Well access is often a key part of interventions in the Gulf of Mexico for deepwater operations. Multiple challenges can occur and jeopardize an entire costly program and defer potential production gain. Therefore, each intervention is thoroughly planned, and each scenario is reviewed to make sure all the contingencies are anticipated, and the equipment is available if needed.

In the Atlantis field, scale buildup was impairing the production of a dual-zone frac-pack completion (Fig. 1). The smart completion integrated two hydraulically controlled valves to control the flow from an upper and lower zone. The lower zone was isolated due to scale, and the upper zone was kept in production. A lock mandrel with a plug set in an AOF nipple had been blocking the lower zone production for more than 10 years. An intervention was designed with the objective to stimulate the upper zone, and clean out and squeeze scale inhibitor in the lower zone. Post-intervention, both zones would be bought back into production to significantly boost well production delivery.

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