation only
production, outflow from thief zones or outflow from injection. The fluid
density data (Track 5) indicate water (1.0 g/cm3) below the perforations for that moment in time. Whether by fluid extraction or injection, oil
(the sump), which then transitions to mainly oil (0.75 g/cm3). Temperature and gas production changes reservoir conditions. Production logs help
data (Track 6) indicate heating or cooling effects caused by inflow of operators understand well and reservoir dynamics over the life of a well
fluids. Steady well pressure (Track 7) is a characteristic of stable flow
and create a roadmap for future remediation, production enhancements
during acquisition. Holdup data (Track 8) indicate water and oil fraction
within the wellbore. The software computes incremental and cumulative and reservoir development programs.
flow rates (Tracks 9 and 10). The two intervals are producing oil; the
lower interval is also producing a trace amount of water (Track 9).

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Reservoir Drive Mechanisms and fluid heterogeneity, fluids may not move uniformly throughout the res-
ervoir. In addition to rock and fluid properties, drive mechanisms—which
describe the source of energy for moving fluids into, through and out of a
Tony Smithson
Senior Editor reservoir—also determine how fluids move within the reservoir. The pri-
mary natural drive systems are water drive, solution-gas drive, gas-cap drive
Producing hydrocarbons, bringing them from downhole reservoirs to the sur- and gravity drive (Figure 1). Combination drive systems are common and
face, in an efficient and cost effective manner can be a challenge for E&P are mixtures of two or more primary drive systems. Although another drive
companies. In order to efficiently produce those hydrocarbons, reservoir engi- mechanism—rock compaction drive—is rare, it is an important factor in a
neers must understand the reservoir drive—the mechanism that moves few major fields around the world.
hydrocarbons out of the rock pore spaces and into the wellbore. Understanding
a field’s active drive system or systems helps operators develop production Drive Mechanisms
strategies that maximize the recovery factor—the percentage of oil or gas The energy for a waterdrive system comes from a connected aquifer. As
that is brought to the surface compared with what was originally in place. hydrocarbons are extracted, the aquifer expands, and water migrates to
replace the moved oil or gas. This water may come from below, a bottomwa-
Reservoir Energy ter drive, or it may come from surrounding sources, an edgewater drive. If
Reservoir fluids in their virgin state have been affected by numerous natu- the aquifer encircles the producing reservoir, it is referred to as a periph-
ral forces. The overburden—layers of rock and soil above a reservoir— eral edgewater drive.
weighs upon the rocks and fluids and affects temperature and pressure As hydrocarbons are produced in a bottomwater drive, the contact
within the reservoir. Over geologic time, forces in the reservoir equilibrate between oil and water (OWC) or gas and water (GWC) moves upward. As the
and establish the formation pore pressure, which is the primary energy contact rises, water may reach the producing interval in the well.
source for moving fluids through a formation. In a permeable formation Accelerated movement caused by large pressure differentials around the
with no barriers such as shale layers or faults to block their movement, wellbore may cause water near the well to rise faster. This phenomenon—
fluids can migrate through the rock. Gravity will cause fluids to segregate referred to as coning—can cause early water production from high flowrate
according to fluid density, such that the typical order of fluids in a reser- wells (Figure 2). Formation water in edgewater drive systems will encroach
voir is gas on top, oil and then water at the bottom. on producing wells and eventually break through, or reach the well. Because
If pressure disequilibrium occurs, fluids will move from regions of high of formation heterogeneities, the water may move nonuniformly, or finger,
pressure to those of low pressure. After a well has been drilled and com- through the reservoir, resulting in early breakthrough of water production
pleted, the wellbore can create disequilibrium, serving as a low pressure in the most permeable zones.
conduit toward which fluids in the wellbore will migrate. If the aquifer is large, the influx of water may be sufficient to maintain
As oil, gas and water flow into a wellbore, the pressure equilibrium is reservoir pressure for a long time. A common secondary recovery technique
disturbed near the well. In order to preserve or restore the equilibrium, based on the waterdrive mechanism is waterflood, in which operators inject
fluids flowing into the well are replaced by fluids from farther away. Fluid water into oil reservoirs to sweep oil toward producing wells, replace
movement depends on fluid properties such as density and viscosity and extracted fluids and support reservoir pressure. Eventually the water cut—
rock properties such as wettability and capillary pressure. Because of rock the ratio of water produced compared with the total volume of fluids

Gas Original conditions

Oil driven
into wellbore Gas/oil
by rising Oil contact
oil/water contact
Oil/water contact

Oil/water
contact
Partially depleted

Figure 1. Formation drive mechanisms. Waterdrive systems (left) rely on water from a connected aquifer to replace produced oil. Gas cap drives (middle left)
are energized by expanding gas that fills the voids that occur after liquids are removed. Gas in the saturated oil of a solution-gas drive system (middle right)
comes out of solution after the reservoir pressure drops below the bubblepoint. Gravity, or combination drive systems (right), have gas, oil and water layers.
As the oil is produced, the gas/oil contact drops as the gas cap expands, and the oil/water contact rises.

Oilfield Review 2016.

Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Producing well

GOR

Reservoir pressure
Oil

Oil production
GOR
Oil production
Reservoir pressure

Water

Time
Figure 2. Coning in a waterdrive system. To reestablish pressure equilibrium, Figure 3. Typical performance from a solution gas drive system. At the initial
produced oil is replaced by fluids from elsewhere in the reservoir. High production with a solution-drive mechanism, the well produces oil (green)
flowrate wells may impart a nonuniform pressure gradient in the reservoir with a low gas/oil ratio (GOR) (blue). As oil is extracted, the reservoir
and cause water to flow toward the producing well. This flow toward the pressure (black) drops, gas comes out of solution, and the GOR rises
pressure sink may create an inverted cone of water. sharply; consequently, oil production drops.

produced—will reach a point where the cost of water disposal exceeds the is produced rapidly, gas bubbles may form and expand in the pores of the
commercial value of the hydrocarbons produced. Within a field having rocks, which can impede oil flow through the reservoir. As with a primary
periphery edgewater drive, producing wells on the edge of the field will be gas cap, depleting the secondary gas cap can cause rapid pressure decrease
the first to experience water breakthrough and may be shut in or converted and reduce recovery. Solution gas drive system recovery factors range from
to waterflood injector wells to enhance recovery. Waterdrive systems are 5% to 30% of the OOIP. The average recovery factor is around 15%.
efficient and have recovery factors that can range from 35% to 75% of the Gravity drives are found in reservoirs that have both gas cap and water
original oil in place (OOIP). The average recovery factor is around 40%. drives; these types of reservoirs can be very effective producers. The energy
The energy source for gas cap drives comes from expansion of the gas at comes from two directions: upward from the hydrostatic pressure in the oil
the top of the reservoir. The gas may be in place when the reservoir is ini- column and downward from an expanding gas cap. This reservoir drive mech-
tially produced, a primary gas cap, or it may form as a secondary gas cap, anism may also be referred to as combination drive. For many oil reservoirs,
which results from gas migration out of the oil when reservoir pressure the production of fluids is controlled by more than one drive mechanism, and
drops below the bubblepoint. The bubblepoint is the pressure and tempera- reservoir engineers use the term combination drive to describe them. Gravity
ture at which bubbles of gas first begin to evolve from oil that has gas in drive system recovery factors range from 5% to 85% of the OOIP. The average
solution. Gas expands as the pressure in the reservoir drops, occupying the recovery factor is around 50%. Producing slowly from formations with these
pore volume that once contained liquids. The stored mechanical energy in drive mechanisms may greatly improve ultimate recovery.
the gas is released as it expands, which helps maintain reservoir pressure. The rock matrix in some reservoirs contracts as fluids are produced. This
To avoid producing gas from the cap, wells are completed across the oil contributes energy to the system and is referred to as compaction drive.
column, referred to as the oil leg. The gas/oil contact (GOC) will move Although compaction drives are rare, the presence of compaction improves
downward as oil is produced and the cap expands. The gas that forms the recovery factors compared to the recovery rates from formations that don’t
gas cap must not be produced or the pressure in the reservoir will drop contract from production. These reservoirs frequently have solution gas,
rapidly; a sudden breakthrough of gas indicates that the GOC has dropped water or gas cap drive mechanisms.
below the topmost perforated interval in a well. Produced gas from the field
may be injected back into the cap for pressure management and to support Consequences of Drive Mechanisms
further expansion. Gas cap drive system recoveries can range from 20% to Reservoir engineers study downhole conditions to optimize completion
40% of the OOIP. The average recovery factor is around 30%. strategies. After production begins, they monitor the changing conditions to
Solution gas drives are found in saturated reservoirs, in which the ini- avoid situations that could negatively impact reservoir performance and
tial pore pressure is above the bubblepoint. As oil is produced, the reservoir recovery factors. Reservoir management may involve avoiding early onset
pressure drops below the bubblepoint, gas bubbles come out of solution and water breakthrough and coning, pressure management to avoid dropping
expand in the oil. Solution gas can also be liberated from water. The expand- below the bubblepoint pressure, higher gas production in solution drive sys-
ing gas bubbles add energy to the system and support reservoir pressure. tems and patience with gravity drainage systems to allow fluids to equilibrate.
Gas bubbles in the oil may help reduce the viscosity of the oil and thus facili- Eventually, primary recovery mechanisms become ineffective, and reser-
tate flow of the oil from the reservoir into the wellbore, although after the voir engineers may turn to enhanced recovery techniques to extend the life of
bubblepoint has been reached, oil production usually declines and gas pro- producing fields. During primary production, secondary recovery techniques
duction increases (Figure 3). such as waterflood and gas reinjection, may improve recovery, improve eco-
As the reservoir pressure in a solution-gas system falls, liberated gas may nomic viability and extend the life of a reservoir. Proper reservoir manage-
migrate to the top of the reservoir, producing a secondary gas cap. If the oil ment can help operators increase recovery and improve asset performance.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Rheology
Irene M. Færgestad Bingham plastic Herschel-Bulkley
Editor

Given sufficient time and force, all substances—solids, liquids or gases—

Shear stress
Power law
eventually flow. Rheology is the study of how materials flow as a function of
shear—or load—rate, time and spatial orientation. Temperature, pressure,
and the rate and duration of shear may affect the rheological properties of
a material. Newtonian
Rheological characterization is particularly important for the oil and gas
industry. Rheology affects produced fluids, drilling fluids, cement, workover
fluids and completion fluids. Rheology affects heavy oil production because
high viscosity makes heavy oil difficult to produce. In deepwater environ-
Shear rate
ments, cold temperatures and high pressures create flow problems that
complicate oil transportation through pipelines. Figure 1. Rheological models. Fluids are described as Newtonian or
In the oil field, petroleum engineers are concerned primarily with key non-Newtonian based on their response to shear rate. Most drilling fluids
are classified as non-Newtonian. The shear stress of a Newtonian fluid is
rheological characteristics of fluids. Viscosity is the measure of a fluid’s linearly proportional to the shear rate; the constant of proportionality, or the
resistance to flow. Shear stress, which is expressed in units of force per unit slope, defines the Newtonian viscosity. Bingham plastic fluids and
area, is a function of the shear rate. Shear rate is the fluid’s velocity gradi- Herschel-Bulkley fluids require a certain minimum shear stress, called the
ent measured perpendicular to the direction of flow. Viscosity, time and yield stress, to initiate flow. The slope of the Bingham plastic curve is the
plastic viscosity. The curvature of the power-law and Herschel-Bulkley lines
pressure affect how fluids flow. is controlled by a consistency factor and a power-law exponent.
The science of rheology is particularly important to the study of the flow
behavior of solids suspended in fluids in pipes and flowlines. Flow behavior
can be characterized as laminar or turbulent. Laminar flow dominates at The behavior of many drilling fluids, and most water-base cement slur-
low velocities, in which flow is orderly, parallel and without crossflow and is ries, can be described by the two-parameter Bingham plastic model, which
characterized by theoretical flow equations that are functions of the viscous assumes a linear relationship between the shear stress and the shear rate.
properties of the fluid. In contrast, turbulent flow prevails at high veloci- Fluids that exhibit Bingham plastic behavior do not flow until the shear
ties, in which flow is chaotic, disorderly and characterized by empirical stress exceeds a critical value known as the yield point. Once the yield
flow equations. point is reached, changes in shear stress and shear rate are proportional.
This constant of proportionality, or the slope of the curve, is termed the
Rheological models plastic viscosity. The Bingham plastic model does not accurately predict
Rheological models used to characterize fluid flow in the oil field are typi- fluid flow behavior at low shear rates but is useful for continuous monitoring
cally classified as Newtonian or non-Newtonian. The Newtonian model and treating of drilling fluids.
describes the simplest fluid flow behavior; the fluid viscosity is the linear Unlike the Bingham plastic model, the power-law model assumes a non-
constant of proportionality between shear stress and shear rate under con- linear relationship between the shear stress and the shear rate. For power-
ditions of constant temperature and pressure. Newtonian fluids start to flow law fluids, the shear stress increases as a function of the shear rate raised
immediately, and the shear stress increases as shear rate increases. Many to a constant exponent. This model is a good fit for fluids when measured at
fluids, including water, oil, gasoline, alcohol and glycerin, behave as low shear rates. Power-law fluids do not have a yield point and do not
Newtonian fluids; their viscosity is a function only of the condition of the develop gel strengths—in which they maintain suspensions—when left
fluid and its temperature. For Newtonian fluids, a plot of shear stress versus undisturbed. Polymeric solutions and melts are examples of fluids that
shear rate produces a straight line that runs through the origin of the plot exhibit power-law behavior.
coordinates, and the slope of the line is termed the Newtonian, or dynamic, The Herschel-Bulkley model combines the effects of Bingham and
viscosity of the fluid (Figure 1). power-law behavior in a fluid; the model is applied to fluids that have a yield
Most fluids are non-Newtonian. For these fluids, no constant of propor- stress and a nonlinear relationship between the shear stress and the
tionality exists between shear stress and shear rate; their viscosity varies shear rate.
with changing shear rate. Most non-Newtonian fluids are sensitive to shear rate. Some non-
Non-Newtonian fluids are separated further into subcategories defined Newtonian fluids are useful in the oil industry because their viscosities
by various models. The models of most interest in drilling fluid technology decrease with increasing shear rate but then increase, or gel, when shear
are the Bingham plastic, power-law and Herschel-Bulkley models. Most flu- ceases. The ongoing increase in gel strength, which depends on how long
ids do not conform precisely to a single model but rather to a combination the fluid has been at rest, is an indication of thixotropy. These fluids are
of models. termed thixotropic fluids and exhibit time-dependent changes in viscosity;
the longer the duration of shear, the lower the fluid’s viscosity until it even-
tually reaches a constant value. Some cements, such as gypsum and port-
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Louise Bailey, Cambridge, England. land and clay-based cement formulations, are thixotropic. Thixotropic
Oilfield Review 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

cement is commonly used in wells in which fractures and lost circulation

are concerns. When sheared, these cements exhibit low viscosities, but if
they enter a fracture in a formation and are no longer subjected to shear,
they immediately start to gel and become self-supporting.

Measurements
To maintain control of hole cleaning, mud engineers measure the suspension
and filtration properties of a drilling fluid at the rig site on a daily basis. The
mud engineer conducts these tests following procedures in API RP 13-B1,
Recommended Practice for Field Testing Water-Based Drilling Fluids, and
API RP 13-B2, Recommended Practice Standard Procedure for Field Testing
Oil-Based Drilling Fluids.
Drilling fluid density, often referred to as mud weight, is expressed as
kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3), pounds per gallon (lbm/galUS) or spe-
cific gravity (SG). Mud weight is typically measured by using a mud balance,
which is a balance-beam scale (Figure 2). A cup of known volume and mass
is attached to one end of the beam. Engineers fill the cup with drilling mud.
The mass of the filled cup is balanced on the other end of the beam by a
fixed countermass and a rider that can move freely along the graduated Figure 3. Rheometer. This rheometer is a coaxial cylinder, or Couette,
scale. The density of the fluid is read directly from the scales located on rotational-type viscometer. It consists of an outer cylinder that rotates about
an inner cylinder, or bob. Analysts place the test fluid in the gap between
both sides of the mud balance. the cylinders. The outer cylinder rotates at known velocities. As it rotates,
Drilling fluids transport cuttings and debris to the surface and suspend the fluid creates torque, in the form of shear stress, on the inner cylinder.
weighting materials such as barite that are added to obtain the required The torque registers as deflections on a precision spring attached to the
drilling fluid density. The viscosity must be high enough to keep weighting bob. The spring deflections are observed as direct readings off the display
on top of the viscosmeter. Readings are commonly made at 600, 300, 200,
materials suspended but also low enough to allow cuttings and sand to set- 100, 6 and 3 rpm. The readings can be plotted on a chart of shear stress
tle out and for entrained gas to escape at the surface. Mud engineers rou- versus shear rate to determine the viscosity and appropriate viscosity model.
tinely use the Marsh funnel to monitor drilling fluid properties during
drilling operations. The Marsh funnel is equipped with a graduated receiver per minute (rpm), whereby its movement induces the mud to exert a torque
cup that is used to measure funnel viscosity. The dimensions of the funnel on the bob. A torsion spring restrains the movement of the bob. A dial
allow 946 ml [1 qt] of fresh water that is at 21°C ± 3°C [70°F ± 5°F] to attached to the bob indicates the bob’s displacement. The bob’s displace-
travel through the funnel into the receiver cup within a range of 0.5 s of 26 s. ment values are calibrated to translate to shear stress values.
A rotational rheometer is typically used both at the rig site and in drill- A drilling fluid’s gel strength, another important property, indicates the
ing fluid laboratories to measure fluid properties (Figure 3). The unit is fluid’s potential to form a gel and the extent of gelling when circulation
equipped with a heating cup to allow measurements at temperatures from stops. Some amount of gelling is necessary in drilling fluids to keep cuttings
20°C to 80°C [68°F to 176°F]. During testing, fluid is contained in the annu- from settling to the bottom of the hole. Gel strength is measured using a
lar space between the solid bob and a rotating outer sleeve, which are both rheometer and is expressed in units of lbf/ft2. After 10 s, 10 min or 30 min of
cylindrical. The sleeve rotates at a constant velocity measured in rotations static conditions (no rotation), the rotation is set to 3 rpm and the gel
strength is recorded as the maximum dial deflection. Normally, initial gel
(10-s) and 10-min gel strengths are reported.
Lid Rider Although the procedures for measuring density and rheology are largely
identical for all drilling fluids, some tests are specific for water-base or oil-
Level glass base fluids. Additional tests for water-base fluids include: API filtration to
measure fluid loss and mudcake buildup at the end of 30 min, sand content
Balance arm
measurement, retort analysis to find liquid and solids content, and fluid pH
Knife edge and filtrate chemical analyses. Additional tests for oil-base fluids include
Fulcrum high-pressure, high-temperature filtration to measure fluid loss and mud-
Cup cake buildup at the end of 30 min and an electrical stability test to deter-
mine the emulsion and oil-wetting qualities of the mud.
Base
Future Flow
Whether to help characterize the flow of a well fluid or to adjust the mud
Figure 2. Typical mud balance. The mud balance is used to measure the weight of a drilling fluid, rheology is important in the oil and gas industry.
density of drilling fluids both at the rig site and the laboratory. After the cup
of known volume and mass is filled with fluid and the lid is in place, the The ability to measure, design and manage rheology in a timely manner is
rider—an unfixed mass—is moved down the balance arm until the bubble instrumental in enabling engineers to conduct operations in the field,
in the level glass indicates that the arm is level. The density is read on the including drilling, enhanced oil recovery, hydraulic fracturing stimulations,
graduated arm at the point where the rider sits on the leveled arm.
acid stimulations, wellbore cleaning and flow assurance.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Rod Pump Systems Engineers design rod pump installations—prime mover type; pumping
unit size, stroke length and speed setting; rod and tubing diameter; and
Rick von Flatern downhole pump diameter— based on reservoir fluid composition, wellbore
Senior Editor fluid depth and reservoir productivity. Typically, operators make most of
these determinations using software programs and then choose an optimal
Rod pumps are the most common form of artificial lift for oil wells. Today, pump speed to attain production targets without overloading the system or
these systems are used to lift formation fluids from more than 600,000 wells. overwhelming the formation’s ability to deliver fluids to the wellbore.
A rod pump system consists of a prime mover, a surface pump, a sucker Beam pumps are constructed in a variety of sizes and configurations. All
rod string and a downhole pump (Figure 1). The overwhelming majority of units work on the same principles but employ design differences to better
surface units are beam pumps. manage torque, rod wear and footprint. Common alternatives include locat-
ing counterweights on the crank arm or on the beam and the use of com-
Beam Horsehead
pressed air rather than weight to assist in load balancing. In addition,
changes to crank, gear reducer and motor position relative to the beam, as
Cables
Counterweights well as alternative beam designs, can all change system loading.
Polished rod
Crank arm
Stuffing box Surface-Downhole Connection
Prime mover Sucker rods connect the surface pump to the downhole pump. American
Flowline
Petroleum Institute (API) Specification 11B lists three grades of sucker rods:
Casing Grades C, D and K. Grade C and Grade K rods have minimum and maximum
tensile strengths of 620 and 790 MPa [90,000 and 115,000 psi], respectively;
Tubing
Grade K is more corrosion resistant than Grade C. Grade D rods have minimum
Rods and maximum tensile strengths of 790 and 970 MPa [115,000 and 140,000 psi],
respectively and include three types: plain-carbon, alloy and special-alloy steels.
The same API specification on rods allows rod lengths of 25 and 30 ft
[7.6 and 9.1 m] and smaller rods, called pony rods, with lengths ranging
Downhole pump from 20 to 140 in. [51 to 356 cm]. Operators use pony rods to ensure that the
pump is landed at the specified depth.
Fiber-reinforced plastic, or fiberglass, sucker rods may be used to lower
overall rod string weight. Fiberglass rods do not corrode and, because they
are lighter than steel rods, may be used when loads would otherwise be too
great for available surface equipment. Fiberglass rods are highly elastic and
will stretch during the upstroke, a fact that designers may capitalize on to
Perforations generate a downhole pump stroke length that is longer than the stroke
Produced length at the surface. However, because fiberglass has little compressive
fluids
strength, it is rarely used in wells that may subject rods to significant or
frequent compressive forces.
Figure 1. Beam pump system. All beam pump systems include a prime Rod strings are selected based on pump and tubing size, pump setting
mover to rotate a crank arm, whose movement is converted to reciprocal
movement through a beam. The beam includes counterweights or a
depth, production rate, gas/liquid ratio and the presence of sand, paraffin,
compressed air cylinder (not shown) to help reduce the load on the system salt, scale and foam. Sucker rod strings may be of a single diameter or may
during the upstroke. The beam is attached to a polished rod by cables hung be tapered by using two or three rod sizes, typically of the same grade.
from a horsehead at the end of the beam. The polished rod passes through Operators usually place the smaller-size rods at the bottom of the tapered
a stuffing box and is attached to the rod string. The rod string is lifted and
lowered within the production tubing of a cased well by the reciprocal rod string; the smaller sizes are able to handle the load there and reduce the
movement of the beam, enabling the downhole pump to capture and lift overall string weight and load on the top sections.
formation fluids up the tubing and through a pumping tee that directs the Although continuous rod strings that are coupled only at the surface and
fluid into a flowline. at the downhole pump do exist, their use is limited. For the vast majority of
rod-pumped wells, these strings are made up of a series of rods threaded at
Surface Equipment both ends and joined by couplings. Because the outer diameter of the cou-
The prime mover may be an internal combustion engine or an electric pling is larger than that of the rod body, couplings routinely contact the
motor that provides power to the pumping unit. Prime movers deliver high- tubing wall, particularly in deviated sections. Therefore, in addition to cou-
speed, low-torque power to a gear reducer, which converts that energy into pling strength and corrosion resistance, system designers take into consid-
the low-speed, high-torque energy required by the surface pump. A beam eration coupling hardness relative to the tubing to prevent tubing wear.
pumping unit, or beam pump, converts the rotational motion of the prime As an added precaution, designers may place heavier rods, or sinker
mover into a reciprocating vertical motion that lifts and lowers a rod string bars, in the lower section of the rod string to keep the rod string in tension,
connected to a subsurface pump. which reduces buckling and may help prevent contact with the tubing wall.
Rod strings may also include stabilizer bars between sinker bars to central-
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to LeMoyne Boyer, Houston, Texas, USA. ize the rods, further reducing tubing wear.
Oilfield Review 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Rod guides, typically made of reinforced plastics, may be molded onto A frequent challenge to downhole pump operation is the entry of gas
steel rods at depths where engineers predict the rods will experience side into the pump, leading to fluid pound or gas interference. Fluid pound
loading due to a deviated wellbore path. The guides act like bearings occurs when the plunger travels down quickly through low-pressure gas and
between the tubing wall and the rod to prevent rod and tubing wear. Sliding then suddenly hits fluid; the resulting compressive shock can damage rod
guides are able to move between molded guides during the pump cycle, aid- strings and the prime mover gearbox. Gas interference is less damaging and
ing production by scraping paraffin from the tubing wall, which helps pre- occurs when the plunger travels down through high-pressure gas. Both con-
vent well plugging. ditions significantly reduce system efficiency.
A rod rotator or tubing rotator may be used to rotate the rod a small To combat gas interference, gas separators are placed below the pump
fraction of a revolution on each stroke of the pumping unit to further extend to redirect the gas into the wellbore annulus around the pump. Other modi-
rod string life. In addition, slow rotation of rod guides may help scrape par- fications may be made to the completion to counter or reduce the effects of
affin from the tubing wall. heavy oil and sand or other produced solids.
Sucker rods are connected to the surface pumping unit by a polished rod. Operators can diagnose gas interference, fluid pound severity and many
The polished rod, made of standard alloy steel and hard-surface spray metal other operating conditions using a dynamometer, which plots rod tension
coating, supports the loads created during the pump cycle and ensures a seal versus displacement measurements at the surface and downhole at the
through the stuffing box at the top of the well. The stuffing box is attached to pump. The shape of an ideal downhole graph, called a dynamometer card, is
the wellhead or pumping tee and forms a low-pressure tight seal against the rectangular and indicative of a full pump. Deviations from the ideal shape
polished rod. The seal forms a barrier between the well and the atmosphere indicate performance issues, such as gas interference, system leaks, stuck
and allows flow to be diverted into the flowline via the pumping tee. pumps, parted rods and many other anomalies that can be identified and
corrected automatically or through manual intervention.
Downhole Pump
The downhole pump is made up of a pump chamber, a plunger with a travel- Optimization
ing valve and a standing valve; it is the mechanism by which fluid is moved Two types of systems are available for improving pump efficiency and protect-
up the tubing (Figure 2). ing the pumping system: pumpoff controllers and variable speed drives
(VSDs). When the dynamometer values indicate gas interference, pumpoff
controllers can be programmed to turn off the surface unit for a set period,
calculated to allow enough time for fluid to migrate through the reservoir and
into the wellbore. This method is less complex and less costly than using VSDs
but it is effective only in areas where operators have sufficient production
history to obtain accurate estimates of how long to shut down the unit.
Based on dynamometer measurements, a VSD reduces the pump speed
Rod string instead of turning the pump off. This allows time for the pumps to become
clear of gas or for liquid levels in the wellbore to rise without having to shut
down. Use of VSDs is particularly effective in very-low-permeability forma-
tions and shales, where the time required for oil to migrate into the induced
fractures and into the wellbore can be difficult to predict even across a
Plunger single field.

