2020 – the year that changed the world, our ways of working and our strategy for the future. With hundreds of thousands of jobs being cut and new projects being deferred or cancelled, the focus for the majority of operators has shifted to asset life extension and looking for solutions that can enable the same goals to be achieved with less resources. Investment into production optimisation initiatives is a key component to survival and assuring production remains economically viable and safe.

Solutions for boosting production amid a cost-conscious environment

There are a number of viable production optimisation opportunities that can be relatively quick to identify from the insights that operators well data, processes and people can offer. Tapping into each of these resources is crucial to gain a fuller picture of the current situation and will ensure all possible restrictions and bottlenecks that could be impacting production are identified, and therefore considered as part of the improvement plan.

A feasibility study to determine these factors is imperative to the success of this initiative. During this study, experienced well engineers should utilise transient multiphase software to model and analyse the well data, review processes and anecdotal information from key stakeholders to determine where the bottlenecks or restrictions exist.

Once the restricting factors have been identified, the solutions for eliminating these can then be assessed to determine impact and thus suitability and feasibility of implementation. Below is a summary of some of the solutions available, that have been proven to maximise the reservoir potential:

• Isolation of water breakthrough by using modern technology for re-instating shale / zonal isolation if there is fluid movement behind production casing / poor zonal isolation
• Re-perforating existing production zones
• Gas lifting techniques
• Re-allocation of lift gas across multiple wells
• Installing velocity strings in tubulars
• Installing a smaller sized tubing in the production wells

 

Additional considerations that can positively impact production

It is important to note that there are additional initiatives that can impact the production capability and cost of extraction without touching the well. These include but are not limited to:

• Reviewing the well maintenance regime and historical data to identify opportunities to change the maintenance strategy to better mitigate against known failures – this will help to avoid the risk of downtime and optimise your maintenance expenditure, to assure you are only doing the right maintenance at the right time, with the right materials – no more, no less.
• Consolidated well planning and execution to minimise personnel mobilising to the asset, this can include:
  • Water Shut Off Plug Installation
    • Reviewing tension/wire modelling to ensure plug reaches required depth, where practicable review roller and standoff technology
    • Where practicable, use Surface Read Out (SRO) technology to assist in accurate depth placement
    • Where practicable, use reservoir saturation and production logging tooling to better understand formation, including crossflow, water saturation and skin damage
    • Conduct flow trial post setting, be prepared for backup plug setting
    • Review technology available for re-instating shale / zonal isolation if there is fluid movement behind production casing / poor zonal isolation
  • Perforating
    • Complete well history and status from previous interventions
    • Conduct extensive auditing of vendors explosive handling procedures (i.e. API67)
    • Conduct Saturation Logging to confirm zones/review tight shales that may be accessible
    • Conduct Shock Pro modelling to understand perforation performance into desired reservoir (area of flow), estimating ROI
    • Conduct wireline tension modelling to best select tool string perforating gun length
    • Use SRO tooling to ensure correct depth placement of perforating equipment
    • If possible, monitor reservoir pressure at depth and surface prior to shooting for understanding of zone performance
  • Investment in learning and development to ensure the workforce has the correct skills, knowledge, and competency to mitigate risk, assure productivity and make the right decisions.

Add Energy’s drilling and well engineering subject matter experts work directly with operators to identify and implement techniques to enhance production.

Learn more about how we can help here.