Who Needs Two Trips? Remotely Activated Downhole Tools Facilitate a Deep-Water Single-Trip Completion. A Case Study of the First Deployment
Authors
Euan Murdoch (Weatherford Completion Systems) | Steve Walduck (Weatherford UK Ltd) | Chris Munro (Weatherford UK Ltd) | Andrew Edwards (Weatherford) | Caroline Choquet (Weatherford Energy Services) | Choon Yau Tee (Weatherford)
Publisher
IPTC - International Petroleum Technology Conference
Publication Date
January 13, 2020
Source
International Petroleum Technology Conference, 13-15 January, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Paper ID
IPTC-20044-MS
Abstract
Successfully deploying a single-trip completion system in a deepwater environment requires an innovative technical solution to address the risks that come with this environment. Following a request from the operator for a deep-water single-trip solution, a number of different system options were proposed. Each system was evaluated against the operator's requirements, and a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology-based system was selected as it offered the greatest flexibility in both activation and contingency methods to meet the demands of the project.
It was proposed to hold a 2 stage system integration test (SIT) at a test rig in Aberdeen. The first SIT was performed with a small number of tools that could be setup in different modes to prove the system's logic against the operator's expectations. While this was conducted successfully, a number of learnings and operational optimisations were captured. These were fed into a full-scale SIT, which was deployed at the same test rig. This second SIT involved a complete representation of the single- trip system, and was designed to test the final system logic prior to deployment into an offshore environment.
The system was then installed successfully in November 2018, on a subsea well, offshore Nigeria with no intervention. It resulted in an operational time saving of at least 60% over the previous best recorded time for a conventional two-trip completion from the same rig. This represented a step change in operational efficiency and will now be the operator's base case completion methodology as they develop the field further.
This is the first time a single-trip completion has been deployed in this fashion in a deep-water, offshore environment. The demonstrable step change in operational time and resultant project OPEX savings, proves that the use of RFID and remote actuated tools within completions offer excellent alternatives to traditional methods.