SPE 138798

Cementing, Perforating and Fracturing Using Coiled Tubing: Rigless

Completion Technique Developed for a Marginal Field in Peru
V. Salazar, BJ Services; V. de la Rosa, Sapet Develpment; and J . Gomez and J . Quintana, BJ Services
Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Latin American & Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference held in Lima, Peru, 13 December 2010.

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 Talara field, onshore Peru, is one of the oldest oilfields in the world. It was discovered in late 19th century and up to 2010
more than 12,000 wells have been drilled. Currently, only some 3,000 wells are active; the remaining ones have been temporarily
or permanently abandoned due to low production.

Recently, a new pay zone was found above the typical producing formation in this field. However, two factors complicate any
plans to recomplete the old wells and produce from the new formation. In first place, in the typical well configuration, the
production casing in these wells is not cemented to surface and the cement top is below the new zone. Secondly, because the new
pay zone is in a low-permeability formation, it must be fractured to be commercially produced. A conventional rig-based workover
to recomplete and fracture this upper payzone is too expensive to be economically viable.

This paper presents a new rig less completion technique involving plug and abandonment of the lower zones, followed by
cementing, perforating and fracture stimulating the new zone using only coiled tubing for intervention. The technique has proven
to be an economically viable way to bring back to life the first 18 wells completed.

Operational details, production results and lessons learned from this first campaign are presented. The analysis demonstrates that
this new system can reduce completion time and costs in open-hole wells for both mature and new fields.

Introduction
The Talara basin, in the northeast Peruvian coast, holds several very mature fields producing from low permeability, very complex
sandstones. The original target zones were located at more than 4,000 ft in Parias, Mogollon and Basal Salina formations.
Presently, in most of the blocks, these original targets are very depleted and well interventions are usually bellow the economical
limit. For this reason, other reservoir formations which were not considered as viable targets are now being considered interesting
for recompletion. In this analysis there upper formations considered were: Verdun, Helico and Talara. They hold oil reserves able
to be produced. However, in blocks 6 and 7 of the Talara Basin, the wells have gone by this formation, most of them having being
drilled in the 1940s, were cemented with the cement top bellow these formations. Considering the reservoir conditions of low
permeability and low pressure, the wells need to be hydrualically fractured to be produced.

Since these wells do not have hydraulic isolation to surface from the formations to be recompleted, the challenge is to be able to
provide cement isolation to the reservoirs in order to complete with hydraulic fracturing. The fields are very mature and the
expected production is quite low, thus this recompletion process could eventually be beyond the economical limit, thus the
challenge is that this recompletion has to be deployed at the minimum possible cost. If successful, hundreds of opportunities will
be available for this type of recompletion. This paper is based mainly on experience in Talara. The approach used to achieve this
objective was to perforate, deploy cement isolation and fracture stimulate in a simple rigless operation, with the minimum amount
of equipment and people.
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Recompletion Overview
After analyzing different options, the selected approach was to use a light coiled tubing unit to perforate and to deploy cement
isolation rings above and below the fracturing zone. Then, to perforate and fracture the Verdun formation. This procedure to be
performed in one or several stages if required, depending the thickness of the reservoir. The perforations were achieved using the
sand jet technique. Since it has been impossible to circulate though the non cemented section, the cement isolation was placed by
squeezing cement through the perforations.
The process is better described in the following drawings:
Step 1: Set a bridge plug or a gel plug
Step 2: Sand jet perforation of the lower squeeze interval
Step 3: Squeeze cement


Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
Figure 1. Rigless Recompletion in Verdun, steps 1-3

Step 4: Clean the cement in the wellbore
Step 5: Sand jet perforation of the upper squeeze interval
Step 6: Squeeze cement


Step 6 Step 8 Step 9
Figure 2. Rigless Recompletion in Verdun, steps 4- 9
Step 7: Clean cement
SPE 138798 3
Step 8: Sand jet perforate the frac interval
Step 9: Hydraulic fracture, clean proppant and install artificial lift.
This procedure resulted in good enough cement isolation to effectively stimulate the target zones. The recompletion was
performed in shorter time and cost, compared to a rig based operation. Details of each step are shown below:

Sand Jet Perforation
The Sand J et perforation is a process that uses a high pressure abrasive fluid slurry to perforate the casing and the cement in an oil
or gas well and simultaneously extend a cavity into the reservoir. In order to properly assess the performance of this technique
with the available equipment and well conditions, regarding perforations penetration, jetting time required, optimum rate and
pressure differential, a yard test was performed.
The tool used to cut the perforations was a three nozzle 2
7
/
8
sand jet tool, with 4 OD centralizers. The 3 jet nozzles used were
1
/
8
. The tool was run with a 1 coiled tubing and the perforations were cut with treated water pumped with 1 lb/gal of beach
sand. For this yard test, 6 deep, 15 diameter hole was built. Inside it, a 5 casing was run and cemented. The cement sheath
thickness was 9.0


