SPE

Society of Petroleum Engineers

SPE 17984

Optimized Completion Significantly Reduced Cost and Time

in Gulf of Suez Fields
by S. Mansour and F. Khalaf,* Gulf of Suez Petroleum Co.
*SPE Member

Copyright 1989, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Oil Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Manama, Bahrain, 11-14 March, 1989.

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,
as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committee~ of the Society
of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment
.of where and by whom the paper is presented. Write Publications Manager, SPE, P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083·3836. Telex, 730989 SPEDAL.

ABSTRACT:
is the most common method of artificial lift
This paper presents the chronological development in Gulf of Suez.
of Gulf of Suez Petroleum Co. (GUPCO) offshore
well completions. Reservoir depletion and the The original completion systems and practices
problems experienced with the initial completions used in early development wells were subject
prompted the need for basic changes. Several to continuous review and changes. Alternative
changes in completion systems were studied before designs were evaluated according to their
an optimum solution was selected. The impact on the completion time, workover plans,
development includes all the areas of original suitability to production policies, and
completions that had shown operational safety. Although historically the changes in
shortcomings: the completion-fluids design and each one of the completion areas were made
selection, down hole equipment, running and seperately, the net result is that all changes
pulling operations, wireline phase, perforating, interacted to produce significant operational
and initial flow phase. All the changes gains. As a result of the optimization
interacted and resulted in the completion efforts, the changes in completion operations
optimization which have considerably reduced effected the following major improvements: 1)
operations time and cost, significantly reduced Replacement of mudline packers by mud-line
operational problems, and increased well hangers, then by well-head tubing hangers, 2)
productivity. It worth to note that, as a result Generalization of the use of hydraulic-set
of completion optimization, now a completion job packers, 3) Elimination of dual-string
takes less than one half of the time that was completions, 4) Generalization of tubing
spenl to complete erie well ten years ago. conveyed perforating technique, 5) Utilization
of tubing retrievable sub-surface safety
I. INTRODUCTION valves, 6) Quasi-elimination of wireline
operations, 7) Standardization of tubing
Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO) is the sizes, threads, and connections, 8) Control of
largest offshore oil producer in Egypt. GUPCO corrosion and scale, and 9) Standardization of
began offshore production in late 1967 from completion fluids. All these changes were
EL-MORGAN field. Now, production in the Gulf made compatible with GUPCO basic casing
of Suez is fL·om 50 sandstone reservoirs programs and ~reduction policies. Moreover,
between 5500 fl. and 11500 ft. subsea. The the changes comply with the safety regulations
initial reservoir pressure ranged from 2600 in offshore oil fields. Definite signs pf
psi. to 5900 psi, - the current reservoir improvement were noticed after applying each
pressure ranging from 500 to '•500 psi. In of these major changes.
1988, the production rate is approximately
450,000 BOPD from 50 offshore producing This paper presents the background information
platforms containing over 300 wells. Some of for each item, explains how the current
these wells produce naturally, but the majority optimum solution for the completion problems
requires an artificial lift system. Gas lift were reached, and documents how these and
other minor changes have resulted in the
completion optimization.
* References and illustrations at end of paper
591
2 Ontimized Comnletion Reduced Cost and Time in Gnl f of R11 ~=>'7. "F'i ~=>1 r'l~ SPE 17984

II THE RESULTS OF COMPLETION passage of wireline tools. The mudline

OPTIMIZATION suspension packer was to protect the casing
above the packer from well pressure; stimu-
A total of 320 completion runs from the lation pressure, and corrosive fluids. Also,
biggest five fields in the Gulf of Suez it will support the completion string if the
( EL-MORGAN, BADRI , JULY, RAMADAN and OCTOBER well bore is seriously damaged above the
fields) were reviewed. The data of these runs seafloor.
are collected according to the completion
date. The consecutive completion designs are Several problems had been experienced with the
shown in Fig. (1). In this figure, the dual-string dual mud line suspension packer
changes are ordered according to their design in Gulf of Suez wells :
introduction in Gulf of Suez operations.
1. Long running and pulling time of the dual
These changes in completion designs are string above the mud line suspension
divided into four consecutive categories: packer.

