T

Technolog~

Today Series

The Challenge for the

Coiled-Tubing Industry
C.G. Blount, SPE, Arco Alaska Inc.
From Aug. 9 through 14, 1992, approximately 80 individuals from throughout the
globe met in a seemingly remote area of the
Colorado Rocky Mountains with one common bond: advancement of coiled-tubing
(CT) technology. This was the first SPE Forum Series meeting devoted entirely to CT
technology. After long days of sometimes
heated debates, the final session found these
individuals charged with the task of identifying areas where CT industry development efforts need to be focused "to utilize
the untapped potential of CT."
Numerous ideas and opinions were generated at the SPE Forum Series meeting to create a long list of areas with high leveraging
potential (high return on investment) for
an oil industry well below the crest of a
"boom" cycle. However, from the master
list, each individual was given the opportunity to vote for only three issues that they
felt were the most pressing. The 17 items
that survived the exercise are listed below,
"prioritized" by this group's vote.
1. CT drilling technology
2. Standardized CT fatigue testing and
computer model
3. Material, equipment, safety, and maintenance standards
4. Well-control equipment
5. CT completion and production
equipment
6. CT material advancements
7. CT cleanout technology
8. Special application CT tools and
equipment
9. High-pressure abrasive jet technology
10. Hybrid CT units (special purpose;
i.e., CT on rigs)
11. Equipment for operating with and in
higher pressures
12. Improved information exchange
13. Job planning and operational
guidelines
14. Larger-diameter CT (and peripheral
equipment)
15. Simplified hydraulics
16. Floating operations CT technology
Copyright 1994 Society of Petroleum Engineers

,IFf May 1994

Curtis Blount works as a well supervisor for Arco Alaska

Inc. in Prudhoe Bay, where he has been actively involved
in developing tools and applications for coiled tubing. He
spent 2 years in Arco's Field Engineering Dept. before
taking his current assignment. Before joining Arco in 1980,
he worked as a logging engineer for Dresser Atlas.
17. Electronic monitoring and control of
CT units.
A year and a half later, where do these
leveraging ideas fit into the overall CT industry picture?

CT Drilling, High-Pressure
Abrasive Jet Technology,
and Hybrid CT Units
Interest in CT drilling is high from a technology standpoint. However, real-world economics of CT drilling are not attractive in
many areas. Drilling using a CT unit requires a relatively large investment in specialized equipment to perform the work and
the latest in technology to meet the challenge
of applying the techniques within the inherent constraints of CT, such as no pipe rotation, limited pressure cycles, and lower flow
rates.
A recent paper 1 devoted to CT drilling
reports that 39 wells were drilled or reentered with CT in the last 3 years following pioneering work in Canada during the
mid-1970's.2 Information from Canada reveals a considerably higher number of shortdistance, well-deepening CT operations,
many of which were underbalanced, and a
few wells drilling from surface. Total CT
drilled or deepened wells over the last 21h
years is about 200. The latest in CT technology and equipment is competing with
decades-old, conventional rotary technology, which requires very few new techniques
and has an untold number of fully depreciated rigs available to perform the task. Considering these facts, it is understandable why
the economics of the comparison look less
than optimal. So why bother?
Fortunately for the CT industry, there are
niche markets and a few technological ad-

vantages to CT that can make the effort to

develop the technology worthwhile. Reentry work is one natural target for CT units
that provides a relatively large potential market. And one often-cited advantage to CT
is the smaller footprint and greater mobility
of the equipment relative to common rotary
rigs.3 CT advantages, however, come with
a significant reduction in operational flexibility that demands the new techniques and
tools previously mentioned.
Another potential advantage to CT drilling
is the prospect of underbalanced drilling,
which is required in very-low-pressure
reservoirs and for formation damage mediation. The search for a nondamaging drilling
and completion technique is heightening
interest in underbalanced drilling in many
areas. Recent efforts in Canada and on
Alaska's North Slope 4 5 focus CT drilling
efforts toward this goal with some encouraging results. In a recently completed North
Slope well, penetration rates of 100 ft/hr and
initial production rates 300% higher than anticipated were realized when actual underbalanced conditions were achieved during
portions of the CT drilling process. The underbalanced conditions were achieved using
gas lift in the existing 4 1h-in. production
string. Interestingly, previous attempts in
Alaska at achieving underbalanced conditions during drilling were unsuccessful, partly because of a conservative gas-lift design
coupled with inaccurate tubing-hydraulics
model predictions.
Shallow-length CT deepening operations
are cost-competitive with a conventional rig
in most areas. However, although beneficial economics for future operations certainly is a goal, immediate cost savings have not
been the driving force behind much of the