(A) (B)

Figure 3. Yard Test: (A) Pilot Hole (B) Cement Sheath Thickness

For the test, the sand jetting tool BHA was run inside the 5 casing with a 1 coiled tubing. The typical casing size for the
wells in the area is 5. However, there are also candidates with 4 and 6
5
/
8
casings. The results were successful. The created
perforation passed the cement sheath after 10 minutes of jetting the sand - fluid slurry. The created tunnel was 11 mm diameter. It
was clean and debris free, as shown in Figure 4.


(A) Diameter (B) Extension (C) Cemented zone penetration

Figure 4. Yard Test: Perforation tunnels created by Sand Jet Tool
4 SPE 138798
The number of perforations for the actual operations were designed based on the actual first job observations. For the cement
squeezes: injectivity tests to deploy the cement ring in the annulus. For the fracture operation: the assessed parameter was the
observed perforations friction and near wellbore friction losses (NWBF). They were calculated using step down tests.

Both the test and the operations were
(A) (B)


Figure 5. Sand J et Perforating plots (A) Pilot well-Surface Tests (B) Typical Well

The operation is typically performed by pumping treated water with 1 pound per gallon (ppa) of sand at 1.35 bpm. Three
perforations (one jetting point) are enough to deploy and squeeze the cement slurry and 45 to 60 perforations (15-20 jetting points)
are enough for the fracture stimulation, with less than 100 psi of near wellbore pressure loss. This low perforation friction resulted
in the fact that actual perforation tunnels do not exist, but only casing and open hole behind it. The cutting time followed the 10
minutes per jetting point standard, as per the yard test.

Cement Isolation
Since the recompletion target reservoirs are above the cement top, hydraulic isolation is a must in order to fracture stimulate.
Initial approaches to provide hydraulic isolation included casing cut and new casing run, and attempts to circulate cement to
surface. The first resulted in a very expensive workover, and in the second case was unable to circulate fluids behind the casing
usually due to very old mud with solid spots between the casing and the bore hole.

The solution was to perforate and squeeze cement bellow and above the section to be fractured, to create isolation cement rings
behind the casing. Despite the fact that this approach does not guarantee a complete and safe proof isolation, the results observed
and fracture treatment pressure behavior demonstrate that it has been successful and the objectives have been fully met. Figure 5
shows the fracturing job pressure behavior. The pressure is above the fracturing pressure and no response in the annulus pressure
was observed.

The cement squeezes consist usually in 10 bbl of 15.6 ppg cement slurry. The slurry is spotted in front of the cut perforations and
then it is heisted several times in order to create the cement ring. J ust below the squeezing zone, a sand plug is used in order to
avoid cement settling. For the second squeeze, a sand plug is also used; in both cases a gel spacer is used between the sand and the
cement in order to prevent hard cement. After the squeeze, the cement remaining inside the casing is contaminated with gel in
order to be able to circulate it out of the hole after the squeezed cement set. The contamination procedure and the slurry properties
were adjusted after the first jobs where the set cement was found very hard inside the wellbore and a time consuming cement
drilling operation was needed. The cement rings in the annulus were tested with integrity tests at pressure similar to the one
expected in the fracture treatment. This ensures that the fracture treatment is going to be placed in the target reservoir. Figure 6
shows a plot of the operation parameters of a typical cement squeeze job.

The cement slurry was designed in the laboratory to have low rheology and thickening time enough to reach squeeze pressure and
then to be able to clean the cement excess in the same trip (to avoid a drilling run). See Figure 2, Step 4. Table 1 shows the most
relevant cement slurry properties

SPE 138798 5











Table 1. Cement Slurry Properties



Figure 6. Typical cement squeeze operation


Fracture Stimulation
After the perforations are cut and when the cement rings have developed a compressive strength of at least 800 psi, the fracture
treatment is performed.
Figure 7 shows the parameters of a typical fracturing operation, the treatment parameters plot on the left are from a well worker
under this recompletion technique, the graph on the right is a normal well cemented to surface. The pressure during the treatment
is above the fracturing pressure. No pressure response was observed in the casing to casing annulus.
An analysis comparing previous conventional treatments and the new rigless approach treatments is shown in Figure 7. The
pressure behavior confirms that the fracture gradient and the fracture extension pressure in the minifrac, as well as treating
pressure and net fracture pressure are quite similar in both treatments. This confirms that the zonal isolation was reached and that
the stimulation was properly placed in the target zone.