Group (1) For the early wells completed 2. Long time needed for redressing the packer
before 1978 (9-5/8"0.0.) before rerunning again due to
Group (2) For the wells completed during 1979 problems encountered when releasing the
through 1982 packer. These packers had frequent leaks
Group (3) For the wells completed during 1983 due to the deterioration of the seal
through 1986, where most of the rubber while running in hole.
optimization efforts were done
Group (4) For the wells completed during 3. Packing off the completion string downhole
1987-1988. They show the full while attempting to back out the landing
results of completion optimization joint from the slick sub.
and the remarkable improvements
over other categor~es. 4. Misalignment of the packer in the hole due
to the weight of the long string.
Optimizing the completion designs and practices
has significantly reduced operations time and 5. Exposure of the casing below the dual
cost, reduced operational problems, and packer was subject to both pressure and
increased well productivity. As a result of corrosion in the wells producing with
these optimization, now a completion job takes annular flow completion.
less than one half of the time that was spent
to complete one of the early development wells In order to reduce the running and pulling
in the Gulf of Suez (Fig. 12). times of the dual strings above the mud line
suspension packer and to eliminate the possi-
III IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPLETION bility of missalignment of the packer,
OPERATIONS the completion procedures was modified to run
the short string with a stinger (Fig. 4).
The changes and improvements in all of the However, leaks were recorded due to damage of
completion operation areas were interacted to the packing element during installing and
produce significant operational gains and spacing out of the short string. ·
·optimization of GUPCO' s well completions. The
following are the major changes that led to The persistant problems with the dual-string
these results. dual-packer mud line suspension system had
necessitated an alternative completion design.
(1) Replacement of mudline packers by mud-line
hangers, th~n QI_well-head tubing hangers In 1981 a single string completion with a
simple mud line hanger (Fig. 5) was introduced
In the ·early stages of completion design for to replace the dual packer-mud line suspension
Gulf of Suez wells, the dual-packer, single- system. Gas for gas lifting was injected
string annular flow completion and the dual- directly down the annulus with a check valve
packer, dual-string tubing flow completion at surface. With the presence of the bottom
concepts were developed (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). hole packer above the pay zone, this method
Lift gas had been injected through the injec- was accepted as a safe completion design.
tion string (above the dual packer) down the
annulas below the mudline packer with a check In some fields (BADRI, MORGAN, GS 376 and
valve placed in the injection string. OCTOBER) a· tubing hanger nipple was installed
as an integral part of the 9-5/8" casing
The dual-packer is a retrievable type, string, about two hundred feet below the sea
hydraulic set and straight pull-release bed. The completion was to be run and the
packer. It had been used as a shallow-set hanger was to be landed in the profile of the
mud-line suspension packer, primary for the nipple, (Fig. 6). In a few occasions,
desired well safety and to hang-off the failures in either the hanger or the nipple
completion string in tension to enhance the caused the completion to drop down the hole.