Common for a Reason

Traveling Because they are relatively inexpensive to install and operate and have a
valve
relatively long life, rod pumping systems are the most common form of arti-
ficial lift in use today. They are simple machines that have a long and well-
Pump
chamber documented history in the industry and they can be easily adjusted to meet
changing well or field conditions.
Standing The use of rod pumps is likely to increase as the industry continues to
valve
Pump expand its involvement in shale formations and other unconventional plays,
intake point which require operators to use high numbers of relatively low-flow-rate
Figure 2. Downhole pump. When the pump achieves maximum downward wells to exploit each field. Initial high pressures and high production vol-
reach, the beam begins its upward movement and the rods and plunger are umes from these hydraulically fractured horizontal wells are quickly fol-
pulled up, forcing the ball of the traveling valve on to its seat (left). This lowed by low bottomhole pressures and steep production decline rates;
upward movement reduces the pressure in the pump chamber until it is less
production is possible only through the use of artificial lift systems, of which
than the pressure at the pump intake point. The ball in the standing valve
comes off its seat, allowing formation fluid (arrows) to enter the pump rod pumps are the most efficient at these low rates.
chamber (middle, left). The standing valve closes at the end of the upward Typically, if not the initial artificial lift system of choice, rod pump systems
stroke (middle, right). As the plunger travels down, the pump chamber are installed on many wells as production rates decline and the economics
pressure increases, pushing the ball in the traveling valve off its seat. This
action allows the formation fluid to flow from the pump chamber into the
of initial systems are undone by higher operating costs. As a consequence,
tubing (right) as the plunger continues to move down. This cycle is repeated rod pump systems are likely to maintain their position as the most fre-
thousands of times per day. The fluid displaced into the tubing is carried quently deployed artificial lift method in the world.
toward the surface on subsequent upward strokes of the plunger.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Beginner’s Guide to Normal incidence

(zero angle)
Seismic Surveying Incident P-wave Angles
of
Reflected S-wave

Reflected P-wave
Richard Nolen-Hoeksema reflection
Angle
Editor of δ1
incidence
In the early days of the oil and gas industry, exploration was generally con- θ’1
θ1
ducted by trial and error. Knowledge of subsurface structures was limited to
the well being drilled and nearby offset wells. Today, geophysicists bounce
ρ1, VP1, VS1
seismic waves off strata below the Earth’s surface and record seismic reflec-
Geologic interface Lithology 1
tions to create high-resolution images of the subsurface.
Lithology 2
Seismic wave types include surface waves that travel along the surface
ρ2, VP2, VS2
of the Earth and body waves—compressional and shear waves—that travel
through the Earth. Reflection seismic surveys typically use compressional θ2
waves, which are also known as P-waves. P-waves are the fastest waves and
the first to arrive and be recorded by instruments. P-waves are also pressure δ2
waves; each P-wave cycle contains a compression and extension component. Angles
of
Sound waves are examples of P-waves. transmission Transmitted P-wave
During reflection seismic surveys, seismic waves are generated at or
near the Earth surface using a seismic source—dynamite, hammer, vibra- Transmitted S-wave
tor, air gun, water gun or anything that will transmit energy into the subsur- Snell’s Law
face. The seismic waves propagate from the source and travel through sin θ1 sin θ’1 sin δ1 sin θ2 sin δ2
geologic layers. At the interface between one type of rock and another, there = = = = = constant
VP1 VP1 VS1 VP2 VS2
is a change in physical properties—in particular, density, seismic velocity
and their multiplication product, seismic impedance. > Snell’s law. At a geologic interface, the energy in an incident compressional
At geologic interfaces, some seismic energy reflects, or echoes, back to wave (P-wave) will be partitioned into reflected and transmitted P-waves
and vertically polarized shear waves (S-waves). Snell’s law determines the
the surface. At the surface, seismic receivers, which are electromechanical angles of reflection and transmission. For material properties, ρ and V refer
devices—microphones, geophones, hydrophones or accelerometers— to bulk density and velocity, respectively. Subscripts P and S indicate P- and
detect the reflected energy and convert it into electrical signals. The signals S-waves. Subscripts 1 and 2 indicate properties for Lithologies 1 and 2.
are recorded and later processed into images of the underground geology,
which may be interpreted for oil and gas exploration, development and pro- This partitioning is governed by the reflection and transmission coefficients,
duction purposes. E&P geoscientists use these images to map and delineate which depend on the impedance contrast across the interface and the inci-
exploration prospects, to plan placement of wells in reservoir zones and to dence angle of the incident wave. The reflection coefficient is the ratio of the
monitor reservoir changes during hydrocarbon production. amplitude of the reflected wave to that of the incident wave. When the coef-
ficient is zero, there is no reflection, and all incident energy is transmitted
Reflections across the interface. The positive or negative sign of the reflection coefficient
When P-waves travel through geologic layers, only some of the wave energy indicates whether the incident wave encounters a lithology of higher or lower
reflects from lithologic interfaces; the remainder crosses the interfaces. impedance across the interface. Nonzero reflection coefficients result in par-
Two physical relations govern the reflection and transmission of waves. Both tial reflection and transmission.
relations are simplifications of the wave equation, which describes the
behavior of sound, electromagnetic radiation and other wave phenomena. Acquisition
The first relation is Snell’s law, which describes the directions that reflected Reflection seismic data may be acquired on land or at sea. During land
and transmitted waves take from an interface. acquisition, seismic data are collected
Oilfield Review from a grid of seismic receivers
Incident P-waves strike a geologic interface and reflected P-waves travel deployed on the ground.AUTUMN
The seismic13source is moved and triggered in a pat-
away from the interface at the same angle, analogous to a billiard ball banking REFLEXSEIS
tern that interweaves with the grid ofFig. 1
receivers.
off the table rail. At an interface, P-waves may also be converted to reflected For marine acquisition, sources and1 streamers, which are arrays of
ORAUT 13-RFXS
and transmitted S-waves. Across an interface, physical properties change, and receivers attached to a cable, are deployed off the back of a slowly moving
transmitted P- and S-waves cross the interface and bend at angles that depend ship; seismic sources are usually in front of the streamers. As the ship
on the seismic velocity contrasts between lithologies (above right). moves, the sources fire at regular intervals, and the receivers record the
The second relation consists of the Zoeppritz equations, a set of equations signals. The ship typically traverses a grid pattern covering the survey area.
that describes how the incident wave energy encountering an interface Both on land and at sea, each receiver records a trace, which represents
becomes partitioned, or divided, between reflected and transmitted waves. the amplitude of seismic signal and noise received during the recording
time. Because multiple recording devices are activated when the source is
Oilfield Review Spring 2014: 26, no. 1. triggered, multiple traces are produced.
Copyright © 2014 Schlumberger. A seismic record is the collection of traces recorded from a single source
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Victor Aarre, Stavanger, Norway; point. A record is a section, or cube, of data with distance or geographic
and Lisa Stewart, Houston.
 –
Horizon
www.slb.com/defining

location along the horizontal axis, or axes, and recording time along the
Inline Crossline
vertical axis. Each trace is plotted at its receiver location, and its positive
and negative deviations from zero indicate amplitude variation. Usually,
time, rather than depth, is plotted along the vertical axis. The recording
time is two-way traveltime (TWT) because the signal must travel from the
surface to the reflector and back up to the receiver on the surface.
The high-frequency content of seismic signals that travel through the
Earth experiences natural attenuation. For imaging features in the deep sub-
surface, geophysicists want to record the lowest possible frequencies, which
are the least attenuated and have deep penetration power. To attain accurate
vertical resolution of underground features, the survey must also record the
Horizon
highest possible frequencies, which become progressively weaker with dis-
tance. Consequently, geophysicists design seismic sources, sensors and sur- Amplitude
veys to be able to generate and record broadband signals that contain the
– 0 +
widest possible range of frequencies.
> 3D reflection seismic survey result. This 3D seismic dataset from offshore
Australia shows a complex system of marine channels and related
Sorting and Gathering sedimentary deposits flowing E-W toward deep water. The inline in the
The acquired traces may be gathered into several datasets. A common background and the crossline on the right side of the image cut across and
source gather is the collection of seismic traces that have the same source show perpendicular sections through the channel system. The horizon is an
interpreted surface considered to be the base of the depositional system. The
location. Another useful gather is the common midpoint (CMP) gather colors indicate the spatially varying reflection strength, which may be caused
(below). A midpoint is the surface location halfway between a source and a by local changes in geology and saturation of the pore space and may be
associated with faulting. (Dataset used with permission courtesy of
Geoscience Australia.)
Xm Offset
X1 Oilfield Review
Sm S1 CMP R1 Rm 0 X1 Xm AUTUMN
receiver location. The number of 13
traces in a CMP gather is the fold. The
0
distance between sourceREFLEXSEIS
and receiverFig. 3 offset.
is the
ORAUT 13-RFXS 3 to shift all traces so that reflec-
Two-way traveltime

Geophysicists make moveout corrections

T0 tions in a CMP gather appear horizontal at their zero-offset times. Then, in a
Depth

Moveout

process called stacking, they add together the traces in the CMP gather to
form a single trace, which is called a CMP stack. Geophysicists repeat this
Reflector process for every CMP gather in the survey. The end result is that many seis-
CRP mic records from a survey traverse are reduced to a single seismic line, or
section, that contains traces from CMP stacks arranged in order of their geo-
graphic position. When applied to reflections from horizontal strata, the
Offset
CMP moveout correction is called a normal moveout (NMO) correction.
0 X1 Xm The process of stacking the CMP also helps to remove random noise, or
0
unwanted signal, that results from the environment. Such noise tends to be
Two-way traveltime

Two-way traveltime

unsystematic and may be suppressed further by additional data processing.

T0

Additional Steps
Within seismic images, interpreted features do not always appear in their
correct locations because seismic energy bends, scatters and changes direc-
tion in the subsurface. Migration is an advanced seismic processing tech-
> Common midpoint (CMP) stack. The common midpoint (CMP, top left) is the nique that geometrically repositions image points to a more accurate
point on the surface halfway between sources (S) and receivers (R) that is location. After the migration operation, dipping features are moved, and
shared by numerous (m) source-receiver pairs. For horizontal layers, the CMP scattered energy collapses back toward its point of origin. As a result,
is directly above the common reflection point (CRP). The distance X between images are sharper and more accurately reveal the underlying geology.
source-receiver pairs is the offset. A CMP gather (top right) is a record of
Reflection seismology is a powerful tool for imaging strata within the
traces from the source-receiver pairs that share a CMP. It is a plot of two-way
traveltime versus offset. As the offset between source-receiver pairs subsurface (above). Geophysicists use acquisition techniques to acquire
increases, the moveout, or difference in arrival times, of a reflected wave seismic data from many angles. They use migration and other advanced data
increases. Time T0 is the zero-offset time for a reflection arrival when source processing algorithms to improve identification of reflection points and sup-
and receiver occupy the same point. The moveout correction (bottom left)
removes the moveout to collapse all arrival times in the CMP gather from a pression of noise. Consequently, geophysicists are revealing details about
reflector to T0. The CMP stack (bottom right) is the summation of all moveout- subsurface geologic structures and strata and obtaining data for accurate
corrected traces in the CMP gather. Random noise in individual traces is interpretation of exploration prospects and delineation of drilling targets.
attenuated during this process, leading to a clearer image.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Typical subsea field layout. Subsea trees positioned atop four wells contain pressure-control
valves and chemical injection ports. A jumper carries produced fluids from each tree to a subsea
manifold, which commingles production from the wells before sending it through flowline jumpers
FPSO
to a subsea boosting pump station. The pump provides energy to send the produced fluids through
two pipeline end terminations (PLETs) and then through flowlines and up the risers to the
production deck of the floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO). An integrated
umbilical (green) from the FPSO supplies electric and hydraulic power for subsea tree or manifold
control functions along with chemicals to suppress the formation of scale and hydrates in the
production stream. On the seabed, the umbilical termination assembly (UTA) routes the chemical
and hydraulic fluids (white jumpers) to the manifold, which sends them to each tree. The UTA also
sends electric power to a distribution system which routes power lines (black leads) to the
manifold, boosting pump and trees.

Production risers Umbilical riser

Subsea tree
Boosting pump station
Manifold

PLET
Jumper

Electric power leads Injection fluid jumper

Electric power
distribution unit
UTA
Hydraulic fluid jumper

Subsea Infrastructure
Matt Varhaug
Senior Editor

To replace dwindling reserves from onshore fields or from offshore wells Seabed Equipment
drilled in shallow waters, many E&P companies are turning to their deepwa- The subsea wellhead, installed at the beginning of the drilling phase, pro-
ter prospects. Exploration or production in deep and ultradeep waters is vides the structural foundation for the well. The wellhead is also where the
carried out at water depths of 300 to 3,050 m [1,000 to 10,000 ft] or greater. subsea tree is mounted. In some configurations, the tree contains the pro-
These depths dictate that most wells be completed subsea, with wellheads, duction tubing hanger and accommodates hydraulic and electrical lines
pressure-control equipment and production equipment placed at the seafloor. used for managing downhole safety valves, completion valves and pressure
From deepwater and ultradeepwater completions, produced fluids are or temperature sensors. The function of the subsea tree is to control and
sent to a processing facility by way of a subsea production system. A sub- manage pressure and flow over the life of the well and enable any necessary
sea production system consists of the subsea infrastructure used to pro- intervention. The tree is the primary mechanism for shutting in the well at
duce oil and gas from offshore reservoirs. It encompasses one or more the seabed and serves as the interface for well reentry operations. A subsea
subsea wells and the subsystems necessary to deliver hydrocarbons to a control module (SCM) attached to the tree contains the instrumentation,
fixed, floating, subsea or onshore processing facility. These subsystems can electronics and hydraulics connections needed for safe operation of the
be divided into subsea trees, production controls, manifolds, jumpers, flow- subsea tree valves, chokes and downhole valves.
lines, risers, umbilicals and processing components. Injection of water or Sections of pipe, known as jumpers, run between subsea structures to
gas back into subsea wells is also a function of the subsea production sys- serve as links through which fluids are transmitted. These pipe segments
tem. Generally, oil, gas and water produced from the reservoir will flow range in length from a few meters to hundreds of meters. A jumper is often
from a wellbore to a subsea tree and through a jumper to a manifold and installed to carry production downstream from the tree. The produced fluid
subsea flowline. Today, many operators route the flowline to a booster may be routed through a multiphase flowmeter to measure production
pump to energize the flow as it travels between the seafloor and a riser that rates and volumes.
carries it to the surface for processing. Where multiple wells produce in a subsea development, flowline jumpers
from individual wells send produced fluids to a subsea production manifold
Oilfield Review 2016. (Figure 1). By routing produced fluids from multiple wells to the production
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. manifold, the operator can reduce the number of flowlines that must be
accommodated at the next step in the production chain. Upon reaching the
www.slb.com/defining

manifold, produced fluids from the various wells are commingled before they
are directed to a flowline that leads to the production platform. Injection
manifolds function similarly and are used to manage the distribution of High-voltage cable
Electric cable
injected water, gas and chemicals to one or more subsea wells.
Some subsea installations have a pipeline end manifold (PLEM), which Chemical injection
fluid line Fiber-optic cable
connects a flowline with another subsea structure or joins a main pipeline
with a branch pipeline. The PLEM can incorporate tie-in points with other Outer plastic sheath
components such as isolation valves, diverter valves and sensor arrays.
Some PLEM designs incorporate facilities for launching pipeline pigs— Hydraulic fluid line Wire cable armor
devices used to clean or monitor the inside of a pipeline.
When a reservoir does not have sufficient energy to produce the fluids
from one subsea component to the next, a subsea boosting pump may be Figure 2. Cross section of an umbilical. Umbilicals supply electric power,
installed. Boosting pumps function as a seafloor artificial lift system, increas- hydraulic fluid, chemicals and fiber-optic communications to the subsea
production system. Separate hoses, cables, injection lines and other
ing both flow rate and recovery by reducing backpressure on the reservoir.
conduits are bundled together and enclosed within an armored outer ring
Other recent advances in subsea processing are used to enhance field designed to withstand harsh subsea conditions.
economics. Seafloor separation and reinjection of produced water can alle-
viate constrained topside water handling capacity while supplementing res-
ervoir energy through waterdrive. Subsea gas compression, including wet point that gas hydrates start to form. The change in fluid temperature
gas compression, can improve viability of certain marginal developments. beyond the tree influences the operator’s thermal management strategy. At
some fields, chemicals such as methanol [CH3OH] or monoethylene glycol
[C2H6O2] are injected into the system to keep the wellstream flowing then
recovered on the surface and reused. Some operators use electrically heated
flowlines; others use foam-insulated pipe. Some operators bury the flowline
beneath the seafloor for insulation, but flowlines at certain fields require no
additional heat or insulation at all. The chemistry and rheology of the pro-
duced fluids ultimately dictate which methodology is adopted.
Production flowlines run from the manifold to structures that are linked
to risers that direct the flow to the production facility. Risers transport pro-
duced fluids from the seafloor to the surface production facility. Like flow-
lines, many risers are insulated against cold seawater temperatures. They
offer a measure of flexibility to withstand subsurface water currents or
movement of the floating facility.

Surface Lifeline
The surface processing facility provides power, control, communication and
Figure 1. Subsea manifold. This manifold, hoisted in preparation for installation chemical injection services back to the subsea production system. These
on the seafloor, will take produced fluids from several wells and route them to services are transmitted through a subsea distribution system using umbil-
a flowline running to a production platform. icals. Multiple steel and thermoplastic conduits are often bundled together
with hydraulic lines, chemical injection lines, power conductors and fiber-
optic cables to form a single integrated umbilical (Figure 2). These flexible
Flow to the Surface conduits require sophisticated materials and manufacturing techniques to
Flowlines tie one or more fields back to a production facility—a shore- withstand deep-ocean currents, pressures and temperatures. Power con-
based processing facility or fixed production platform in shallower waters— ductors provide electricity for subsea equipment and system sensors.
but in deeper waters, a semisubmersible, spar and floating production, Hydraulic lines are used to open and close subsea valves. Fiber-optic lines
storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) is used. The flowlines do not necessar- instantly relay sensor information and control commands between the sea-
ily trace a straight course from wellhead to platform but may bend to avoid floor and the surface. Some umbilical lines pump chemicals into the produc-
obstacles such as existing subsea infrastructure or natural obstructions tion stream. Umbilicals directly or indirectly service nearly every component
such as underwater seamounts or canyons. As it follows the topography of in the subsea production system and are critical to operating the field. The
the seafloor, the flowline climbs gradually from the colder, deeper reaches lines typically run from the surface processing facility to an umbilical ter-
of the field upward through relatively warmer, shallower waters before mination assembly (UTA) on the seafloor, from which services are distrib-
reaching the production facility. uted throughout the field.
Water depth affects temperature, which can adversely impact flow Upon reaching the surface, the produced fluids are separated and
between the subsea tree and the production facility. Upon exiting the well- treated by the processing facility. From there, an export pipeline transports
head, warm produced fluids may encounter deepwater temperatures the product to a storage and offloading installation or to an onshore refinery
approaching 2°C [36°F] at the seafloor. Heat transfer between the produced for further processing and distribution.
fluid in the pipeline and the surrounding seawater can cool the fluid to the

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Well Testing Fundamentals

Rick von Flatern
Senior Editor

Conventional Separator
Well and formation tests, which entail taking measurements while flowing
fluids from the reservoir, are conducted at all stages in the life of oil and gas Safety valve Coalescing plates Mist Gas line
extractor
fields, from exploration through development, production and injection. Inlet breaker Deflector plate Foam breaker
Operators perform these tests to determine whether a formation will pro- Effluent
inlet
duce, or continue to produce, hydrocarbons at a rate that gives a reasonable
return on further investments. Operators also use test data to determine the
limits of the reservoir and to plan the most efficient methods for producing
wells and fields.
During testing, operators measure formation pressure, characterize the Oil-level
formation fluids and reservoir and determine permeability and skin—dam- controller
Water-level Water line and float
age to the formation incurred during drilling or other well operations. Data Oil line
controller and float
Weir plate Vortex breaker
that indicate how the formation reacts to pressure increases and decreases
during a test can also reveal critical information about the reservoir. > Test separator. Separators are designed so that produced fluids enter the
Well and formation tests are also primary sources of critical data for vessel, where they are retained long enough for the oil to separate and float
to the top of the water. This process is enhanced by deflector plates that
reservoir models and are the principal means by which engineers confirm or slow flow velocity and by coalescing plates that gather oil into large
adjust reservoir model parameters. Engineers use these models to under- droplets. Once the oil and water have separated, the oil then flows over a
stand how reservoir fluids, the formation and the well interact and use that weir into a separate section of the vessel while water remains in the original
knowledge to optimize completion and development strategies. compartment. Mechanical water- and oil-level controller arms, with
attached floats lifted by the rising fluid, trigger valves (not shown) that
Operators assess the production potential of wells through several test release oil and water along their respective flowlines. When the fluids reach
methods, singularly or in combination. They may choose to perform a pro- prescribed levels, the controllers cause the release of gas or air pressure
duction well test in which the well is flowed through a temporary comple- with actuation of pneumatic valves. Mist extractors remove oil droplets from
tion to a test separator (right). Or they may use a wireline formation tester the gas phase before gas exits through a valve at the top of the vessel and
passes through an orifice plate meter (not shown) for measurement. Safety
(WFT) to capture fluid samples and measure pressure downhole at the zone valves allow gas to escape into the atmosphere rather than overpressure
of interest. Engineers sometimes perform both types of tests. the vessel.
During production well tests, technicians flow reservoir fluids to the sur-
face through a drillstring or a drillstem test (DST) string. Packers isolate
the zone to be tested while downhole, or surface equipment provides well
control. The well is flowed at different rates through a choke valve that can drawdown tests, engineers open the well after a specified shut-in period to
be adjusted to control the flow rate precisely. observe BHP decrease. During injection tests and falloff tests, fluid is
Reservoir fluids produced to the surface are sent directly to holding injected into the formation, and BHP, which increases as a result, is moni-
tanks until test operators determine that contaminants such as drilling flu- tored. The well is then shut in and the ensuing decreasing BHP is recorded.
ids are eliminated, or at least minimized, from the flow stream. After Interference tests record the pressure changes in adjacent wells when the
cleanup, flow is redirected to a test separator where bulk fluids are divided test well pressure is changed. The time it takes for changes in the test well
into oil, gas and water, and any debris, such as sand and other material, is to affect pressure at the observation well gives engineers an indication of
removed. The three fluid phases are measured and analyzed separately. the size of the reservoir and flow communication within it.
Operators may opt to obtain additional reservoir and fluid flow data by Engineers analyze responses to pressure change schemes using pres-
simultaneously running production logging tools into the well on wireline. sure transient analysis, a technique based on the mathematical relation-
These tools measure the downhole flow rate and fluid composition and can ships between flow rate, pressure and time. The information from these
indicate which zones are contributing to the total flow. analyses helps engineers determine the optimal completion interval, pro-
During well tests, reservoir fluids are produced to the separator at vary- duction potential and skin. They can also derive average permeability,
ing rates according to a predetermined schedule. These tests may take less degree of permeability heterogeneity and anisotropy, reservoir boundary
than two days to evaluate a single well or months to evaluate reservoir shape and distance, and initial and average reservoir pressures.
extent. Test types include buildup, drawdown, falloff, injection and inter- Engineers use specific variations on well buildup and drawdown tests to
ference. For most tests, engineers permit a limited amount of fluid to flow evaluate gas wells. During a backpressure test, a well is flowed against a
from or into a formation. They then close the well and monitor pressures specified backpressure until its BHP and surface pressures stabilize—an
while the formation equilibrates. indication that flow is coming from the outer reaches of the drainage area.
Buildup tests are performed by shutting in the well after some period of An isochronal test is a series of drawdowns and buildups. Pumping rates
flow to measure increase in bottomhole pressure (BHP). By contrast, for vary for each drawdown, while subsequent buildups continue until the well
reaches its original shut-in pressure. A modified isochronal test—in which
Oilfield Review Winter 2012/2013: 24, no. 4.
Copyright © 2013 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Scientists also use downhole fluid analysis (DFA) to monitor the sam-
pling process. Using optical spectroscopy, or the recorded light spectrum,
engineers identify in real time the composition of fluids as they flow into the
tool; this method also reveals critical data about the reservoir without wait-
ing for laboratory tests to be completed. Additionally, the DFA measure-
ments confirm that the sample is uncontaminated and eliminate
uncertainties associated with fluid transport and laboratory reconstruction
of in situ conditions necessary for fluid analysis. Technicians also use DFA
data to identify gas/oil ratios, relative asphaltene content and water frac-
tion in real time.
A variety of well and formation test schemes are performed throughout
the stages in the life of a well or field. At the exploration stage, operators
may use well tests to simulate production after a well is completed to estab-
lish production potential and reserves estimates. In addition, capturing
large fluid samples at the surface gives experts an opportunity to perform
laboratory measurements on the reservoir fluids.
Quartz pressure
gauge Well tests at the exploration stage also allow operators to determine if
Tool piston low flow rates are affected by skin or are the result of natural permeability
Packer assembly of the reservoir. Armed with the knowledge of either situation, engineers
Probe can then take appropriate actions, plan treatments that may be necessary
once production commences or decide to abandon the project for economic
reasons. For instance, well tests can be used to estimate reservoir size,
Packer assembly
piston which allows operators to abandon a small reservoir that will not be eco-
nomical despite high initial flow rates.
During the field development stage, well tests help indicate wells that
> WFT sampling. Pistons are driven from one side of the WFT to force a
may require stimulation treatments. Using well test data, engineers predict
packer assembly firmly against the formation to be tested. At its center, the induced or natural fracture length and conductivity. They can then estimate
packer includes a probe that is then extended into the formation to productivity gains that may be realized from a stimulation treatment. In
withdraw wellbore fluids. Formation fluids (red arrows) flow into the probe addition, WFTs can be used for pressure testing to determine static reser-
and into flowlines. The fluids are pumped into the wellbore until they are voir pressures and to confirm fluid contacts and density gradients. This
sufficiently free of contamination as determined by downhole fluid analysis
(green and brown cylinders). Uncontaminated fluids are directed into information helps analyze communication within the reservoir, tie reservoir
storage bottles (orange) where the fluids are kept at in situ conditions. characteristics to a geologic model and identify depleted zones.
Multiple samples can be taken on one trip into the well. When all tests are During the production phase, well tests are aimed at monitoring reser-
completed, the samples are brought to the surface and may be sent to voirs, collecting data for history matching—comparing actual production
laboratories for advanced testing. A quartz pressure gauge measures and
records bottomhole pressures. with predicted production from reservoir simulators—and assessing the
need for stimulation. These tests use a pressure gauge placed at formation
depth to collect data during pressure buildup and drawdown.
drawdown and buildup periods are of equal duration—may also be used. Well productivity usually diminishes over time, sometimes as a result of
Based on data from these tests, engineers are able to determine produc- formation damage from fines migration—the movement of very small par-
tion potential, skin and absolute open flow (AOF)—the theoretical rate at ticles through the formation to the wellbore where they fill pore spaces and
which the well would flow if backpressure on the sandface, or the borehole reduce permeability. Engineers may perform formation tests to predict the
wall, were zero. Operators use AOF as the basis for calculations to deter- likely effectiveness of treatments to remove these fines. The effects of com-
mine the relationship between backpressure settings and flow rates of pletion choices may also be assessed using formation tests to aid engineers
the well. in planning required remedial operations.
Rather than use well tests, operators may opt to evaluate their wells using Well and formation test data provide operators with information about
WFTs that include a quartz pressure gauge and a fluid sampling tool placed their new and producing wells that is critical to making near-term opera-
across a production interval (above). During these formation tests, reservoir tional decisions. But the real power of well test data is their application to
fluids are pumped or flowed into the WFT through a probe inserted into the construction or correction of reservoir models, which allow operators to
formation or between packers set above and below the sampling site. make better long-term decisions about their assets.
The reservoir fluids, which may be contaminated with drilling fluid, are
first flowed or pumped through flowlines in the tool into the wellbore
while the contamination level decreases. Once engineers determine that the
formation is delivering minimally contaminated reservoir fluids, they redi-
rect flow to sample chambers within the tool. The chambers are retrieved to
the surface and transported to laboratories for analysis.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Wettability Water-Wet Mixed-Wet Oil-Wet

Richard Nolen-Hoeksema
Editor

Understanding formation wettability is essential for optimizing oil recovery.

The oil-versus-water wetting preference influences many aspects of reser-
voir performance, particularly its effects on waterflooding and enhanced oil
recovery techniques. Developing an oil-wet reservoir as if it is water-wet can
Oil Brine (water) Rock grains
lead to irreversible reservoir damage and reduced recovery.
Wettability describes a preference of a solid surface to be in contact with Figure 2. Wetting in pores. In a water-wet situation (left), oil remains in the
one fluid rather than another. In reservoir rock, the solid surface is composed center of the pores. The reverse condition holds if all surfaces are oil-wet
(right). In the mixed-wet case (middle), oil has displaced water from some of
of mineral grains, and the fluids in the pore space are typically an immiscible the surfaces but remains in the centers of water-wet pores. The three
combination of water, oil and gas. The balance of forces—surface tensions— conditions have similar saturations of water and oil.
controls wettability between the solid and the fluids and the interfacial ten-
sion between the fluids. Surface tension results from the natural tendency of never contacted by oil may be water-wet. Various terms describe such hetero-
molecules at a fluid interface to be at a higher energy state than those in the geneous wetting, including mixed, fractional and Dalmatian—spotty—wet-
bulk of a fluid. This tendency creates a reduced concentration of molecules ting. In mixed wetting, small pores occupied by water are water-wet, while
close to the fluid interface, and the fluid molecules are pulled toward the fluid larger pores contain oil and are oil-wet. In fractional wetting, variations in
interior, imparting an adhesive force. This force, found at surfaces between minerals, which have differing surface chemical properties, cause portions of
immiscible fluids, is surface tension at gas/liquid boundaries and interfacial rock to be water-wet and other portions to be oil-wet. In Dalmatian wetting,
tension in liquid/liquid boundaries. the solid surface property itself may differ in patches due to mineral heteroge-
A drop of a preferentially wetting fluid will displace a nonwetting fluid neity. Wetting scenarios may assume strong wetting for one fluid or the other
from a solid surface. At the extreme, the wetting fluid will spread over the and can be illustrated using an exaggerated surface film (Figure 2).
entire surface. Conversely, if a nonwetting fluid is dropped onto a surface Wettability does not describe the saturation state of the rock; it describes
already covered by the wetting fluid, it will bead up, minimizing its contact the preference of the solid surfaces to be contacted by a fluid. Thus, a water-
with the solid. If the condition is neither strongly water-wetting nor strongly wet rock can be cleaned, dried and fully saturated with an alkane while the
oil-wetting, the balance of forces in the wetting fluid, nonwetting fluid and surfaces of its pores remain water-wet. An oil-saturated water-wet rock
solid system will result in a contact angle, θ, at the point at which the two when contacted by water will spontaneously imbibe water and expel oil.
fluids and solid surface touch, forming a three-phase contact line (Figure 1). The process of imbibition refers to saturation increase for the wetting
In a homogeneous, porous material saturated with oil and water, fluid, regardless of whether it is spontaneous or forced, although many use
“strongly water-wetting” describes one end of a continuum in which the it to refer to aqueous phase intrusion. Conversely, drainage refers to an
pore surfaces prefer contact with water. A strongly oil-wetting surface pre- increase in saturation of the nonwetting fluid, typically the process of
fers contact with oil. Degrees of wetting apply along the continuum, and if increasing oil saturation.
the solid does not have a marked preference for one fluid over the other, its
condition is termed intermediate wetting orγ neutral θ wetting. In many oil- Measuring Wettability
ow
θ
field applications, wettability is considered binary—the rock is either Measurements on core samples include spontaneous and forced imbibition
γso γsw
water-wet or oil-wet. This extreme simplification masks the complexity of and centrifuge capillary pressure measurements. If a core sample imbibes
θ ~ 0° γso = γsw + γow cos θ θ ~ 180°
wetting physics in reservoir rock. water spontaneously but not oil, it is water-wet; if a sample imbibes oil, it is
The saturation history of the material may influence surface wetting; that oil-wet. If the sample imbibes significant amounts of both water and oil, it is
is, pore-wall surfaces previously contacted by oil may be oil-wet, but those mixed-wet.
Fluid displacement methods for measuring wettability on core samples
have procedural variations such as the Amott, Amott-Harvey and US Bureau
θ
γow of Mines (USBM). The Amott method involves only water imbibition. The
θ
γso γsw Amott-Harvey method uses oil and water and provides a wettability index,
θ ~ 0° γso = γsw + γow cos θ θ ~ 180° calculated by subtracting the imbibed and forced oil displacement ratio
from the imbibed and forced water displacement ratio. The USBM method
Figure 1. Contact angle. An oil drop (green) surrounded by water (blue) on a
water-wet surface (left, purple) forms a bead. The contact angle θ is reports a wettability index, which equals the logarithm of the area under
approximately 0°. On an oil-wet surface (right, tan), the oil drop spreads, the capillary pressure curve for oil displacing water minus the logarithm of
resulting in a contact angle of about 180°. On an intermediate-wet surface the area under the centrifuge capillary pressure curve for water displacing
(center, gray), the oil also forms a bead, but the contact angle is a result of a
force balance between the surface-oil interfacial tension, γso, and the
oil; the area under a capillary pressure curve is a measure of the energy
surface-water interfacial tension, γsw; oil-water interfacial tension is γow. required to displace one fluid forcibly with another.

