Abstract
Changing oil field development economics has pushed the trend towards developing multilateral wells to increase production and maximize oil recovery utilizing advanced well configurations. However, to focus on maximizing the value of multilateral wells by addressing reservoir and production challenges; efficient reservoir management has remained a challenge. Accessing multilaterals has not been possible with conventional Coiled Tubing logging techniques. Current available technologies for deploying Production Logging services in the multilaterals are of less success, due to hardware limitations.
The challenge was to access slim hole laterals from the mother bore in order to perform reservoir surveillance activities namely production logging as well as acidizing operations in laterals previously inaccessible. The information gathered from this intervention would improve the overall understanding of the reservoir and well behavior thus enabling the operator to manage the multi-lateral wells’ individual drains, ensure production assurance and sustainability and revisit the development plan for the tight reservoirs based on proper reservoir evaluation.
With the introduction of a new lateral intervention tool, the operator was able to successfully access a lower drain drilled from a window in the casing with efficiency and certainty. The smaller size tool used on this operation had an OD of 2 1/8", which is ideal for accessing laterals in wells with slim hole completion.
The tool helped in accessing the lateral and provided the operator the opportunity to perform production logging operations. This had previously not been possible with conventional technology which was attempted numerous times without success.
The need for mobilizing a rig was prevented in addition to the reduced foot print of the required equipment and personnel required reflect substantial reductions in time and cost for this intervention.
This paper introduces the knowledge learned from the world’s first multi-lateral accessibility and production logging operation in the UAE by applying a new multi-lateral accessibility on Electric Coil Tubing through detecting the multilateral window and activating a powered arm for entry into the lateral section.