592
SPE 17984 SAY.l:!:D MANSOUR FOUAD KHALAF 3

Evaluation of the single string completion the tubing stub for the X-mass tree (set
with the mudline hanger used instead of the hanger and cut the tubing string).
dual string , mud line suspension system
provided the following benefits: (2) Generalization of the use of hydraulic -
set packers
1. Full ID to surface when the tubing
retrievable SSSV is used, this yields The first tubing flow completion design in
higher flow efficiency and production GOS, involved the running of a permanent
rates. packer and setting it above the productive
zone with wireline. The tubing seal is then
2. No wireline plugs to be set in the bottom run on the bottom of the tubing string, stung
packer or mud line hanger (after one ball into and spaced in the bore of the permanent
is dropped and landed in a collet catcher packer (Fig. 3). The objective of setting the
sub, pressure is applied to set both the permanent packer above the pay is to maximize
packer and the mud line hanger). the production rate while optimizing gas lift
injection, to protect the pay zone from kill
3. Less expensive equipment. and packer fluids, and to protect casing above
the pay zone from high pressures (including
4. Faster running and pulling than the dual both well and stimulation pressures) and
string, with less wireline runs. corrosion fluids. We have experienced several
problems with permanent packer completions.
5. Compatible with other standardized Tubing seal failures and communication of
completion equipment. pressure above and below the packer were
caused by the movement of the working seals in
Then a single string completion with a and out of the packer sealing bore, the
two-trip tubing hanger was used on all tubing damaging effects of the down hole environ-
flow completions (Fig. 5). The lower part of ments, and the improper spacing of the seal
the completion string and the hanger is run assembly in the packer sealing bore.
and set below the mud line on the running tool
using drill pipe. The latch assembly is made In high temperature wells (such as those of
up in the lowest part of the top section of the October field), improper space-out of the
the completion string. It is lowered and locator assembly resulted in tubing buckling
sealed into a pre-set hanger or receptacle. and the subsequent wireline tool running
problems. To protect the tubing seal units
Several miss runs, due to leaks latching from damage, a tail pipe with seal bore
assembly and other operational problems with extension was attached to the bottom of the
the two-trip tubing hanger, resulted in permanent packer which is set on drill pipe.
modifying this configuration to the current Then a high temperature seal is run on tapered
one-trip tubing hanger, where both the hanger tubing and spaced out in the seal bore
and latching system or running tool are part extension. The mud line hanger is landed into
of the production string and run in the hole the integral hanger nipple profile of the
in one-trip. This modification simplifies the 9-5/8" casing (Fig. 7).
completion, minimizes the space out problems,
and reduces the rig time. In addition to Hydraulic set retrievable packers with high
these benefits, the design of the one-trip temperature seals were utilized to replace the
hanger allows to release and to reset the permanent packers. Expansion joints are used
hanger up or down hole after setting. to adjust for expansion and contraction of the
completion tubing (Fig. 8). The objective of
Replacement of mudline tubing hangers (MLTH) this change was to avoid leaks of the seal
by well-head tubing hangers (WHTH) is one of assembly, to save rig time required to set the
the last - but not. the least - of the major permanent packer with the tail assembly on
improvements in Gupco' s completion opera- drill pipe (or the permenant packer only on
tions. Based on the safety statistics of wireline), and to save the additional rig time
accidents in G.o.s., the philosophy of the required to mill and retrieve the permanent
MLTH and its applications in Gupco's packer.
operations has been reevaluated, and the
single string completions was changed from Another area where the hydraulic set packers
mudline tubing hangers to wellhead tubing were used is in the isolation packer · comple-
hangers. Differ~nt wellhead tubing hanger tions. In the isolation packer completion,
configurations were evaluated and a final two 7" x 3-1/2" hydraulic retrievable packers
design was selected based on both safety and had been used to isolate a zone from pro-
practicality (only minor modification for the duction (Fig. 9). Recently, GUPCO encoun-
existing X-mass trees was required). In tered several problems with the bottom
summary, the primary reasons of switching from retrievable packers. In old wells which had
MLTii system to the WHTH system are to reduce previously been produced with annular flow
completion costs without reducing safety or completion, we experienced problems with the
efficiency; to avoid the mechanical problems new hydraulic isolation-packer not holding
when setting or releasing mud line hangers; adequately inside casing (casing has been
and to eliminate the time required to prepare degraded by age and produced fluids). Also,
the problems of the isolation-packer unseating

593
4 Optimized Completion Reduced Cost and Time in Gulf of Suez Fields SPE 17984

