10 Years of Continuous Technology Development and Field Application of a Coiled Tubing Telemetry System: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

Abstract For more than 50 years, coiled tubing (CT) has been an intervention technology primarily used to maintain or increase production. In the last 10 years, CT telemetry systems have been used for such applications as milling, stimulation, well cleanouts, gas lifting, camera services, logging and perforating, increasing certainty, improving safety and efficiency, and reducing time and cost. In this paper, a review of a CT telemetry system with 2 ⅛-in. tube wire, including the technology development and field application, is presented for the first time. Unlike conventional CT for which surface-measured parameters, such as CT weight and length and pumping pressure, are the only parameters available to monitor the operation's progress, CT telemetry systems provide real-time monitoring of downhole data such as pressure, temperature, depth, etc. The CT telemetry system described in this paper consists of the surface hardware and software, a 2 ⅛-in. tube wire inside the CT connecting the surface equipment and the downhole tools and sensors, and a versatile bottomhole assembly, designed in three sizes (i.e., 2 ⅛-, 2 ⅞-, and 3 ½-in.). The 2 ⅛-in. tube wire has the dual purpose to power up the downhole sensors and to transfer the real-time downhole data to surface. The sensors available are a casing collar locator (CCL), two pressure and temperature transducers (capable to measure downhole data inside and outside of the tool), and tension, compression, and torque gauges. In addition, cameras with front and lateral views and flow-through capabilities could be used. One of the advantages of this CT telemetry system is its versatility: switching between applications is as simple as only changing parts of the bottomhole assembly, significantly reducing the operational time and cost and increasing safety. Another advantage stems from the downhole data certainty in real time, as the CT field crew can promptly intervene based on dynamic downhole events. A state-of-the-technology review of the 2 ⅛-in. tube wire CT telemetry system is presented for the first time. The many benefits of the real-time monitoring of the downhole parameters during such CT applications as logging, zonal isolation, collapsed casing identification, scale removal, cleanout and perforation, milling, confirmation of jar activation during fishing jobs, etc., are also summarized. Many of these applications were performed together and the real-time monitoring of downhole data increased the job efficiency, control and safety and reduced the operational costs by simplifying the operational procedures and equipment. The paper summarizes the results stemming from 10 years of global experience with the 2 ⅛-in. tube wire CT telemetry system. A new case history involving the 2 ⅛-in. tube wire CT telemetry system and a vibratory tool is presented for the first time. As currently there is a strong inertia to automate the drilling operations, all details presented in this paper show that the CT telemetry systems are poised to become standard technologies for all CT operations in the not-so-distant future.