For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Mark A. Andersen, retired Schlumberger, Importance of Wettability
Houston, Texas, USA; and T. S. Ramakrishnan, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Most oil reservoirs were water-wet before oil migrated into them. Reservoirs
Oilfield Review 2016.
exhibit a transition zone through which saturation changes gradually from
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
water—the free-water level—at the bottom of the transition zone to mostly
www.slb.com/defining

oil with residual water, Swr—lowest or irreducible water saturation—at the

top. This distribution results from the buoyancy-based pressure difference Water-Wet Oil-Wet
θ = 0°
between oil and water, and the pressure difference is equal to the capillary
pressure, Pc (Figure 3).
Wetting heterogeneity can affect oil recovery, for example, when a reservoir Oil r h r h
is in contact with adjacent strata and the water-wet layers and oil-wet layers
have similar permeabilities. A waterflood that has vertical capillary equilib- θ = 140°
Water
rium should produce a higher water saturation in the water-wet layers than in

Capillary pressure

Capillary pressure
Depth

Depth
the oil-wet layers because the invading water will preferentially displace the
wetting-phase water. Depending on the interwell spacing and the layer thick-
ness, a waterflood may leave substantial oil in the oil-wet layers and yield high
water-cut in the production stream because the injected water cannot move oil Pc = 0, free-water level
from oil-wet surfaces as easily it can move the free water in the pores.
Wettability also affects the amount of oil produced at the end of oil dis- Oil/water contact
Oil/water contact
placement and recovery by waterflooding as measured by the residual oil
saturation, Sor. At the pore level in a water-wet formation, water flows into Pc = 0, free-water level
all accessible pores, and the remaining oil remains isolated in large pores,
disconnected from an oil-connected pathway. In a strongly oil-wet forma- Water saturation Water saturation
tion, oil adheres to surfaces, increasing the probability of a continuous oil- Pc = Pnw – Pw where Pc = capillary pressure h = height of capillary rise
connected path to a producing well and resulting in a lower Sor than that in Pc = ∆ρ g h Pnw = pressure in nonwetting phase γ = interfacial tension
a water-wet formation. However, this connected oil may have very low mobil- Pc = 2 γ cos θ/r, Pw = pressure in wetting phase θ = contact angle
∆ρ = density difference between phases r = inner radius of capillary.
ity because of its confinement to small pores.
g = gravitational acceleration
The wetting states of layers within formations can also differ because of
lithology variations. A tight, low-permeability zone may remain water-wet if Figure 3. Forming a transition zone. A homogeneous formation exhibits a
zone of transition from high oil saturation at the top to high water saturation
little or no oil migrates into it while surrounding formations can become
at the bottom (blue curves). This saturation transition has its origin in the
more oil-wet. Wetting can also be affected by temperature variations and capillary pressure, Pc (equations, above). In a capillary tube, water-wetting
the connate water pH. surface forces cause water to rise (left inset), displacing oil, but if the tube
Because its impact extends from pore scale to reservoir scale, wettabil- inner surface is oil-wetting, the oil will push water down (right inset). The
balance of wetting forces and the weight of fluid displaced from the
ity can affect project economics. Reservoir engineers use the parameters bulk-fluid interface determine the capillary rise, h. Translating this to a
Swr and Sor to predict the amount of oil that can be recovered. These param- porous formation, a free-water level (FWL) is defined where the capillary
eters are directly affected by wettability. In addition, the relative permeabil- pressure between water and oil is zero. Since porous rocks have a
ities of oil and water vary with formation wettability; relative permeability distribution of pore and pore-throat sizes—similar to a distribution of
capillary tubes—at any given height above the FWL, the portion of the size
is the relative ease that one fluid has to flow through the pore space in the distribution that can sustain water at that height will be water-saturated. At
presence of other fluids. In projects that have large upfront capital expendi- greater height, the buoyancy of oil in water provides greater capillary
tures for facilities, such as those in deepwater areas, failure to understand pressure to force water out of smaller voids. In a water-wet formation (left),
wettability and its ramifications through both residual saturations and rela- the oil/water contact is above the FWL; as a result, forcing oil into the
largest pores requires applying pressure. In an oil-wet formation (right), the
tive permeability can be costly. contact is below the FWL; as a result, forcing the water phase into the
Reservoir engineers design enhanced oil recovery processes to alter wet- largest pores requires applying pressure. The oil/water contact divides the
tability to water-wet to remove oil contacting the solid surface. Alternatively, zone containing mostly oil from the one containing mostly water.
rendering the formation to be oil-wet may improve ultimate oil recovery.
Wettability may also influence gasflood performance. The gasflood front Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) responses also depend on the posi-
or oil bank can move water, if it is mobile, generating flow variation based on tion of the fluids with respect to the pore surfaces. The nonwetting fluid
oil/water wetting preferences. In addition, if asphaltenes are present in the exhibits NMR relaxation rates similar to those of bulk fluid if the fluid does
crude oil, contact by injected hydrocarbon gas alters the equilibrium condi- not contact the pore surface. The wetting fluid has shortened relaxation
tion, possibly causing precipitation of asphaltenes, which can plug pores. times because of its interactions with the pore surface.
Even in a gas reservoir, wettability or its alteration can affect recovery. Wettability is important to drilling-fluid formulation, particularly in oil-
Blockage by condensate formed near a wellbore—condensate banking— base muds. Surfactants keep solids in suspension. If an oil-external mud
during depletion of a gas reservoir decreases gas productivity. Some recov- filtrate containing oil-wetting surfactants invades the near-well formation,
ery methods use chemical means to alter the wettability around the wellbore there is a potential to alter the wettability of the pores. This process can
to produce the fluids and clear the blockage. change the position of the fluids in the pore spaces and may affect some
Wetting conditions affect some logging measurements. Most resistivity logging responses. Because the alteration may not be permanent, measure-
measurements rely on a continuous, conductive electrical path through ments may differ in subsequent logging runs.
the rocks, which the water phase provides. In an oil-wet formation, the Fields around the world are maturing, but the industry still needs to extract
water may not be continuous, especially if the well is drilled with oil-base as much of the hydrocarbon resource as is economically possible before these
mud. In these conditions, a resistivity-based saturation assessment such fields are abandoned. To optimize recovery, operators must understand the
as that with Archie’s equation will likely be incorrect if used without con- effects of wettability on well production and field performance.
sidering phase connectivity.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Artificial Lift Prime mover Beam pumping unit

Rick von Flatern

Senior Editor

Because they lack sufficient reservoir pressure to produce fluids to the sur-
face, the majority of the world’s oil and gas wells are unable to produce at
Casing
economic rates without assistance. This condition may be the result of pres-
sure depletion over time or be caused by low original reservoir pressure. Tubing
To compensate for the lack of natural energy in these formations, opera-
tors equip the wells with artificial lift (AL) systems. Artificial lift well can- Rods
didates are those completed in formations that have economically viable
Tubing
reserves and sufficient permeability for the fluids to move to the wellbore pump
but do not have sufficient reservoir drive to lift those fluids to the surface. Insert pump
Secondary recovery efforts, such as waterfloods designed to capture remain-
ing reserves in pressure-depleted reservoirs, often result in increased fluid
volumes that can be lifted to the surface only through AL methods.
When choosing a specific AL system, engineers must consider—in addi-
tion to surface conditions based on location—a host of parameters, includ-
ing reservoir characteristics, production properties, fluid types and
operational considerations. Choice of an optimal AL system may be influ- Perforations
enced by subsurface conditions, expected production rates, fluid composi-
Produced
tion, well geometry, reservoir depths, completion configuration and surface fluids
facilities. In addition, operators must consider the potential return on their
investment by balancing the value of increased production against the cost
of hardware for and installation and maintenance of an AL system.
Artificial lift systems are deployed predominantly to extend well life. Plunger

But these systems may also help shorten the time from first production to
Fullbore barrel
well abandonment. For example, operators may gain an economic advan-
tage by accelerating recovery rates, a process that more quickly drains the Traveling valve
reservoir, thus saving expenses in situations characterized by high operat-
ing costs. Standing valve
After an operator has established that an AL system is advisable, pro-
duction engineers choose the type best suited to the situation. For example, Figure 1. Beam pumps. A traveling ball valve at the end of the rod string is
pushed off seat as it travels downward through the fluid column. When the
electric submersible pumps and gas lift systems are often chosen to boost
traveling valve achieves maximum downward reach and the beam is at its
production in offshore wells because such systems have small footprints, lowest point, the beam begins its upward movement, and the rods are pulled
are able to handle high production volumes and may be deployed at signifi- upward, which forces the ball of the traveling valve to be forced back on to its
cant depths below the wellhead. On the other hand, sucker beam pumps, seat; As a result the fluid column (green) is captured above it. As the fluid is
pulled toward the surface, the pressure in the tubing decreases, which causes
which require a significant amount of surface space but are reliable, easily a standing ball valve at the end of the tubing to open. Formation fluid (green
serviced and one of the least expensive of the AL options, are often the arrows) flows through this lower valve and fills the wellbore. When the
optimal solution for land-based, marginally economic wells. traveling valve begins its descent, the pressure of the fluid column forces the
Artificial lift systems fall into two basic types: pumping and gas lift. stationary valve ball to fall back onto the valve seat, and the cycle is repeated.
The standing and traveling ball valves are often contained within an insert
Pumping systems include electric submersible pumps, beam pumps, pro- pump so the entire assembly can be retrieved with the rod string.
gressing cavity pumps, plunger lifts and hydraulic pumps.

Electric Submersible Pumps An ESP derives its versatility from a wide range of power output drives
Perhaps the most versatile AL systems are electric submersible pumps and from variable speed drives that allow operators to increase or decrease
(ESPs). These pumps comprise a series of centrifugal pump stages con- volumes being lifted in response to changing well conditions. Additionally,
tained within a protective housing. A submersible electric motor, which modern ESPs are able to lift fluids with high gas/oil ratios (GORs), can be
drives the pump, is deployed at the bottom of the production tubing and is designed using materials and configurations able to withstand corrosive flu-
connected to surface controls and electric power by an armored cable ids and abrasives and can operate in extreme temperatures.
strapped to the outside of the tubing.
Beam Pumps
Oilfield Review 27, no. 2 (September 2015).
A beam pump system is composed of a prime mover, a beam pump, a sucker
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger.
rod string and two valves (Figure 1). The gas- or electric-driven prime mover
For help in preparation of the article, thanks to Kyle Hodenfield, Houston, Texas, USA.
www.slb.com/defining

turns a crank arm, which causes a beam to reciprocate. The resulting up and Gas Lift Systems
down movement lifts and lowers a rod string attached to one end of the As an alternative or in addition to pump solutions, gas lift systems aid flow
beam. The motion of the rod string opens and closes traveling and standing to the surface by reducing the density of formation fluids in the wellbore.
ball valves to capture fluid or allow fluid to flow into the wellbore. In some Gas lift systems consist of valves installed at various depths along the tubing
configurations, the valves are part of an integrated assembly called an insert string, which open in response to pressure exerted on them by the rising
pump, which can be retrieved using the rods while leaving the production fluid column. When the valve opens, injected gas mixes with and lightens
tubing in place. the fluid column, reducing the hydrostatic and thus the bottomhole pres-
Beam pump equipment and parameters—valves, prime mover, rod and sure. The lower hydrostatic pressure reduces the drawdown pressure and
tubing diameter, and stroke length—are determined according to reservoir allows formation fluid to enter the wellbore. The less dense fluid column
fluid composition, depth to the fluid top and reservoir productivity. The sys- may then be lifted to the surface by reservoir pressure alone.
tems are typically equipped with timers that turn the pumps off to allow Optimally, gas lift systems use continuous gas injection at a rate that
fluid time to flow through the formation and into the wellbore. The timer ensures a steady flow of fluids to the surface. However, if drawdown pres-
then restarts the pump for a period calculated to produce the fluid that has sures are insufficient, intermittent injection schemes using gas lift valves
accumulated in the well. may be implemented to allow formation fluids time to enter the wellbore;
the gas then lifts slugs of fluid to the surface. Although effective, slug pro-
Progressing Cavity Pumps duction can cause fluid handling problems at the surface and surges down-
The progressing cavity pump consists of a rotor placed inside a stator. The hole that may initiate sand production.
rotor is a screw that has deep round threads and extremely long pitch—the Gas valve locations and injection rates are based on the needs of the indi-
distance between thread tops. The stator has a longer pitch and one more vidual well. Gas lift valves may be set in side pocket mandrels—receptacles
thread than the rotor. When the rotor turns inside the stator, the thread and that are included as part of the completion design. Because valves are placed
pitch differences create a cavity within the pump barrel that is filled by in the mandrels using running and setting tools carried downhole via slick-
formation fluid. The rotor is turned by a rod string connected to a motor at line, when well conditions change, operators can retrieve and change the gas
the surface or by an electric-drive motor located downhole at the pump mov- lift valves without pulling the tubing from the well. Technicians can adjust the
ing the fluid uphole. valves to open at pressures that meet the needs created by the new conditions
and replace the valves in the well with minimal intervention costs.
Plungers
Plunger lift systems, the simplest form of artificial lift, consist of a piston,
or plunger, that has only small clearance through the production tubing and Artificial lift type Maximum depth Typical operating Number of
is allowed to fall to the bottom of the well. They are used primarily in high (TVD), ft volume, bbl/d wells worldwide
GOR wells to lift liquids out of the well to allow the gas to be recovered. A Beam pump 16,000 0 to 1,000 600,000
Progressing cavity pump 8,600 0 to 5,000 31,500
valve on the surface is closed, which causes natural pressure from the res- Gas lift 18,000 100 to 80,000 48,300
ervoir to build in the casing annulus. At a preset pressure level, the valve on Electric submersible pump 15,000 400 to 60,000 146,700
the surface opens and pressure from the annulus enters the tubing below
the plunger, which forces it upward. The plunger pushes the fluid column Figure 2. Artificial lift choices. By some estimates, the four most common
artificial lift types are currently deployed in more than 800,000 wells worldwide
above it to the surface. When it reaches the surface, the plunger enters the with capacity to lift fluids ranging from negligible amounts to 60,000 bbl/d.
lubricator, a short section of pipe, which extends above the wellhead. System capacity may be limited by depth, wellbore trajectory or the ability of
Because the plunger is no longer in the flow path, the gas that provided the the formation to deliver liquids to the well. As a consequence, most systems
are most efficient when operating in the middle range of their volume
lifting energy can pass beneath it and along the flowline. When the pressure
capabilities and at less than maximum depth.
at the wellhead has dropped to a predetermined level, the surface valve
closes, the plunger falls from the lubricator to the bottom of the well, and
the cycle is repeated. Indispensable Technology
The great majority of the world’s approximately one million active oil wells
Hydraulic Pumps use some form of artificial lift (Figure 2). Such demand has resulted not just
In some situations, operators may install a hydraulic pumping system that in innovation in AL technologies but in an AL discipline. Operators are able
pumps a fluid, called a power fluid, from the surface through tubing to a to design the best AL system for each well and field and to adjust those
subsurface pump. The subsurface pumps, which may be jets, reciprocating systems to meet changing well and reservoir conditions.
pistons or rotating turbines, force the formation fluids and the power fluid Today, AL systems include technologically advanced downhole pumps
up a second tubing string to the surface. that can be monitored and controlled remotely in real time and are able to
Hydraulic pumping systems offer two specific advantages. Because the pump thousands of barrels of fluid per day even in wells that have signifi-
subsurface pump is free floating, it can be circulated out of the hole for cant amounts of solids. The efficiency of modern beam pumps is such that
repair with little intervention cost. And the power fluid, which is typically hundreds of thousands of stripper wells in the US are able to remain profit-
refined oil, mixes with the produced fluid; the resulting fluid column exerts able while producing less than 2.4 m3 [15 bbl] of oil or 2.5 m3 [990 Mcf] of
a lighter hydrostatic pressure than does the formation fluid alone, reduces gas per day. Since most oil wells and fields eventually rely on AL to continue
the resistance to flow and lessens the work required of the downhole pump. production, these advances ensure that operators are able to provide a con-
As a consequence, hydraulic pumps are frequently chosen for use in heavy tinuous stream of oil and gas to an energy-hungry world.
oil operations.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Asphaltenes In chemistry, asphaltenes are defined as a solubility class. They do not

dissolve in gases or in alkane liquids such as n-heptane[C7H16], but they do
Oliver C. Mullins dissolve in aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene or xylene. Crude oils that
Science Advisor have a high gas/oil ratio (GOR) are rich in light hydrocarbons and conse-
quently, have little asphaltene content.
Another important property of asphaltenes is their ability to flocculate.
Reservoir crude oils consist of dissolved gases, liquids and dissolved solids. Flocculation refers to a tendency to form, or aggregate in, clumps. Typically
Asphaltenes are the dissolved solids components of crude oils and although asphaltene solubility follows the general rule in solution chemistry that “like
important in the oil field, they have only recently come to be understood. dissolves like.” Asphaltenes and gas (or high-GOR oil) are not chemically alike
The definition of asphaltenes differs from the laboratory to the oil field. and therefore do not dissolve in each other. Also asphaltene solubility
Fortunately the science of asphaltenes has evolved, enabling a new look at increases with temperature. For many reservoir crude oils, asphaltenes are
how asphaltenes affect a wide variety of oilfield concerns, such as reservoir very delicately balanced in the oil; a small change in pressure and tempera-
plumbing, tar mat and heavy oil formation and surety of fluid flow in pipes. ture can create phase instability, resulting in formation of bulk solids. For
Asphaltenes negatively impact the economic value of crude oil. As instance, oils that have high GOR and are capable of containing more gas in
asphaltene content increases from 0% to 40%, the oil’s viscosity and density solution—also referred to as undersaturated oils—are particularly prone to
increase dramatically and its color changes from clear to dark brown. asphaltene formation during production in spite of their low asphaltene con-
Viscosity is a critical rheological property of reservoir fluids; it affects fluid centration. These oils are highly compressible. During production they
mobility from the reservoir and through production systems. Viscosity experience a large reduction in pressure, which decreases their density. The
depends directly and exponentially on asphaltene content. With a sufficient asphaltenes may then come out of solution and flocculate. If pressure and
amount of asphaltenes, hydrocarbons can have flow properties similar to temperature decrease below the bubblepoint, dissolved gas evolves out of the
those of coal. oil, thereby increasing the solubility of asphaltenes in the oil. Consequently,
the onset of asphaltene development occurs at pressures greater than the
bubblepoint pressure.
If oil in a reservoir experiences a gas charge, the GOR of that oil can
increase, causing reduction of asphaltene solubility and the onset of asphal-
tene flocculation, which can result in deposition of asphaltenes. The loca-
tion of the asphaltene deposit depends on how the reservoir trap fills and
how the GOR increases. To describe this and other processes involving
asphaltenes in reservoir crude oils, scientists use an equation of state.
However, until recently, there was little understanding of the molecular and
aggregate sizes of asphaltenes in crude oils or laboratory solvents. Without
knowing the size of the aggregate, scientists cannot solve Newton’s second
Figure 1. Asphaltenes. A laboratory sample of n-heptane asphaltenes (left) is law of gravity, F = m × g, where F is force, m is asphaltene mass and g is
derived from crude oil. A field deposit of asphaltenes (right) consists largely Earth’s gravitational acceleration; therefore, modeling is fruitless. The
of n-heptane asphaltenes. inability to understand and model asphaltenes in crude oils led to an inordi-
nate focus on asphaltenes as only a problem of flow assurance—the analysis
Factors Affecting Asphaltene Formation of reservoir fluids to characterize phase behaviors and anticipate associated
Generally the gas and liquid components of oil are treated as known chemi- flow problems within production systems that may interrupt hydrocarbon
cals such as normal alkanes, or n-alkanes, which are linear chain hydrocarbon flow from the reservoir to the refinery. In fact asphaltenes have a much
compounds that have the chemical formula CnH2n+2. Examples are methane broader impact on the reservoir and can affect evaluation of reservoir con-
[CH4], ethane [C2H6], propane [C3H8] and n-butane [C4H10]. In contrast, nectivity and fault-block migration, as well as cause formation of heavy oil
asphaltenes are not defined by their chemical identity. Because they consist gradients, tar mats and disequilibrium in fluid gradients.
of a complex mixture of many compounds, they are defined by their solubility
characteristics measured in the laboratory. Asphaltenes are typically defined Asphaltene Structures and Sizes
to be the toluene-soluble and n-heptane-insoluble components of crude oil The Yen-Mullins model for asphaltene structures and sizes codifies the
and other carbonaceous materials such as bitumen and coal. The n-heptane nanostructures of asphaltenes into three distinct and separate forms:
asphaltenes are solid and powdery (Figure 1). In oilfield applications, solids asphaltene molecules, nanoaggregates of individual asphaltene molecules
that are separated from crude oils are generally referred to as asphaltenes if and clusters of nanoaggregates (Figure 2). The model enables the predic-
they are largely, but not necessarily entirely, composed of n-heptane tion of asphaltene mass, which is required for modeling the thermodynamic
asphaltenes. In addition, the terms tar and bitumen are loosely used to refer behavior of asphaltenes. Asphaltene molecules are relatively small, and the
to materials that have a high asphaltene content. Sometimes black oilfield dominant molecular structure has a single core of aromatic hydrocarbons
solids, including waxy deposits that have only a small asphaltene content, are that have peripheral substituents—side chains or pendant groups—
incorrectly referred to as asphaltenes. composed of alkanes hanging off them. The typical asphaltene molecule has
a mean molecular weight of 750 g/mol.
Oilfield Review 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Molecule Nanoaggregate Cluster Petroleum Asphaltenes

AFM PA1 AFM PA3

PAH

Pentagon

Alkane
~ 1.5 nm ~ 2 nm ~ 5 nm z = 1.4 Å 10 Å
Figure 2. The Yen-Mullins model of asphaltenes. At low concentrations— z = -0.3 Å 10 Å
typical in condensates and volatile oils—asphaltenes are predicted to
exist as a solution of dispersed molecules that measure about 1.5 nm (left).
Asphaltene molecules have a core of aromatic hydrocarbon rings (light Figure 4. Asphaltenes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of petroleum
blue shading) with side chains of alkanes hanging off them. At higher asphaltene molecules show polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)
concentrations—in black oils—asphaltene molecules combine to form composed of fused six-membered aromatic rings and some alkane
nanoaggregates that are about 2 nm in width (center). At still higher substituents. The pentagons are five-membered rings with some double bonds.
concentrations, such as those in mobile heavy oils, asphaltene nanoaggregates These images support the molecular representation in the Yen-Mullins
combine to form clusters that measure about 5 nm wide and are dispersed model. (Images used with permission, courtesy of IBM Research, Zurich,
in the heavy oil (right). Switzerland. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b04056.)

Asphaltene molecules readily combine or aggregate. This process origi- increases, such as in black oils, nanoaggregates form comprising about six
nally hindered conventional techniques for determining the molecular asphaltene molecules each. At high concentrations, such as in heavy oils,
weight of asphaltenes. At low concentrations, such as in light oils, clusters form consisting of about eight nanoaggregates each.
asphaltenes are dispersed as molecules. As the asphaltene concentration The Yen-Mullins model delivers a basis for an equation of state for
predicting asphaltene concentration gradients in oil reservoirs. From this
Atoms and Bonds model, the Flory-Huggins-Zuo equation of state (FHZ EOS) was developed, a
AFM z = -0.9 Å AFM z = -0.6 Å simple equation that has few parameters. This EOS model enables analysts
to interpret field data using downhole fluid analysis (DFA) from a wireline
formation tester.
The Yen-Mullins model has been confirmed by ultrahigh-resolution
molecular imaging (Figures 3 and 4). The atoms and bonds of the molecule
have been imaged using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Individual elec-
tron orbitals have been imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
and they match theoretical molecular orbital calculations.
10 Å 10 Å
Reservoir Fluid Geodynamics
For asphaltenes to reach a state of equilibrium in the reservoir, generally
Electronic Orbitals
vertical and lateral connectivity must exist; this connectivity has been con-
STM 1.95 V MO theory ±10−4 e− firmed in numerous case studies. Disequilibrium gradients of asphaltenes
suggest the presence of reservoir fluid geodynamic processes, such as fluid
flow within the reservoir and diffusional processes on a geologic timescale.
The combination of asphaltene thermodynamics and DFA measurements
has provided a new way to analyze oil reservoirs. The ability to
evaluate the connectivity, or interconnectedness, of the plumbing of sub­
10 Å reservoir units is important, especially in deepwater reservoirs. Because of
LUMO
LUMO 10 Å the high cost of drilling in these environments, operators seek to produce
0 z (Å) 3.4 from deepwater reservoirs using a minimum number of wells. The wells must
Figure 3. Ultrahigh-resolution molecular imaging of a coal-derived asphaltene be optimally placed and reservoir drainage efficiency is economically vital.
molecule. Two atomic force microscopy (AFM) images (top left and right ) at Asphaltene gradient equilibration is a strong indicator of reservoir
different levels (z) in an asphaltene molecule show the molecule’s atoms connectivity. Asphaltene gradient disequilibrium, as measured by DFA,
and bonds arranged in fused six-membered aromatic rings to form
indicates that geologic processes have prevented equilibration. Many
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM; bottom) shows an individual electron orbital, the lowest unoccupied important reservoir concerns, such as connectivity, baffling, tar mat and
molecular orbit (LUMO; left) about the asphaltene molecule. The image heavy oil formation, large GOR gradients, biodegradation and flow assur-
supports a calculation of the LUMO using density functional theory of the ance have been addressed by combining asphaltene thermodynamics and
molecular orbital (MO; right). The molecular structure is overlain and
consists of carbon (gray) and hydrogen (white) atoms. The red and blue
DFA. Understanding asphaltenes is a key element in helping engineers
colors represent the opposite phases of the LUMO, a particular molecular optimally produce and effectively drain hydrocarbons from the reservoir.
orbital. (Images used with permission, courtesy of IBM Research, Zurich,
Switzerland. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b04056.)

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Bits diamonds in the early 1970s led to the creation of the fixed cutter, polycrys-
talline diamond compact bit—a significant departure from the three-cone
Matt Varhaug bit that established a major branch off the bit’s evolutionary tree. Most bits
Senior Editor in use today can be broadly classified either as roller cone or fixed cutter bits.

Roller Cone Bits

Most roller cone bits have three metal cones that rotate independently as
the bit turns on bottom. Cutting structures on each cone gouge and crush
the rock as the cones rotate (Figure 1). There are two types of roller cone
cutting structures:
• milled tooth, which have steel teeth that are machined, cast or integrally
forged and are protected with wear-resistant carbide composite edges
• tungsten carbide inserts formed separately and pressed into holes
drilled on the face of each cone.
In general, hard formations that have high compressive strengths are
drilled using blunt, short, closely spaced cutters that chip and fracture the
rock; for soft, low-compressive strength formations, sharp, long teeth are
used to gouge and scrape the rock.
A balance between rock failure mechanisms is achieved by adjusting
journal angle, cone shape and offset to control how the cones roll. Journals
are axle-like structures about which each cone turns. Offset, or skew angle,
is a measure of the degree to which each journal is shifted to prevent the
cone axes from intersecting at the center of a bit.
The need to improve cutting structures provided the impetus for numer-
ous bit design innovations. As these changes enabled bits to drill more
aggressively, bearing life became a limiting factor. In the middle 1930s, anti-
friction roller bearings were developed, followed by self-lubricating sealed
roller bearings and journal bearings.
Of all the equipment found on today’s drilling rigs, perhaps none has under-
gone more change than the drill bit. Translating surface horsepower into
brute force downhole, the bit gouges, shears or crushes rock as it drills.
The drill bit has evolved throughout the relatively brief history of the
modern petroleum industry. Before the drill bit’s development, many wells
were drilled using cable tool technology, in which a steel cable repeatedly
lifted and dropped a heavy spike or chisel into a borehole to break and crush
Pin
the rock. In 1859, cable tools helped launch the modern oil business when
they were used to drill the first commercial US well in Titusville,
Pennsylvania. However, cable tool drilling was slow and was eventually
eclipsed by a new approach developed in the early 1880s for drilling water
wells. Instead of using the chisel as a percussion tool, the rotary drilling
technique bored a hole by rotating the chisel.
The rotary drilling rig uses a spinning rotary table to transmit torque to Lubricant
reservoir
the drillstring and the bit. Six years after this technique was introduced to
the oil field, a steam-driven rotary rig was used to drill the Spindletop well Nozzle
in Texas, USA, further boosting the popularity of rotary drilling. At that time,
rotary rigs relied on a fishtail, or drag, bit to drill the wellbore. This bit is
Leg
shaped like a flat chisel whose blade is divided into two segments. The bit
Ball hole
worked primarily by plowing or scraping away at the rock. In deep, hard
formations, these bits tended to wear out quickly. Journal
bearing
The niche established by the fishtail bit was soon overtaken by the roller Cone
cone bit. The two-cone rotary rock bit, patented by Howard Hughes in 1909, Seal
later evolved into a three-cone roller bit, which became the dominant bit
Tungsten carbide Ball
design for much of the 20th century. However, the development of synthetic insert cutter bearings

Figure 1. Roller cone bit. Major components of the roller cone bit include the
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Wiley Long, Houston, Texas, USA. pin, cones, cutters and nozzles.
Oilfield Review 2016.
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www.slb.com/defining

Fluid nozzles were introduced in 1950 to improve bit and hole cleaning
and to increase penetration rates by jetting mud at the bottom of the hole to
dislodge cuttings. Mud is pumped through the nozzles to loosen cuttings, PDC cutter
clean cones and cutters, cool the bit and transport cuttings out of the hole.
The number and placement of nozzles affect bit performance. Nozzle direc- Junk slot
tion and location affect the relationship between penetration rate, bit Conical diamond
element
cleaning and cuttings removal. By keeping the nozzle angled to direct fluid
Blade
onto the cutters, penetration rates improve significantly. Fluid course
Tungsten carbide inserts bits, introduced in 1951, became a boon to Interchangeable
hard-rock drilling. These inserts were harder and more wear-resistant than nozzle
the best grade of steel and could drill long intervals before wearing out.