after gun detonat-ion had occurred in some PRODUCTIVITY DAILY PRODUCTION DAILY PRODUCTION
cases. While the exact reasons for this INDEX (BBL) (1) (BBL) (2)
failure have not been identified, the
following are, , in our opinion, the causing 10.5 1400
factors: 1.0 2250 2250
2.0 4200 4700
1) depth of the packer, 2) length and size of 2.5 5050 5600
the guns, 3) excessive underbalance used for 3.25 5700 6650
perforating, 4) absence of perforations below 4.0 6625 7700
the packer to absorb the detonation .. shock .. ,
and 5) the condition of the casing. (4) Generalization of tubing conveyed perforating
technique
As nearly all of the problems have occurred
below 8000', modification of the isolation Underbalanced perforating is generally consi-
packer completion resulted in an alternative dered the most successful! method of perfora-
design utilizing a permanent lower packer in tion. In 1984, GUPCO introduced the
depths below 8000' . The permanent packer is technique of perforating underbalance with
positioned very accurately and set on wire- tubing conveyed gun in the GOS (Ref 1).
line. This design eliminates the expansion Since then, tubing conveyed perforation has
joint between the two packers, and insures the become Gupco' s standard practice for nearly
proper setting of the bottom packer which can all new completions, workovers, and drill
withstand the high bottom hole pressure and stem tests in both land and offshore wells.
temperature. A total of 280 TCP jobs have been performed
in the Gulf of Suez since the introduction of
(3) Eliminatation of dual-string completion the tubing conveyed perforation technique
(Fig.11). With the tubing conveyed perfora-
An optimum completion design has to assure ting technique, we have been able to maximize
maximum production, to optimize gas lift the productivity, reduce completion time and
injection when reservoir performance changes, cost, and eliminate most of the problems
to minimize completion and workover problems, associated with conventional wire line
and to enhance safety and longevity of the methods. Even though minor problems have
well. been experienced with the tubing conveyed
perforating technique, the success of using
Some persistant mechanical and operational TCP guns has been more than satisfactory with
problems had been encountered with the dual the success rate increasing from 80. 27. for
string completions with respect to the 1985 to 977. for 1987.
changes of reservoir performance and
nessecitated the need to optimize and (5) Generalization of tubing retrievable
simplify the completion design. The dual sub-surface safety valves (TRS valves)
string completion was replaced by the single-
string mud line hanger completion in order to Prior to 1983, GUPCO was using the wireline
shorten running and pulling time of the dual self-equalizing retrievable sub-surface
strings above 'the dual packer, to eliminate safety valves (WLRSSV) in all oil wells
the possibility of running in blind with the completions. These valves are installed in a
dual packer, and to avoid damage of the seating nipple +-150' below the mud line.
packing element during installion and space
out of the short string. Gupco has experienced several equipment and
operational problems with the WLRSSV, The
The evaluation of the flow performance for following are some of these problems:
dual string completions has shown in all
cases that the single string completion 1. The restricted I.D. of the valves causes
outperforms the dual string. significant pressure drop and production
restrictions which become substantial in
The following table presents the out flow wells where scale or paraffin builds up
performance of dual-string completion (2-3/8 .. inside the tubing. Scale and paraffin
long string, 2-7/8.. short string) versus accumulation on top of the valve results
single string completion (Fig. 10). in a dangerous situation when the valve is
stuck in the open position.
ANNULAR FLOW(1) TUBULAR FLOW(2)
(dual string) (single string) 2. In addition to the extra rig time, and the
potential risks involved with WL work, the
Casing O.D. 7" + 7" wireline work associated with the WLRSSV
Tubing O.D. 2-7/8 .. & 2-3/8 .. 3-1/2" results in deferred production.
w. c. ,7. 50 50
GLR SCF/bbl 750-1000 750-1000

594
SPE 17984 SAYED MANSOUR, FOUAD KHALAF 5

3. For most of the workover operations involv- all of the wells and continue to replace W/L
ing the removal of the tree. The WLRSSV's retrievable type with the tubing retrieval:?le
need lo be pulled and a positive plug set valves. At least one self equilizing TRSSV
In some cases, after finishing the jobs and is being used on one well per platform which
setting the valve back in place, the valve does not have a readily available source of
was left unlocked and subsequently blown up equilizing pressure.
the hole.
Furthermore, in order to reduce the problems
4. When the valve is stuck or malfunctions, a related to the failure of sub-surface safety
secondary valve can not be set in order to valves, a function testing procedure and tear
allow the well to produce safely. Consequ- down and inspection procedure has been
ently a flow tube can not be set across the established and standardized to evaluate and
stuck valve to allow wireline work neces- isolate the problem area within the SSSV
sary to circulate or kill the well prior to system.
workover.
Many SSSV control line failures have been
5. When the valve is pulled, the control line experienced when they were run in the hole or
is · exposed to the well bore. This could pulled from the well. The most susceptible
cause control line plugging problems. area of control line damage is the span
across the tubing upset. A modified clamp is
In order to increase both the performance of being evaluated for better mechanical protec-
downhole safety valves and their life time and tion. The clamp offers more resistance to
to optimize the operations, the TRSSV' s have control line slippage. Moreover, many
been lried as a replacement for the WLRSSV' s. control line problems will be eliminated by
TRSSV's are of the flapper type, are run as a converting the present pack-off system of
parl of the ~ubing string, and provide signifi- X-mass trees. These trees are complicated
cant advantages over the WLRSSV's. These and difficult to install.
valves are nearly full I.D, and conventional
wire tools can be run through them. In the (6) Quasi-elimination of wireline operations
event of a valve failure, a W/L retrievable
valve can be set inside the valve to secure Continuous optimization of completion designs
the well until a rig becomes available for the and procedure has resulted in reduced
workover. Also, during workover operations, completion .time and wireline work. A study
this valve has been successfully used to plug of early completions found that 33"1o of all
the tubing during nippling up without using down time was due to wireline work. The
wire line plugs. break down of this time was as follows:

