The oil and gas field industries continually challenge the limitations of coiled tubing (CT) equipment. With an increasing amount of high-pressure work developing for CT, validating components for this work is a challenge. One component in particular, the stripper element, is of interest. Many manufacturers of tubing strippers rate their components for working pressures from 10,000 to 20,000 psi, but limited test data is available for element wear or resiliency at these pressures.

This paper presents results from full-scale testing of a stripper/packer element at pressures as great as 15,000 psi. Various elements were tested for longevity, internal material integrity, and safety at high to ultrahigh pressures. As a result of the evaluation, (1) the stripper/packer was validated to 15,000 psi, (2) a suitable packing element was developed and tested, and (3) operational guidelines for high-pressure work were developed for the field.

Keywords:
annular pressure drilling, completion installation and operations, wear characteristic, objective, polyethylene element, upstream oil & gas, information, society of petroleum engineers, well control, drilling operation
Subjects:
Drilling Operations, Pressure Management, Safety, Information Management and Systems, Well control, Completion Installation and Operations, Coiled tubing operations
Copyright 2000, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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