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IPA, 2006 - 23rd Annual Convention Proceedings, 1994

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PROCEEDING INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION Twenty Third Annual Convention, October 1994

PAGERUNGAN PGE DEVELOPMENT - THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH RATE GAS WELLS USING SUBSEA TREES ON MUDLINE EQUIPMENT
Kevin E Wann*

ABSTRACT
The eastern portion of the Pagerungan gas field which lies in approximately 210' of water, was programmed to be developed in early 1994. Several options were considered for the development drilling project including extended reach drilling from shore, deviated drilling from an offshore platform and subsea completion. The third option, subsea completion, was chosen because of its favourable economics, delivery time and decreased drilling risk. The subsea trees used were a modification of a proven design previously used by ARCO in the North Sea on the Orwell Subsea Development. The modifications made to the Onvell trees simplified the tree and tree running equipment design. Despite an early set-back with a specific tree component, two trees were successfully installed by the middle of May 1994 and are capable of producing gas at average rates of 60 MMCFD per well.

being considered at this time. This paper will deal with the PGE subsea wells.

PGE No.1 & No.2 were planned to drain the Eastern portion of the gas field which extends out some 4 miles from the Eastern end of Pagerungan Besar Island. Both wells are in approximately 210FT of water in an area prone to high currents (+/- 2-3 knots).
Three options were considered for this phase of the development: Subsea Development - Two vertical holes drilled and completed as subsea producers complete with individual flowlines and control umbilicals back to Pagerung an. Land development - Extended reach drilling (ERD) from drillsite 'A' on the Eastern portion of Pagerungan Besar Island. Platform Development - Directional drilling from a platform situated between the two offshore well bottom hole locations.

INTRODUCTION
The Pagerungan gas field lies approximately 85 miles North of Bali. Pagerungan Besar Island is one of the islands in the Kangean Island group on which the ARCO Bali North and partner BP Exploration, Kangean PSC is centred. The Pagerungan gas field was discovered in 1985 and plans to develop the field were approved in 1990. The development drilling of the field has been planned to occur over a number of phases starling in January 1993 with seven onshore wells at drill sites A & B, followed by two subsea completions at PGE in 1994, and then by five subsea con~pletionsat PGC in 1996. An additional future wellsite, PGD, consisting of two subsea wells, is also
*
Atlantic Richfield Indonesia, Inc.

Subsea Option
Each option was considered for its advantages and disadvantages. Table 1 shows a comparison of the three dcvelopment options. Ultimately the subsea development option was chosen because of its low capital expense and the short lead time (relative to the other two options) to production. Another main advantage of the subsea option was that the wells would be vertical and therefore not at risk to some of the directional drilling problems associated with this area.

ERD Option

Preliminary calculations showed that in order to reach bottom hole locations with ERD wells a measured depth of +I- 17500 FT.RKB. per well would be required and an inclination of 72'. A rig capable of drilling this type of well would need substantial generating capacity to power the required rig equipment ie. 3000 hp drawworks, 3 x 1600 hp mud pumps etc. Rigs of the size required are not readily available in Indonesia and would therefore have to be

imported from outside the country. This would add considerable delay to the programme as well as considerable mobilisation expense. In addition, it was felt that some non conventional rig equipment would have been required to drill the wells ie. 6-518" drillpipe. The lead time to procure these special items would have been prohibitive to the early start up of an ERD project. In addition an oil based mud system would probably be required for this type of well, this would lead to environmental problems related to the disposal of oil contaminated cuttings on Pagerungan Besar Island.

subsea Development

~ l a t f o Development i

Extended Reach Drilling (Ern)

Capital Expenditure

$ 34.8 MM

Operating exp enselyear

$ 1.3MM

Well Availability

April 1994

Dec 94IJan 1995

Jan 1995

Incremental PW of Delayed Production

$ -3.8 MM

Proven Technology

Yes

Yes

Not fully (at time of decision) Yes

Directional Drilling Risks Equipment Risks Yes (mainly related to the control system)

Yes

No

Yes

Operating Risks

Yes

Rig Availability

Yes

Yes

Footage for 2 wells

+/- 18000'

