PURE

Clean perforations system

APPLICATIONS

Perforated completions in consolidated

reservoirs with permeabilities >0.5 mD
and pressures >1,200 psi

ADVANTAGES

Increased well productivity and

injectivity
More effective acidizing and hydraulic
fracturing treatments
Reduced volumes of treatment fluids
Minimal disruption of cement-sandface
hydraulic bond
Customized software to create and
control dynamic underbalance for
optimal results
Large dynamic pressure differential
from modest initial static underbalance
or overbalance
Higher effective shot density

Dynamic underbalance increases productivity

The PURE* clean perforations system optimizes the dynamic underbalance, the transient
underbalance produced just after the perforation cavity is created. Underbalanced perforating
is the preferred method of removing perforation debris and crushed-zone damage, resulting in
more-productive perforation tunnels. The required pressure differential between the reservoir
and the wellbore (the required degree of underbalance) depends mainly on rock properties such
as permeability and strength. Hard and tight rocks, for example, may need as much as 4,000 psi
of underbalance.
The PURE system uses specialized hardware for job planning and productivity predicton to
design a unique perforating system and completion process that will generate and control
the optimal dynamic underbalance for a specific well, starting from a modest static pressure
differential. By taking into account the properties of the reservoir, wellbore, and gun string, the
system consistently minimizes or eliminates perforation damage and maximizes productivity.

Perforation cleanup is independent of initial underbalance

Conventional perforating relies on a large, static, initial underbalance that is established before
the guns are fired and is based on estimated reservoir pressure. Experiments at the Schlumberger
Productivity Enhancement Research Facility (PERF) in Rosharon, Texas, have shown that it is
the maximum dynamic underbalancenot the initial underbalancethat governs perforation
cleanup. In the tests, wellbore pressure was found to vary considerably during the half-second
immediately after the charges were detonated.
2,000
Test 1
Test 2

1,500

Test 3
Test 4

1,000
500
Differential
pressure, psi

0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

Time, s
Differential pressure (between the simulated wellbore pressure and the pore pressure) for tests 1 through 4
showed that the maximum dynamic underbalance varied from 400 to 1,300 psi.

PURE
2,500
Test 7
Test 8

2,000

Test 9

1,500

Gamma
Ray,
gAPI MD, ft

Water Downhole Rate

0 100

1,000
500
Differential
pressure, psi

0
500

8,950

1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 0.5
Time, s

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Tests 7 through 9 showed a range of 300 to 2,400 psi for the maximum dynamic underbalance.

Customized design produces successful outcome

Careful control of wellbore dynamics is critical to the success of the perforated completion.
The PERF experiments conclusively showed that previously neglected variations in wellbore
parameters have a profound effect on completion performance. Significant improvement can
be achieved by accounting for the completion geometry, fluids, and perforating hardware in
the perforating job design. Because of this degree of customization, the PURE system has been
successfully used in hard- and soft-rock formations, oil and gas reservoirs, sandstones, and
carbonates.

9,000
PURE system
perforations
9,050

9,100

23,038 bbl/d

257 bbl/d

9,150

9,200

9,250

359 bbl/d
A 20-ft section of PURE system perforations in an
Alaskan North Slope well increased the injection
rate nearly 500%, from 194 to 1,152 bbl/d/ft.

slb.com/PURE

*Mark of Schlumberger
Copyright 2014 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 14-PE-0003