Fracture treatments in wells with standard rig completion (and primary cement) showed perforation friction and NWBF between
300 a 400 psi, see figure 7 (B). Fracture treatments in wells recompleted with the new rigless CT technique showed a perforation
and NWBF pressure loss between de 0 a 50 psi, see figure 7 (A).
This fact not only reduces the pumping pressure requirements but also results in a better production results from a better fracture
and from good communication between the fracture and the well. The low calculated net pressure at the end of the minifracs also
suggests that no multiple fractures are being created, despite the fact that when fracture stimulating an openhole section, there is
risk of creating multiple fractures, thus resulting in a shorter fracture geometry.




(A ) Frac treatment with rigless CT recompletion (B) Frac Treatment with normal primary cementing

Figure 7. Typical fracturing job parameters

Units
Thickening Time 3 to 4 Hr
Filtrate <50 ml / 30 min
Plastic Viscosity <100 cP
Compressive Strength >1000 Psi / 12 hr
6 SPE 138798
For this project, the fractures are designed to be 140 ft long and to reach the whole height of the reservoir. A typical fracture
geometry is shown in Figure 8.



Figure 8. Typical Fracture Profile


Production Results
The results of the recompletion work of 18 wells under the new rigless CT technique is examined and evaluated in Figure 9. The
first rigless CT recompletion campaing began on May 16 and finished on December 30, 2009. Before this campaign, the 18 wells
were producing 45 BOPD combined. After the recompletions the combined production was stabilized around 200 BPD.
Of the 18 wells recompleted, 8 wells show natural flow.
Out of the 18 wells, three of them did not perform as expected. Although the reasons for this are not completely assessed, one of
the following reasons would explain this behavior: poor reservoir properties or damage from unbroken gel.
Despite of the 3 underperforming wells, more than 80% of the coiled tubing recompleted wells were both technically and
economically successful.
















Figure 9. Productive Performance of 18 wells recompletion with CT and Sand J et


Operations Summary
After an initial learning curve in the first 3 wells, the operational procedure is now typically completed in 2 days for a single zone.
After the recompletion, a pulling unit installs the artificial lift system and the well starts to produce. Both operational time for the
wells workover, as well as the recompletion time were reduced in more than 33%, compared to a typical workover based
recompletion. Table 2 shows the time used for the 18 rigless recompletions.


SPE 138798 7
Table 2. Rigless CT Fracture Recompletions

Well Recompletion
Time (day)
Stages
1 3 1
2 2.5 1
3 2.4 1
4 1 1
5 4 2
6 3.5 2
7 2 1
8 2 1
9 2 1
10 2 1
11 2 1
12 2 1
13 2 1
14 2 1
15 2 1
16 2 1
17 2 1
18 2 1



Conclusions

18 successful operations confirmed that coiled tubing is a successful means to deliver a rigless completion including perforating,
cementing and hydraulic fracturing.

The rigless coiled tubing recompletion process proved to be an effective way to reduce costs, simplify the operation and access
reserves that could probably be not economical if a conventional rig was used.

Sand J et perforating is a successful mean to cut holes in the casing in order to inject cement to the casing - hole annulus.

Sand J et perforating is successful technique to create perforation tunnels passing the critical damage area. This results in a better
fracture geometry and provides a more effective communication from the reservoir to the well.

Rigless CT deployed cement rings squeezed through a few perforations. were successful to provide zonal isolation for fracture
stimulation operations.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the management of Sapet Development and BJ Services for the permission to publish this paper.

Nomenclature
BHA = Bottom Hole Assembly
BPM = Barrels per Minute
CT = Coiled Tubing
NWBF = Near Well Bore Friction Loss
PPG = Pounds per Gallon
8 SPE 138798
FT = Feet
ID = Internal Diameter
OD = External Diameter
LB = Pounds
PSI = Pounds per Square Inch
SG = Specific Gravity
STP = Surface Treating Pressure

SI Metric Conversion Factors
Bbl 1.589 873 E 01 = m
3
cP 1.0* E 03 =Pa . s
Lbm 4.535 E-01 =kg
mD 9.869 233 E 04 =m
2

Ft 3.048* E 02 = m
In 2.54* E +012 = mm
Psi 6.894 757 E +00 =kPa
*Conversions factors are exact

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