TABLE 1 - Critical issues Comparison of Development Options

Platform Option Platform construction lead time would be the major contributor to a delay in well availability if a platform development option had been pursued. There were no ovemding advantages to a platform development from either an economic or technical stand-point. Major well intervention would be just as expensive on a platform development as on a subsea development. Because of the water depth a rig would be needed in each case to workover the wells. Subsea workover would be more complex when compared to a platform workover. The decision to pursue the subsea development option was made and the project was started following partner and government approval. CONTRACI'ING PHILOSOPHY Because of the relatively small size of the project (in monetary terms) a formal project team was not established. A project co-ordinator was appointed from the ARBNI Operations group. His responsibilities were to oversee the administration of contracts involved in the project and to provide a link between the various groups. Major contractslportions of the project were handled by ARCO departments and not a dedicated project team as follows:

philosophy were : 1. All subsea engineering ie. trees, umbilicals, controls would be handled by one department (Drilling) due to experience levels within the department but also due to the need to keep the number of contractor interfaces to a minimum. Pipeline and umbilical engineering and installation would be handled by the ARCO projects group who are experienced in this type of work. Generally the contracting philosophy worked well. However, in the future to further reduce potential interface problems, a number of contracts will be combined. The control system contract will include the chemical injection equipment and the control umbilical contract will include umbilical installation. This should vastly improve the interfacing between the different contracting groups.

SUBSEA TREE DESIGN SUMMARY


The subsea tree design was based upon an existing design used by ARCO British in the Orwell Field Southern North Sea. A number of design changes were made which reduced tree cost and complexity. The tree design requirements were :
5000 psi. working pressure Chemical injection facility Concentric design 5- 112" tubing hanger Metal to metal sealing where possible Integral flow base and permanent guide base (PGB) Direct hydraulic control Mechanical connectors

a .

Drilling department

(i) Well design & construction (ii) Subsea tree design & construction (iii) Umbilical design & construction (iv) Workover Control HPU design & construction (v) Production control HPU design & construction
b.

Pmjects department

(vi) Pipeline & Umbilical installation (vii) Onshore hook up (viii) Chemical Injection system

A schematic of the tree is shown in Figure 1. As the tree was required to be concentric ie. single bore, a method of bleeding off annulus pressure into the production flowline and of positively sealing the annulus prior to tree removal had to be established. The tree vendor was requested to provide a metal to metal sealing valve that could be incorporated into the tubing hanger which could be controlled by both the workover and production control units. The major design changes made to the 'Orwell' type tree were as follows: a. A reduction in the number of production master

c.
(ix)

Engineering department Administration & Project Co-ordination

The perceived benefits from the above contracting

valves to 1 (API 17D, 6A) this complies with API recommendations and local government requirements. The Incorporation of flowline & umbilical cradles into the PGB. The PGB thus provided a final parking place for both the flexible flowline and the control umbilical such that if the tree was recovered for any particular reason, the flowline and umbilical would not be disturbed from their final parking position. The tree connector, which is hydraulically actuated on the Orwell trees, was replaced with a manually operated and preloaded connector. This reduced the cost of the tree substantially, and also reduced the cost of the workover control equipment. The PGE trees do not have chokes on the flow wing. Instead, the gas flow is choked at the inlet manifold at the gas plant. Flow regulation was specified at the gas plant to reduce the frequency of actuation of the subsea tree functions. The completed tree configuration is shown in Figure 2. After completing the design work the trees and associated equipment were manufactured and put through extensive factory acceptance tests. In addition to the required API tests A R C 0 specified non PSL 2 tests which included a full working pressure (5000 psi) gas test of the assembled trees. The gas tests were performed in a water filled pit with the acceptance criteria being no visible leaks. Integration and stack up tests were carried out with the divers present to witness how the equipment was installed and to advise on how to rig up the equipment to improve the dive efficiency.

nitrogen as the test medium. In addition to the cycle tests a number of blow down tests were carried out, (ie, opening the valve with differential pressure across the flow ports). Despite the exhaustive testing successfully carried out onshore the valves failed to work when installed offshore in the wellhead. The failure was largely thought to be due to solids contamination (rusthcale) in the well completion fluid, preventing the metal interference seal from seating. When the failed valves were removed from the tubing hanger some ovality and distortion of the metal interference seal was noticed. The mechanism that caused the ovalityldistortion has not been fully explained although in some part it was due to excessive operating pressure used in an attempt to get the valves to seal. Ultimately, the metal to metal sealing valves were replaced with field proven resilient sealing valves. These valves incorporated vulcanised ID' type seals in the shuttle valve retainer sleeve similar to previous Orwell designs. The valves performed satisfactorily when installed in the wells. Apart from the AAV's the trees and tree installation equipment performed satisfactorily. Some minor problems were encountered with the tree connector and tree running tool connector. Both of these connectors were designs adapted from a quick make up surface connector. The problems were associated with unlocking the connectors. This was more of a "learning experience" (ie. learning the operating limits of the equipment) rather than a mechanical problem. A modification in the operating procedures to ensure evenly applied locking or unlocking force around the circumference of the connector improved the diver performance when making up or breaking out the connectors.

