First Worldwide Application of Fiber Optic Enabled Coiled Tubing with Multilateral Tool for Accessing and Stimulating a Trilateral Oil Producer, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

AbstractSince the advent of horizontal technology, new wells have been drilled with thousands of feet of horizontal section to expose large reservoir areas. The advancement of drilling technology also allows drilling more complex wells, such as multilaterals for maximum reservoir contact (MRC). These complex wells impose great challenges with respect to well accessibility for rigless well interventions. One of the initial well interventions, which follow drilling completion, is acid stimulation to remove formation damage.On the other hand, the recent advancement of coiled tubing (CT) enables rigless interventions of complex wells while acquiring real time downhole measurements. The fiber optic enabled coiled tubing (FOCT) provides combined services of data acquiring and running other CT tools required for well treatments. The fiber optic telemetry system consists of a pump-through bottom-hole assembly (BHA) with a casing collar locator (CCL), pressure and temperature sensors, optical fibers inside CT, and a surface readout unit. By the virtue of the optical fiber, distributed measurements are also viable options to obtain temperature profiles. The temperature surveys allow evaluating flow distribution through temperature responses, thereby optimizing acid stimulation.A multilateral tool (MLT) using an indexing flow activated bent sub allows locating and accessing the laterals and stimulating them. The CCL readings via the FOCT provide a real time confirmation of accessing laterals.This paper highlights the first worldwide CT application of combining the fiber optic telemetry system for acquiring downhole data on real time, and a multilateral tool for accessing and stimulating a trilateral oil producer in a major carbonate reservoir in Saudi Arabia. This combination has resulted in a successful optimized acid stimulation of all three laterals. This paper also discusses in detail the job execution challenges, lessons learned, and experience gained to optimize similar future jobs.