Fixed Cutter Bits

Fixed cutter bits evolved significantly beyond the early fishtail and drag designs. Figure 2. Face of a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit. The most
These bits have no moving parts or bearings. The cutters are permanently prominent features of this bit are its blades and PDC cutters. Nozzles
mounted onto blades, which are integral to the structure of the bit. direct the drilling fluid downward to help break up the rock. Junk slots
and fluid courses provide flow paths away from the bit face to aid in
Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits dominate this category (Figure 2). removal of cuttings.
The body of a PDC bit is made either from steel or from a matrix com-
posed of tungsten carbide [WC] and an alloy, which is then sintered to a
steel core. The selection of a steel or matrix body usually depends on the
operator’s intended application. The ductility and strength of steel allow for Specialized Bits
PDC bodies that have tall blades and large junk slots, which channel cut- Diamond impregnated bits are sometimes used to cut formations
tings past the bit. These bits are used for drilling shales and other soft for- deemed too hard or abrasive for roller cone or PDC bits. The diamond
mations. However, a steel PDC body is less resistant to abrasion than is a impregnated bit features diamond grit suspended in a tungsten carbide
matrix body. Because steel is softer than tungsten carbide, hardbanding for matrix for improved wear resistance. Instead of having individual cut-
wear resistance may be applied to critical areas of the bit that are most ters, the entire bit face contains industrial-grade diamonds, which grind
susceptible to abrasion. The tungsten carbide matrix, recognized for its hard formations while blade edges shear soft formations. The matrix
wear resistance, is more brittle than steel and thus requires a more conser- abrades away to continually expose new sharp faces of the diamonds.
vative blade geometry to prevent the blades from breaking. Coring bits also employ diamonds. These toroidal bits are used to cut
The introduction of PDC cutters fundamentally changed the mechanics core through zones of interest. Coring bits are hollow in the center to permit
of drilling. Instead of gouging and crushing rock, as does the roller cone bit, the cylindrical rock sample to be collected in a core barrel mounted above
PDC bits rely on a transverse shearing motion. To achieve the shearing the bit. Rock cores are usually cut in about 9-m [30-ft] increments.
motion, the PDC bit uses a special cutter called a compact—a synthetic In certain formations, air drilling operations are required to make hole.
diamond disk cemented to a carbide substrate. Diamond is one of the hard- When hard rock formations are encountered, the operator may call for a
est materials in the world. It is 10 times harder than steel, 2 times harder percussion hammer bit. These bits pound the rock vertically in much the
and 10 times more wear-resistant than tungsten carbide and 20 times stron- same fashion as do air hammers used in construction. A piston above the bit
ger in compression than granite. Diamond also has the lowest coefficient of imparts force through impact to drive the bit.
friction and highest thermal conductivity of any known material.
The PDC cutters use a polycrystalline diamond that is synthesized by A New Type of Cutter
sintering diamond grit—an aggregate of randomly oriented fine and ultra- A recent step in the evolution of the fixed cutter bit is the development of the
fine synthetic diamond particles—with a cobalt [Co] catalyst under high conical diamond cutter. With twice the diamond thickness of conventional
pressure and temperature. Unlike natural diamond [C], which fractures PDC cutters, the conical diamond element (CDE) has demonstrated improve-
along crystallographic planes, polycrystalline diamond has a randomly ori- ments in impact strength and wear resistance. When placed at the center of a
ented matrix and no preferred cleavage planes, thus making the PDC cutter conventional PDC bit, the CDE crushes and fractures rock for improved rates
extremely hard and resistant to impact and wear. of penetration. Multiple CDEs can also be placed across the bit face for
The diamond table—that part of the cutter that comes in contact with increased footage and improved toolface control compared with those of con-
the rock—is sintered to a tungsten carbide substrate. Unlike many sub- ventional PDC bits.
stances, tungsten carbide is able to bond to diamond; thus while the sub- Occasionally, a new, disruptive technology transforms the way things are
strate gives structural support to the diamond table, it also provides a done. Wells were once constructed by hand but were later dug using cable
medium that can withstand brazing—a process used to mount the cutter tool rigs and then drilled by rotary rigs. The future will probably be defined
substrate to a blade on the bit. Some tables have a slight bevel that reduces by another technology—perhaps laser, ultrasonic, microwave or thermal
stress concentration on the cutter as it makes initial contact with the rock technology—that relegates rotary drilling to a footnote in history. Until the
at the instant it starts to cut. Although the beveled edge can reduce bit next radical development in borehole construction is introduced, the bit—
aggressiveness, it helps increase durability and impact resistance. by design occupying the front of the drillstring—will remain at the cutting
edge of drilling technology.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Blowout Preventers
Rick von Flatern
Senior Editor
Donut

Before the development of blowout preventers, operators allowed pressured Packer

fluids to flow uncontrolled from formations to the surface and into the atmo-
sphere. Only after the pressure supporting these blowouts abated and sur-
face pressures fell to a manageable level were rig workers able to cap the
well. Blowouts were dangerous for the crew, threatened the well-being of the
surrounding environment, damaged drilling equipment, wasted resources
and caused irreparable harm to the producing zone.
Operating piston
In 1922, Harry Cameron and Jim Abercrombie designed and manufac-
tured the first blowout preventers (BOPs). Assemblies of valves and other
devices installed atop a wellhead during drilling operations are called BOP
stacks; they provide a means by which rig crews are able to contain unex-
pected flow and high pressures. They allow crews to manage these influxes
by injecting dense fluids down the well, which stop, or kill, the flow of
Figure 1. Annular preventer. The heart of the annular preventer is the sealing
formation fluids; this kill operation is accomplished while preventing well
element, which is composed of the donut and packer. When the preventer
fluids from being released into the atmosphere. is actuated, hydraulic pressure is applied to the piston through the closing
Within the E&P industry, the terms blowout preventer, BOP stack and hydraulic ports, causing it to move upward. This forces the sealing element
blowout preventer system are used interchangeably. During drilling and com- to extend into the wellbore and create a seal around the drillstring or other
tool in the wellbore. The BOP is opened by hydraulic pressure through the
pletion operations, they are the second barrier to formation flow; hydrostatic opening hydraulic ports, causing the piston to move downward, which
pressure at the formation created by a column of drilling fluid and zonal allows the sealing element to return to the original open position.
isolation provided by casing and cement constitute the primary barrier.
The individual BOPs that constitute a system are stacked vertically atop
the well. They are aligned to allow access through them into the wellbore Sealing against high pressure and cutting through drillpipe require sig-
while their various functions provide a variety of methods for sealing the well nificant force. Blowout preventer rams are forced closed and reopened
during drilling, completion or intervention operations. They are sized to fit using hydraulic power that is stored and ready for use at all times during
the internal diameter of the wellhead and expected surface pressures. drilling and completion operations in an accumulator system. An accumu-
Blowout preventer stacks typically include annular BOPs and ram-type lator consists of cylinders containing hydraulic fluid under high pressure.
BOPs. Annular BOPs were introduced to the industry in 1946 by Granville The hydraulic fluid is directed to the BOP rams to drive them to close or
Sloan Knox. These devices force circular steel-reinforced rubber elements open against well pressure.
to close on and create a seal around drillpipe or other tools that may be in
the wellbore at the time of shut-in (Figure 1). When annular BOPs are shut
in around a pipe, the pipe may be moved up or down or rotated without
Rams Drillpipe
breaking the seal. Designed to prevent flow up the casing-drillpipe annulus,
annular BOPs are also able to seal a clear wellbore in which no obstruction
is present although doing so reduces the rated working pressure of the seal- Operating piston
ing element by 50%.
Ram-type BOPs include rubber-faced steel rams that are brought
together to create a seal or, like annular BOPs, form a seal around a tool in
the wellhead (Figure 2). Shear rams are high-strength hydraulically pow-
ered rams that are able to sever drillpipe. They include casing shear rams
and blind shear rams. Both are designed to cut drillpipe or other obstruc-
tions in the well. Blind shear rams can completely seal the well. Casing
shear rams, while not able to form a seal, typically are able to cut larger size
tubulars than those that blind shear rams can cut.
Drillers use a control system to actuate rams that is comprised of accu-
mulator bottles containing pressurized hydraulic fluid, a hydraulic fluid stor-
Figure 2. Ram BOP. Rams, containing elastomeric sealing elements, are
age reservoir, a pumping system and hydraulic piping. The hydraulic fluid is located in the BOP body on opposite sides of the wellbore. The rams are
directed to a desired function on the BOP stack via a remote control panel. opened and closed by operating pistons on the sides of the BOP body.
When open, the rams leave an unobstructed passage through the wellbore.
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Laura Gardner and Matthew Givens, When closed, the rams form a seal around the drillpipe. In an emergency,
Houston, Texas, USA. blind shear rams are able to sever drillpipe and seal off a hole.
Oilfield Review 2016.
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www.slb.com/defining

Drilling rigs are equipped with a choke manifold, operated remotely,

that is used to control flow from the well. Typically, flow from the well passes
through a fixed choke. To clean up or test a well using the drilling rig and
BOPs before the well has been completed, the operator may use the mani- Riser
fold to redirect flow through an adjustable choke, which provides a means to tensioners
accurately control flow rate and backpressure levels. The ability to adjust Diverter
choke size allows the operator to maintain a specified flow rate for some
length of time and to change the rate to meet test requirements. The test
engineer may also reduce the choke size to impose backpressure on the
formation, which reduces flow velocity and may prevent production of
formation sand or water or gas breakthrough.
The majority of well control incidents involve unexpected formation flu-
ids and pressure influxes, or kicks. These influxes occur when the drill bit Telescopic joint
enters a zone that has a higher than expected pore pressure. When a kick is Riser joints
detected, the driller typically stops drilling, lifts the bit off-bottom and
closes an annular or ram preventer. The kick is then circulated out of the
well through a flowline from the wellhead beneath the sealing element of
the BOP stack. The rig crew then pumps a fluid down the well. The density
of this fluid is greater than that of the drilling fluid in the hole at the time of
Lower marine riser package
the kick, and its density is calculated to create a hydrostatic pressure at the
formation that will contain the influx.
BOP stack
The flowline below the BOP is a high-pressure chokeline. The chokeline
carries the drilling fluid and influx from the wellhead to the choke manifold. Subsea wellhead
A second high-pressure flowline opposite the chokeline is connected to the
mud pumps. If the normal method of circulating down the drillstring is not
available, this kill line provides an alternative path for the driller to pump Figure 3. Subsea blowout preventer system. When drilling in deep waters
fluids downhole and control, or kill, the well. from a floating vessel, operators deploy a BOP stack, which is connected to
the subsea wellhead. Subsea BOPs include a lower marine riser package
Because BOPs deployed on jackup drilling rigs remain on the surface, that includes the annular BOPs and the subsea pod (not shown). The lower
they are similar to those used in land operations. In deeper water, where use BOP stack includes multiple BOPs with shear and pipe rams.
of a jackup rig is not possible, floating drilling units use subsea BOPs that
are installed atop the subsea wellhead after the surface hole has been Standard influx control procedures depend on the BOPs to seal the
drilled, cased and cemented. Both the subsea BOP and the subsea wellhead well when the driller detects an influx. The driller then allows the shut-in
are located on the ocean floor. well pressure to stabilize before using one of several methods to circulate
Subsea BOPs are equipped with more complex control systems and typi- out the kick and regain control of the well. Although these methods have
cally are of larger bore diameters and higher working pressure ratings than been viable for decades and remain so today, ultradeepwater drilling envi-
are their surface counterparts. Subsea BOPs consist of two sections—a ronments and higher pressures have caused some operators to consider
lower marine riser package (LMRP) and the lower stack (Figure 3). The dynamic well control methods.
riser connects the rig to the LMRP, typically made up of an annular BOP, a Dynamic well control is available to operators that are drilling wells
control system and remotely activated valves designed to release gas from using rigs that have managed pressure drilling (MPD) equipment and a
the riser. The LMRP connects to the lower BOP stack, which contains a crew trained in the method. During MPD operations, the bottomhole pres-
minimum of four ram type preventers and the choke and kill lines. sure (BHP) is kept constant by increasing or decreasing backpressure on
To allow some lateral rig movement, subsea BOP systems include flex the formation. When the well does experience an influx, the driller can
joints. They also have hydraulically operated connectors that connect the increase backpressure to shut off formation flow without closing in the well.
LMRP to the lower BOP stack and the BOP stack to the wellhead. In the This allows gauges in the drillstring to continue to report downhole pres-
event of an emergency, the crew can disconnect the rig from the BOP at the sures to the surface in real time and to minimize the volume of the influx.
LMRP and secure the well by closing the shear rams of the lower BOP stack The driller is able to then circulate the kick out of the well while maintain-
by simultaneously using a single command. ing a constant BHP and without interrupting drilling operations.
For safety and environmental reasons, an order to close the BOP rams Dynamic well control may allow drillers to more efficiently deal with some
must be executed quickly. In water depths of less than about 1,220 m [4,000 ft], influxes and avoid ceasing drilling operations for every kick detected.
BOP systems can use a system in which the hydraulic power is directly trans- However, these methods are intended only as an adjunct to standard practices
mitted to the required function through an umbilical. However, because this and BOP systems, not as a replacement. In the event of significant or high-
direct hydraulic system cannot achieve the required execution time in deep pressure influxes, the rig crew must follow standard well control practices as
water, drilling rigs typically employ an electrohydraulic multiplex (MUX) sys- outlined by industry associations and regulatory agencies and based on BOP
tem. Because MUX systems initiate subsea functions via electrical signals, they systems operation. As such, the venerable BOP, while continually evolving to
minimize the time between control system activation and full closure of the meet the requirements of extreme water depths and pressures, will long
rams to secure the well. remain an indispensable part of all drilling and completion operations.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Well Cementing Fundamentals

Erik B. Nelson
Contributing Editor

Circulating Drilling Fluid

Well cementing consists of two principal operations—primary cementing
and remedial cementing. Primary cementing is the process of placing a
cement sheath in the annulus between the casing and the formation.
Remedial cementing occurs after primary cementing, when engineers inject
cements into strategic well locations for various purposes, including well
Drilling fluid
repair and well abandonment.
Primary cementing is a critical procedure in the well construction pro-
cess. The cement sheath provides a hydraulic seal that establishes zonal iso- Casing string

lation, preventing fluid communication between producing zones in the

borehole and blocking the escape of fluids to the surface. The cement sheath Centralizers
Annulus
also anchors and supports the casing string and protects the steel casing
against corrosion by formation fluids. Failure to achieve these objectives may
severely limit the well’s ability to reach its full producing potential. Shoe
Most primary cementing operations employ a two-plug cement placement
method (right). After drilling through an interval to a desired depth, a drilling Pumping Wash, Spacer and Cement Slurry Displacement
crew removes the drillpipe, leaving the borehole filled with drilling fluid. The Displacement
fluid
crew then lowers a casing string to the bottom of the borehole. The bottom Cement slurry Top plug
end of the casing string is protected by a guide shoe or float shoe. Both shoes Bottom plug
Spacer fluid
are tapered, commonly bullet-nosed devices that guide the casing toward the Chemical wash
center of the hole to minimize contact with rough edges or washouts during
installation. The guide shoe differs from the float shoe in that the former lacks
a check valve. The check valve can prevent reverse flow, or U-tubing, of fluids
from the annulus into the casing. Centralizers are placed along critical casing
sections to help prevent the casing from sticking while it is lowered into the Displacement Completed Job
well. In addition, centralizers keep the casing in the center of the borehole to
help ensure placement of a uniform cement sheath in the annulus between
the casing and the borehole wall.
As the casing is lowered into the well, the casing interior may fill with
drilling fluid. The objectives of the primary cementing operation are to remove
drilling fluid from the casing interior and borehole, place a cement slurry in
the annulus and fill the casing interior with a displacement fluid such as drill-
ing fluid, brine or water.
Cement slurries and drilling fluids are usually chemically incompatible. > Basic two-plug primary cementing operation. After a well interval has
Commingling them may result in a thickened or gelled mass at the interface been drilled to the desired depth, the drillpipe is removed and a casing
string is lowered to the bottom of the borehole (top). The bottom of the
that would be difficult to remove from the wellbore, possibly preventing place-
casing string is usually fitted with a protective shoe, and centralizers keep
ment of a uniform cement sheath throughout the annulus. Therefore, engi- the casing centered in the wellbore. Engineers pump chemical washes and
neers employ chemical and physical means to maintain fluid separation. spacer fluids down the casing interior, thereby displacing drilling fluid
Chemical washes and spacer fluids may be pumped after the drilling fluid and (middle left). They next insert a bottom plug, followed by a volume of
cement slurry that is sufficient to fill the annulus (middle right). Continued
before the cement slurry. These fluids have the added benefit of cleaning the
pumping of cement slurry forces drilling fluid out of the casing interior, up
casing and formation surfaces, which helps achieve good cement bonding. the annulus and out of the wellbore. When the bottom plug lands at the
Wiper plugs are elastomeric devices that provide a physical barrier bottom of the casing string, a membrane in the plug ruptures, opening a
between fluids pumped inside the casing. A bottom plug separates the pathway for the cement slurry to enter the annulus. Engineers insert a top
plug after the cement slurry, and the top plug is then followed by a
cement slurry from the drilling fluid, and a top plug separates the cement displacement fluid (bottom left). Pumping the displacement fluid forces the
slurry from the displacement fluid. The bottom plug has a membrane that top plug downward until it lands on the bottom plug, thereby isolating the
ruptures when it lands at the bottom of the casing string, creating a pathway casing interior and annulus and filling the annulus with cement slurry
through which the cement slurry may flow into the annulus. The top plug (bottom right).
does not have a membrane; therefore, when it lands on top of the bottom
plug, hydraulic communication is severed between the casing interior and the annulus. After the cementing operation, engineers wait for the cement
to cure, set and develop strength—known as waiting on cement (WOC).
Oilfield Review Summer 2012: 24, no. 2. After the WOC period, usually less than 24 hours, additional drilling, perfo-
Copyright © 2012 Schlumberger. rating or other operations may commence.
www.slb.com/defining

Well construction typically consists of installing several casing strings,

each requiring a primary cementing operation (right). As the well deepens, Conductor casing

the diameter of each casing string is usually smaller than the preceding one.
Nearly all well cementing operations use portland cement, which consists Cement Surface casing
mainly of anhydrous calcium silicate and calcium aluminate compounds that
hydrate when added to water. The hydration products, principally calcium sili- Intermediate
cate hydrates, provide the strength and low permeability required to achieve casing
zonal isolation.
The conditions to which portland cements are exposed in a well differ Production liner
significantly from those encountered at ambient surface conditions associ-
ated with buildings, roads and bridges. Well cements must perform over a
wide temperature range—from below freezing in permafrost zones to tem- > Typical casing program. The large-diameter conductor casing protects
peratures exceeding 400°C [752°F] in geothermal wells. Consequently, shallow formations from contamination by drilling fluid and helps prevent
washouts involving unconsolidated topsoils and sediments. Surface casing,
cement manufacturers produce special versions of portland cement for use in the second string, has a smaller diameter, maintains borehole integrity and
wells. In addition, more than 100 cement additives are available to adjust prevents contamination of shallow groundwater by hydrocarbons,
cement performance, allowing engineers to customize a cement formulation subterranean brines and drilling fluids. The intermediate casing isolates
hydrocarbon-bearing, abnormally pressured, fractured and lost circulation
for a particular well environment. The principal objective is to formulate a
zones, providing well control as drillers drill deeper. Multiple strings of
cement that is pumpable for a time sufficient for placement in the annulus, intermediate casing may be required to reach the target producing zone.
develops strength within a few hours after placement and remains durable The production casing, or liner, is the last and smallest tubular element in
throughout the well’s lifetime. the well. It isolates the zones above and within the production zone and
withstands all of the anticipated loads throughout the well’s life.
Additives may be classified according to the functions they perform.
Accelerators reduce the cement setting time and increase the rate of com-
pressive strength development. Retarders delay the setting time and extend The cement bond log presents the reflected amplitude of an acoustic
the time during which a cement slurry is pumpable. Extenders lower the signal transmitted by a logging tool inside the casing. The cement-casing
cement slurry density, reduce the amount of cement per unit volume of set bond integrity is directly proportional to the attenuation of the reflected
product, or both. Weighting agents increase the density of the cement. signal. Another acoustic log presents the waveforms of the reflected signals
Fluid loss control agents control leakage of water from the cement slurry detected by the logging tool receiver and provides qualitative insights con-
into porous formations, thereby preserving the designed cement slurry cerning the casing, the cement sheath and the formation. Ultrasonic logging
properties. Lost circulation control agents limit flow of the entire cement tools transmit a short ultrasonic pulse, causing the casing to resonate. The
slurry out of the wellbore into weak, cracked or vugular formations and help tool measures the resonant echoes; when solid cement is behind the casing,
ensure that the cement slurry is able to fill the entire annular space. the echo amplitudes are attenuated. When there is fluid behind the casing,
Dispersants reduce the viscosity of the cement slurry, which allows a lower the echoes have high amplitudes.
pumping pressure during placement. Specialty additives include antifoam When logging operations indicate that the cement job is defective, either in
agents, fibers and flexible particles. Cement additives are an active domain the form of poor cement bonding or communication between zones, a remedial
of research and development, and the industry regularly introduces new cementing technique known as squeeze cementing may be performed to estab-
and improved products. lish zonal isolation. A cementing crew perforates the casing at the defective
After a cementing operation has been performed and the cement has set, interval and forces, or squeezes, cement slurry through the perforations and into
engineers frequently perform tests to confirm that the cement sheath integ- the annulus to fill the voids. In addition, squeeze cementing may be an effective
rity and performance meet the intended design criteria. Cement evaluation technique for repairing casing leaks caused by a corroded or split casing.
techniques include hydraulic testing and various well logging methods. When a well has reached the end of its productive life, operators usually
Pressure testing is the most common hydraulic testing method. It is typi- abandon the well by performing plug cementing. Engineers fill the casing
cally conducted after every surface- or intermediate-casing cement job. The interior with cement at various depths, thereby preventing interzonal com-
driller first performs a casing pressure test to verify the mechanical integrity of munication and fluid migration into underground freshwater sources. The
the tubular string and then drill out the casing shoe. Next, the driller performs ultimate objective is to restore the natural integrity of the formations that
a pressure integrity test by increasing the internal casing pressure until it were disrupted by drilling.
exceeds the pressure that will be applied during the next drilling phase. If no Well cementing technology is more than 100 years old; however, chemists
leakage is detected, the cement seal is deemed successful. and engineers continue to introduce new formulations, materials and tech-
Engineers may choose from several well logging techniques to evaluate nology to meet the constantly changing needs of the energy industry. For
the quality of the cement behind casing. The logging crew lowers measuring example, the durability of zonal isolation, during and after a well’s productive
devices into the well and plots the acquired data versus depth. Temperature life, is a major research and development topic. Modern cement systems may
logs help locate the top of the cement column in the annulus. Cement hydra- contain flexible particles and fibers that allow set cement to withstand severe
tion is an exothermic process that raises the temperature of the surrounding mechanical stresses. Advanced self-healing cement systems contain “smart”
environment. Data from acoustic and ultrasonic logging tools help engineers materials that, upon cement-sheath failure, swell and reestablish zonal isola-
analyze the cement/casing and cement/formation interfaces. These tools pro- tion when contacted by either aqueous or hydrocarbon formation fluids. The
vide information about the quality of the cement sheath and how well the ultimate goals of these cementing technologies are to withstand the rigors of
cement adheres, or bonds, to the casing and to the formation. well operations and other disruptions that may occur over time and maintain
zonal isolation indefinitely.
Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Introduction to Coiled Tubing

pressure and the surface, a continuous conduit for fluid conveyance and a
Matt Varhaug
method for running this conduit in and out of a pressurized well.
Senior Editor
Coiled tubing strength and rigidity, combined with its capability to cir-
culate treatment fluids, offer distinct advantages over wireline techniques
in workover operations. In addition to drilling and completion operations,
oil and gas companies are using CT to help fish for lost equipment and for
conveying well logging tools. It has been used to push or pull equipment
through highly deviated or horizontal wellbores and past restrictions or to
push obstructions beyond a zone of interest. Well logging is typically per-
formed with tools that store data in memory; however, some logging opera-
tions use an optional cable to provide surface power and readouts when
Drilling or workover rigs, iconic symbols of the oil field, are not always running tools downhole on CT. Operators also employ coiled tubing to con-
required for drilling, completions or maintenance operations. Increasingly, vey and place bridge plugs and mechanical, hydraulic or inflatable packers
the coiled tubing unit is used for many well intervention operations and to establish zonal isolation.
certain drilling applications. Coiled tubing (CT) refers to a continuous One of the most common applications for CT is the cleanout and removal
length of small-diameter steel pipe and related surface equipment as well of fill materials that restrict flow through tubing or casing (below). Fill
as associated drilling, completion and workover, or remediation, tech- material can impede production by blocking the flow of oil or gas. It also
niques. Coiled tubing oilfield technology was initially developed for working may prevent the opening or closing of downhole control devices such as
on live, producing wells. More recently, this technology has gained wider sleeves and valves. Common sources of fill are sand or fine material pro-
acceptance among operators for an expanding range of workover and drill- duced from the reservoir, proppant materials used during hydraulic fractur-
ing applications and for its ability to reduce overall costs. The trend toward ing operations, debris from workovers and organic scale. Fill removal
extended-reach wells favors CT for its capability to drill or to convey tools typically involves circulating a cleanout fluid, such as water or brine,
and equipment in high angle wellbores. through a jet nozzle run on the end of the CT. The circulating fluids carry the
At the center of any CT surface operation is a coiled tubing unit (CTU), debris back to the surface through the annulus between the CT string and
the most prominent feature being a reel from which a continuous length of the completion tubing.
flexible steel pipe is spooled. To deploy tubing downhole, the CT operator
spools the tubing off the reel and leads it through a gooseneck, which
directs the CT downward to an injector head, where it is straightened just
before it enters the borehole. At the end of the operation, the flexible tubing
is pulled out of the well and spooled back onto the reel. On the hub of the
storage reel, a high-pressure swivel joint enables pumping of fluids through
the tubing while the reel rotates to spool pipe on or off the reel.
From the CTU control cabin, the CT operator controls the hydraulically
driven injector head to regulate the movement and depth of the CT string.
A stripper assembly beneath the injector head provides a dynamic seal
around the tubing string, which is essential for running the CT in and out of
live wells. A blowout preventer assembly between the stripper and wellhead Fluid flow
supplies secondary and contingency pressure-control functions. The entire
process is monitored and coordinated from the CTU control cabin.
Coiled tubing is available in diameters of 0.75 to 4.5 in.—2 in. is the most
common size. It may range in length from 2,000 to more than 30,000 ft [600 Drift ring
ORSPR04_CT_11
to 9,000 m]. The tubing is coiled in a single continuous length, thus preclud-
Tubing wall
ing any need for making or breaking connections between joints. This per-
Jet nozzle
mits continuous circulation while running in or out of the hole. Rotating head
Fluid flow
Scale

A Wide Range of Applications

Coiled tubing technology is frequently used to deploy tools and materials > Mechanical scale removal. A jetting tool can be used to remove scale
from a producing well. The tool consists of a rotating head with opposing
through production tubing or casing while remedial work is performed on
tangentially offset nozzles and a drift ring. Jetting action from the nozzles
producing wells. Coiled tubing fulfills three key requirements for downhole Drift ring
removes scale from tubular walls while the drift ring allows the tool to
operations on live wells by providing a dynamic seal between the formation advance only after the internal tubular diameter is clean. Nonabrasive fluids
are pumped through the nozzle for removal of soft scales; abrasive beads are
Tubing wall
used to remove hard scales. When tubulars are completely plugged, abrasive
Oilfield Review Summer 2014: 26, no. 2.
Jet nozzle
jetting is used in conjunction with a powered milling head.
Copyright © 2014 Schlumberger. Rotating head Scale
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Rich Christie, Sugar Land, Texas, USA.
www.slb.com/defining

