SPE 143226 Riser Less Well Intervention for Subsea Work Over

Terje Skeie, yvind Hjorteland & Michael Macdonald Arnskov, Welltec

Copyright 2011, Society of Petroleum Engineers This paper was prepared for presentation at the Brasil Offshore Conference and Exhibition held in Maca, Brazil, 1417 June 2011. This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract The number of subsea wells has increased steadily over the years and is estimated to have exceeded 5500 by the end of 2010. Subsea wells do in general have substantially lower recovery rates than what is normally achieved from comparable nonsubsea wells. This is due to the high intervention costs which are directly related to the rates of the rigs required to carry out such operations if the traditional and conventional approach is adopted. Hence the incentive to increase recovery rates has been limited as the balance between cost and revenue has been unfavorable, even with increasing oil and gas prices. However, this has also stimulated the development of alternative methods which can enhance recovery rates and not least address the challenges created by more fields passing maturity and exploration moving to more demanding areas. Lightweight and riserless intervention well intervention has in this context become a proven approach with considerable potential for driving the future development. The ability to substitute large rigs with smaller and dynamically positioned light well intervention vessels has a major impact on cost and time. Riserless intervention as such has been done regularly for a number of years and has set excellent HSE standards. However, in recent years the use of riserless well intervention has become increasingly instrumental in the effort to enhance recovery rates and general performance. The paper gives an account of a scale milling operation carried out at a Norwegian field in the North Sea where two wells both suffered from a significant drop in production. Introduction The average recovery rate for a subsea well is considerably lower than that of a comparable surface well due to the relatively more complicated well intervention and maintenance issues. Using heavy and traditional rigs for subsea intervention is costly and time consuming due to the high day-rates and mobilization aspects. The base costs are therefore considerable higher as compared to surface well intervention where tools can be deployed directly through the risers from the production unit. As a consequence subsea wells are less often subjected to well intervention measures which in the long term results in lower recovery rates than what is achievable from non-subsea wells, where 50% or even more is achievable depending on the field, technology and reservoir management exercised. The number of fields approaching the end of their lifespan is rapidly increasing. It is estimated that approximately 30.000 wells will have to undergo plug and abandonment within the next fifteen years. Approximately 30% of the wells are subsea wells. In the North Sea alone it is estimated that about 6.000 wells will be subjected to plug and abandonment including 1400 subsea wells depending on aging profiles. In Asia the average age of subsea wells are more than 5 years and in Malaysia 7080% of the subsea wells are mature and on average 20-25 years old. Similar in the number of wells passing maturity is rapidly growing in the Gulf of Mexico. Hence, with more and more subsea fields reaching or passing maturity and exploration becoming even more challenging the incentive to improve recovery rates increase, not least as technology today provides alternative but also proven - solutions which eliminate the need for heavy rigs.