TREE iNSTRUMENTA'I1ON
Each tree was instrumentation: equipped with the following

In general all the design requirements were met and with the exception of the metal to metal sealing annular access valves. The annular access valves (AAV) were designed with a metal to metal interference fit nose seal with an elastomeric back-up ring. Since the valve was a new design and was not field proven, it was exhaustively .tested on a test jig before being accepted and app;oved for use in the tubing hangers. The performance tests included cycling the valve for 10, 20, 40, & 80 cycles. After each set of cycles the valve was pressure tested from the closed side to 2500 psi and 5000 psi using

a. Production Pressure b. Production Temperature c. Annulus Pressure During normal operations the tree will have the annulus cross-over valve (AX0 ref. Figure 1 ) closed, the Annulus Master Valve (AMV) and Annulus Access Valves (AAV) open. This allows annulus pressure to be monitored during production

operations. All transducers included two pressure barriers between the well bore fluids and the environment. Only the temperature transducer was intrusive into the flow path. All instrumentation was connected to the control umbilical by divers using mateable wet connectors.

Conductor Surface '

intermediatew
Production Liner

ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT
As with most subsea completions from a jack-up rig a number of rig modifications had to be made to allow efficient running of the trees and associated subsea equipment. The modifications included the installation of a riser tensioner system, four guidelines and guide-line winches etc. Since the tubing hanger is locked into the wellhead using a hydraulically actuated locking mechanism, a means of transmitting hydraulic fluid to the tubing hanger is required. There is also a requirement to be able to operate the SCSSV without the tree in place. This can be achieved by using a composite riser which includes the control lines for the tubing hanger functions and a production riser or by using a production riser with an independent, external control umbilical. ARC0 Bali North opted for the second option because of the cost associated with building a composite riser for this water depth (210'), and the running problems that can be associated with composite riser eg. getting multiple stab seals to work at the same time. The riserlumbilical combination does however limit well control options while it is being run. A hydraulic workover control unit was also used to allow the tree to be controlled during installation and subsequent well test. The workover unit interfaced with a stab plate on the tree which provided the interface for the hydraulic lines ccnnected to the various functions on the tree eg. AX0 valve actuator. The tree interface plate also interfaced with the production umbilical after it had been installed and the rig moved off location.

30" from surface to +I- 500' 20" from ML to +I- 1800', 24" from ML to surface 13-318" from ML to 4-1- 4700', 16" from ML to surface 9-518" from surface to +I- 6000' 5-112" from TD (+I-6400' to +I- 200' above 9-518" shoe)

'

The 24" casing was required to allow the passage of the 13-518" wellhead (20-518" OD) which is the main component in the drill through wellhead system. The 16" casing was required to allow the passage of a 12-318" ID - 13-112" OD seat protector, which was required to protect the packoff and tubing hanger sealing area inside the 13-518" HP housing.

'#

The 5-112" liner allowed for a monobore completion once the 5-112" tubing had been run and tied back to the 5-112" liner top. One advantage of this type of completion is that more flexibility exists for setting plugs through the tubing into the 5-112" liner during future well intervention. A self equalising tubing conveyed SCSSV was run in the completion and controlled through the subsea tree. The completion was run on a purpose built 6-518" OD. completion riser and hydraulically operated tubing hanger running tool. Figure 3 shows a schematic of the well completion.

THE INSTALLATION PROCEDURES


Due to timing difficulties it was decided to drill the PGE No.1 well, suspend it then move to drill and complete PGE No.2 before returning to complete PGE No.1. Both wells were essentially the same design and therefore the completion procedures were identical. The first completion was on PGE No.2. Drilling progressed as planned without any major difficulties. After recovering the drilling risers a load transfer ring to transfer tree and riser bending loads from the 13518" wellhead housing to the 30" conductor was run and a permanent guide baselflow base (PGB) was installed. The PGB was orientated to the required direction relative to the flowline lay direction. The

WELL DESIGN
The casing design on the well was fairly standard except for a few modifications that had to be included to accommodate the drill through mddline system. The casing scheme was as follows (RKB to ML = +I300'):