The current type of tubing retrievable safety Waiting on equipment S"fo

valves are not self-equalizing. Equalization Running/pulling plugs 18"1o
of the pressure above the flapper is required Handling SSSV' s 4"fo
before opening. On complex platforms, liquid Handling G.L.V.'s 2"fo
booster pumps are used to apply pressure and Handling down hole- 4"fo
to equalize the valves. To equalize the valve circulating devices
on satellite platforms, it is possible to use
gas lift pressure or the pressure of an offset The standardization of the well-head tubing
well. Occasionally there have been instances hanger and hydraulic-set packers cancelled
where there was no source of pressure to the plugs and W/L work required to set the
equalize and to open the valve. A simple mud line hangers and to set permenant
portable pump can be used for this purpose. packers. The generalization of the tubing
When scale builds-up across the TRSSV and conveyed perforating cancelled the wireline
prevents it from closing, a simple chemical work associated with the through tubing
job is needed to free the valve from paraffin perforation. Also, the use of TRS valves
or scale deposits. If this fails, a rig is have eliminated the setting of wireline plugs
used to workover the well. before N/U or N/D BOP.

A self equalizing TRSSV valve has also been Operating the down hole circulating devices
used. It has all the advantages of being have resulted in a multitude of other WL
tubing retrievable plus it is self- problems. Now, Gupco is eliminating these
equalizing. Upon applying pressure on the devices if they are not required during the
control line, ports above the flapper are initial completion. In shallow wells with
opened allowing pressure to equalize across deep gas lift valves, the gas lift mandrels l
the valve. Once WHP is observed to stabilize, are used to circulate between the tubing and
additional pressure is applied to the control the annulus. To kill deeper wells, the
line and the flapper opens. tubing is punched above the circulating
device to circulate the well.
Based on GUPCO' s experimentation of sub-
surface safety valves in GOS operations,
guidelines were established to use TRSSV' s in

595
6 Optimized Completion Reduced Cost and Time in Gulf _nf RnA7. li'i Al rl~=: RPF. 17~&1_

As a result of all these savings, the opera-

tions time related lo wireline work dropped LESS THAN 1500 BFPD. 3-1/2" X 2-7/8" TUBING
from 16 hours per well (39~ of total comple- L... 1600 PSI
tion running time) in 1975 to 5 hours per
well in 1988 (25~ of total completion running
< 90'1o W.C.

time)-Fig. 12. The tubing strings used for G.O.S. completions

are of four sizes and weights: 5-1/2", 17 1b/
( 7) Standardization of tubing sizes, threads and ft, N80, 8rd; 4-1/2", 12.75 1b/ft, N80, 8rd;
connections 3-1/2", 9. 3 1b/ft, N80, 8rd; and 2-7 /8", 6. 5
1b/ft, N80, 8rd tubing. This combination
Two basic reservoir drive mechanisms exist in permits sufficient clearance between the
Gupco's GOS fields: a strong water drive and tubing and the casing to fish the tubing when
a dissolved gas drive. Water flooding and required. Also, the specifications of the
gas lifting operations have been installed to tubing string, with a moderate tension design
compensate for the reservoir pressure decline. factor (0.8), allow for adequate overpull
requirements.
The standard casing program for the majority
of the GOS wells involves running of a 9-5/8" Standarization of Gupco's completion equipment
intermediate casing through Miocene evapo- and tubulars has resulted in both better quali-
rites salts down to the top of the pay zone. ty control and potential cost savings. Proper
A 7" liner is set at total depth and suspend- handling of the tubing, proper cleaning of
ed +-400' above the lower end of the 9 5/8" pipe threads, application of thread compounds,
casing. A 5" liner is being used in some torque requirements and rig supervision have
wells in G. 0. S. To prevent casing collapse all contributed to less completion failures.
opposite the deep plastic salts, the casing
program was modified to extend the 7" liner (8)Corrosion and scale control
above the salt section. Extension of the 7"
liner above the salt section or running a 5" The main problems associated with Gulf of Suez
liner at the total depth presents some innate production operations are corrosion caused by
limitations to completion and workover opera- H2S, C02, and 02; down hole scale
tions. This results in completion string deposition; paraffin and asphaltene deposi-
restriction, tapered tubing design, and gas tion; and emulsion in wells producing wet
lift limitation (gas lift mandrels are not crude oil. Scaling problems are experienced
utilized inside 5" liner). In G.O.S,, the in many wells, oil and water flowlines and
largest practical casing is set on bottom to surface production equipment. Some wells may
permit completion of the well in such a scale up in a matter of months, requ1r1ng
manner as to allow maximum production rates frequent rig workovers. Down hole scale depo-
and the ability to workover the well. The sition results in perforation plugging and
production packer is set above the productive production declines. A dangerous production
zone and above the 5" liner, if any, to iso- operation may result by having the sub-sea
late the majority of casing from well pres- safety valv~ stuck in the open position due to
sures and the corrosive formation fluids. scale deposition. Some of the scale that
forms at shallow depths is calcium carbonate
Continued field development results in both (CaC03) which can be dissolved by pumping
reservoir depletion and the overall produc- hydrochloric acid (HCl). However, deeper in
tion rate decline. The persistance of water the tubing string non-soluble barium (BaS04)
flooding, gas lifting, and the gradual and strontium sulphate scale (SrS04) are
increase of the water cut necessitates the deposited. These hard types of scale need to
re-evaluation of our existing completion in be removed mechanically through workovers.
order to achieve the maximum productivity and
to improve the gas lift efficiency. An inhibition program has been used to prevent
the scale deposition by injecting scale
Recently, Gupco analyzed the outflow perform- inhibitors as phosponate or polyphosphonate
ance under varying reservoir characteristics, types. Various alternatives to prevent down
varying water cut and tubing sizes (Fig.13). hole scale build-up have been evaluated.
The objective of this study was to plan for
the future completion requirements to mini- A chemical injection line (1/4 inch) will be
mize production deferral, and to increase gas used above the packer and the scale inhibitor
lift efficiency (calculations show that smal- is injected continuously down hole to allow
ler tubing requires 50~ less gas lift gas for treating the string. Scale build-up inside
the same production fluid than larger the tubing below the packer is mechanically
tubing). Therefore, three standard gas-lift, removed using wireline tools.
tappered tubing completion designs for G.O.S.
wells have been developed as follows: An extremely corrosive condition is caused by
the presence of H2s, co 2 , 02, and free
GREATER THAN 5000 BFPD. 5-1/2" X 4-1/2" TUBING water ·in the producing wells. Corrosion
>2500 PSI inhibitors are injected down hole with the
<.59~ w.c. lift-gas and produced into the flowlines and
LESS THAN 5000 BFPD. 4-1/2" X 3-1/2" TUBING surface equipment. Continuous injection of
~ 2000 PSI the inhibitors down hole provides the maximum
<. 80~ w.c. scale and corrosion protection. However, due
596
SPE 17984 SAYED MANSOUR, FOUAD KHALAF 7

