Abstract
De-completing wells — due to downhole problems related to tubing-casing annulus communication, casing leaks or prior to executing re-entry sidetracks for multilateral wells — is adaily activity in the oilfield business. Conventional completions comprised of downhole production packers and tubing are normally retrieved with no major issues. But this is not the case for intelligent completions, as they include a numberof downhole components that makes its retrieval more challenging, and there was no set procedure or provision in place to retrieve them, in case of failure or encountered downhole problems during the production life of the well.
Since intelligent completion deployments are increasing, the number of intelligent wells to be de-completed will also increase.
This paper presents the case history and experience gained during the de-completion of intelligent completions of different designs; highlights the challenges and difficulties in recovering of multiple packers and flow control valves; and the strategy to achieve full access to the wellbore, to re-establish production and recover assets. This paper will also summarize lessons to achieve successful de-completion of an intelligent well.