16" high pressure riser was then installed and the BOPS nipped up and tested. A detailed riser analysis showed that a riser tension of 160,000 Ibs wouId be required to prevent riser failure due to fatigue given the sea conditions at the location. This tension would also eliminate the need for a cumbersome vortex shedding device that would otherwise be required where high currents (= +I- 3 knots) had been experienced and recorded. The tensioner system consisted of four tensioner lines, two with hydraulic pistons and two with mechanical turnbuckles. The design allowed for any two lines to maintain the required tension plus a safety margin. Immediately before tubing was picked up a lead impression tool was run to verify the distance from the top of the 9-5/8" casing hanger on which the tubing hanger lands to the profile in the 13-5/8" wellhead in which the tubing hanger lock down dogs locate. Any appreciable variances in this distance could prevent setting of the tubing hanger annulus seal. Variations could be compensated for by using shims on the tubing hanger to correctly space out the locking dogs. When the tubing had been run on PGE No.2 and the tubing hanger landed and locked into position, pressure tests indicated that the AAV's were not sealing in a repeatable fashion either from below or above. Blow down of annulus fluids past the valves did not clear the valves of debris although there was a slight imprpvement in sealing capability for a limited number of tests. Increasing the valve actuation pressure did not improve the valve sealing capabilities. The tubing hanger was therefore recovered for examination. Valve nose seal distortion was detected on two of the three AAV's as described earlier in the text. Further clean up of the completion fluid and equipment was done before re-running the tubing hanger with new valves installed. This however was not successful noting a repeat of the undependable pressure tests, the tubing hanger was again recovered and replaced with a tubing hanger containing redesigned valves that incorporated resilient seals as previously used in the Orwell trees. These seals were satisfactorily pressure tested from above and below to the required pressure. After setting a back pressure valve the high pressure riser was recovered prior to running the subsea tree. The tree design requires the subsea trees to be run

using the 16" high pressure riser. In order to perforate and test the wells, a completion riser was run from surface and stung into the top of the subsea tree via a conventional ratch latch mechanism. Seals are also an integral part of this mechanism. A surface test tree was then nippled up on the completion riser at the rig floor. Running the tree was problem free on both wells, the tree was run & pulled a number of times on the PGE No.2 well due to the AAV problem, without mishap. From the start of the tree design process it was always considered that the tree installation would be diver intensive. A mixed gas saturation diving spread was employed to provide diver intervention at the wellsite. This proved to be an invaluable part of the project with the divers performing many varied tasks that would not have been possible in the time frame with conventional diving facilities.

WELL PERFORATING & TESTING


Due to the depth & type of reservoir being completed it was a requirement that the reservoir be perforated under balanced in the minimum number of runs. This was achieved by running 3-3/8" TCP guns on coiled tubing (with integral wireline). A Gamma Ray run was first made with the coiled tubing (without guns attached) to correlate the coiled tubing end position with the perforations. The guns were then picked up in a single length of +I- 170' and run in the hole while pumping N,to get the well underbalanced. A casing collar locator (CCL) correlation tool was also run at this time (the coiled tubinglwirline combination did not allow the GR and CCL to be run at the same time). When the previously correlated position was reached the guns were fired using electrical detonation, then recovered using the riser as a lubricator. A second successful under balanced gun r n was made to increase the shot density. A u multirate well test and pressure build up test was then carried out before closing the subsea trees, pulling the risers and installing the tree cap.

PRODUCTION UMBILICAL AND PRODUCTION CONTROL SYSTEM


As both wells are located +I-4.5 km from Pagerungan Besar Island it was decided that a direct hydraulic control system would be used to control the trees.

to the The simplicity of the trees and the control point meant that direct hydraulic control was ideally suited to this type of project. Tenders were sought from three major umbilical suppliers for a purpose built umbilical. The umbilicals consist of: 5 off 112" nominal bore 6000 psi working pressure lines 7 off 112" bore 3500 psi working pressure lines. 4 off electrical cables for tree instrumentation. The hosekable bundle was enclosed in two layers of contra helically wound wire armouring sandwiched between two layers of Polyethylene. The diameter of the umbilical was +/- 135mm. The control system consisted of a hydraulic power pack, accumulators, valve controls and various instruments. The accumulator volume was sufficient to open all functions on each tree once following possible failure of the production control unit. Because the control unit is situated on Pagerungan Besar Island in the gas processing plant it has a number of alanns that register in the gas plant control room. This allows the plant operators to monitor the condition of the control panel and thus the wells from a remote location. Daily checking by production staff of the control unit will ensure that it is working correctly. The production control system vendor was also contracted to supply the surface and subsea termination plates for the umbilical and all the tree instrumentation. This further reduced interface problems between the tree/umbilical/control system vendors. The control system also interfaced with the chemical injection system that allowed the pumping of corrosion inhibitor down the umbilical and into the chemical injection valve (CIV) and the subsea tree. Figure 4 shows the tree installed and awaiting umbilical and flowline hookup.

