Perforation

 Cased and perforated completions are a mainstay of many fields.

 They are common in most onshore areas, but also used extensively in offshore
areas such as the North Sea.
 Several hydrocarbon bearing zones are evaluated before perforation by using
different types of electrical logs.
 Once the intervals to be perforated are determined, the explosive charges
contained in a gun (Perforating gun) are lowered into the wellbore.
 After that these charges are detonated to produce a series of holes called
perforations through casing walls and cement sheath into the formation.
 Hence provides a path to the formation fluids to enter the wellbore.

Definition
To create holes in the casing or liner to achieve efficient communication between the
reservoir and the wellbore.
OR
The communication tunnel created from the casing or liner into the reservoir formation,
through which oil or gas is produced
OR
Perforation is the technique of creating communication between wellbore and the
producing formation by making holes through casing and cement into the formation.

Perforation Geometry
Perforation geometry includes the following factors which can affect
the productivity of the zone produced by perforation.

 Shot Density
 Phase Angle or Phasing
 Perforation Length
 Perforation Diameter

Shot Density or perforation density: Shot density is the shots (Perforation) per foot
(SPF) or shot per meter (SPM). Computer programs (Calculations) are used to determine
the appropriate number of shots required per foot.
Phase Angle - Phasing: The holes are
dispersed in an angular pattern around the
interior of the wellbore; this dispersion is called
phasing. Phase angle is the angle between two
perforations or the direction in which shaped
charges are fired relative to other shots in the
gun. The most commonly used phase angles are
120, 90, 60 and 45 degree.

Perforation Length: Perforation length is the actual depth that is penetrated by the
explosives. Perforation length has great impact on the production and it may range
between 1-2 ft.

Perforation Diameter: Perforation diameter refers to the diameter of produced hole

through the casing and cement sheath into the formation.

Methods of Perforation
 Bullet Perforation
 Jet Perforation OR Shaped charge Perforation
 High Pressure Water Jets OR Hydraulic “Sand Jet” Perforation
 Perforating with laser
 HOPS (Horizontal Oriented Perforating System)

Bullet Perforation:
 Bullet perforation is an early perforation technique which uses hard steel bullet
to perforate the casing, cement and formation.
 A steel carrier called a gun is used to convey the bullets at a desired depth in the
wellbore.
 Bullets are detonated by sending an electrical impulse from the surface which
perforate the casing and the cement sheath into the formation without damaging
the casing.
 The bullets are fired with velocities up to 3300 ft/sec (for a short barrel 2 inch).
 Bullets lose velocity when gun clearance >0.5 in.
 It is often use in a unconsolidated formations with low temperature.
 This method creates a low-permeability crushed zone and leaves the bullet and
associated debris jammed at the end of the tunnel.
 Workover Jobs or Operations

