Workover Operations

Topic 1: Introduction to workovers

Workover:
- Repair or stimulation of an existing production well for the purpose of restoring, prolonging or
enhancing the production of hydrocarbons
- The process of performing major maintenance or remedial treatment on an oil or gas well
- In the majority of cases, a workover implies the removal and replacement of the production tubing
string after the well has been killed and a workover rig has been placed on location

Well intervention is required when:

- Equipment failure occurs
- Need to replace/change the completion string due to well performance problems or other reservoir
management needs

Equipment failure may take place due to:

- Pressure effects
- Thermal stress effects
- Applied and induced mechanical loading
- Corrosion failure
- Erosion (sand production, turbulence, etc.)

Downhole equipment failures:

Pumps
- Pumps selection and performance are affected by:
o Rate and head achievable
o Sand tolerance
o Wax, asphaltene tolerance
o Deviation/crooked hole
o Gas tolerance
o Corrosion tolerance
o Depth limitations
o Temperature tolerance
- Beam pumps:
o Account for 20% of artificially produced net oil within Shell
o Applied in non-deviated wells with an API gravity of 20-30 and low GOR
o Average well production is less than 200 bpd with an average water cut of 71%
o Average run life is 614 days
- ESP’s:
o Produce from 2500 – 5000 bpd.
o Average run life is 3.3 years
- Progressive Cavity (Moineau) Pumps:
o Account for less than 1% of Shell’s artificially produced net oil
o Average run life is 521 days
o Average well production is less than 200 bpd
o It is a valveless, rotating positive displacement pump that consists of a rotor and stator
 o Whilst the rotor rotates eccentrically in the stator, both the rotor and stator form separate
cavities which, due to the eccentric rotation of the rotor in the stator, move continuously from
the suction side to the pressure side and thus transporting the produced medium
o The rotor is driven by a surface motor via sucker rods that rotate rather than reciprocate as in
beam pumps
o The pumps are particularly suited for highly viscous oil (with paraffin, wax or emulsions) with a
high solids content
- Jet pumps:
o They are not an effective lift method in isolation due to very low hydraulic efficiency and the
need for large surface facilities and pumps
o Run life is between 82 and 730 days
o Operated by 2 principles
 Hydraulic reciprocating pump
 Jet pumping
o Applications include producing crude, dewatering gas wells and replacing gas lift installations
Downhole valves
- The majority of valves are installed as part of the completion and thus will require a full or partial
workover to replace
- Chemical and gas lift injection valves are commonly installed in side pocket mandrels and can be
recovered and replaced using conventional wireline

Production Problems
- Well intervention is often used to improve the production performance of wells
- 2 major factors affecting well performance are reservoir pressure and water cut or gas breakthrough,
and changes in completion design have to be made accordingly
- The use of monobore completions, coupled with the growth in coiled tubing technology and the
development of chemical shut off systems has seen a marked reduction in the requirement to pull the
completion for anything other than an equipment failure.
- Water breakthrough can be treated by 2 principal methods
o Mechanical isolation – in well bore
o Chemical isolation – in reservoir
- Sand production: from oil and gas reservoirs will occur when the stresses in the formation rock exceed
the mechanical strength of the rock material. This can happen in both unconsolidated and, apparently
competent clastic reservoirs due to a combination of:
o High drawdown
o Depletion
o Changes in near wellbore composition and cyclic loading of the wellbore

Topic 2: Workover Operations

Workover Economics
Topic 4: Workover Fluids

Function of a workover fluid:

- Provide an overbalance over formation pressures for well control;
- Be the medium to carry cuttings and debris from the bottom of the hole to surface or, vice versa, to
transport particulate completion materials from surface to the zone to be completed;
- Prevent formation impairment;
- Prevent excessive leak-off into permeable formations;
- Assist in providing stability to exposed formations;
- Be non-corrosive and acceptable from a safety and environment point of view

Workover fluid design:

- Minimize invasion of fluid into formation
- Ensure compatibility between fluid and formation rock and reservoir fluids
- Prevent invasion and deposition of suspended solids in formation pores

Selection of workover/completion fluid

- Brines (i.e. aqueous salt solutions) are most frequently used as a workover fluid. They are used to
provide fluid gradients above hydrostatic. By selecting suitable water soluble salts or mixtures of salts,
brines can be formulated in a density range from 1000-2300 kg/m3 . These fluids are in principle free of
suspended solids and are, therefore, well suited to be used in workover and completion activities in
which the avoidance of invasion of suspended particles into the formation is of prime importance.
 - Crude oil and oil distillate fractions, such as diesel oil and low aromatic (OBM) base oils have densities
as low as 800 kg/m3 (0.35 psi/ft) hence would be potentially suitable to be used as (clear) workover or
completion fluid in depleted reservoirs
- Foams may be applied in highly depleted reservoirs, where heavier fluids would give rise to excessively
high overbalances. The experience with the application of foam in Group OUs is limited. Foams have
been used to drill, complete and workover a number of wells where the reservoir pressure gradient is
typically 3.5-4.5 kPa/m (0.15-0.20 psi/ft).

Brine types:
The type of brine is mainly governed by the following parameters:
- the brine density required;
- availability and costs of salt constituents;
- compatibility aspects with formation fluids and reservoir rock;
- corrosivity of the brine;
- operating temperature range.

High G Centrifuges
- capable of removing up to 95% of the suspended solids in contaminated brine
- centrifuges do not provide an absolute cut-off at a certain particle size. Their performance is related to
the density of the brine and the particle size distribution and total solids load of the influent stream.
- Disk stack centrifuges are, therefore, well suited for clean-up of brines which are not too heavily
contaminated.
- Their main advantages are the absence of consumables costs and the continuous operating mode.
- Disadvantages are the large Capex which for rental units results in rather high renral rates and the
rather low throughput rate of typically 15 m3 /h maximum (1.6 bbllmin).

Topic 7: Abandonment

Isolation between zones

- Permeable Zone Units shall be separated from each other by a minimum of one Permanent Barrier,
unless it can be shown that this is not required for pressure control or fluid segregation. In situations
where the Permeable Zone Units are distinct and is for reservoir management requirements only, then
a mechanical (Temporary) Barrier will suffice if control is still required beyond the date of
abandonment. If such control is no longer required, then no barrier of any sort is required.

Isolation from surface

- Hydrocarbon Bearing Permeable Zones require Two Permanent Barriers, which shall separate these
hydrocarbon bearing Permeable Zones from the surface. Water Bearing Permeable Zones necessitate
only a single Permanent Barrier for full isolation from the surface when the zone is hydrostatically
pressured or below hydrostatic. Where the zone is above hydrostatic pressure, two Permanent Barriers
shall separate the zone from the surface.

Isolation of abandoned hole section for sidetracking

- From the new llole, isolation shall be provided, when required, to ensure adequate well control during
operations in the sidetrack. Where reservoir is exposed in the old hole, isolation may also be required
from the subsequent casing annulus across the sidetrack point for reservoir management
Verification of barriers:
The purpose of verification is to show that the barrier in place is adequate
- Inflow test
o + tests the plug from the direction of possible flow
o - Doesn't allow for future increases in pressure
o - Primary barrier (hydrostatic head) is removed for the duration of the test.
- Pressure test
o + tests the plug to a higher differential than by inflow testing
o - may balloon formation or casing inducing micro annuli
o - doesn't test from the direction of flow
- Weight test
o + proves cement is in place and has compressive strength
o - doesn't prove pressure integrity.
o - if cement is still green there is scope to get the string stuck

The only method of real verification is to monitor the isolation plug over a long period of time prior to final
abandonment. This may be possible on land or platform wells but isn't a practical solution subsea where
monitoring may be impossible and the cost of returning a mobile rig to the location prohibitive.