Development of an Extended Delayed Oil Swell Packer for Deployment in Extended Reach Drilling Oil Wells

Abstract

Abstract This development, predominantly from four artificial islands, of a giant offshore field in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) requires lateral compartmentalization with open hole packers of the 6 5/8" horizontal lower completions with lateral lengths greater than 16,000ft and total well lengths greater than 30,000ft MD. Swell Packer technology has enabled cost effective compartmentalization in horizontal laterals and is the preferred OH packer solution for the development. Deploying swell packers is regarded as being a simple solution to compartmentalizing any lateral where typically the deployment fluid differs from the fluids in which it will swell in; this application prevents the elastomer from swelling during deployment and swelling upon contact with produced or injected fluids. The use of an extended delayed oil swell packer with no delay systems in this particular application enables the packers to be deployed in a Non Aqueous Reservoir Drill in Fluid (RDFNAF) where the packer is required to delay its swelling during deployment, thereafter continue to swell once the packer is at final depth and the elastomer contacts the produced oil. As lateral lengths have increased beyond 16,000ft and total well MD goes beyond 30,000ft these Extended Maximum Reservoir Contact (EMRC) wells require an oil swell packer to delay its swell time sufficiently to be ran to TD in RDF Non Aqueous Drill in Fluid, deploy a displacement string to swap out the drill in fluid to completion brines & breakers and not reach the 8 ½" dimension of the drilled open hole; thereafter continuing to swell on contact with the produced fluids, in this case oil, and swell out sufficiently to meet the required pressure differential between compartments at the wash out diameters of the drilled formation. At the time of the field development starting, there was a gap in the swell packer technology available globally such that this functionality could not be provided. The paper outlines the qualification process to develop and deploy a new swellpacker design meeting these functional requirements. To date there have been three deployments with these delayed oil swell packers, with deployments consisting of 23 swell packers in a 6-5/8" production liner length of 19,000ft, with 35,835ft MD; 28 oil swell packers with a production liner length of 20,225ft, with 30,197ft MD; and a 6 5/8" production liner length of 18,905ft with 27,995ft MD. The application of these delayed oil swell packers in the Giant Offshore Oilfield Abu Dhabi was a first of its type where extensive design and testing went into the swellpacker development. The use of this swell packer technology has presented a commercially viable solution to compartmentalize lateral sections over 16,000ft and wells with total measured depth beyond 30,000ft and is a key enabler to deliver cost savings associated with EMRC well designs.