was being installed for the first time. It is vital to have a secure and tested annulus prior to pulling the tree. If the wells had been perforated an unsecured annulus could have lead to operational problems. It is anticipated that future changes to completion equipment and changes to the running procedures will result in substantially reduced installation times. The mechanical tree running tool will be replaced with a hydraulic running tool; this will also be adapted to allow future trees to be run on the completion riser. Some time may also be saved by making provision to run the PGBIFlow base with the 30" conductor. Modifications to the tree mechanical connector to provide more space for diver access will make it easier to operate in the future. Consideration is also being given to reducing the number of AAV's to two thus reducing tubing hanger cost while still maintaining an acceptable flowby area. (2 in2) The choice of development option has resulted in an economic and technically superior development that will also be considered for future developments in the Kangean area.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank ARBNI and BP Exploration for their kind permission to publish this paper and numerous colleagues for their time spent reviewing it.

REFERENCES
Onvell Field: Case History Of A Low cost Development In The Southern North Sea. A.M.Swale and M.Vass, ARCO British Ltd. IADCISPE 27523. ABB Vetco Gray Field Service Manual VGS-057194

NOMENCLATURE
PGB PSL-2 HPU ML AIP hp HP Permanent guide base Product specification level (see API 6A & 17D) Hydraulic power unit Mud line (sea bed) Surface controlled subsurface safety valve ARCO Indonesia Projects Horse Power High Pressure

COMMENTS ON FIELD INSTALLATION


Apart from the AAV failures, the installation of the trees progressed as per the procedures. One advantage of the installation sequence was that all tree installation (and recovery from PGE No.2) was done on unperforated wells. It was a distinct advantage not to have the wells perforated when the tubing hanger

scssv

TREE

ANNULAR BLEED
VALVE (ABV)

CROSS OVER (AX0

*
I
TUBING

TREE CAP VALVE

CHEMICAL INJECTION VALVE

(Tm)

PRODUCTION SWAB VALVE (PSV)

CHEMICAL CHECK VALVE (CCV)

ANNULUS PRESSURE TRANSDUCER (APT)

1"
TREE CONNECTOR

PRODUCTION TEMPERATURE TRANSDUCER (PTT) PRODUCTION PRESSURE TRANSDUCER (p. PT1

PRODUCTION MASTER VALVE

'

PRODUCTION WING VALVE (PW)

T
SURFACE CONTROLLED SUB SURFACE SAFE'IY VALVE (SCSSV) FLOWLINE ISOLATION

vmm

(FIV)

TO PAGERUNGAN ISLAND

+ ?

FIGURE 1

Tree Schematic

297

PMVP W V -

PROOUCTION MASTER VALVE PRODUCTION I~ING VALVE CHEMICAL INJECTION VALVE PRODUCTION PRESSURE "n~ANSDUCER

CIV PPT -

AMV ABV AXV APT WTV --

ANNULUS MASTER VALVE ANNULUS BLEED VALVE ANNULUS CROSSOVER VALVE ANNULUS PRESSURE "TRANSDUCER WELLHEAD TEST ISOLATION VALVE

FIGURE 2

- Completed tree design.

TUBING HANGER
I
1

scssv

FLOW COUPLING SCSSV FLOW COUPLING

TIE BACK SEAL ASSEMBLY


-

TIE BACK PACKER WITH 14' PBR


LINER HANGER WITH INTEGRAL PACKER

I
NIPPLE

FIGURE 3

- PGE CompletionAssembly

299
/ -TREE
CAP RUNNING TOOL

u
E 4 TREE AND TUBING HANGER IN POSITION
030" CONDUCTOR

------ 0 2 0 "

CASING

013-3/8" 09-5/8"

CASLNG CASING

05-1/2"

TUBING

FIGURE 4 - Tree and Tubing Hanger in position

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