Coiled tubing technology also extends to well perforating operations—

Coiled tubing
shooting holes in casing to initiate production in a well. In many wells, per- Fluid flow
forating guns are run downhole on wireline; however, because wireline tools
depend on gravity to reach the target zone, they may not reach target depth
in horizontal or highly deviated wells. One alternative is to convey the guns
downhole at the end of the CT, which allows for substantially longer gun
strings and higher-angle deployments than are possible on wireline. These
operations can even be performed with tubing in place.
Its capacity to circulate or inject fluids makes CT especially suited to
initiating production in a well. When drilling or workover fluids exert hydro-
static pressures that exceed formation pressure, reservoir fluids are pre-
vented from entering the wellbore. Pumping nitrogen gas through the CT
string and into the fluid column is a common method for reducing hydro-
Screen
static pressure within the wellbore to initiate production. The CT string is
run to its target depth, and the nitrogen is pumped through the string to
reduce the density of the hydrostatic column. When the hydrostatic pres- Fluid flow
sure of the fluid column drops below reservoir pressure, the well can flow.
Operators frequently utilize coiled tubing as a conduit for accurate place- Gravel
ment of cement downhole. Cement is used for sealing perforations or casing
leaks, for primary or secondary zonal isolation and for plugs used in kickoff or > Gravel pack washdown. As the gravel pack screen is lowered toward the
abandonment operations. A cement squeeze enables the operator to plug casing top of the gravel, surface pumps are activated. The pump rate is sufficient to
fluidize the gravel without causing it to circulate back into the tubing. While
leaks or existing perforations by pumping cement slurry under pressure into the pumps are active, the CT is slowly lowered into the gravel until the screen
these openings. The cement fills openings between the formation and the cas- reaches its setting depth. A ball pumped through the CT string releases the
ing, forming a seal. Setting a cement plug involves circulating a cement slurry screen before the CT string is pulled back to the surface.
into position using CT then withdrawing the CT string to a point above the top of
cement. A slight squeeze pressure is applied if necessary, any cement remaining the CT string is run to the GP depth. Gravel is then pumped through the coiled
in the tubing is displaced by a tail slurry then the CT is pulled out of the hole. tubing. The CT string is retrieved to the surface, and a GP screen assembly is
Well treatment programs may use CT to convey stimulation fluids that attached. As the cylindrical screen is run to the top of the gravel, fluid is
boost production by restoring or improving reservoir permeability. In a matrix pumped through the CT to agitate the gravel and settle the screen into place
treatment, fluids are pumped into a reservoir at a pressure that is greater than across from the perforations (above). The CT string is then retrieved to the
reservoir pressure but less than the formation fracture threshold. This tech- surface. The GP keeps the sand in place while allowing formation fluids to
nique pushes the fluids through the formation pore spaces without initiating flow through it. Should sanding begin later in the life of a well that does not
fractures. A similar operation, fracture acidizing, pumps fluids at a pressure have a GP, coiled tubing offers a means of installing a through-tubing GP
that intentionally initiates fractures. completion, in which GP screens are installed through the existing produc-
CT can facilitate the installation of production tubing and associated com- tion tubing without removing the original completion hardware.
pletion equipment. In certain wells, a string or section of CT may be left in the CT technology has expanded into openhole operations, to include drilling
borehole as a permanent part of the completion. CT completions often provide and associated activities. Coiled tubing drilling (CTD) can accommodate a
a low-cost approach for prolonging the life of old wells. Typical installations variety of applications, including directional or nondirectional wells. CTD is
include velocity strings, tubing patches and through-tubing gravel packs. carried out with a downhole motor and, compared with conventional drilling
For example, in some wells, operators choose to install CT permanently applications, uses higher bit speeds and lower weight on bit. In directional
as a velocity string inside existing production tubing. In this application, wells, a steering assembly is required to direct the well trajectory. CTD is used
the CT reduces the cross-sectional flow area of the production tubing, thus in both overbalance and underbalance drilling applications.
yielding higher flow velocity for a given production rate and allowing fluids
to be carried out of the well more efficiently. Significant Advantages
Coiled tubing can serve both as a conveyance and a medium for patching CT equipment and techniques present several advantages over those used
production tubulars. A CT tubing patch can be positioned in a completion in conventional drilling and workover operations. These advantages include
to cover mechanical damage or erosion in tubing, to permanently shut off a rapid mobilization and rig-up, fewer personnel, smaller environmental foot-
sliding sleeve or to isolate perforations. Packers set at the top and bottom of print and reductions in time associated with pipe handling while running in
the patch hold it in position and provide the seal between the existing com- and out of the hole. Such capabilities are especially important in deep or
pletion and CT string. high-angle wellbores. Coiled tubing can help the operator avoid the risk of
Coiled tubing is also used in completion programs to convey downhole formation damage inherent in killing a well by allowing continuous circula-
hardware, fluids and materials. Frequently, wells drilled in unconsolidated tion during well intervention operations. These advantages may yield sig-
sands require the wire mesh screen of a gravel pack (GP) to prevent sand nificant cost savings over conventional drilling or workover techniques.
production. Common GP installations involve a washdown procedure. First,

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Downhole Coring
Matt Varhaug and Tony Smithson
Senior Editors

Rock cores provide essential data for the exploration, evaluation and pro-
duction of oil and gas reservoirs. Physical rock samples allow geoscientists
to examine firsthand the depositional sequences penetrated by a bit and
offer direct evidence of the presence, distribution and deliverability of
hydrocarbons. Cores provide ground truth for calibration of well logs and
can reveal variations in reservoir properties that might be undetectable
through downhole logging measurements alone. Operators are better able
to characterize pore systems in the rock and model reservoir behavior to
optimize production based on the analysis of core porosity, permeability,
fluid saturation, grain density, lithology and texture. These analyses are car-
ried out in core laboratories around the world.
Before the samples reach the laboratory, they must first be extracted
from formations below the Earth’s surface. The process of coring—obtain-
ing representative samples of the formation—is undertaken in either of two
ways. Conventional coring is performed as the zone of interest is being > Bits for drilling versus coring. Whereas a drill bit (left) is designed to grind
drilled; sidewall coring is carried out after that zone has been drilled. Each away rock at the bit face, the toroidal face of the coring bit (right) employs a
fixed cutter design that leaves the center of the borehole untouched. This
method yields distinctly different rock samples, and each requires its own
hollow bit creates a cylindrical core of the formation that passes through
coring strategy, procedures and equipment. the middle of the bit to be retained within a liner inside the BHA.

Conventional Coring
Conventional cores, also known as whole cores are continuous sections of attached to a swivel that enables the inner barrel to remain stationary while
rock extracted from the formation in a process similar to conventional drill- the outer barrel rotates with the coring bit. Drilling fluid can circulate
ing. The two operations differ chiefly in the type of bit used: Instead of a between the inner and outer barrels. The catcher keeps the core from slip-
conventional drill bit, coring uses a hollow bit and core barrel in the bot- ping out through the hollow bit when the coring BHA is retrieved to the
tomhole assembly (BHA) (above right). surface. Cores typically range in diameter from 4.45 to 13.34 cm [1.75 to 5.25
During conventional coring operations, the operator first drills the well in.] and are usually cut in 9-m [30-ft] increments, corresponding to the
down to a zone of interest using a conventional drill bit and drillstring. A length of the core barrel or its liner, which in turn, is consistent with the
wellsite geologist closely monitors drilling progress to decide when to begin length of standard drillpipe.
coring operations. The timing of this decision is critical because if the cor- When the core barrel is full, the drilling crew pulls the drillstring to the
ing begins too soon, the operator will waste rig time obtaining unneeded surface and retrieves the core barrels. A core recovery specialist lays the bar-
core above the zone of interest; if coring begins too late, the drill will have rel liner on the pipe rack. The liner, with core inside, is then scribed with
already penetrated the zone and possibly miss the most crucial section of depth markings and orientation lines. The metal liner is usually cut into seg-
the formation. ments and sealed at each end for shipping to a core analysis laboratory.
Correlations with offset well logs usually provide the first indication that Conventional coring operations often provide the best rock samples for
the drill bit is nearing the coring point. By charting the formation type, drilling testing, analyzing and evaluating reservoirs. However, the time required to
rate and amount of gas extracted from the mud during drilling, the geologist cut and recover whole cores can impact drilling efficiency. Depending on
can create a mud log that may be compared with logs from offset wells. Some coring objectives and cost limitations, some E&P ventures may deem con-
zones have been cored simply on the basis of a drilling break—an increase in ventional coring nonessential. In such cases, the operator may turn to an
drilling rate, which is often accompanied by an increase in gas or evidence of alternate method for sampling downhole formations.
oil in the formation cuttings. Modern logging-while-drilling technology, how-
ever, can deliver resistivity-at-the-bit measurements in real time to help opera- Sidewall Coring
tors determine when the bit is approaching the zone of interest. Sidewall cores (SWCs), plugs of rock taken from the wellbore wall, may
Once the geologist gives the order to begin coring, the driller pulls the offer a cost-effective alternative to conventional cores. The SWCs are usu-
drill bit out of the hole, and the drilling crew exchanges the drilling BHA for ally acquired by wireline tools, and a single wireline descent can recover
a coring bit and core barrel. The hollow coring bit grinds away the rock, SWCs from multiple zones of interest.
leaving a cylindrical core of rock at its center. This core is retained inside After the driller reaches a casing point or drills to total depth (TD), the
the core barrel, which is mounted just above the bit. The core barrel con- drillpipe is pulled out of the hole and the well is logged before casing is set.
sists of an inner and outer barrel and a core catcher. These barrels are Sidewall cores typically are obtained after logs have been run, usually near
the conclusion of an openhole wireline logging job. This gives geologists
Oilfield Review 27, no. 1 (May 2015).
time to pick core depths after consulting the logs to identify zones that
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Core bullet

Steel cables

Core gun

> Percussion sidewall coring gun. A core bullet is fired from a core gun by explosive charges (not shown) placed behind each bullet. Steel cables, attached
to each bullet, help extricate the bullets from the formation after they have been shot. Core guns are retrieved to the surface with core bullets attached, and
technicians remove core samples and seal them in bottles.

merit sampling. Wireline gamma ray or spontaneous potential logs are used Core guns obtain SWCs measuring from about 2.86 to 4.45 cm [1.125 to
to correlate between openhole log depths and core depths. Sidewall coring 1.75 in.] in length by 1.75 to 2.54 cm [0.688 to 1 in.] in diameter. Each core
devices are controlled from the surface logging unit and can extract sam- barrel, or bullet, is fired sequentially by command from the surface after the
ples from the side of a wellbore at up to 90 selected depths. tool is positioned at the desired sample depth. Bullets are attached to the
Petrophysicists use SWCs to validate log responses and obtain empirical gun body by means of flexible steel cables, which facilitate extraction of
petrophysical and geophysical properties. Sidewall cores also offer an alter- cores from the sidewall. After a bullet embeds in the formation, the wireline
native means for petrophysicists to acquire core data should conventional operator uses the weight of the gun and the force applied by the wireline
coring operations fail. However, because of their small size relative to con- logging unit to work the bullet and its core free from the side of the well-
ventional cores, SWCs taken from a heterogeneous formation may not have bore. After the cores are shot, the gun is pulled to the surface, where logging
properties that are representative of the formation at a reservoir scale. The specialists use a plunger to push each sample from its barrel into a sample
rock from which the SWC is taken may also lack crucial features that geolo- bottle. The bottles are sealed and marked with the sample depth then boxed
gists need to analyze the reservoir, especially in laminated sand-shale and transported to a laboratory for analysis.
sequences, organic shales and fractured reservoirs. Rotary sidewall coring tools employ diamond-tipped drill bits, which are
Two types of wireline sidewall coring devices—percussion and rotary—are miniature versions of those used for conventional coring operations. At each
available. A percussion coring tool, or core gun, has bullet-shaped core barrels core point, the core bit assembly pivots from its recessed transport position
mounted on a carrier (above). The core gun uses small explosive charges to in the tool to a position perpendicular to the tool body. The bit cuts a round
propel individual core barrels into the side of the wellbore to capture samples plug of formation material directly from the borehole wall. The tool then
of the formation. In contrast, a rotary coring tool uses a small, horizontally snaps off the core and pulls it into a holding area inside the tool body. This
oriented coring bit to cut plugs from the side of the borehole (below). Of the process is repeated until the core-catching apparatus is full. Cores from
two methods, percussion coring has been the most common; however, in some older-generation rotary coring tools are typically less than 2.54 cm [1 in.] in
environments, especially hard rock reservoirs, deepwater exploration and diameter; however, some large-volume rotary sidewall coring tools are capa-
unconventional resource plays, petrophysicists may prefer to work with rock ble of drilling up to 50 cores, each 6.4 cm [2.5 in.] long by 3.8 cm [1.5 in.] in
samples obtained by rotary coring tools. diameter. This device produces core samples that have more than three
times the volume of percussion SWCs.

Planning for Success

The process of coring requires planning, attention to formation characteris-
tics and specialized equipment. Prior to drilling a well, the operator must
factor the expense of the coring operation into the formation evaluation bud-
get, including the cost of rig time, coring equipment, laboratory evaluations
and logistics. The information extracted from cores depends in part on their
size and quality, which in turn, control the types of analyses that may be per-
formed. For some wells, routine analysis of porosity, permeability, saturation
and petrology are sufficient to guide operators towards a future course of
action. Frequently, additional analyses are required. These include evalua-
tions of multiphase saturation and flow properties such as capillary pressure
and relative permeability, log-tuning measurements such as electrical proper-
ties for determining porosity and saturation from logs, geomechanical mea-
surements or enhanced oil recovery evaluations. Core analysis, in its many
> Rotary coring bit. A rotating circular bit cuts a core from a borehole wall. forms, informs operator decisions to drill ahead, abandon or complete their
When the bit reaches its maximum depth, the assembly is canted upward, wells. These analyses add tremendous value to reservoir evaluation, and they
which breaks the core from the formation. After the core is pulled back into all begin with the coring process.
the tool, the operator repositions the tool to cut the next core.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Directional Drilling Practices

Kate Mantle
Directional Drilling Advisor 0

The practice of directional drilling traces its roots to the 1920s, when

270

90
basic wellbore surveying methods were introduced. These methods
alerted drillers to the fact that supposedly vertical wells were actually
180

deflecting in unwanted directions. To combat this deviation, drillers

devised techniques to keep the well path as vertical as possible. The
same techniques were later employed to deliberately deflect the well
path to intersect hard-to-access reserves. Initially, directional drilling involved a simple rotary bottomhole assem-
The first intentionally drilled directional wells provided remedial solu- bly (BHA) and the manipulation of parameters such as weight on bit (WOB),
tions to drilling problems: straightening crooked wellbores, sidetracking rotary speed and BHA geometry to achieve a desired trajectory. Changes in
around stuck pipe and drilling relief wells to kill blowouts (below). Directional BHA stiffness, stabilizer placement and gauge, rotary speed, WOB, hole
drillers used rudimentary survey instruments to orient the wellbore. By the diameter, hole angle and formation characteristics all affect the directional
1930s, a controlled directional well was drilled in Huntington Beach, capability and drilling efficiency of a BHA.
California, USA, from an onshore location to target offshore oil sands. By varying stabilizer placement in the drillstring, directional drillers can
Today, operators use sophisticated drilling assemblies to drill complex alter side forces acting on the bit and the BHA, causing it to increase, main-
geologic structures identified from 3D seismic data. Previously unreachable tain or decrease inclination, commonly referred to as building, holding or
reserves have become accessible and economical to produce. dropping angle, respectively (below).
Directional drilling includes three main specialized applications: • To build angle, the directional driller uses a BHA with a full gauge near-bit
extended-reach drilling (ERD), multilateral drilling and short-radius drilling. stabilizer, another stabilizer between 15 to 27 m [50 to 90 ft] above the
Operators have used ERD to access offshore reservoirs from land locations, first and a third stabilizer about 9 m [30 ft] above the second. This BHA
sometimes eliminating the need for a platform. As of 2013, the world’s longest acts as a fulcrum, exerting a positive side force at the bit.
ERD well is the 12,345-m [40,502-ft] well drilled from Sakhalin Island, Russia, • To hold angle, the directional driller uses a BHA with 3 to 5 stabilizers,
to the offshore Odoptu field. Multilateral drilling helps increase wellbore con- placed about 9 m apart. This packed BHA is designed to exert no net side force.
tact with hydrocarbon-producing zones by branching multiple extensions off • To drop angle, the directional driller uses a BHA with the first stabilizer
a single borehole. The first multilateral well was drilled in 1953 at Bashkiria 9 to 27 m behind the bit. This BHA acts as a pendulum, exerting a negative
field, Bashkortostan Republic, Russia. The main borehole had nine lateral side force at the bit.
branches that increased penetration of the pay zone by 5.5 times and produc- During well planning, the directional driller must consider several fac-
tion by 17-fold, and cost only 1.5 times that of a conventional well. Short- tors to determine the required trajectory, particularly dogleg severity
radius drilling produces wells with a curve of 44-m [144-ft] radius or smaller. (DLS)—the rate of change in wellbore trajectory, measured in degrees per
30 m [100 ft]—as well as the capabilities of the BHA, drillstring, logging
Principles of Directional Drilling tools and casing to pass through the doglegs. Drilling limitations include rig
Most directional wells begin as vertical wellbores. At a designated depth, specifications such as maximum torque and pressure available from surface
known as the kickoff point (KOP), the directional driller deflects the well systems. Geologic features such as faults or formation changes need to be
path by increasing well inclination to begin the build section. Surveys taken
during the drilling process indicate the direction of the bit and the toolface, Fulcrum Assembly Pendulum Assembly
or orientation of the measurement sensors in the well. The directional
Stabilizer
driller constantly monitors these measurements and adjusts the trajectory
of the wellbore as needed to intercept the next target along the well path.

Sidetracking

ing
ild e
Multiple wellbores Offshore targets Relief well Horizontal well Bu angl g
Near-bit stabilizer pin
> Directional drilling applications. Reservoirs that are not readily accessible r op gle
D an
from available surface locations can be exploited through directional drilling.

Oilfield Review Winter 2013/2014: 25, no. 4. > Using the BHA to change angle. Bending of the pipe above a bit
Copyright © 2014 Schlumberger. influences borehole deviation. Through strategic placement of drill collars
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Steven Hough, Stonehouse, England; and stabilizers, the directional driller can increase or decrease flexibility
and Richard Hawkins, Midland, Texas, USA. and bowing of the BHA to build or drop angle.
www.slb.com/defining

carefully considered; for example, very soft formations may limit build rates,
and formation dip may cause a bit to walk, or drift laterally. Local knowl-
edge of drilling behavior enables the directional driller to derive the correct
lead angle needed to intercept the target.
The skill of the directional driller lies in projecting ahead, estimating
the spatial position of the bit and, based on the specific circumstances, Hybrid rota
ry st
deciding what course to take to intercept the target or targets. In the early Conventiona eerable system
l rotary stee
rable system
days of directional drilling, a manual slide rule device was used to calculate Kickoff p
oint
the toolface angle required to drill from the last survey station to a target.
Today, computer programs perform the same function.

Directional Drilling Operations Deeper

To steer a well to its target, directional drillers employ the following techniques: kickoff
point
Jetting—A jetting assembly provides directional capability while drill-
ing through loose or unconsolidated formations. Jetting bits are roller cone Landing
point
bits with either a large extended nozzle in place of one of the cones, or with
one large nozzle and two small nozzles. The large nozzle provides the “high
TD
side” reference, and the well path is deflected by alternately sliding or rotat- Landing TD
point
ing the drillstring.
Nudging—This technique is often used in tophole sections, where sev-
eral wellbores in close proximity to one another can pose magnetic interfer- > Directional capabilities. A hybrid system lets the operator kick off from
ence issues and increase the risk of collision with other wellbores. The well greater depths, yet land sooner in the reservoir zone than was possible with
path is nudged, or deflected, from vertical to pass the hazard—then steered conventional rotary steerable systems.
back to vertical when the hazard has been passed.
Kicking off—Diverting a well path from one trajectory to another is
called kicking off. The number of KOPs in a single well path depends on the can control the wellbore trajectory and steer it in the desired direction. In
complexity of the planned trajectory. rotating mode, the drilling rig’s rotary table or its topdrive rotates the entire
Sidetracking—Deflecting a well path from an existing wellbore, or side- drillstring to transmit power to the bit. By contrast, in sliding mode, the bend
tracking, is performed for a variety of reasons such as avoiding a well col- and bit are first oriented in the desired direction, then the downhole mud
lapse, a zone of instability or a section of previously drilled wellbore motor alone powers the bit, with no rotation of the drillstring above the bit.
containing unretrieved fish (junk or tools left in the well). This technique is Drilling motors and rotary steerable systems (RSSs) presented direc-
also used to initiate multilateral drilling operations. Operators also drill ver- tional drillers with an efficient way to steer wells—and to do so with greater
tical pilot holes to confirm reservoir true vertical depth (TVD), then side- accuracy. The RSS enables wells to be drilled directionally while the drill-
track horizontally to maximize reservoir exposure. They sometimes string continuously rotates. The advantages of this method are improved
sidetrack wells when expected targets are not encountered. well cleaning through rotation, a smoother wellbore and more accurate
Whipstock operations—A whipstock is a wedge-shaped steel tool directional control. To steer the RSS, the directional driller transmits com-
deployed downhole to mechanically alter the well path. The whipstock is mands from the surface using pressure fluctuations in the mud column.
oriented to deflect the bit from the original borehole at a slight angle and in Today, hybrid RSSs use pads inside the tool to push against an internal
the direction of the desired azimuth for the sidetrack. It can be used in sleeve that pivots and points the bit in the desired direction. These tools can
cased or open holes. deliver DLS of up to 18°/30 m. Hybrid RSS tools enable directional drillers
Geosteering—Geosteering uses formation evaluation data obtained to kick off from vertical at greater depths and land, or transition the well to
while drilling—primarily through measurements-while-drilling (MWD) or horizontal, more quickly than was previously possible. This technique
logging-while-drilling (LWD) sensors—to provide real-time input for steer- increases wellbore exposure to the reservoir (above).
ing decisions in horizontal and high-angle wells. Recent improvements in Advanced steering systems use a system-matched mud motor in combi-
telemetry allow MWD and LWD data to be transmitted faster and with nation with an RSS tool below it. This BHA design enables higher revolu-
greater data density than in the past, greatly increasing the accuracy with tions per minute at the bit, enhanced steering control and increased rate
which the well trajectory can be controlled. of penetration.

Advances in Directional Drilling Future Developments

The development of reliable mud motors provided an important advance in The introduction of fully automated downhole control systems is likely
directional drilling technology. Wellbore direction could then be controlled within the near future. Such advances, however, do not herald the removal
using a bent motor housing, which was oriented to point the drill bit in the of directional drillers from the process; their experience will always be
desired direction. Mud motors use the mud pumped through a rotor and stator needed to oversee the full scope of directional drilling operations. The
assembly to turn the bit without rotating the drillstring from the surface. By future promises to be fast moving and technologically groundbreaking for
alternating intervals of rotating mode and sliding mode, the directional driller this highly specialized niche within the oil and gas industry.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Overview of Drilling Operations

Matt Varhaug
Senior Editor

The most recognizable icon of the oil and gas industry is a derrick towering point of refusal, where it can be forced no deeper. A wellhead is secured to
high over the wellsite. The drilling rig represents the culmination of an the top of the conductor pipe.
intensive exploration process; only by drilling a well can a prospect be vali- On the rig floor, the drilling crew makes up the BHA, consisting of a drill
dated. Once oil companies acquire drilling rights to a prospect, their geosci- bit, drill collars, stabilizers and in some cases, a reamer. The BHA may be
entists relay potential pay zone coordinates and formation evaluation goals augmented with logging-while-drilling (LWD) sensors, a mud motor and a
to their drilling engineers, who translate these into drilling targets. system for steering the drill along its specified trajectory. The BHA can be
The drilling department plans a trajectory that maximizes wellbore expo- changed from one section of the well to another to build, hold or drop the
sure to the pay zones and designs bottomhole assemblies (BHAs) to achieve angle of wellbore inclination.
that course. The engineers prepare a detailed plan for each stage of the drill- Each part of the BHA is designed for a specific role. Drill collars—
ing process. This drilling prognosis designates a surface location and total heavy, thick-walled joints of pipe—provide stiffness and weight to prevent
depth (TD) for the well and specifies the bit size, anticipated mud weights buckling. Stabilizers increase BHA rigidity to prevent vibration and main-
and casing programs needed to reach TD. For deviated wells, it establishes tain trajectory. In certain formations, specialized reamers are employed to
the bottomhole location (BHL) of the well and the initial deflection depth and keep the borehole in gauge or enlarge it beyond the bit diameter and help
azimuth for the kickoff point (KOP). The prognosis serves as the basis for a reduce torque and drag. The BHA, in turn, is connected to 31-ft [9.5-m]
drilling budget set forth in an authorization for expenditure (AFE). joints of heavyweight drillpipe that form a transition between the drill col-
lars of the BHA and the standard drillpipe used to make up the drillstring,
The Drilling Contractor which drives the bit.
Oil companies usually hire a drilling company to drill their wells. The drill- The BHA is lowered
ing contractor provides a drilling rig and crew. These services are typically through the drill floor, Kelly
contracted at a day rate ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands through the wellhead and
of dollars per day, depending on the type of rig used. into the conductor pipe.
Onshore, day rates are generally determined by the rated horsepower of Once the bit is on bottom, a Kelly bushing
a rig, which also dictates how deep the rig can drill. Depth also translates hexagonal or square shaped
into rig size, with larger rigs carrying a drawworks and derrick with greater pipe, known as a kelly is Rotary
hook load capacity for hoisting hundreds of tons of drillpipe. Offshore rigs, screwed into the uppermost table
also rated by horsepower, are further classified on the basis of operational joint of drill pipe. The kelly is
water depth. Jackup rigs are used in waters from about 9 to 105 m [30 to inserted into the kelly bush-
350 ft] deep. (Certain heavy-duty jackups can operate in up to 168 m [550 ft] ing (KB) and the rig’s rotary > Kelly bushing. The kelly fits through the
of water and are rated to drill to 10,660 m [35,000 ft].) Semisubmersible rigs drive is engaged. The rotary center of the kelly bushing, which turns when
the rotary table is engaged.
are designed for waters exceeding the depth limit of jackups. Drillships table turns the KB, which
operate in the deepest waters. Day rates for onshore rigs are generally lower turns the kelly (above right). The drillstring rotates (turning to the right in a
than for offshore rigs; shallow-water jackup rigs tend to cost less than deep- clockwise rotation) and drilling begins. The commencement of drilling is
water semisubmersible rigs or drillships. termed spudding in, and, like a birthday, is recorded as the well’s spud date.

Spudding In Drilling Ahead

The drilling contractor moves the rig onto location and a surveyor certifies As the bit bores deeper into the earth, each additional length of drillpipe
its position. As the drilling crew rigs up, sections of large-diameter conduc- is connected to the previous joint, and the drillstring grows progressively longer.
tor pipe are welded together and driven into the ground—generally to a Drilling fluid, or mud, is pumped downhole to cool and lubricate the bit. The
mud also carries away rock cuttings created by the bit. Drilling fluids typically
Oilfield Review Autumn 2011: 23, no. 3.
Copyright © 2011 Schlumberger. consist of a specialized formulation of water or a nonaqueous continuous phase
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to John Walker, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. blended with powdered barite and other additives to control the rheology of
www.slb.com/defining

the mud. (Sometimes water is used in the upper parts of a wellbore; some forma-
tion pressures are so low that air can be used instead of mud.)
High-pressure pumps draw the mud from surface tanks and send it down
the center of the drillpipe. The mud is discharged through nozzles at the face
of the bit. The pump pressure forces the mud upward along the outside of the
drillpipe. It reaches the surface through the annular space between the
drillpipe and casing, exiting through a flowline above the blowout preventer 36-in. conductor Conductor pipe prevents caving of soil layers and
(BOP). The mud passes over a vibrating mesh screen at the shale shaker; shallow, unconsolidated sediment.
there, formation cuttings are separated from the liquid mud, which falls 28-in. bit Surface casing protects shallow freshwater zones,
through the screens to the mud tanks before circulating back into the well. 241/2-in. casing provides a structural foundation for the BOP and
supports deeper casing strings.
Drilling fluid is vital for maintaining control of the well. The mud is
pumped downhole to offset increases in bottomhole pressure that would 171/2-in. bit Intermediate casing strings isolate formations that
16-in. casing could break down and cause lost circulation.
otherwise force formation fluids to enter the wellbore, causing a hazardous
kick or even a blowout. However, the pressure exerted by the mud must not
be so great as to fracture the rock itself, which would lower the pressure of
143/4-in. bit Production casing prevents the migration of hydrocarbons
the mud in the wellbore. The pressure exerted by the mud is primarily a 133/8-in. casing from productive zones into other formations.
function of mud density, which is commonly adjusted by controlling the
amount of barite or other weighting agents in the system. Pressure gener-
ally increases with depth, so mud weight must also be increased with depth.
Drilling typically proceeds until further increases in mud weight would frac- > Wellbore profile. Progressively smaller-diameter bits and casing strings
ture the formation, at which point, casing is set. are used to drill a wellbore, resulting in a telescopic profile.