to production restrictions, Gupco does not base mud have the ability to vary the fluid
favor the running of a chemical injection density such that the formation is not highly
string with a dual packer arrangment. A over balanced when worked over. The Diesel
preventive monitoring technique has been emulsion system has no solids and has a low
designed to predict failures before taking concentration of emulsifiers. On the oil
place, to adjust and evaluate the chemical base muds the high concentration of emulsi-
injection rates and concentration, and to fiers requires the addition of some oil
establish and optimize the maintenance wetting agents which may affect the formation
program. GUPCO's offshore corrosion wettability. This problem can be partially
monitoring elements are overcome by reperforating the well with TCP
guns. However, in some cases such as in
A) Coupons (weight loss- changed every month), double casing strings or with a deeply
invaded zone, reperforating would not bring
B) Corrosometer (electrical resistance the well back to the original productivity.
checked every two weeks), and
For wells requiring a kill weight of 8. 4 to
C) Corrator (polarization checked every 8. 6 PPG, sea water is used as the workover
week). fluid. Calcium chloride brine is used for
the higher pressure reservoirs.
This continuous evaluation and optimization of
the chemical treatment program has resulted in During 1985 and 1986 a comprehensive study
the best corrosion protection with m1n1mum was done on five completion fluids used in
chemical consumption and operational cost. the Gulf of Suez. The fluids tested were
seawater, calcium chloride brine, diesel-
Paraffin and asphaltene deposition are seawater emulsion, diesel, and oil-based
dissolved and removed by pumping and spotting mud. Distilled water was also tested as a
paraffin solvents. base for measuring the sensitivity of the
clay and the finessenstivity of the
Crude oil emulsions are formed in some Gupco formations. Core plugs from four different
offshore fields (JULY, MORGAN and RAMADAN). sandstone formations from Gulf of Suez fields
The emulsions are treated in an onshore were used to measure the effects of the
process plant by electrical dehydration and different fluids on the initial permeability
desaliniation supplemented by a thermochemical of the cores.
brine washing process. Due to field develop-
ment, and improved production technology, Formation permeabilities were greatly reduced
total production of some fields has increas- by all the completion fluids. The most
ed. Accordingly, the desaliniation capacity damaging fluid was calcium chloride brine and
of the process plant has been overloaded. diesel. The least damaging were the clean
Several field tests were made to inject chemi- fluids of seawater and distilled water and.
cals into the oil at the major production diesel (Fig. 16). In all cases, flushing the
platforms and to separate this water either cores with 15% hydrochloric acid improved
offshore or onshore. As a result of these permeability, showing that some of the
tests, an effective treatment was found: the permeability damage is repairable. As a
emulsion between the oil and water is broken result of this study, sea...,..water is currently
by using specific surfactants which act as used as the completion fluid in all G.O.S.
de-emulsifiers and anti-sludge agents. wells whenever possible. Potassium chlorid
(KCL) brine is used for high pressure
(9)Standardization of completion fluids reservoirs as it was found to be less
damaging to formation clays. For oil-based
The primary function of the completion and fluids, a less damaging fluid of lease crude
workover fluid is to maintain control of the and/or solar diesel is used. Excessive losses
formation and to minimize formation damage. of non damaging fluid over a period of time
Completion and workover fluids should be non- caused by an overbalanced condition can lead
damaging, solids-free or low-solid fluids, and to formation damage and could change wetta-
non-corrosive at down-hole temperatures. bility and /or relative permeability. To
minimize fluid invasion in overbalanced
The selection of the weight of the kill fluid conditions when circulation is not required,
is based on a minimum of 200 PSI overbalance. it is recommended to operate without fluid
Diesel is used as the workover fluid for wells level to surface. Because of the response to
which require a kill weight of 7. 0 PPG or acid, acidizing should almost become routine
less. For wells which required a kill weight after working over a well where calcium
of 7.0 to 8.3 PPG, an invert emulsion of carbonate pills or where damaging fluids have
diesel with calcium chloride brine (or with been used.
water) or oil base mud is used. Diesel brine
emulsion (or diesel water emulsion) and oil