Introduction:
After drilling a well, the formation is evaluated to know if it contains Oil in commercial
quantity or not? If it does, the well is completed and placed on stream. At a point in the
producing life of the well, the initial conditions of the well may change leading to a
decline in the performance of the well. If the reservoir still contains a reasonable
amount of hydrocarbon something has to be done to improve the performance of the
well or reservoir.
Work Over
 The term Work over, is used to refer to a kind of well intervention that is aimed
at enhancing the performance of a well.
 It involves recompleting already completed well for improved performance.
 The process of performing major maintenance or remedial treatments on an oil
or gas well after initial completion.
 In many cases, work-over implies the removal and replacement of the production
tubing string after the well has been killed and a work-over rig has been placed
on location.
Workover operations
 The operations involved in workover i.e. maintenance and servicing, repairing,
installation of down hole equipments etc. in an initially completed well is termed
as workover operation
 The first basic operation done during workover is well killing. Well killing involves
circulating a fluid (called workover fluid e.g. Brine) into the well whose weight is
appropriate to control the formation pressure.
 The workover begins by removing the well head and possibly the flowline, then
lifting the tubing head from the casing hanger thus beginning to pull out the
tubing from the completion.
Workover Operations involves
1. Well kill operation, 2. retrieval of tubing and completion hardware, 3. Re perforating,
4. Stimulating, OR ANY JOB, 5. Running of completion and wellhead hardware
equipment and tubing
Steps or Progression of Workover
1. Rig-up Mast
2. Well killing
3. Rig down of X-mass tree & rig up of BOP
4. Tripping of Tubing
5. Specified jobs
6. Final Running in of Tubing
7. Rig down BOP
8. Initiate flow (Diesel Injection or N2 kick off job)
Various reasons of Work Over
 Workover to Alleviate Formation Damage
 Workover for Low Permeability Well
 Workover of Wells in Partially Pressure-Depleted Reservoirs
 Workover to Reduce Water Production in Oil and Gas Wells
 Workover to Reduce Gas Production in Oil Wells
 Workover for Sand Control
 Workover to Repair Mechanical Failure
 Workover to Change Zones or Reservoirs
 Workover to Multi completion
 Increasing Production in High-Viscosity Wells
Workover to Alleviate(Improve) Formation Damage
All oil and gas wells have some impairment to production. Therefore, bypassing or
removing blockage from the flowline, tubing, wellbore, perforations, formation matrix,
and formation fracture system, natural or induced, should be considered on all
workovers.
 Well bore bottom.
 Perforations plugging
 Scaled damaged wells
 Paraffin or Asphaltenes Plugging
 Matrix and pore space Scaling
Workover for Low Permeability Well
1. Hydraulic fracturing and propping, 2. Fracture acidizing
Workover of Wells in Partially Pressure Depleted Reservoirs
 Prior to considering workover of wells in a partially pressure-depleted oil
reservoir, an effective artificial lift system should be planned.
 Pressure maintenance or an enhanced recovery program are usually the best
long range approaches to increase production rate and oil
or gas recovery from partially pressure-depleted
reservoirs.
 If a workover is required, consider removing or bypassing
any formation damage.
 Hydraulic fracturing and propping
 Matrix acidizing may offer limited stimulation in either
sandstone or carbonate reservoirs.
Workover to Reduce Water Production in Oil and Gas Wells:
 The water fingering occurs as a result of fast movement
of water in higher permeability layer than the layer with
lower permeability within the producing zone.
 The water coning is the result of water production from
upward movement of water like a cone due to high
pressure differential as a result of high draw down.
Workover to Reduce Gas Production in Oil Wells:
 Gas Coning
 To change interval depth of Perforations
Workover to Repair Mechanical Failure: Mechanical failure
includes
Primary cement failures, Casing, tubing and packer leaks,
Wellbore communication in multiple completions, and other
downhole failures.
Workover to Change Zones or Reservoirs: The usual workover
procedure for changing zones or reservoirs is to squeeze cement
and re-perforate in a new zone or reservoir in perforated casing
completions.
In open hole, it may be necessary to deepen or plug back, or to cement a liner and
selectively perforate a specific zone or reservoir. Because of the many types of well
problems, all possible reservoir or well problems should be considered prior to reaching
the decision to change zones or reservoirs.

Increasing Production in High-Viscosity Wells:

1. Thermal Stimulation, Types (a). Steam Stimulation, (b). Steam Flooding
 Vogel IPR
Introduction
In early 1900 wells were shallow and mostly single phase. In mid 1900s (1930-1960)
wells were of intermediate depth with low permeability (k), dissolved gas and high
pressure drawdown (ΔP). Gilbert IPR did not do well in such reservoirs. Straight-line
productivity index calculation is only valid for single-phase liquids. Although Muskat
pointed out that the curvature in the performance curve of solution gas drive reservoirs
is due to released gas after bubble point pressure is reached, Vogel first published two-
phase IPR in 1968.
Properties of Vogel IPR
 Vogel IPR is valid for solution gas reservoirs producing under bubble point
pressure only
 It is single point IPR
 Vogel used only one value of oil compressibility, Co =
 Less accurate for heavy oil wells and well with high skin values
 More accurate for high rate tests  Introduces greater error at the last stages of
depletion
 If well is stimulated, Vogel IPR does not guaranty the accurate performance and
requires that well must be tested again.
Limitations of Vogel IPR: Vogel IPR is based on Weller’s assumptions
 GOR is not constant as assumed in earlier work : (better)
 Gas desaturation rate is same everywhere in the reservoir
 It is independent of Skin
IPRs- Vogel: Additional Assumptions
 Circular and Bounded Reservoir
 Uniform and isotropic formation
 Constant water saturation everywhere in the reservoir
 Negligible gravity and Capillary effects
 Pseudo steady state
Vogel’s methodology can be used to predict the IPR curve for the following two types of
reservoirs:
Saturated oil reservoirs 𝑃𝑅 ≤ 𝑃𝑏
Under saturated oil reservoirs 𝑃𝑅 > 𝑃𝑏 OR Two Rate Generalized IPR (TWO CASES)
NOTE: VOGEL IPR FORMULA IS DEVELOPED FOR GAUGE PRESSURE (PSIG) NOT PSIA
Saturated oil reservoirs 𝑃𝑅 ≤ 𝑃𝑏
IPR as a function of reservoir pressure
 As reservoir pressure decreases, a new IPR has to be established.
 Experience has shown that the IPRs are parallel as the reservoir pressure
decreases.
Under saturated oil reservoirs 𝑃𝑅 > 𝑃𝑏 OR Two Rate Generalized IPR
CASE1: Composite IPR has been developed for reservoirs possessing pressure above the
bubble point, but can decline below the bubble point with depletion OR
CASE2: If wellbore flowing pressure is
maintained below the bubble point.
It is the composite form of the Gilbert
and Vogel IPRs.
When reservoir pressure is greater than
Pb, and Pwf is lower than Pb, two IPRs
exist.
- Straight Line up to bubble point
- Curved below the bubble point
 Swabbing
Introduction
 Slickline or BRAIDED wire rope can be used to remove fluid (swabbing).
 It requires wash cups deployed on slick line to lift a column of liquid out of the
well.
 To prevent the possibility of reaching too deep and trying to lift too much fluid, a
pressure relief valve is incorporated to bypass the wash cups.
 It can be time-consuming, but is often quicker than rigging up coiled tubing.
Swabbing while production
Swabbing is to pull up on a wireline swab.
Wireline Swab: A tool that fits tightly in the casing or more commonly in the tubing of a
well tubing.
To swab the drilling mud/Completion mud (in new wells) or while production
condensate wellbore storage.
WHY WE NEED TO SWAB?
To unload liquids from the production tubing to initiate flow from the reservoir.
Swabbing favors:
1. Removes the fluid in the casing or tubing which is called unloading the well
2. Lowers the hydrostatic pressure in the well.
3. Clean out the well and start the well flowing.
Condensate forming depends on natural decline or choke variation
For a new produced WELL? Swab, Diesel, Nitrogen Kick off
Swabbing tool string comprises of 1. Swab line 2. Swab Cup 3. Swab cup mandrel
At surface: Swab line unit
Swab Line: A “9/16 or 5/8 inch” wire rope that is several thousand feet long and is used
with a swab.
Swab line unit / braided wire rope / wireline: A truck mounted service unit that is used
to swab a well. The unit has a draw works with braided wire rope. The swab line unit is
used to lower and raise a swab cup tool in the well.
Swab Cup:
 A rubber cup that has almost the same diameter as the inside diameter of tubing
in a well.
 Swap Cups are attached to a swap cup mandrel on a swabbing tool and run on a
wireline or swab line into the well through tubing.
 As they are lowered, the swab cups allows fluid in the tubing to flow past them.
 When the cups are raised, they seal against the tubing and force the overlying
fluid up the tubing.
Swab cup mandrel:
 Swab-cup mandrel a downhole tool that holds swab cups used in swabbing a
well.
 Several swab-cup mandrels attached to knuckle joints are often run into the
tubing.
 The last swab-cup mandrel on the bottom is called a rabbit and is different
because it has a no go, a metal cylinder just slightly smaller in diameter than the
tubing.