Abstract
Intelligent completions were introduced over a decade ago to address completions and reservoir management challenges arising from highly-deviated, extended-reach, multi-targeted, or multilateral wells. Recent advances in exploration and drilling technology are enabling the oil and gas industry to target reservoirs with stratigraphic and depositional complexities in deepwater, subsalt, arctic, and other extreme environments, resulting in the need to develop a new generation of intelligent completion tools. These reservoirs also may be characterized by HPHT, extreme HPHT, or ultra-HPHT environments with multiple components contributing to the uncertainty of recovery.
This paper describes how the requirements of current and future reservoir environments and a decade of operational experience have shaped the functional design and qualification of a new-generation Interval Control Valve (ICV) for intelligent completions. The new-generation ICV has higher pressure and temperature tolerances to cater to the new harsher environments while simplifying its operating mechanism and improving inflow performance and debris tolerance. The qualification program included metal-to-metal seal qualification, life-cycle testing, API 14A SCSSV class II-sand slurry based tests, flow coefficient (Cv) test, seal stack qualification, and erosion testing. Descriptions of each qualification test, acceptance criteria and test results that demonstrate the capability of the new generation of ICV to perform in severe service conditions are presented in this paper.
Some field applications of the new-generation ICV are also presented. Technologies, such as real-time ICV position feedback, have further aided in maximizing efficiency. Finally, the paper outlines the operational limits of the current design and discusses the design enhancements planned for the next-generation ICV.