Tripping the Bit

The bit’s cutting surfaces gradually wear down as they grind away the rock, pumped through the center of the casing string, out through the bottom,
slowing the rate of penetration (ROP). Eventually, the worn bit must be then back up the annulus between the casing and the wellbore. Pressure is
exchanged for a fresh one. This requires the drilling crew to pull the drill- held on the cement while it hardens.
string, or trip out of the hole. First, the mud is circulated to bring cuttings
and gas up to the surface—a process known as circulating bottoms up. Leakoff Test
Next, the roughnecks disconnect the kelly from the drillstring and latch the The integrity of the cement job and the formation beneath the casing is
uppermost joint of the drillstring to the derrick’s elevators—metal clamps evaluated by conducting a leakoff test (LOT). This test is performed imme-
used for lifting pipe. The driller controls the drawworks that hoist the eleva- diately after drilling out from under casing to provide a critical estimate of
tors up into the derrick. mud weight limits that can be used to drill safely to the next casing point.
The drillstring is pulled out of the hole one stand at a time. On most rigs, After drilling through the cement at the casing shoe and into about
a stand consists of three joints of drillpipe connected together—some rigs 3 to 6 m [10 to 20 ft] of fresh formation, the driller circulates bottoms up to
can pull only two-joint stands; others pull four-joint stands, depending on confirm that the bit has penetrated new formation. The well is then shut in
derrick height. Each stand is unscrewed from the drillstring, then lined up and drilling fluid is pumped into the wellbore to gradually increase the pres-
vertically in rows, guided by the derrickman. sure against the formation. Eventually, the pressure will deviate from a
The last stand brings the bit to surface. The bit is unscrewed from the straight-line increase, indicating that the drilling fluid has leaked off, or
BHA and is graded on the basis of wear. A new bit is screwed into the bottom entered the formation.
of the BHA, and the process is reversed. The entire process—tripping out The results of the LOT dictate the maximum pressure or mud weight
and back into the hole—is called a round trip. that may be applied downhole during drilling before setting casing once
more. The maximum operating pressure is usually set slightly below the
Casing Point leakoff test result to maintain a small safety factor. The overall cycle of drill-
Most wellbores eventually require a means to prevent formation collapse so ing, tripping and casing the hole continues until the well reaches TD.
drilling can continue. Drilling mud, pumped down the hole to exert outward
pressure against the borehole wall, is effective only to a point. Then steel Evolving Technologies
casing must be run in the hole and cemented in place to stabilize the well- The trend in drilling has evolved from vertical to directional wellbores, and
bore wall (above right). horizontal wells have become quite common, thanks largely to rotary steer-
The driller circulates bottoms up, and the drillpipe is pulled out of the able systems. As drilling environments and targets become more challeng-
hole. The openhole section is usually evaluated using wireline well logging ing, advances in steering and LWD systems are helping drillers change
tools. Once logging is completed, a casing crew runs casing to the bottom of trajectories and stay in zone to reach multiple targets. Wells can be drilled
the borehole. The casing, smaller in diameter than the bit, is run in the hole using underbalanced or managed pressure techniques to prevent formation
in a process similar to making connections with drillpipe. damage. Now, rather than simply punching holes down as quickly as possi-
Centralizers, installed at regular intervals along the outside of the cas- ble, highly skilled crews drill wellbores that will hold up to stresses imposed
ing string, ensure proper standoff between casing and formation to allow by the earth and by production processes, providing wells that can be safely
the passage of cement during subsequent operations. A cement slurry is logged, completed and produced.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Drilling Fluid Basics

Don Williamson
Contributing Editor

Drilling fluids serve many functions: controlling formation pressures,

removing cuttings from the wellbore, sealing permeable formations encoun-
tered while drilling, cooling and lubricating the bit, transmitting hydraulic > Bentonite drilling fluid being mixed and agitated.
energy to downhole tools and the bit and, perhaps most important, main-
taining wellbore stability and well control. Often referred to as mud, drilling Basic Functions
fluid was first introduced around 1913 for subsurface pressure control. The Drilling fluids are formulated to carry out a wide range of functions. Although
1920s and ’30s saw the birth of the first US companies specializing in the the list is long and varied, key performance characteristics are the following:
distribution, development and engineering of drilling fluids and compo- Controlling formation pressures—Drilling fluid is vital for maintaining
nents. In the decades that followed, drilling fluid companies introduced control of a well. The mud is pumped down the drillstring, through the bit,
developments in chemistry, measurement and process engineering that led and back up the annulus. In open hole, hydrostatic pressure exerted by the
to significant improvements in drilling efficiency and well productivity. mud column is used to offset increases in formation pressure that would
Drilling fluid compositions vary based on wellbore demands, rig capa- otherwise force formation fluids into the borehole, possibly causing loss of
bilities and environmental concerns. Engineers design drilling fluids to con- well control. However, the pressure exerted by the drilling fluid must not
trol subsurface pressures, minimize formation damage, minimize the exceed the fracture pressure of the rock itself; otherwise mud will escape
potential for lost circulation, control erosion of the borehole and optimize into the formation—a condition known as lost circulation.
drilling parameters such as penetration rate and hole cleaning. In addition, Removing cuttings from the borehole—Circulating drilling fluid carries
because a large percentage of modern wellbores are highly deviated, drill- cuttings—rock fragments created by the bit—to the surface. Maintaining
ing fluid systems must help manage hole cleaning and stability problems the fluid’s ability to transport these solid pieces up the hole—its carrying
specific to these wells. capacity—is key to drilling efficiently and minimizing the potential for
stuck pipe. To accomplish this, drilling fluid specialists work with the driller
Drilling Fluid Systems to carefully balance mud rheology and flow rate to adjust carrying capacity
Drilling fluid systems have a continuous phase, which is liquid, and a dis- while avoiding high equivalent circulating density (ECD)—the actual mud
continuous phase comprising solids. On occasion, they also have a gas density plus the pressure drop in the annulus above a given point in the
phase—either by design or as a result of formation gas entrainment. The borehole. Unchecked, high ECD may lead to lost circulation.
continuous phase may be used to categorize drilling fluid types as gas, aque- Cooling and lubricating the bit—As the drilling fluid passes through
ous fluids or nonaqueous systems. These fluids are a blend of liquid and and around the rotating drilling assembly, it helps cool and lubricate the bit.
solid components, each designed to modify a specific property of the drilling Thermal energy is transferred to the drilling fluid, which carries the heat to
fluid such as its viscosity and density. the surface. In extremely hot drilling environments, heat exchangers may
Aqueous drilling fluids, generally referred to as water-base muds, are be used at the surface to cool the mud.
the most common and the most varied of the three drilling fluid types Transmitting hydraulic energy to the bit and downhole tools—Drilling
(above right). They range in composition from simple blends of water and fluid is discharged through nozzles at the face of the bit. The hydraulic
clay to complex inhibitive, or clay stabilizing, drilling fluid systems that energy released against the formation loosens and lifts cuttings away from
include many components. In recent years, engineers and scientists have the formation. This energy also powers downhole motors and other hard-
focused on improving the inhibitive and thermal performance of water- ware that steer the bit and obtain drilling or formation data in real time.
base systems in efforts to compete with the nonaqueous fluids typically Data gathered downhole are frequently transmitted to the surface using
used in challenging drilling environments. mud pulse telemetry, a method that relies on pressure pulses through the
In nonaqueous drilling fluids, commonly referred to as synthetic-base mud column to send data to the surface.
muds, the continuous phase may consist of mineral oils, biodegradable Maintaining wellbore stability—The basic components of wellbore sta-
esters, olefins or other variants. Although typically more costly than aque- bility include regulating density, minimizing hydraulic erosion and control-
ous drilling fluids, these systems tend to provide excellent borehole control, ling clays. Density is maintained by slightly overbalancing the weight of the
thermal stability, lubricity and penetration rates, which may help reduce mud column against formation pore pressure. Engineers minimize hydrau-
overall cost for the operator. lic erosion by balancing hole geometry against cleaning requirements, fluid
In fractured rock or environments where the borehole will not support a carrying capacity and annular flow velocity. The process of clay control is
column of water without significant fluid loss to the formation, drillers use complex. Clays in some formations expand in the presence of water, while
air, mist or foam systems to help remove cuttings from the hole and main- others disperse. To some degree, these effects can be controlled by modify-
tain wellbore integrity. ing the properties of the drilling fluid. Regardless of the approach used,
controlling the fluid’s effect on the formation helps control the borehole
and the integrity of the cuttings and leads to a cleaner, more easily main-
Oilfield Review Spring 2013: 25, no. 1.
Copyright © 2013 Schlumberger.
tained drilling fluid.
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Daryl Cullum and Sonny Espey, Houston;
and to Ole Iacob Prebensen, Sandnes, Norway.
www.slb.com/defining

At the suction or mixing

tank, fresh additives are
mixed into the system,
the continuous phase is
replenished and mud
The mud is pumped from
weight adjusted, preparing
the suction tank, up the
Kelly the fluid for its trip back
standpipe, down the
down the hole.
kelly and through the Standpipe
drillpipe on its way
downhole to the bit. Rotary table
Drill floor Flowline
At the surface, the mud
flows down the flowline
Bell nipple Shale to the shale shakers
Blowout preventer shaker where larger formation
solids are removed. Further
cleaning occurs as the
Mud Suction Shaker fluid flows through the
Shear and temperature Cemented
pump tank tank mud tank system.
affect the mud as it casing
is pumped to the bit at
high velocity and pressure.

Drillpipe
The mud returns up
the annulus degraded
Annulus by downhole conditions,
Additional shear effects dehydrated and loaded
occur as the mud passes with formation solids.
through the bit jets and
Bit
impacts the formation.

> Drilling fluid life cycle. Throughout the circulation cycle, the mud is subjected to a number of processes that alter its physical
parameters. The drilling fluid treatment plan must evolve to keep pace with these changes.

Drilling Fluid Life Cycle bit and hole and then released waste at the surface. This requires engineers
Drilling fluid design and maintenance are iterative processes affected by and fluid specialists to continuously evaluate and recharge the system with
surface and downhole conditions. These conditions change as the well is fresh fluids and other additives.
drilled through deeper formations and encounters gradual increases in tem- Measurement and redesign—The drilling fluids specialist measures
perature and pressure and the mud undergoes alterations in chemistry certain properties of the returning mud. The specific properties measured
brought about by different types of rock and formation fluids (above). are generally a function of the fluid type that is used, but typically include
Onsite fluid specialists and staff engineers use continuous process engi- density, rheology, filtration rate, continuous phase content and ratios and
neering to fine-tune the drilling fluid in response to changing borehole con- solids content and classification. The fluid is further analyzed for pH,
ditions then evaluate fluid performance and modify fluid properties in an hardness, alkalinity, chlorides, acid gas content and other parameters
ongoing cycle. specific to certain fluid types. The specialist then designs a treatment pro-
Initial design—In the planning phase, fluid experts select mud system gram for the next 12 to 24 hours. The driller, derrickman and fluids spe-
types and designs for each borehole section. The systems are designed to cialist constantly monitor borehole conditions and characteristics of the
meet several specifications, including density requirements, borehole sta- returning fluid then make adjustments to the mud as hole and drilling
bility, thermal gradients, logistics and environmental concerns. Drilling conditions dictate.
may begin with a simple fluid system. Water is often the first fluid used for
Oilfield
drilling to the initial casing point. As the borehole deepens, increasing for-Review
A Century of Continual Development
WINTER 12/13
mation pressure, rising temperature and more-complex formationsDrilling From
requireFluids Fig.humble
1 beginnings about 100 years ago, drilling fluids have evolved as
higher levels of mechanical wellbore control and hole cleaning capacity. a science, an1engineering discipline and an art. Scientists and product
ORWIN 12/13-DRLFLDS
Simple fluid systems may be displaced or converted to weighted water-base developers create new fluid designs that address the many demands placed
inhibitive mud, followed at greater depths by nonaqueous drilling fluids. on modern drilling fluids, while engineers and fluid specialists in the field
Circulation—The drilling fluid’s character constantly evolves. In one continue to find new ways to monitor, measure, simulate and manage the
circulation cycle, the fluid has expended energy, lifted cuttings, cooled the drilling fluid life cycle.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Electrical Submersible Pumps Electric drives and Electric

pump-control equipment power supply
Rick von Flatern
Senior Editor

More than 90% of all producing oil wells require some form of artificial lift
to increase the flow of fluids from wells when a reservoir no longer has suf-
ficient energy to naturally produce at economic rates or to boost early pro- Power cable
duction to improve financial performance. One of the most versatile and
adaptable artificial lift methods is electric submersible pumping. Separated gas
Deployed in an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 wells worldwide, electric
submersible pumps (ESPs) consist of multiple centrifugal pump stages
mounted in series within a housing mated to a submersible electric motor. Gas separator

These pumps are connected to surface controls and electric power by Pump intake
armor-protected cables. Surface electric drives power and control ESP sys-
tems, which are able to lift from 16 to 4,770 m3/d [100 to 30,000 bbl/d], a
Motor protectors
pump rate operation range that surpasses the performance of other pump-
type artificial lift systems such as rod pumps, progressing cavity pumps and
hydraulic lift. Motor

ESP Origins
In 1911, 18-year-old Russian engineer Armais Arutunoff invented the first
electric motor that operated in water. He added a drill and a centrifugal
Perforations
pump to the motor, inventing what is now known as the electric submersible
pump. Arutunoff immigrated to the US, where he founded Russian Electrical Produced
fluids
Dynamo of Arutunoff, or REDA. Electric submersible pumps are now operat-
ing in onshore and offshore fields throughout the world. Figure 1. Typical ESP configuration. Downhole ESP components include
motor, protectors, pump sections, pump intakes, power cables, gas-
Anatomy of an ESP System handling equipment and downhole sensors (not shown). Surface
Electric submersible pump systems comprise both downhole and surface components include pump-control equipment such as variable-speed
drives and an electric power supply.
components (Figure 1). The overall length and diameter of ESP downhole
equipment are designed based on the horsepower necessary to deliver the
desired flow rate. manufactured and quantifies the relationship between pump horsepower,
An ESP is a multistage centrifugal pump whose stages are stacked; the efficiency, flow rate and head relative to the operating flow rate. The pump
operating requirements of the well and completion design dictate the num- recommended operating range is defined for each pump stage in the catalog
ber of stages. Each stage contains a rotating impeller and stationary diffus-
ers typically cast from high-nickel iron to minimize abrasion or corrosion 5,400 64
Head 90
damage. As well fluid flows into the first stage of the ESP, it passes through 4,800 56
an impeller, and the fluid is centrifuged radially outward, gaining energy in 4,200 Operating point 80
48

Pump efficiency, %
the form of velocity. The centrifugal pump is driven by an induction motor 3,600 70 40
Horsepower

that can attain operating speeds of more than 5,000 rpm when using a vari-
Head, ft

3,000
Pump efficiency 60 32
able speed drive. 2,400
50 24
After it exits the impeller, the fluid is forced to make a sharp turn to 1,800
enter the diffuser. As it travels through this section, the fluid is diffused, and 1,200 40 16
Horsepower
its velocity is converted to pressure. The fluid, which now has a slightly 600 30
8
higher pressure than when it entered the first stage, enters the next impel- 0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800
ler and diffuser stage to repeat the process. The fluid passes through all Flow rate, bbl/d
stages of the pump, incrementally gaining pressure in each stage until it
Figure 2. Pump performance curve. Such curves are generated to chart a
achieves a total developed head, or designated discharge pressure, and has
pump’s ability to displace fluids and to determine the number of pump
sufficient energy to travel to the surface of the well. stages required to achieve a desired production rate. The head capacity
A pump’s operational performance is illustrated in its pump perfor- curve (blue) shows the amount of lift at a given flow rate. The horsepower
mance curve (Figure 2). A performance curve is generated for each pump requirements of the pump (red) across a range of flow capacities are
derived from performance testing. The pump efficiency (green) is calculated
Oilfield Review 2015. from the head, flow capacity, fluid specific gravity and horsepower. The
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger. purple shaded area indicates the most efficient operating range for this
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to George Waters, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, specific pump. The operating point (red dot) shows that, at 60 Hz, this
USA, and Diego Narvaez, Houston. 185-stage pump is operating within the optimum range.
www.slb.com/defining

performance curve. By tracking these parameters over the course of the Advantages and Disadvantages
well’s life, the operator can determine at what point the ESP falls out of its In many field applications, ESP systems provide several operational advantages
recommended range and plan for resizing the ESP or replacing it with a dif- over other forms of artificial lift. An ESP is especially appropriate for moderate-
ferent lift system to accommodate the actual flow rate. to-high production rate wells, including highly deviated wells and remote, sub-
A downhole submersible motor provides power to the pump. The motor sea deepwater wells. The pumps can be manufactured from high-grade,
is typically a two-pole, three-phase, squirrel-cage induction electric motor corrosion-resistant metallurgies for application in well environments with high-
available in a variety of operating voltages, currents and horsepower ratings GOR fluids, high temperatures and fluids containing corrosive acid gases.
ranging from 7.5 kW to more than 750 kW. Motor size is dictated by the Electric submersible pumps provide increased production while han-
amount of power required to drive the pump to lift the estimated volume of dling high water cuts brought on by pressure maintenance and secondary
produced fluid out of the well. Wellbore fluids passing over the motor hous- recovery operations. The systems are quiet and safe and require a smaller
ing act as cooling agents. surface footprint than that of some other lift systems, making them a pre-
A seal section between the pump intake and the motor houses the thrust ferred option in offshore and environmentally sensitive areas. ESP systems
bearing that carries the axial thrust developed by the pump. The seal also can be configured with flexibility to accommodate the dynamic evolution of
isolates and protects the motor from well fluids and equalizes the pressure fluid properties and flow rates during the life of the well and can operate
in the wellbore with the pressure inside the motor. with pump intake pressure of less than 1 MPa [100 psi].
In wells characterized by relatively high gas-to-oil ratios (GORs) and low However, a number of operational challenges must be considered when
bottomhole pressures, produced fluids may contain quantities of free gas. running ESPs. Even though ESP systems can be built with special abrasion-
Submersible pumps are susceptible to operational problems, including cavi- resistant metallurgies and upgraded radial bearing materials and configura-
tation or gas locking in high-volume free gas environments, which may tion, ESP run times can be severely compromised in high sand and solids
shorten pump run life. In these applications, a gas separator is installed at content environments. Performance also degrades when pumping viscous
the intake section of the pump to separate the gas from the well fluid before fluids or high gas-to-liquid ratio mixtures. The development of more effi-
it enters the pump. If the amount of free gas exceeds a designated limit, a cient downhole gas separation and gas handling devices has improved ESP
gas handling device may also be installed downstream of the separator. applications in flow streams containing high volumes of free gas, but those
To ensure optimal ESP performance, operators may install downhole devices add to completion costs.
sensors that continuously acquire real-time system measurements such as Although ESP systems can operate at 0° to 90° inclinations, their appli-
pump intake and discharge pressures and temperatures, vibration and cur- cation is restricted by the well curvature through which they must pass dur-
rent leakage rate. Typically, users monitor pumps through supervisory con- ing deployment and landing. ESP manufacturers must use dogleg severity to
trol and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, which act as central repositories determine the stress and deflection of the ESP components to ensure
of data from all downhole sensors and can initiate actions through linked proper installation and operation is possible.
controls or alerts. When it detects a pump reading that is outside preset Although ESP motors are built on voltages that typically range from
levels, a sensor alerts the operator in real time and can be enabled to make 460 to 4,200 V at 60Hz for oilfield applications, most ESPs use higher voltage
settings changes to the pump via remote control. motors. As a result, a higher voltage power supply is needed at the surface
Power is provided from the surface to the motor via a specially con- to compensate for the voltage drop in the power cable, which can be signifi-
structed three-phase electric cable designed for downhole environments. To cant in deep installations requiring long power cables.
limit cable movement in the well and to support its weight, the cable is Pump efficiency peaks when a pump is operating at the flow rate corre-
banded or clamped to the production tubing. sponding to the best efficiency point (BEP) on the pump performance curve;
Electric submersible pump surface components include an electric sup- efficiency decreases at flow rates above or below the BEP. As the production
ply system. Onshore, electricity is typically provided by a commercial power rate continues to drop, the ESP may need to be pulled and replaced with a
distribution system. A transformer may be required to convert the electric- lift system better suited to lower production rates; for onshore applications,
ity provided via commercial power lines to match the voltage and amperage a suitable replacement might be a rod pump or PCP. Below a rate of approxi-
requirements of the ESP motor. Offshore, ESP operations require a portable mately 25 m3/d [150 bbl/d], ESPs are usually not an economic lift option.
power source such as a diesel generator.
Intelligent, remote terminal, unit-programmable controllers and drives Future Developments
at the surface maintain the proper flow of electricity to the pump motor. The industry is developing robust pump designs that will extend the appli-
Major controller types include fixed-frequency switchboards, soft-start con- cability of ESP systems in environments with high-solids flow streams.
trollers and variable speed controllers; application, economics and the pre- Other research initiatives are focused on improved reliability designs at the
ferred level of control dictate the choice of controller. component level and integrated systems and on advanced operating surveil-
A variable speed drive (VSD) reads the downhole data recorded by the lance and control algorithms to significantly increase ESP system run life.
SCADA system and scales back or ramps up the motor speed to optimize a To improve the economics of ESPs in remote offshore wells, the industry
balance of pump efficiency and production rate. The drive allows the pump is investigating more cost-effective means of deploying and pulling equip-
to be operated continuously or intermittently or be shut off in the event of a ment. A rigless intervention using low-cost standard slickline, coil tubing or
significant operational problem. The direct speed control afforded by the downhole tractor conveyance would avoid the high expense and long wait
VSD increases system efficiency and the run life of the ESP system while times for a dedicated rig. Using this option, an operator can deploy or
reducing the incidence of downtime. retrieve the ESP assembly in a matter of hours and minimize production
losses. Ultimately, developments such as this will enable a greater number
of operators to maximize well production.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Oil and Gas Exploration Essentials

Lisa Stewart
Executive Editor

The earliest users of petroleum did not have to search for it. Most likely
Land plants and animals
they stepped in gooey tar and it stuck to their feet. These first encounters
with petroleum were at seeps, where oil and gas, which are less dense than
water, rise from subsurface rock formations to the Earth’s surface. Over
time, people found practical applications for petroleum, such as weaponry, Aquatic plants and animals
waterproofing, lighting and medicine.
When surface supplies became scarce, people dug into the ground near Sand
the seeps to find more, just as they dug wells near springs to find water.
Eventually hands, picks and shovels gave way to drilling methods that today Mud
can access much deeper resources. Potential source rock
Over the years, petroleum geologists learned to look for hydrocarbons
not only where they had been found before, but also where conditions were
similar to those of earlier discoveries. For example, they noticed that oil and
gas were sometimes found in anticlines, where rock formations that were
once flat had been folded into an arched structure. Geophysical techniques,
such as seismic surveys, were developed to help detect such structures in
the subsurface. However, not all anticlines contain hydrocarbons, and
hydrocarbons can accumulate in other structures.
To organize their knowledge about the occurrence of oil and gas discov-
Seal
eries, explorationists defined the petroleum system as the geologic ele-
ments and processes that are essential for the existence of a petroleum Reservoir
accumulation:
Burial Structural
• T rap—a barrier to the upward movement of oil or gas trap
•R  eservoir—porous and permeable rock to receive the hydrocarbons
•C  harge—including Oil and gas
migration
• S ource rock—a rock formation containing organic matter
•G  eneration—temperature and pressure conditions to convert the Effective
organic matter into hydrocarbon fluids source rock
•M  igration—buoyancy conditions and pathways for the fluids to move
from the source rock into the reservoir Heat
• S eal—an impermeable cap to keep the fluids in the reservoir
•P  reservation—conditions that maintain the nature of the hydrocarbons. > Requirements for a petroleum accumulation. Sediment deposition in the
When these elements and processes occur in the proper order, chances are past (top) may lead to hydrocarbon discoveries in the present (bottom). If the
good that a petroleum accumulation exists (right). geologic elements—trap, reservoir, charge and seal—are present and the
processes occur in the proper order (trap formation followed by hydrocarbon
To find promising exploration targets, experts deploy various technolo-
generation, migration and accumulation), a hydrocarbon reservoir may
gies to quantify the likelihood that all these conditions are met. Exploration exist. In this case, the reservoir contains gas (red) and oil (green).
integrates the efforts of all types of geoscientists—geologists, geophysicists,
petrophysicists, paleontologists and geochemists—into a coherent evalua-
tion of how the petroleum systems in a basin have evolved. maps and 3D models of sedimentary basins. Cores, or samples of rocks taken
The exploration team interprets data from a multitude of physical mea- from boreholes, provide ground truth readings on a fine scale.
surements made at a wide range of scales. Geologists study outcrops to Geophysicists interpret seismic, magnetic and gravimetric surveys per-
determine the types of rocks that may be present at depth in the basin. They formed on land and at sea to identify trapping structures and potential
review aerial photography and satellite imagery to find folds, faults and hydrocarbon indicators. By correlating seismic data with information from
seeps. From well logs, geologists can characterize the nature of subsurface wells, geophysicists can determine the depth of a prospective structure.
formations and correlate formations from one well to another, creating Petrophysicists analyze well log data to determine the volume and types of
sediments and fluids present and the ability of the rock to produce hydro-
Oilfield Review Summer 2011: 23, no. 2.
Copyright © 2011 Schlumberger.
carbons. Paleontologists examine
Oilfield Reviewfossils to assign ages and depositional
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Ian Bryant, Houston. environments to rock sequences.
Summer 11 Geochemists assess the potential of the
Exploration
source rock to generate Fig. 1
petroleum.
ORSUM11-EXPLRTN Fig. 1
www.slb.com/defining

Structure Map: Depth to Top of Formation Isopach Map: Reservoir Thickness Probability of Reservoir Presence
4,000 300 1.0

Thickness, m
Depth, m

Probability
5,000 A 150 0.5 A
A

6,000 0 0

B B B

C C C
D D D

0 km 20
0 miles 20

> Mapping the chance of success using a play-based exploration methodology. The top of the reservoir-quality sand (left) features four prospects (white
outlines) defined by structural highs on a depth map generated by contouring data from four wells (black dots) and five seismic lines (straight black lines).
The deepest closing contour defines the limit of each of the prospects. For each of these structurally defined traps, the probability of reservoir, charge and
seal must be established. For example, sand thickness is an indicator of reservoir presence. An isopach map, or thickness map, (middle) is generated by
contouring sand thicknesses taken from well logs and extended using a geologic conceptual model that assumes the sands were deposited along an
ancient shoreline. Where the sands are thin, there is a low probability of the reservoir being present; where they are thicker, there is a high probability.
This information is used to convert the thickness map to a chance of success map for reservoir presence (right) scaled in probability units (0 to 1). The
larger prospects A, B and C have a low probability that the reservoir is present (red); the smallest prospect D has the highest chance of success (green).
Geoscientists construct similar maps for each element of exploration risk then multiply them together to assess the overall risk for each of the prospects.

The results of these studies can be put into computer simulations called Some companies have new-venture teams that are always on the lookout
petroleum system models that determine potential accumulation locations, for new basins to explore. Exploration teams frequently begin investigating
volume and content, along with information that will be used to judge their an area once the host country announces an upcoming licensing round. A
chances of success. country offers acreage for lease to exploration companies in return for a fee,
Typically, exploration geologists focus on a particular region to develop royalties and an obligation to perform additional work, such as acquiring
a play, or collection of potential petroleum prospects with similar geology. seismic data or drilling wells. The company with the highest bid typically
They use the characteristics of previous discoveries to predict the occur- wins the right to explore that lease area. Before bidding, exploration teams
rence of similar but undiscovered accumulations. After collecting and inter- attempt to evaluate lease offerings using all available data. If the bid is suc-
preting the available data, geologists identify leads, or features of interest, cessful, the company commissions further data-collection campaigns. Then,
on which to focus additional data-collection and interpretation efforts. the exploration team integrates the new data with their previously gathered
Leads that have been investigated and found to be potential traps for hydro- information to design a drilling program to test the prospect.
carbons are designated as prospects. Oilfield Review An exploration well drilled in a new area is known as a wildcat. A well
Summer
Once the prospects in a region have been identified, exploration 11 that encounters significant amounts of petroleum is a discovery. If it does
experts
Exploration Fig. 2
rank them according to risk and reward. To optimize their assets, oil and gas not encounter commercial quantities of petroleum, it is a dry hole, which is
ORSUM11-EXPLRTN Fig. 2
exploration and production companies strive to maintain a balanced portfo- usually plugged and abandoned. Once a discovery has been made, appraisal
lio of projects with outcomes ranging from high risk, high reward to lower wells may be drilled to define the extent of the field.
risk and reward. E&P companies are continually testing new ideas in petroleum explora-
A key challenge is to understand the range of potential outcomes in a tion. Recently, prolific reservoirs have been discovered in deep ocean
prospect, since there are rarely sufficient data for a firm estimate of how basins, where water depths exceed 3,000 m [10,000 ft]. Oil and gas accumu-
much oil or gas might be in an undrilled structure. Geologists calculate a lations have been found beneath salt layers hundreds of meters thick.
range of volumes of hydrocarbon reserves by combining information on the Companies have also discovered they can tap into source rocks to produce
areal extent and thickness of prospective reservoir rock, the expected oil and gas before these fluids are expelled. The secrets to success in all
porosity of that rock and the types of hydrocarbon present in the trap these exploration endeavors are talented people and advanced technology.
(above). Detailed 3D seismic surveys can provide images of the subsurface
to improve these estimates, but only by drilling a well can an exploration
company confirm a structure’s content.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Formation Damage
Irene Færgestad
Editor

Formation damage is a condition most commonly caused by wellbore fluids

used during drilling, completion and workover operations. It impairs the
permeability of reservoir rocks, thereby reducing the natural productivity of
reservoirs. Formation damage can adversely affect both drilling operations
and production, which directly impacts economic viability. Although the
severity of formation damage may vary from one well to another, any reduc-
tion in recovery potential is unwanted. From the initial drilling operation
and completion of a well to reservoir depletion by production, the effects of
formation damage can negatively impact oil and gas recovery.
Although formation damage may affect only the near-wellbore region
of a well—reaching only a few centimeters from the rock face of the bore-
hole wall—it can also extend deep into the formation. The damage may be
caused by solids that migrate and block pores or by drilling fluids that
alter the properties of reservoir fluids. Reservoir engineers must be vigi-
lant about the potential for formation damage and they can mitigate the
impact of formation damage by understanding its mechanisms and how
various types of damage might impact production. Assessment, control
and remediation of formation damage are crucial to ensuring efficient use
of the world’s hydrocarbon resources.