597
 Ootimized Comoletion Reduced Cost and Time in Gulf of Suez Fields SPE 17qR4

CONCLUSION 9. Standardization of compeltion fluids to

reduce formation damage.
Optimizing the completion designs and practices
bas significantly reduced operations time and As a result of all these improvements • now a
cost • reduced operational problems and increased completion job takes less than one half of the
well productivity. As the changes and time that was spent to complete one well ten
improvements in each of the completion operation years ago. Also. the operations time related to
areas were made seperately, signs of improvement wireline work dropped from 16 hours (39~ of total
were noticed after applying each of these major completion running time) in 1975 to 5 hours per
changes, and all changes were engineered to well in 1988 (25~ of total completion running
produce significant production gains and time). All changes were designed to be compati-
optimization of Gupco's completion operations. ble with individual reservoir characteristics,
Gupco basic casing programs and production
The following is a summary of these major changes: policies. Moreover, the changes comply with the
safety regulations while at the same time opti-
1. Replacement of mudline packers by mud line mize production efficiency and longevity of the
hangers, then by well-head tubing hangers. wells.
2. Generalization of the use of hydraulic set
packers. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3. Elimination of dual-string completions.
4. Generalization of tubing conveyed perforating The authors wisbe to thank the management of the
techniques. Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company for permission to
5. Generalization of tubing retrievable present this paper • and their Colleagues on the
sub-surface Safety valves. Drilling and Operations Departments who assisted
6. Reduced dependence on wireline operations. in the processing of this manuscript.
7. Standardization of tubing sizes. threads and
connections. REFERENCES
8. Corrosion and scale control.
1)S . . Mansour, F. Khalaf: Evaluation of Tubing
Conveyed Perforators in Gulf of Suez Fields, SPE
15770, Bahrain, March 7-10, 1987.

0047H
SM/gm

598
~ ., '

SPE 179 8 4

GULF OF SUEZ
FIELDS

u• zgo
oo' + 00

u•
oo' +

SCALE I :"1000000

b• oo'

(1967-1978)
63
• TOTAL HRS
(1979-1982)
~ W/L HRS
50 47

Cl) 40 (1983-1986}
a: 33
::> 30 (1987-1988)
0 3o 28
:1: 25
22
20
20

10

Fig. 1-Developmant of Gupco's wall completion.

