Horizontal Completion Design

and Work Overs

Heavy Oil Recovery
Introduction
Heavy oils viscosity is the property which is usually
reduced to allow fluids to flow and be produced. Thermal
methods are employed however they required special well
considerations because of the high temperature they face.
Well considerations are:
Drilling stable boreholes & accurately landing horizontal
wells
Designing tubular systems
Using durable cements
Installing sand control,
Completion and artificial lift equipment




Scope of Presentation
Heavy Oil Recovery Techniques
Benefits of Horizontal Wells
Casing & Tubing
Cementing
Sand Control
Artificial Lift
Workovers
Advancements in Completion Equipment
Feasibility of Horizontal Completions &
Workovers in Trinidad
Conclusion/Recommendations
Heavy Oil Recovery
Techniques
Open Pit
Mining
Non-
Mining
Thermal
CSS
SAGD
THAI
Chemical
VAPEX
Non-Thermal
CHOPS
PPT
MEOR
Benefits of Horizontal Wells?
Benefits include:
Horizontal makes more efficient use of reservoir
pressure
Thin low permeability reservoirs
Layered formations
Partially depleted and flooded reservoirs can be
more effectively drained
Horizontal can produce at higher rates at similar
drawdown or similar rate at lower drawdown
Horizontal delays coning (cresting) in case of
bottom water drive reservoir
Horizontal Completions
The most important aspects of completions
for thermal heavy oil wells either injection
wells or production wells are:
Casing & Tubing design
Cementing
Sand control
Artificial Lift


Casing & Tubing
Higher Strength Casing
Insulated Tubing
Thermal Tubing Packer
Thermal Wellhead
Centralizers
Pre tensioned Casing
Casing threading




Cementing
Centralizers
Cement with high concentrations of Silica
flour & Alumina.
Good cement practices

Sand Control
Stand-alone Screens
Slotted Liners
Pre-packed Screens
Wire Wrapped Screens
Premium Screens
Gravel Packing

Reciprocating Rod Lift Systems
Progressing Cavity Pumping Systems
Electric Submersible Pumping Systems
Hydraulic Lift Systems
Artificial Lift
Workovers
Of all the problems that can occur during
production, three stand out the most: equipment
failure, wellbore problems, and saltwater disposal.

There are 4 different types of workovers and they
are caused by:
Mechanical Problems
Well Blockage
Near Field Problems
Far Field Problems

Advancements in Completion
Equipment
Schlumberger - The REDA Hotline high-
temperature ESP system
SCI Construction Materials Group -
White High Alumina Cement (WHAC)
Schlumberger OptiPac Alternate Path
Screens
Schlumberger - MRP Modular
Retrievable Packer for ESP Completions
Feasibility in Trinidad
Excellent for thin bedded pay zones
Excellent technical skills in directional drilling
Productivity enhancement (as much as 10 to 20
fold higher)
Fewer wells per section
Fewer gathering systems
Better well monitoring & hence better reservoir
management
Longer well life & less Workovers
Good sand control available for Trinidads
unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs

Conclusion/Recommendations
Productivity of horizontal wells is 34 times that of vertical
wells.
Added benefit of having to drill less wells to produce a
reservoir.
Used where the vertical well normally cannot be drilled.
Using the combination of horizontal and vertical wells can
greatly improve recovery.
Makes more efficient use of reservoir pressure.
Delays coning (cresting) in case of bottom water drive
reservoir.
Most EOR methods require the use of horizontal
completions.

References
Books
Ali, Farouq S.M.1997.Practical Heavy Oil Recovery, first edition, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,

Journals
Beakley, W.B. 1965. The Hardware of Steam Injection. Paper 65-006: 9-13

Papers
Joshi, S.D. 2003. Cost/Benefits of Horizontal Wells. Paper SPE 83621 presented at the SPE
Regional AAPG Pacific Section Joint Meeting, California, U.S.A, 19-24 May.
Brunnings, C. 2005. New Completion Developments for the production of Heavy and Extra-
Heavy Oil in Eastern Venezuela. Paper SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97914 presented at SPE
International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium Held in Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, 1-3 November.
Bianco, L.C. et al. 2006. Challenges on Completion for Productivity for Deepwater Heavy Oil.
Paper SPE 9342 presented at SPE International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation
Damage Control held in Lafayette, L.A, 15-17 Febuary.
Martins, A.L. 2009. Sand Control in Long Horizontal Section Wells. Paper OTC 20113
presented at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, U.S.A, 4-7 May.
Cunha, L.B. 2005. Recent In-Situ Oil Recovery Technologies for Heavy and Extra-heavy Oil
Reserves. Paper SPE 94986 presented at SPE Latin America and Caribbean Petroleum
Engineering Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20-23 June.