Formation Damage Mechanisms

The four main categories of formation damage mechanisms—mechanical,
chemical, biological and thermal—can be divided into smaller categories.
Damage that induces a reduction in permeability as a result of direct,
nonchemical interaction between equipment or fluids and the formation is
referred to as mechanical damage. Examples include
• fines migration—perhaps the most common mechanism, which refers
to the movement of naturally existing, fine-grained quartz or clay par-
Figure 1. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph of kaolinite clay.
ticles in the pore system as a result of high fluid-shear-rates (Figure 1) The photograph shows the kaolinite aggregates filling a pore. Should these
• external solids entrainment—when particles from introduced fluids aggregates be allowed to disperse into single particles or platelets, their
enter and plug formation pores migration can cause formation damage.
• phase trapping and blocking—when wellbore fluids contact a forma-
tion and cause a reduction in water saturation
• glazing and mashing—when the drill bit or rotating drillstring dam- Chemical damage mechanisms are generally divided into adverse rock-
ages the formation at the face of the wellbore fluid interactions, adverse fluid-fluid interactions and near-wellbore wetta-
• perforation damage—when explosions caused by perforation gun bility alteration. A common chemical damage mechanism is clay swelling,
charges fracture rock grains into finer grains in which hydrophilic materials in the formation, such as reactive smectite
• proppant crushing and embedment—when increased stress on the and mixed layer clays, are hydrated and expand when interacting with fresh
rock and proppant during hydraulic fracturing leads to proppant or low-salinity water. This swelling can severely reduce permeability when
embedment into fracture faces and crushes the proppants, and this clay lines the pore throats of a formation. In formations where this potential
fines production impairs fracture performance. exists, engineers use high-salinity drilling fluids or add glycols and other
Fines migration occurs predominantly in clastic formations because they chemical inhibitors to keep reactive clays from becoming hydrated.
have a high content of transportable materials within the rock. Common fines Clay deflocculation, another common chemical damage mechanism,
migration remedial measures include reducing production rates, increasing results from rapid changes in pH or salinity. Clay particles can change from
the flow area by adding perforations or using openhole completions. Engineers a flocculated state—a condition in which clays, polymers or small charged
may also inject chemical stabilizers that adhere to the surface of fines and particles attach to one another to form a fragile structure—and then defloc-
reduce their mobility to mitigate the effects of fines migration. culate when the electrostatic forces holding the surfaces of individual clay
particles are disturbed. Deflocculation can be inhibited by avoiding cationic
Oilfield Review 2016.
and pH shocks.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
www.slb.com/defining

Formation dissolution occurs in formations containing components

that are soluble in water-base fluids. This condition may lead to a collapse
of the wellbore wall. If the operator uses oil-base fluids or highly inhibitive
water-base fluids, formation dissolution can be avoided.
Incompatibilities between introduced fluids and native fluids can lead
to the creation of emulsions and sludges that plug formation pores and
impair permeability. Introduced solids from drilling and completion fluids
may also be chemically incompatible with reservoir fluids.
Wettability alteration is another major formation damage concern.
Many common additives, such as corrosion inhibitors, can invade the
near-wellbore region and induce a change from water-wet to oil-wet con-
ditions. The formation’s permeability to water increases while oil perme-
ability is reduced. The result is an unwelcome increase in produced
formation water and a decrease in the oil/water ratio. Wettability condi-
tions are typically controlled by the addition of surfactants and solvents to
the drilling fluids.
Biological formation damage can occur when bacteria and nutrients
are introduced into the formation. Bacterial contamination is most associ-
ated with water injection operations, such as fracture stimulations, but may
also occur when drilling with water-base fluids. Biological damage mecha-
nisms can be divided into three main categories: plugging, corrosion and
Figure 2. Core samples. If the engineers do not have core samples from the
toxicity. Polymers secreted by bacteria may adsorb to the surface of pores in
formations, they typically use cores from Berea or Ohio sandstone.
the formation and eventually plug them. Some bacteria induce hydrogen-
reduction reactions that can cause corrosion, pitting and stress cracking of
downhole and surface equipment. Sulfate-reducing bacteria reduce sulfates Reductions or changes in well productivity can be identified through
in formation or injection water and create hydrogen sulfide [H2S] gas. well tests such as pressure transient analysis and productivity index mea-
Biocides or oxygen scavengers may be added to drilling and hydraulic frac- surements during flow. Laboratory tests can identify damage mechanisms
ture fluids to prevent bacterial damage. and aid in determining options for avoiding or removing the damage.
Thermal damage mechanisms occur in high-temperature operations, Drilling, completion and workover data help engineers devise laboratory
such as steam injection and in-situ combustion. Thermal degradation of oil tests to assess potential damage arising from fluid-to-fluid or fluid-to-
and rock compounds that contain sulfate, at temperatures above 200°C formation incompatibilities. For situations in which formation damage has
[390°F], may produce undesired byproducts, such as H2S and carbon diox- been detected and defined, laboratory tests are used to model the effective-
ide [CO2]. Elevated temperatures may also lead to mineral dissolution and ness of remedial treatments. Because some types of formation damage can
mineral transformation, in which minerals are catalyzed and transformed be difficult or impossible to reverse, avoidance may be the best approach.
from nonreactive clays to reactive products that can swell, merge and Specialized formation damage analyses can be performed on reservoir
reduce formation permeability. This problem is more common at tempera- rock samples after cores have been extracted from the formation
tures above 250°C [480°F]. (Figure 2). Formation damage specialists measure permeability changes
by testing cores before and after they have been exposed to drilling and
Indicators and Effects of Formation Damage completion fluids. The cores are tested at representative downhole tem-
If a well is producing at lower rates than expected, the source of the reduc- perature and pressure conditions to evaluate the formation damage poten-
tion must be determined before corrective measures can be attempted. If tial of a specific fluid. After testing, analysts inspect the cores and measure
production engineers determine that formation damage is responsible for fluid invasion. Data collected from these tests help engineers optimize
reduced productivity, several techniques can be used to verify the cause of fluid design and ascertain what measures can be taken to minimize the risk
the problem. Permeability impairment, skin damage and decrease of well of formation damage.
performance are all indicators of formation damage. Skin damage—a mea-
sureable reduction in permeability in the vicinity of the wellbore—can Importance of Minimizing Damage
occur for a variety of reasons, for example, incompatibility of the workover The ability to produce fluids from a reservoir is strongly affected by near-
fluid with the native formation fluids. The incompatibility leads to chemical wellbore permeability; hence formation damage may severely reduce
reactions and scale deposits precipitate, depending on fluid compositions productivity. Operators have studied damage mechanisms and developed
and wellbore pressure. Scale precipitation, or skin, reduces permeability methods to control or prevent them. By doing so, operators can plan and
near the wellbore and creates what is referred to as skin effect. If the skin is execute drilling, completion and production operations with optimal
not removed by remedial measures, such as acid stimulation and carbonate efficiency and economic viability. Methods and technologies to measure and
stimulation, it will reduce well productivity. quantify formation damage will continue to evolve; the ultimate operator
objectives are minimized damage and maximized productivity.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Gas Lift 15,000

Well 1
Well 2
Rick von Flatern
Senior Editor Well 3
10,000

Oil production, bbl/d

Well 4
Artificial lift systems are designed to help natural reservoir energy power Well 5
formation fluids to the surface at targeted rates. Gas lift systems aid or
increase production by injecting high-pressure gas from the casing annulus 5,000 Well 6
into fluids that have entered the production tubing from the formation. The Well 7
injected gas reduces the fluid density and, thus, the hydrostatic pressure of
the fluid, allowing in situ reservoir pressure to lift the lightened liquids. 0
The technical applicability and economic viability of gas lift installations 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5
Injection gas rate, MMcf/d
are determined by two factors: gas availability and compression costs. In the
majority of gas lift wells, nearby wells produce enough gas to supply the
Figure 1. Gas lift optimization. Every well in a field or network of wells has
system, and after the fluids have been lifted to the surface, the gas can be an optimal gas lift operating point (black diamonds) at which it will produce
separated from the liquids and returned to the casing annulus to maintain the most fluid. Using gas lift optimization software helps system designers
required gas volume and pressure. When circumstances permit, the indus- set an optimal injection gas rate for each well across the network of wells.
Rates are based on gas availability and formation fluid production potential.
try also uses natural, or auto, gas lift systems, which is highly cost effective
Optimal production for each well in a network therefore may be lower than
because it eliminates the need for compressors, pipelines or a separate its potential.
source of natural gas.
Gas Lift Valves
System Design Gas lift valves are the means by which operators adjust the rate of gas injec-
Engineers design gas lift systems by first calculating the production potential tion into the liquid column in the production tubing. Check valves within the
of each well in the network. Then, based on available gas pressure and volume, gas lift valves allow flow in only one direction—from the casing annulus into
they assign each well its optimum production rate and gas lift allocation. the production tubing. For maximum efficiency, gas lift valves are staged as
An ideal gas lift system is one in which gas is injected into the fluid col- deeply in the well as possible; setting depth is limited by available injection
umn at a continuous rate and at a constant pressure. This process ensures a pressure. Injection pressure–operated gas lift valves are designed to open
stable liquid flow rate from the reservoir and is possible only in fields in typically in reaction to a specified gas pressure in the casing annulus.
which sufficient volumes of high-pressure gas are available and liquids can Gas lift valves may also be placed at various depths between the bottom-
flow easily through the formation to the wellbore. most valve and the surface. These valves are used primarily at the start of
Engineers must also construct wells to accommodate the type of injec- production to reduce the density of the fluid that has risen above the pri-
tion system to be used. Gas may be injected into the fluid column through an mary point of gas injection at the deepest set valve. This process is referred
open system that has no seal between the tubing and casing annulus or uses to as well kickoff or well unloading. Typically, the operating valve is the
a standing valve in the tubing to isolate the casing annulus from the produc- bottommost valve.
tion tubing. However, the most common gas lift well configuration includes Production pressure–operated gas lift valves, placed at various depths
a packer and gas lift valves. in the well, may open in response to a preset level of pressure exerted by the
Designing a gas lift system that optimizes production is a complex chal- produced fluid column. They remain closed unless the well experiences an
lenge. Engineers must account for the interaction of all parts of the produc- increase in fluid in the tubing, at which point they open to assist in lifting
tion system; the potential, constraints and needs of each well must be the excess fluid from the well.
considered individually along with those of the network as a whole. Flowline Engineers set conventional gas lift valves in mandrels that are part of
and downhole tubular sizes and lengths, processing equipment, gas and the tubing string; such valves may be retrieved only by pulling the tubing
compressor availability, fluid composition and other factors impact gas lift string. Valves may also be placed in side pocket mandrels, which provide
efficiency and production. communication between the annulus and the production tubing and a lock-
Today, designers may address these complex calculations using optimi- ing mechanism to hold the valve in place. These valves may be set in and
zation software programs that model the production network (Figure 1). retrieved from the mandrels via slickline or coiled tubing tools (Figure 2).
These programs allow the engineer to optimize the system based on a field Seals on the valve are matched to a polished bore on the inner wall of
economic driver such as total liquid production, total gas produced or total the mandrel; the seal and the polished bore create an isolated pathway for
oil produced and to test the effects of various injection rates. the gas to flow through the valve and out into the production string. Gas
Because field and individual well conditions are constantly changing, exits the valve through an orifice that is sized to produce the desired gas
operators may mate computer optimizing capabilities to real-time data. They flow rate into the production tubing. To obtain the steady and constant fluid
can then adjust injection rates to match changing conditions and quickly flow rates that are essential to an optimized gas lift system, the gas must
identify and take steps to correct underperforming wells or gas lift systems. enter the production string at critical velocity.
Critical velocity is generally defined as the minimum gas velocity in the
Oilfield Review 2015. production tubing required to move fluid droplets upward. Below the criti-
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger. cal velocity, droplets fall, and liquids accumulate in the wellbore. In addi-
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Jason Jones, Tyler, Texas, USA, and tion, when the rate falls below critical flow, small changes in downstream
Eric Lovie, Singapore.
www.slb.com/defining

Intermittent flow gas lift periodically injects gas into the production string
A B C D to displace slugs of fluid. The high-pressure gas expands rapidly after entering
Slickline the tubing, which forces the fluid to the surface. In contrast to the steady flow
kickover tool
created by continuous flow gas lift, intermittent flow results in slug flow,
which may cause gas- and fluid-handling difficulties on the surface. In addi-
tion, the extreme pressure changes caused by the sudden injection of gas into
the production tubing creates pressure surges near the producing zone, which
may cause the onset of sand production in some formations.
Experts recommend the application of continuous flow gas lift for high-
volume wells that have high-static bottomhole pressures (BHPs) and offshore
wells that have strong waterdrive or for formations being produced via water-
Side pocket flood that have a high productivity index (PI) and high gas/oil ratios (GORs).
mandrel Intermittent flow gas lift systems are typically not recommended for wells
producing more than about 30 m3/d [200 bbl/d] or in wells that have high BHP
but low PI or low BHP and high PI. As a consequence, many intermittent flow
Gas lift systems are deployed in depleted wells that were first using continuous flow
valve
systems and on gas wells that have begun to produce water.
Auto gas lift systems, also referred to as natural or in situ gas lift, have
specific requirements and thus are used less commonly than traditional sys-
tems. Instead of using gas pumped down the casing annulus, these systems
are supplied by reservoir gas caps or noncontiguous gas-bearing formations.
Completion engineers design auto gas lift wells to include a completion design
across the gas cap or gas zone that allows gas to be flowed into the production
tubing. Operators control the gas flow rate with a specifically designed auto
gas lift valve that has a flow area that can be adjusted from the surface.
Operators may use an auto gas lift system in the same way they would a
more traditional continuous or intermittent system. But, because they elim-
inate certain equipment requirements, auto systems provide an advantage
in capital savings and reduce weight on offshore platforms by eliminating
the need for a compressor. Auto gas lift systems also allow the operator to
produce associated gas without recompleting the well. And, because orifice
openings in auto gas lift valves can be adjusted remotely, operators can con-
Figure 2. Setting and retrieving gas lift valves. Gas lift valves are run into the
well and set in side pocket mandrels using a slickline or coiled tubing tool trol gas injection rates to accommodate changes in formation liquids pro-
attached to a kickover tool. The kickover tool contains a spring mechanism, duction without an intervention.
which is locked into place while the valve is being run into the well. The
slickline or coiled tubing operator runs the tool past the side pocket mandrel (A) The Case for Gas Lift
and then reverses direction (B), which unlocks the spring. When the bottom
of the valve is pulled across the mandrel opening, the spring forces it into Gas lift systems offer several benefits not available in other artificial lift
the opening. The operator then reverses direction again and the valve is systems. Gas lift valves set in side pocket mandrels may be easily and inex-
lowered into the mandrel (C). The operator then pulls upward, which locks pensively removed and be replaced without a workover rig.
the valve in place and releases the setting tool from the valve (D). The Gas lift side pocket mandrels are situated such that the pockets contain-
operator can reverse the process to retrieve the valve using a gas lift valve
pulling tool attached to the kickover tool. ing the valves are offset from the centerline of the tubing, which keeps the gas
lift valves from the fluid flow and thus protects them from solids. Consequently,
pressures can cause large changes in flow rate that the system may inter- gas lift technology is a good option for hydraulically fractured wells or for wells
pret as a need for more gas, which may lead to oscillations in pressure and completed in unconsolidated formations that routinely produce sand. Gas lift
production rates. Above critical flow, the system cannot detect changes in systems are applicable in high-angle, low-productivity and high-GOR wells.
flow downstream of the valve thus will not respond to the situation by Intermittent gas lift systems can also operate efficiently in low-pressure,
increasing gas flow. low-productivity wells. As a consequence, to capture final production at the
end of a well’s life, operators may replace other artificial lift systems with
Gas Lift Variations gas lift systems until the bottomhole pressure becomes too low to lift the
Gas lift systems are either continuous or intermittent flow. The majority of target fluid volumes, at which point operators typically switch AL systems to
wells use continuous flow gas lift because it supplements in situ gas, which rod pump or electrical submersible pump systems.
results in a natural, steady flow of formation fluids to the surface. Continuous Gas lift is an important artificial lift technique. When a reliable source of gas
gas injection requires a reliable source of high-pressure gas throughout the is available, gas lift systems, whic are highly reliable, flexible and robust, can
life of the well. However, in many cases, in situ gas sources decline before operate for the life of the well. The ability to change valves allows operators to
the zone is fully drained, forcing operators to turn to an outside source to adapt to production changes over the life of the well. As a consequence, gas lift
maintain lift volume. is often the artificial lift method of choice for use in deepwater subsea wells in
which continuous operation in high-pressure, high–flow rate wells is critical.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Geomechanics
John Cook
Scientific Advisor

Geomechanics is the study of how soils and rocks deform, sometimes to fail-
ure, in response to changes of stress, pressure, temperature and other envi-
ronmental parameters. In the petroleum industry, geomechanics tends to
focus on rocks, but the distinction becomes blurred because unconsolidated
rocks can behave like soils.
Geomechanics is relatively young as a science and even younger in its
application to the petroleum industry. However, it applies to nearly all aspects Approximately 10 mm
of petroleum extraction from exploration to production to abandonment and
across all scales, from as small as the action of individual cutters on a poly-
crystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit through drilling wells and perforating
Figure 1. Cutting rock. The action of a PDC cutter plowing through
to as large as modeling fields and basins. Over the last 30 years, geomechanics sandstone (orange) is shown in a cross section that was imaged using
has come to play an increasingly important role in drilling, completion and microCT scanning. The location and direction of movement of the tungsten
production operations. This trend continues as operators pursue oil and gas carbide (gray) and diamond (black) cutter are shown schematically. The
section displays the deformation—crushing, disaggregation and brittle
production from shales, in which mechanical anisotropy—the variation of
cracking—induced by the cutter.
mechanical properties with orientation—plays a vital role.
At the wellbore scale, geomechanics is central to understanding how
drill bits remove rock, characterizing borehole stability, predicting the sta- bit, stabilizers or mud flow. These failures can lead to stuck pipe, lost cir-
bility of perforation tunnels and designing and monitoring hydraulic frac- culation and other drilling problems but can also be a valuable source of
turing stimulation programs. At the reservoir scale, geomechanics helps information about stress magnitudes and orientations.
model fluid movement and predict how fluid removal or injection leads to By computing the stress changes around a planned borehole and com-
changes in permeability, fluid pressure and in situ rock stresses that can paring them to the strength of the rock, engineers can generate a mud
have significant effects on reservoir performance. Engineers use geome- weight program for the well. Typically, the mud weight must be high enough
chanical modeling to predict and quantify these effects for life-of-reservoir to suppress shear failure and fluid influx and low enough to avoid tensile
decisions such as placing and completing new wells, enhancing and sustain- failure and lost circulation. Although the mathematical techniques for cal-
ing production, minimizing risk and making new investments. culating the stresses and the failure criteria are established and routine,
Choosing the correct bit type and design for optimal rate of penetration the links between rock failure and drilling problems are not so well estab-
and bit life is vital for drilling cost-effective wells. The geomechanics of rock lished. Furthermore, some additional failure modes, such as bedding plane
destruction under the drill bit is complex because of high strain rates and failure, cannot yet be reliably predicted (Figure 2). Consequently, effective
temperatures, multiple deformation mechanisms and interactions between wellbore stability control, especially along challenging well trajectories,
the bit, drilling fluid and formation. Many ad hoc approaches to understand- needs real-time monitoring of wellbore conditions as well as predrill predic-
ing and improving drillbit performance have been taken, and interpretation tion of the required mud pressure program.
methods such as mechanical specific energy—the energy used to remove a A challenge for geomechanics modeling and prediction is the availability of
unit volume of rock—have been used since the 1960s to relate drilling per- input data—primarily rock strength and in situ stresses. Rock strength is eas-
formance to rock strength. Recent advances in research methods related to ily measured on core samples in the laboratory, but the process is time-con-
geomechanics are starting to reveal in more detail the factors, such as the suming and costly, and the results usually help with future wells rather than
balance between crushing, disaggregation and brittle cracking or chipping, the current one. Consequently, considerable effort is spent deriving rock
that control the loads on the cutter, its wear behavior and the nature of the strength values from wireline, LWD and sonic data. The trade-off is less accu-
rock debris (Figure 1). racy but higher spatial coverage along the well than is available from core data.
Geomechanics also plays a major role in understanding the stability These data are interpolated or extrapolated to cover sections of interest
and integrity of the borehole while drilling. The presence of the wellbore in new wells or are used to improve predictions for the current well. The
and the pressure of the drilling fluid induce changes in the stress state or same data may also be used in geologic burial history models for construct-
in the rock. As a result, the rock around the borehole may fail if the redis- ing vertical profiles of the in situ stresses, which then are compared with
tributed stresses are greater than the rock strength. Tensile cracking and calibrated to discrete stress measurements in a well. More recently,
occurs if the mud pressure becomes too high and causes the borehole wall advanced sonic tools have allowed estimation of rock strength and some
to go into tension. Breakouts, which occur if the mud pressure becomes too components of the in situ stress for input into geomechanics models.
low, are regions of enlargement on opposing sides of a borehole, where Events such as induced seismicity in the 1970s at the Rangely field,
shear cracking has occurred and the broken rock has been removed by the Colorado, USA, and compaction and subsidence in the 1980s at the Ekofisk
field, North Sea, offshore Norway, helped engineers realize the role of
Oilfield Review 2015. geomechanics at the reservoir scale. Examining geomechanical changes on
Copyright © 2015 Schlumberger.
this scale is routine now, thanks to the development of finite element analysis
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programs that have been optimized for geologic structures and rock mechani-
cal behavior (Figure 3). Populating these models with rock data can be a chal-
lenge, but since the computation grid is coarse, it can be done using seismic
data. Once the model is populated, the mechanical response of the reservoir
and overburden can be estimated for a variety of operations—including pro-
duction, injection and fracturing. The model can be calibrated or refined with
repeat, time-lapse seismic surveys and the addition of data as new wells are
drilled. Operators can use this type of information to estimate the injection
pressure used in fracture stimulations that risk a breach in a reservoir seal, or
they can predict the fracture gradient after a period of production, allowing
safe and effective drilling of infill wells.
Reservoir stimulation by fracturing, one of the first applications in the
oil field to use geomechanics methods, is still a major development area.
Exploitation of shale reservoirs has caused a surge of interest in the
mechanical anisotropy of rock, which was not widely appreciated until
about 2000. To make improved predictions of fracture geometry and growth,
models for stress and strength and interpretations of sonic and resistivity
measurements must be modified to account for anisotropy. Advances in
sonic logging tools and interpretation have made this possible.
One feature common to all of these areas is the mechanical earth model
Figure 3. Coupled simulation. A geomechanics model of a reservoir
(MEM), which is a collection of the data needed to make quantitative and (background) is shown with the seismic dataset (left) used to build it. Data
qualitative predictions of the subsurface geomechanical environment. for refinement of the model were acquired from several wells (colored
These data include the stresses in the Earth, pore pressure, rock elastic lines), which were used to model changes over time from events such as
depletion. Several faults (colored planes) and the top of the reservoir unit of
properties, strength and fabric and nonnumerical data such as the presence interest (brown surface) are shown. The edges are the model boundaries or
of intense natural fracturing. An MEM can be simple or complex, be large or are reservoir discontinuities caused by faults. Geomechanics models may
be coupled with reservoir simulation models to predict how production will
affect reservoir performance, well integrity or caprock integrity.

small and be 1D, 2D, 3D or 4D—three spatial dimensions plus time—

according to the complexity of the field and phenomena of interest. The
most important defining feature of an MEM is that its data are related to the
rocks that are being drilled, fractured or otherwise affected by field opera-
tions, rather than a particular well or set of wells. A second feature is that it
is designed to be updated as new data become available from ongoing opera-
tions. Data sources for an MEM include any that give information on stress
10 mm and mechanical behavior; such sources include wireline and LWD logs,
cores, cavings and cuttings, regional geology and all types of seismicity.
Ongoing challenges for geomechanics include improvements to:
• sources of data for predicting in situ stress and rock properties
• the use of anisotropic information for predicting deformation during
exploitation of unconventional resources
• the treatment of fault and fracture displacements within numerical models.
In addition, to help improve the application of geomechanics to various sec-
tors in the industry, engineers must have a better understanding of the rela-
tionships between rock failure and operational failure for wellbore
Bed instability and sand production.
ding
plan
e or Geomechanics in the oil field has come a long way from its early days
ient
atio
n as an adjunct to sonic logging. It is recognized as an important part of
nearly all aspects of petroleum extraction and has been crucial in improv-
ing efficiency and driving down costs. The application of geomechanics in
Figure 2. Unpredictable wellbore failure. A laboratory model shows bedding new reservoir types and mature ones and its integration into operators’
plane failure in a hole drilled parallel to bedding in a fissile shale. The stress workflows, along with the introduction of new measurements and tech-
applied to the sample is the same in all directions, in spite of the directionality niques, will ensure its continuing role in the industry. From here, its oper-
of the failure. This geometry is similar to the geometry of failures observed
ational impact will only grow. The application of geomechanics for
in the roofs of mines in fissile rocks, although the driving force in mines is
gravity rather than in situ stress. The borehole pressure needed to prevent revitalizing mature fields is imperative and will affect activities such as
this type of rock failure cannot currently be reliably estimated. infill drilling, compaction mitigation and refracturing.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Geophysics Unifying Characteristics

The challenges usually encountered in geophysics are posed in the form of
Richard Coates an inverse problem, such that a set of measurements and known physical
Research Manager and Scientific Advisor laws will permit a geophysicist to determine the Earth’s structure and char-
acteristics that are consistent with those measurements. In geophysics, the
answers are almost always nonunique, meaning there is more than one pos-
Geophysics is the study of the physics of the Earth, the propagation of elas- sible solution that satisfies the measurements. Geophysicists attempt to
tic waves within it as well as its electrical, gravitational and magnetic fields. resolve this ambiguity by integrating complementary data acquired from
Although the origins of geophysics can be traced to ancient times, it was not dissimilar methods or by adding supplemental knowledge such as wellbore
until the early 20th century that scientists began applying geophysical con- measurements to determine which solution is correct.
cepts and techniques to the search for hydrocarbons and minerals and to In addition to nonuniqueness, all geophysical methods exhibit a
evaluate geothermal energy resources. Now, geophysics plays a critical role decrease in the resolving power with distance from the measuring equip-
in the petroleum industry because geophysical data are used by exploration ment. This concept is analogous to the difficulty of distinguishing objects
and development personnel to make predictions about the presence, nature by sight at increasing distances. The characteristic is more pronounced
and size of subsurface hydrocarbon accumulations. for some measurement methods than for others, but the result is that the
deeper the subterranean structures, the less precise are the images of
such structures.
Seismic vessel

Airgun array Sea surface Seismic Surveying

Streamer with hydrophone sensor arrays, 6 to 12 m deep
In the oil field, the dominant geophysical data acquisition method is the
seismic survey, whose history dates from the early 1920s. Seismic surveying
employs a source—typically an airgun or a vibrating truck—to generate
vibrations, or seismic waves, that propagate into the Earth. The seismic
waves are refracted and reflected by subterranean strata and structures
(Figure 1). Some of the energy returns to the surface, where it is recorded
Seabed
by sensors such as hydrophones or geophones. The distances between
Sedimentary layers
source and sensor can exceed 15 km [9.3 mi].
Geophysicists process the survey data to form an image and to estimate
the physical characteristics of the subsurface. This requires two steps:
develop a 3D velocity dataset, or volume, to produce a smooth estimate of
the spatially varying velocity with which the seismic waves propagate in the
Earth—a process called tomography—then, with the help of this velocity
dataset, locate the subsurface layers from which the seismic waves were
reflected, a process called migration.
The resulting 3D representation of the Earth is called a structural
image, or volume. The reflecting surfaces are interpreted as the interfaces
between rock layers, some of which may have been folded, cracked, faulted
or eroded over geologic time. It can be sliced vertically to obtain a cross
section or horizontally to map the depths of the rock layers beneath the
survey area. The operator can use these interpretations to help determine
suitable drilling targets. Modern seismic surveys routinely produce detailed
3D images of these reflecting surfaces to depths of 10 km [6 mi].
Additional information about the characteristics of the rocks can be
Figure 1. Marine seismic acquisition. An airgun array (top) produces pulses extracted from seismic data. For example, by studying the size, or ampli-
of seismic energy (green) that penetrate the subsurface and are reflected tude, of the reflections and how the amplitude changes with the angle at
back (red) from the seabed and interfaces between rock layers. These
reflections are detected by hydrophone arrays towed behind the seismic
which the seismic waves hit the reflectors, geophysicists may be able to
vessel. Geophysicists invert the recorded data to construct a 3D image of determine whether the pores within the rocks contain gas, oil or water. This
the subterranean layers. Modern seismic acquisition methods (bottom) step, known as amplitude versus offset (AVO), often has a higher level of
illuminate 3D swaths of the Earth from a variety of angles. In one common uncertainty than does structural imaging.
geometry, four ships cruise in line abreast approximately 1.2 km [0.75 mi]
apart. Each ship tows an airgun source array (red rectangles) a short Although most seismic work uses active sources designed to create seis-
distance behind. The outermost ships also tow streamers (black lines) mic waves, the detection of weak seismic waves generated during hydraulic
typically 10 km [6 mi] in length, which record the reflections from below the fracturing is of increasing interest. These faint signals are used to deter-
seabed and within a rock volume (tan) beneath and between the two sets mine the locations of microseismic events, which can indicate the position
of streamers.
and extent of the hydraulic fractures.
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Electromagnetic Methods
To reduce the interpretational uncertainty remaining after seismic survey- Air (resistive) Natural-source
magnetotelluric fields
ing, geophysicists can choose from several techniques. The most common
are electromagnetic (EM) methods, which leverage the fact that some
important subterranean formations have strong EM signatures. For exam- CSEM transmitter Seawater (conductive)

ple, rocks saturated with hydrocarbons often have much higher electrical
resistivity than those containing water and is the basis of wireline resistivity
Electric and magnetic field recorders
logging. Salt deposits have both a high seismic velocity and a high electrical
Oil and gas (resistive) Seafloor
resistivity. Their high velocity makes seismic imaging beneath them prob- (variable conductivity) Salt, carbonates
lematic, but their high electrical resistivity makes them easy to detect using and volcanics
(resistive)
EM surveys.
Geophysicists have two distinct methods for acquiring information
about the electrical characteristics of rocks at depth. They can use either a
high-powered EM source or fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field Distance
induced by the solar wind as a natural EM source. In both cases, the
response of the Earth is detected via an array of receivers deployed on, or
10
near, the surface. The first technique is called controlled-source EM

Resistivity, ohm.m
(CSEM) and was developed in the 1980s. It is most commonly used in
marine settings, where anthropogenic noise, for example, radio signals or
power line noise, is less problematic than on land. The second EM tech-
1

Depth
nique, magnetotellurics (MT), was introduced in the 1950s. Some modern
systems can acquire CSEM as well as MT data when the controlled source is
not active (Figure 2).
Because of the frequency of the EM signal and the acquisition geometry,
MT surveys are best suited for basin-scale studies, while CSEM surveys are Joint imaging base salt 1 km
more appropriate for detailed reservoir-scale targets and high-resistivity
Seismic base salt 1 km
anomalies. Consequently, the CSEM method is typically used to investigate
potential hydrocarbon reservoirs previously suggested by seismic images.
Figure 2. Marine magnetotellurics (MT) and controlled-source EM (CSEM)
acquisition. For marine MT studies (top), electric and magnetic recorders on
Magnetic Surveying the seafloor make time series measurements of the Earth’s varying magnetic
Magnetic surveying is another type of subsurface prospecting. Unlike EM field and the induced electric field, which can be interpreted to infer deep
methods, which rely on fields that fluctuate rapidly in time, magnetic survey- geologic structures. Towing a CSEM transmitter, which has receivers behind
it, close to the seafloor allows geophysicists to map shallow structures,
ing depends on the permanent magnetic properties of rocks, whose strength including thin, resistive features such as hydrocarbon reservoirs. Joint
and orientation are fixed at the time of their deposition and may be in con- evaluation of multiple geophysical measurements (bottom) enables
trast with those of the surrounding rock. Measuring these subtle anomalies geophysicists to obtain a consistent interpretation of the base of salt. The
can help geophysicists map subsurface formations over large areas. best interpretation based solely on seismic data showed a thick section of
salt to the right of middle, whose base is indicated by the white line. Adding
The advantage of magnetic surveying is that data can be collected from MT resistivity data (colors) provides significant new information. Combining
aircraft or satellites as well as from land or by ship. Consequently, magnetic seismic and MT data improves the previous interpretations of the base of salt
surveys can inexpensively cover large geographic areas as well as sites that and gives interpreters greater confidence in their result (yellow dashed line).
are otherwise difficult to access. Because the strongest anomalies are pro-
duced by volcanic or metamorphic formations, magnetic surveys are widely frequently acquired using aircraft and satellites; taking measurements by
used for mineral exploration. ship is also common.