599
 21fa'' CSH SLICk SUB--+-H-+--n
I(~ 11 CONTROL LINE
CONTROL L I H E - - - H I
W' TUIIHc----f
4't11 FLOW COUPLING
~~" SSSV NIPPLE
IO==!!L--+-4't11 FLOW COUPLING
X.OVER 4it11 x Jit" CSH
v5t8"X3i"X2",18•:._
-9%"X3I"X2"fa"
DUAL PACKER
DUAL PACKER

2lfa" CHECK VALVE HIPPLE

BLAST JOINT

3~" GAS
LIFT
HAHDlELS

PERFORATED JOINT
1:1·----H-HIPPLE - 7" PERMANENT
PACKER
g!i'a"
CASING

HULE SHOE--_.._-L-1

711 LINER
711 LIH!It

Fig. 2-Dual string-annuluar flow completion. Fig. 3-Dual string-tubing flow completion.

2lfa" CSH SLICK SUB--+H--+-0

COHUOL L I H E - - - H I 4~" CONtROL LIN!
4"'' TUI!HG - - - - t - + 1
4~" SSSV

o~8"x4l"x278•• ·DJ8"xd" HANGER

DUAL PACKER

4~" GAS Lin KAHDRALS.

4~" GAS LIFT
HAIIDRELS

3"'' CAS Lln

HAHDULS 3~" GAS Lin KAHDRALS.

1:11::::1 ........--CIRC. DEVICE

lmi:::I ........--EXPANSlON JOINt
- 7 " RETRIEVABLE
' PACKER

Fig. 4-Dual string-tubing flow completion with Fig. 5-Single string-tubing flow completion.
stinger.

600
 lt4" CONTROL LINE

4l,<z" sssv

41t2" sssv
PROFILE TYPE -DUAL PACKER
-TUBING HANGER
llr:::3---""+-- NIPPLE

4;" GAS Lin

HAIIDRELS

J;" GAS Lin SLIDING SLEEYE---IH-IrmTII

HANDRELS NlPPL£-----t-.:.

4" HIGH TEMP. SEAL

ASSEMBLY
......_PERMANENT PACKER
1" RETRlEVABLE PACKER-

Fig. 6-Single string-tubing flow completion. Fig. 7-Tubing flow completion (modified big bore).

41t" CONTROL LINE

4;" CONTROL LINE
~, .. sssv. 41t" sssv

9!\'a"xs;" HANGU
Bo/iX4l" TUBING HANGER

~;" GAS Lin HAIIDRALS,

4;" GAS Lin HAIIDIIAL

t¥e"
CAll NO
t~i"CAS!NG

lit" GAS LIFt HANDL\1.5

'I"X3i" PACKER-

"'d--4--TUBING END

7" LINU

Fig. a-Standard tubing flow completion. Fig. 9-lsolation packer completion.

601
 Ifill succ~ )~~roo:}IISANnPiion]ID oTURS}

Ia
Iii
(2) (1)

000 I I I I I I l I l I I I I 1 1 p
1
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 1984 1985 L936 1937
BFPD YEAR
Fig. 10-Comparison of the flow performance of the Fig. 11-Success ratio of top jobs 1984-1987.
completion.
en
=
N

41 .Jf/LHRS
E] TOTA£ HRS
34

.....,
25 til

-
~ 2000
r.t
t?;
~ 1000
~
rn
00 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000
...
~
FLOW RA'rE (BFPD) .,1:)
(1976-1978) (1979-1982} (1983-1986.1 (1987-1988)
OC)
Fig. 12-Average running time and W/L time. Fig. 13-0utflow performance-tapered tubing com- 1::-
pletion.
 O~a"Xd" HANGER

,,X3l" RETRIVABLE
PACKER

Fig. 14-Standard tubing flow completion (TCP per- Fig. 15-Standard tubing flow completion (wellhead
foration). tubing hanger).

SEA JATER OIL BA.C:E MUD DIE'S!'L DIESEL EMliL. CaCL 2

Im:J BASE PERJI. , . FLUID FLUSH I0 HCL FLUSH I

Fig. 16--Completion fluid comp•rison.

603
 ·.·.
, 1,"",
c:o
eo
H~HM
)IS:ICI 30YnS
1\SSS~.l.
HiiDNYH·,·n (
ONIY..LS 3,0NIS~
Y3E»NI~S I M)
ONII:I~S ~HOHS S co
r-
~
CLI
::.
0
a:
CJ
Y::l)l:lYd·,·w ,Yna (
ONI&n~ ,vna~. -----~------~-----:--------·-·
0 0 0 ·~ 0 0
~ l.l.l ~ M C'-.1 ~
SYnOH - 3NIJ. DNINNnY NOIJ.31dWO~
604