Gravimetry Surveying Variations and Value

Gravity measurements have been applied in the oil field since the 1920s. Geophysical methods are applied in various ways. For example, seismic
The technique is based on recording spatial variations in the Earth’s gravi- receivers are sometimes deployed in boreholes to generate detailed images
tational field, caused by differences in the density of rocks below the survey of small portions of the Earth. In addition, certain niche techniques, such
location. The size of these variations is typically less than 1/100,000th of as the hyperspectral imaging, spontaneous potential and electrokinetic—
Earth’s gravitational field’s nominal value of about 9.81 m/s2 [32.2 ft/s2]. seismoelectric and electroseismic—methods, are available but are not
Detecting such small variations requires extremely sensitive instru- widely used. Of all geophysical techniques, seismic surveying is by far the
ments and the application of multiple corrections. For example, the most widespread. Because of this dominance, “seismics” and “geophysics”
Bouguer correction accounts for variations in gravity caused by local are often used interchangeably in the oil industry, although for purists, this
topography and corrects for the influence of latitude and measurement is wrong. Nevertheless, the integrated use of complementary geophysical
altitude that might otherwise mask the signal. Because the low density of methods provides critical information about the subsurface. This informa-
salt generates a large gravity anomaly, the most common oilfield applica- tion is used by exploration and development personnel to make decisions
tion of gravity surveying is to help delineate salt domes. Gravity data are about where and how to drill.

Oilfield Review
 THE DEFINING SERIES

Heavy Oil
Irene M. Færgestad
Editor

Heavy oil is an abundant energy source; however, it is more expensive to Heavy Oil, 10 to 22.3 degree API Brent Oil, 38 degree API
produce than is light, or conventional, oil. Most heavy oils are not recover-
able in their natural form or through conventional production methods. In
addition, because it is more expensive to refine, processors pay producers
less for heavy oil than they pay for crude oil producible via conventional
recovery methods. In recent years, however, increasing worldwide energy
demands and technology innovations have made heavy oil a viable resource.
Heavy oil is a crude oil that has a viscosity typically greater than 0.01 Pa.s
[10 cP] and a high specific gravity. The World Petroleum Congress classifies
heavy oils as crude oils that have a gravity below 22.3 degree API. Other
characteristics include low hydrogen-to-carbon ratios and high asphaltene,
sulfur, nitrogen and heavy-metal content as well as high acidity. By compari-
son, extraheavy oils and bitumen have gravities of less than 10 degree API
while condensates have a gravity of about 70 degree API (Figure 1).
Light products Products for upgrading Heavy fractions

Origin of Heavy Oil Figure 1. Heavy oil components versus conventional oil components. Heavy
oil (left ) contains a higher percentage of low-gravity, high-viscosity fractions
Heavy oils originate as conventional oils that migrate upward to shallower
than does conventional oil (right ) and therefore needs more upgrading, by
traps, where they subsequently degrade to heavy oil. The majority of the fractionation or chemical treatment, before refining operations to convert it
world’s heavy oil resources are in enormous shallow deposits at the flanks of to light products. Simple upgrading is conducted to reduce the viscosity of
foreland basins. Foreland basins are extensive depressions formed by down- the heavy oil while more elaborate upgrading processes can produce a
crude oil substitute of high quality.
warping of the Earth’s crust during the creation of mountains. Marine sedi-
ments in the basins become source rock for hydrocarbons that migrate
updip into sediments eroded from young mountain chains (Figure 2). The Over geologic time scales, microorganisms metabolize lighter hydrocar-
shallow, cool sediments often lack effective sealing caprocks, thus creating bons and produce methane and enriched heavy hydrocarbons. This in situ
conditions that are suitable for severe degradation of hydrocarbons. biodegradation increases oil density, acidity, viscosity and sulfur content.
Because optimal conditions for microbial degradation occur in reservoirs at
temperatures lower than 80°C [180°F], the process is restricted to depths
of around 1.5 to 2 km [1 to 1.25 mi] or less. Other processes, such as prefer-
Western Canada Sedimentary Basin ential migration of lighter hydrocarbons, water washing or evaporation, can
3,000 Oil sands also degrade the oil.
and heavy oil
2,000 deposits Heavy oil has been found in geologically young Pleistocene, Pliocene and
1,000 No oil Oil Miocene formations and in older Cretaceous, Mississippian and Devonian
or gas Oil
Elevation, m

Sea 0 and gas and gas formations. More than 35% of the world’s heavy oil resources are located in
level
–1,000 Oil Venezuela and Canada, followed by the Middle East, US and Russia.
and gas
–2,000 Together, heavy oil, extraheavy oil, oil sands and bitumen account for about
–3,000 No oil or gas 70% of the world’s total oil resources; heavy oil alone accounts for 15%
–4,000 (Figure 3). Heavy oil reservoirs differ from one another, and the methods of
British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan recovery may vary considerably from one reservoir to another.
Younger clastic sediments (sandstones and shales)
Oilfield Review
Older carbonate sediments (limestones and dolomites) Methods of Recovery September 15
Ancient crystalline rocks (granites) The high viscosity and Heavy
densityOil
of heavy
Fig. 1 oil renders conventional production
Figure 2. Deposits of heavy oil in Western Canada. When the mountains of methods inefficient or ORSept15-HeavOil Fig. 1 the viscosity of heavy oil is
even impossible. Because
British Columbia were thrust up, the bending of the Earth’s crust created the highly temperature dependent, the production of heavy oil is divided into
foreland basins of Alberta in front of the mountain range. Marine sediments hot and cold methods. When heated, heavy oil becomes less viscous and can
(purple) became source rock for hydrocarbons (dark brown) that migrated be flowed from a well. Cold production, in which heating is not necessary, is
updip (dark brown arrows) into eroded mountain sediments (orange).
Microbes in these fairly cool sediments biodegraded the oil, whereby only applicable when heavy oil viscosity at reservoir conditions is low
heavy oil and bitumen were formed. enough for oil to flow on its own at economically viable rates.
Mining is one of several heavy oil recovery methods. In this open-pit
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to David Hin-Sum Law, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. method, the operator excavates thick, near-surface oil sand deposits and
Oilfield Review 2016.
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www.slb.com/defining

Total World Oil Resources Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam flooding are the most com-
mon thermal heavy oil recovery processes. Cyclic steam stimulation is a
single-well method that is applied in stages. This steam soak method is initi-
Conventional oil
30% Heavy oil ated by injecting steam into a well. During the steam soaking, the oil is
15% heated to reduce its viscosity and enable production. The oil and water are
brought to the surface and separated, and the process is repeated. Steam
flooding is a multiwell method, in which steam is injected continuously into
Extraheavy oil
Oil sands and bitumen 25% one or more wells and oil is driven to production wells. For steam flooding,
30%
wells are usually placed in regular patterns. The CSS and steam flooding
methods are used worldwide and yield high initial production rates and
recovery factors that can reach around 30%.
In recent years, operators in Canada have tested the vapor extraction
Figure 3. Total world oil resources. Heavy oil and extraheavy oil make up (VAPEX) method. The method is efficient because it can significantly
about 40% of the world’s current total oil resources of 1.4 to 2.1 trillion m3 decrease oil viscosity through solvent dissolution. Solvent vapor, which is
[9 to 13 trillion bbl]. injected into the reservoir, expands and dilutes the heavy oil by contact. The
VAPEX method employs a pair of vertically stacked, parallel horizontal
injection-production wells, and the process uses a combination of vaporized
transports them to a processing facility, where oil and sand are separated by solvent—propane or butane or a mixture—and a commercially available
a hot water process. Most heavy oil mining occurs in Canada, where surface noncondensable gas such as methane. Engineers inject the gaseous solvent
access, volumes produced and market prices favor the economic viability of mixture into the upper well, enabling the creation of a vapor chamber
this method. This method has a high recovery rate, but its associated carbon around the wellbore from which diluted heavy oil drains by gravity to the
dioxide emission and environmental damage rates have stirred concern lower well. Vapor extraction represents an energy efficient alternative for
from both the public and the scientific community. heavy oil recovery in fields and reservoirs for which thermal methods may
In reservoirs of the enormous Venezuela Orinoco heavy oil belt and some be unsuited or not economic.
of the reservoirs offshore Brazil, heavy oil is sometimes produced by primary Thermal recovery methods heat the reservoir and provide generally
cold production. Using this method, oil is extracted from the reservoir; the oil higher recovery factors than do cold methods but at a higher cost. The
is then allowed to flow into the wells under natural reservoir conditions. steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) method is used mainly in reser-
Primary cold production recovery factors in the Venezuelan oil sands are voirs containing extraheavy oil and bitumen. As in the VAPEX method, the
around 8% to 12% of total oil in place. In primary cold production, operators SAGD process uses pairs of parallel horizontal wellbores drilled in the same
optimize production by drilling horizontal and multilateral wells to reach as vertical plane. Steam is injected into the upper wellbore and forced out into
much of the reservoir as possible. Operators may also decrease crude viscosity the surrounding formation to form a steam-affected volume called a steam
by adding diluents or deploying artificial lift technology, primarily electrical chamber. The steam expands upward and laterally, heating the oil in situ to
submersible and progressing cavity pumps to force the hydrocarbons to the lower its viscosity, especially at the steam-oil front. The oil can be heated to
surface. Primary cold production comes at relatively low cost, but recovery above 200°C [400°F], reducing the viscosity to around 0.01 Pa.s, which
factors are also low. enables fluid mobilization. Gravity causes the mobilized oil and condensed
Cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) is a method applied to steam mixture to flow down to the lower wellbore, from which it is pumped
primary production; Canada is the only country that uses CHOPS widely. to the surface. Initial communication between the upper and lower well is
Used in unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs containing viscous heavy oil, established by steam circulation in both wells. The SAGD method is used in
CHOPS is inexpensive to implement but recovers only 5% to 10% of the many fields in Canada because much of Western Canada’s heavy oil is too
reserves in place. When CHOPS is used, production has an initial sand influx deep to mine; the estimated recovery factor for this method is 50% to 70%. It
of 10% to 40% of the volume of produced liquids and solids. The sand cut is, however, a capital-intensive production method; steam generation is
Oilfield Review
decreases with time to September
a constant 0.5%
15 to 10%, depending on oil viscosity. costly and makes up the majority of the operating expenses. In some cases,
Sand movement, aidedHeavy by gasOil exsolution
Fig. 3 from the depressurized oil, formation layering can include horizontal barriers that impede steam from
increases fluid mobilityORSept15-HeavOil
and forms channels, Fig.or3wormholes, in the forma- contacting the oil within the steam chamber, thereby reducing recovery.
tion, which increases the size of the high permeability zone around the well. Fireflooding, or in situ combustion, is the movement of a burning front
Gas production from CHOPS is substantial because of trapped gas in the inside the reservoir; this method, which has been used for more than
viscous heavy oil; the gas/oil ratio generally stays constant over several 90 years, mobilizes high viscosity oils from heat provided by combustion.
years. Oil production reaches its maximum rate within months of first pro- Toe-to-heel air injection (THAI) is an in situ gravity-controlled combustion
duction and then declines as reservoir depletion effects become dominant. process that uses air injection to fuel combustion to crack, upgrade and
The CHOPS method typically requires an artificial lift system to bring the oil mobilize heavy oil.
and sand to the surface, where the two are separated by gravity. The sand Heavy oil reservoirs constitute a large percentage of the world’s oil
contaminated with hydrocarbons must be disposed of, which is considered reserves, and the recovery of these reserves may be crucial in satisfying the
a drawback of the method; much of the contaminated sand is stored in steadily increasing global appetite for energy. Looking ahead, the focus lies
underground salt caverns. on optimizing available recovery techniques such as SAGD and THAI while
also broadening the search for alternative methods. The reserves are there;
now the industry must learn to exploit them economically and safely.

Oilfield Review
 THE DEFINING SERIES

HPHT Wells
Tony Smithson
Senior Editor

Introduction 0

The designation of high-pressure, high-temperature is given to wells that pres-

ent extreme conditions to operators and service companies. The term HPHT 5,000
may be applied to wells that have only high pressure or high temperature—
few wells have both characteristics—but regardless of the designation, HPHT
wells offer specific challenges that must be addressed if operations are to be 10,000
pre Li
successful. These challenges include all aspects of well construction and pro- ss tho

Hy
ure sta

dro
duction, and they require operators and service companies to take approaches gra tic

sta
die

t
15,000

ic
that can be significantly different from those used in non-HPHT wells. These nt

pre
Depth, ft

ss
approaches depend on the levels of pressures and temperatures encountered.

ure
gra
After the anticipated pressures and temperatures are determined, guidelines Overpressured

die
20,000

nt
and operational programs can be formulated to drill, evaluate, complete and
safely produce hydrocarbons. Pore pressure
An oil industry study estimated that of the more than 100,000 wells drilled 25,000

worldwide in 2012, about 1.5% should be classified as HPHT. Although relatively

small in number, these wells often represent significant resource potential and
30,000
are often located in areas where exploration in new horizons is ongoing. Underpressured

Classification System 35,000

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000
Over the years and across companies, definitions of HPHT have varied. In
Pressure, psi
2012, the American Petroleum Institute (API) attempted to harmonize
Figure 2. Pressure gradients. The hydrostatic pressure gradient (black line),
accepted terminology and classifications by publishing guidelines for equip- assuming seawater, is 0.43 psi/ft [9.79 kPa/m]; it follows a straight line. The
ment used in HPHT operations. The API Technical Report 1PER15K-1 lithostatic pressure gradient (dashed black line) represents the actual
Protocol for Verification and Validation of High-Pressure High-Temperature downhole pore pressure and is a product of fluid, overburden and abnormal
Equipment defines a high-pressure well as having pressure greater than pressures; it can change across geologic features such as faults and
depleted reservoir zones. Underpressured reservoirs (blue) have pressure
15,000 psi [103 MPa]; a well that has temperatures above 350°F [177°C] is below the hydrostatic gradient; overpressured conditions (pink) have
considered high temperature. The API operating standards relate to design pressures above the hydrostatic gradient.
specifications for equipment, acceptable materials to be used in HPHT

600 operations and the testing of well control and completion hardware to
HPHT-hc
260°C ensure safety, suitability and integrity. According to the API publication,
500
Ultra-HPHT three additional criteria qualify a well for HPHT classification:
Static reservoir temperature, °F

205°C • anticipated surface conditions that dictate completion and well con-
400
HPHT trol equipment rated above 15,000 psi
150°C • anticipated shut-in surface pressure in excess of 15,000 psi
300
• flowing temperature at the surface in excess of 350°F.
Schlumberger further defines and classifies HPHT specifications based
200
on a system that takes into account thermal stability of design components
(such as elastomeric seals), suitability of electronics and pressure ratings
138 MPa

241 MPa

100
69 MPa

of hardware (Figure 1).

0
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 Pressure Challenges
Oilfield Review
Static reservoir pressure, psi DECEMBER 15
Drillers are usually the first HPHT
to contend
Fig 2with downhole pressure, specifically
Figure 1. Schlumberger HPHT classification system. This classification pore pressure—the pressure ORDEC 15 HPHT
of fluids within2the pores of reservoir rocks.
system is based on pressure and temperature boundaries that reflect Pore pressure increases as depth increases because formations must sup-
stability limits of common components used by Schlumberger, which include
electronics, hardware and sealing elements. The HPHT-hc classification port the overburden above them (Figure 2). Pore pressure follows a pres-
defines environments unlikely to be seen in oil and gas wells, although sure gradient—the rate of increase in pore pressure versus depth that can
geothermal wells may exceed 500°F and some deepwater wells have change rapidly across geologic features. To prevent formation fluids from
downhole pressures that exceed 35,000 psi.
entering a wellbore while drilling, engineers use weighted drilling fluid. The
hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore created by the drilling fluid counter-
Oilfield Review 2016.
acts the formation pore pressures and prevents fluid influx. Consequently,
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger.
drillers must predict the pore pressure before drilling into a formation.
 www.slb.com/defining

Temperature, °C working with the equipment exists. To manage this risk and allow wellsite
50 75 100 125 150 175 operations to be performed safely, engineers use equipment that is designed
0
to function above the anticipated maximum pressure. The maximum pres-
Earth gradient, 1 sure of the full system depends on the lowest rated component in the full
1.4°F/100 ft
5 containment string. To ensure that properly rated equipment is used, opera-
2 tors must know the maximum pressure potential in advance.
Geothermal Pressure control requirements directly affect choices of equipment
gradient
0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6°F/100 ft
3 engineering and design. Pressure equipment is rated for maximum antici-
10
pated pressure, and these ratings determine material selection and thick-
ness, elastomer configuration, sealing mechanisms and pressure control

Depth, 1,000 m
Depth, 1,000 ft

4
1.09 1.46 1.82 2.19 2.55 2.92°C/100 m components. To ensure operations can be performed safely, the equipment
15
5
is function tested above the maximum anticipated pressure prior to its use.

Temperature Challenges
20 6
The Earth’s geothermal gradient averages about 1.4°F/100 ft [2.55°C/100 m].
At this average gradient, the 350°F threshold would require a well depth in
7
excess of 19,700 ft [6,000 m] (Figure 3). Downhole temperatures, however, are
25
often affected by natural conditions or external influences. Proximity to local-
8
ized geothermal hotspots can quickly raise downhole temperatures encoun-
tered while drilling. At very shallow depths, steam injection used to help
30 9
100 150 200 250 300 350 produce heavy oil can greatly increase downhole temperatures. Wells drilled
Temperature, °F in deep and ultradeep waters often have geothermal gradients that are lower
than that of the Earth’s average. Consequently, deepwater wells often have
Figure 3. Earth’s geothermal gradient. To reach the HPHT threshold of 350°F
(vertical green line) and Earth’s average geothermal gradient of 1.4°F/100 ft high pressure and temperatures that are below the HT threshold.
(red line), a well would have a depth of almost 20,000 ft [6,100 m] (horizontal High-temperature mitigation techniques depend on the operation type
green line). The thermal gradient will vary based on subsurface conditions as well as the equipment. Wireline and LWD tools use electronics designed
and is not usually linear as shown.
for high-temperature environments. Temperature barriers such as Dewar
flasks can be placed around the tool, although time constraints limit the
In determining a “normal” downhole pore pressure, engineers often type of operations that can be performed using flasked tools. Temperature-
compute pressure using a hydrostatic gradient based on the weight of sea- resistant elastomers are used for sealing elements in tools.
water. Such a well would require a depth of more than 10,700 m [35,000 ft] Tools used for LWD operations generally have lower temperature ratings
to reach the 15,000 psi HPHT threshold. However, because of geologic fea- than those available for wireline operations. Because drilling fluids are con-
tures and variable overburden forces, a higher hydrostatic pressure than tinuously circulated through the BHA, the tools are usually exposed to lower
that which the normal pressure gradient would predict is often required to temperatures than are present in the formation. In extreme cases, drilling
overcome reservoir pore pressure. Drilling high-pressure wells using mud fluids may be cooled before being circulated downhole to protect sensitive
weights that are more than twice that of seawater is not uncommon. BHA components.
Overpressured formations, those having higher than normal pore pressure, Most HT wells are drilled using oil-base mud (OBM) systems. Special
can be present even at shallow depths. high-temperature OBM systems have been developed that retain the
Ultradeep wells being drilled today may reach depths beyond 10,700 m, mud’s rheologic properties at elevated temperatures. One trade-off to
and their hydrostatic pressure can exceed 207 MPa [30,000 psi]. Drilling using OBM systems is the thermal characteristics of OBM. Wells drilled
assemblies, LWD tools, wireline logging equipment, well testing tools, comple- with oil-base mud systems tend to have higher downhole temperatures
tion hardware and well intervention tools are exposed to these extreme pres- than do wells that are drilled with water-base mud systems and thus
sures. To mitigate the effects of high pressure, design engineers focus on potentially expose downhole tools to high operating temperatures.
Oilfield
metallurgy and sealing. Metals Review
and alloys commonly used in the aerospace
DECEMBER 15
and nuclear power energy have been
HPHT Fig 3 adopted by the oil and gas industry. Operations
However, use of these materials in oil and
ORDEC 15 HPHT 3gas applications is often constrained Working under HPHT conditions requires specialized equipment, proper
by wellbore size limitations. This is especially true for deepwater wells in tools and training. Advanced planning is an important aspect of successful
which some of the highest pressures are encountered—logging and drilling operations; modified operational procedures must often be employed to
tools must withstand high pressure extremes and also fit into small diameter address HPHT concerns. Whereas mistakes made in conventional wells may
wellbores that are typical of ultradeep wells. Materials used for sealing ele- create routine lost time, preventing disastrous consequences to equipment
ments must seal against extreme pressure, often under high temperature, and and personnel from HPHT operations requires exceptional diligence. The
they may have to undergo multiple pressure cycles without failing. long history of developing tools to effectively tame HPHT conditions and the
The risks associated with downhole pressure are not only for the equip- experience dealing with these conditions continue to enable the oil and gas
ment used there. When completions, testing and production operations are industry to push the boundaries to deeper depths and in hotter wells in the
performed with high pressure at the surface, a risk potential to personnel ongoing search for new sources of hydrocarbons.

Oilfield Review
THE DEFINING SERIES

Integrated Asset Modeling Piping Network Process Plant

David Allan
Contributing Editor

Hydrocarbon production is complex because producing assets consist of

interconnected systems and processes that are dynamic in nature.
Engineering teams face numerous challenges during field planning, devel- PD

WC%
Pres

opment and operations. When planning field development, teams and GOR

experts use multiple simulation tools to model the various components of

0 1 2 3 4 5
Time, years

Reservoir Economics
the oilfield system. However, traditional asset modeling methods are gener-
ally both static and serial in nature and thus fail to account for the interde-
pendencies and dynamic nature of E&P assets (Figure 1). Integrated asset
modeling is a response to oilfield management challenges that must account
for complex production operations, the increasing quantity and nature of
acquired data and the need for rapid data analysis. Problems suited to such
modeling include multicomponent fluid mixtures, suboptimal artificial lift
systems, uneconomic drilling targets and flow assurance problems. Figure 1. Conventional asset modeling. Typically, reservoir engineers initiate
conventional asset modeling by using a reservoir model (bottom left) and a
To address these engineering challenges, integrated asset modeling well model to analyze flow through porous media and account for the
combines asset domains—the reservoir, wellbore, pipeline network, pro- influence of any natural or artificial drive mechanisms. The reservoir
cess facilities and economics models—into a total system simulation. simulation results are fed into a piping network model (upper left). The
Software packages developed for integrated asset modeling provide produc- piping network model results are passed to facilities engineers, who use
the production profile and composition data to build facilities and process
tion rate information and economic predictions for the entire asset over its plant models (upper right) to characterize the various compression,
life and are used by operators for planning and optimization. Integrated separation and chemical processes that may be present. Results from the
asset modeling links individual simulators across technical disciplines, reservoir, piping and process simulations are then passed to planning
assets, computing environments and locations. This collaborative methodol- engineers for economic modeling (bottom right).
ogy represents a shift in oil and gas field management, moving it toward a
holistic management approach and away from disconnected teams working Flowline
in isolation.
Wellhead
The benefits from this new approach are significant; they include the
promotion of integration, communication and collaboration between disci-
plines and across geographic boundaries. The technique provides greater
insight into field performance and delivers more accurate models. The end
results are increased production, reduced expenditure and improved
returns for the operator.
Inflow performance relationship Flow conduit
Then and Now (IPR) from reservoir simulator

Conventional production modeling and integrated asset modeling use indi-

vidual simulators for each domain—reservoir, well, pipeline network, pro-
Flowing pressure

cess facilities and field economics. Traditional methods apply the simulators
separately and typically in isolation, whereas integrated asset modeling Equilibrium point
links data acquired from the many domains to achieve a combined model for Flow-conduit curve Node Completion
from piping simulator
the asset. The traditional approach gave rise to two problems—all simula- Reservoir
tions of processes downstream of the reservoir represent only one point in
Oilfield Review
time, and such simulations fail to take into account the changing nature of SEPTEMBER
Flow rate 15
E&P assets in terms of reservoir pressure and fluids. Asset Management fig. 1
The deficiencies in the traditional methods gave rise to the digital oil Figure 2. Network balancing using nodal
ORSEPT analysis. Nodal
15 ASMGMNT 1 analysis is a
technique for balancing the ability of reservoirs to produce fluids into a
field, in which the data from processes and equipment are constantly moni- wellbore with the capacity of tubulars to conduct the flow through the
tored. At the same time, a shift from serial workflows to multiple, simultane- surface-piping network. Typical node locations for coupling the models for
ous online model-based workflows occurred. Integrated asset modeling the reservoir and piping network are at the bottom of the well (inset) or at
encompasses the digital oil field and accounts for the constantly evolving the wellhead. Reservoir performance is described by the inflow
performance relationship (IPR) from a reservoir simulator; the IPR describes
nature of an E&P asset and its life cycle. Such modeling ensures systemwide how flowing pressure affects production flow rate. The piping network
performance is described by the flow-conduit, or tubing intake, curve from
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to William J. Bailey, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the piping simulator. The IPR and flow-conduit curves intersect at the
USA; Bob Sauvé, Houston, Texas, USA; and Richard Torrens, Abu Dhabi, UAE. equilibrium point, which represents the balance of production rate and
Oilfield Review 2016. flowing pressure that is appropriate for the specific conditions being
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. modeled. Output from nodal analysis can be two curves or a set of curves
for sensitivity analysis.
www.slb.com/defining

Visualization Workstation

Workflow Data Parameter   Surveillance

Acquisition Estimation and Collaboration

Production Database Workflow Manager Well and Network Models

Data

el
Mod
ow
Workfl

Application Inflow performance relationship

(IPR) from reservoir simulator

Flowing pressure
Equilibrium point
Flow-conduit curve
from piping simulator

Flow rate

Data storage and workstation Workstation

Historical data flow

Data Current data flow
Management Well data
Application integration
with data flow

Server Data storage and workstation

Figure 3. Integrated asset modeling solution architecture. Integrated asset surveillance and collaboration. The application level coordinates the
modeling can be visualized by separating activities into four levels. In the production database, the workflow manager and the well and network
visualization level, engineers and scientists use workstations to monitor the models. The data management level handles communications and
model parameters and resultant solutions at any stage in real time and computing tasks. Typically, both current and historical data flow from data
make corrections as needed. The workflow level handles scheduling and management through application and workflow to visualization.
automation of the workflows, starting with data acquisition and ending with

sharing, or interoperability, of information between people, processes and To predict lifetime field performance, integrated asset modeling uses a
domains. For example, when boundary conditions change for an asset stepwise procedure. At each time step, the inflow and outflow of each nodal
model, these changes are immediately reflected in the simulators, which point are balanced, satisfying the pressure and flow relationships while hon-
update the asset model and become part of the management process for oring the upstream and downstream constraints within the asset model.
asset operations. Simultaneous online processing using integrated asset Time stepping continues until the end of field life is reached.
modeling adapts well to the ever-changing operations environment that is
characteristic of oil and gas fields. Holistic Infrastructure and Practice
The integrated asset modeling linkage works across multiple simulators,
Nodal System Analysis disciplines and locations. The asset model must be able to meld the differ-
Integrated asset modeling can be thought of as an extension of nodal sys- ing time requirements of slow simulators, such as those for the reservoir,
tem analysis, which is often used to study complex, interactingOilfieldsystemsReview
and fast simulators such as those for the pipeline network. Using integrated
SEPTEMBER 15
such as pipeline networks and electrical circuits. Treating the reservoir asset modeling
Asset Management fig. 3 to link existing production models becomes the key to opti-
ORSEPT 15 ASMGMNTentire
model as a source of or sink for fluids at the bottom of the well, nodal analy- mizing the 3 field (Figure 3).
sis calls for the selection of a reference point or node that divides the sys- Integrated asset modeling continues to mature, and new modeling applica-
tem. In an oilfield production system, the node has several possible tions, such as multifield optimization under a single unified infrastructure, are
locations. Common points for the node are the bottomhole or wellhead, breaking new ground. By improving data quality, automating routine opera-
which separate upstream flow from downstream flow. Production compo- tions, integrating workflows and uniting data and models in a common environ-
nents upstream of the node are called the inflow section, whereas those ment, integrated asset modeling can give operators a clearer picture of field
downstream of the node are called the outflow section. After the node loca- behavior, production potential and economics over the life of an asset.
tion is selected, two boundary conditions must be satisfied—the inflow to
the node must equal the outflow, and the node can have only one pressure
at a time. To solve the problem, pressure versus flow rate curves are gener-
ated for node inflow and outflow. The intersection of the curves yields a
solution that satisfies the flow and pressure constraints (Figure 2).

Oilfield Review