427

"CT advantages ... come with a significant

reduction in operational flexibility that
demands ... new techniques and tools... "

recent CT drilling activity. Minimizing formation damage and equipment mobility are
also primary drivers for work along Alaska's North Slope and in Canada. Technological and environmental evaluation were
of primary interest in recent west Texas CT
drilling. 6 ,7 Environmental noise considerations and the minimal site requirements of
CT were of primary concern for activity in
Europe. 3 Current CT drilling in Lake
Maracaibo is partly a result of safety considerations and minimizing the economic
risks to equipment required to map potential shallow gas accumulations.
Interest in abrasive and high-pressure jet
drilling with CT is also on the upswing. 5
Although abrasive jetting is new to CT, it
has been successfully applied with a conventional rig for some time. The advantage to
this approach over more conventional CT
drilling with motors is the extremely shortradius turn that the technique can obtain,
which allows high-angle wells to be drilled
from vertical and moderately directional
wells to be drilled within a relatively short
zone. Tradeoffs to jetting vs. conventional
CT drilling currently include smallerdiameter holes and less precise steering ability for the jetting technique. Rig-based abrasive and high-pressure jet procedures are
presently being developed in Canada with
hopes for a rapid conversion to a CT process for Alaska. However, the techniques will
require substantial design and development
efforts to meet through-tubing CT criteria
within a reasonable period of time. Perhaps
the recent composite CT advancements will
lend themselves well to the high pressures
mandated by these procedures.
Running completion equipment or making
up bottomhole assemblies for drilling is a
challenge with the limited facilities of all
current CT well-servicing equipment. Newly designed equipment that looks more like
a workover rig than a CT unit is on the
drawing board, and early prototypes have
already seen field use. In addition to CTbased rigs, a hybrid unit consisting of a
small rig combined with CT equipment de428

signed for more complex applications also

is being evaluated in several areas. A hybrid
drilling/CT unit may be a viable solution in
hostile-environment regions that require
turnkey operations. The challenge will be
in designing the equipment without designing out the utility that makes CT work attractive.

Standardized CT Fatigue Testing

and Computer Model
A joint industry project 8 was recently completed that addressed testing of largediameter CT and proposed a standard test
fixture and test method. This work follows
similar efforts by other groups for smaller
CT sizes. Although the project falls short
of a "universal model," it is a step in the
right direction to ensure that most CT players are reading off the same sheet of music.
Another joint industry project was recently
proposed to address perceived shortcomings
in the mathematics used to predict CT performance. These efforts, combined with
other published work,9-11 have taken most
of the mystery out of what contributes to
successful CT operations.
Standards, WellControl
Equipment, and Guidelines
Most major companies providing or using
CT services have in-house guidelines concerning materials, safety, and maintenance
of equipment. Other sources for guidelines
include numerous CT forums (both privately
organized and joint industry projects, such
as the Drilling Engineering Assn. [DEA]
project), papers presented through SPE, and
technical articles in various quality periodicals. The number of CT-specific forums,
papers, and articles has increased significantly since the mid-1980's, when CT manufacturing technology took a quantum leap,
leading to more reliable operations. Finally, an API task force currently is working
on domestic standards for various aspects
of CT operations.
Well-control requirements are governed
by in-house guidelines and special require-

ments of local state commissions and such

federal agencies as the U.S. Minerals
Management Service or Europe's Health &
Safety Executive. In addition, API Committee 5 has commissioned the Task Group on
CT to write recommended practices for CT
operations and services. The Task Group on
CT expects to have a draft completed by
Oct.-Nov. 1994 and a final document ready
for a letter ballot by API Committee 5 by
Spring 1995.
Well-established procedures and requirements for conventional rotary drilling are
being re-evaluated in light of the special advantages and, in some cases, limitations of
CT. One familiar example is the State of
Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, which has invested considerable resources in working with the Task Group on
CT and producing companies to establish
guidelines for safe CT drilling and completion practices.

CT Completion and
Production Equipment
and LargeDiameter CT
The availability of large-diameter CT has
sparked worldwide interest in CT completions and equipment. 12-14 Much of the required equipment is readily available, making the market for this technology widely
accepted. Nonrotating connectors were a
needed but straightforward development. A
tougher challenge has been surface handling
equipment for the desired large CT sizes.
Numerous papers address operational
limitations based on CT materials. However, few papers can be found that deal specifically with surface handling equipment
and limitations, except those relating to what
effect they will have on the CT. Injector and
gooseneck (guide-arch) failures have directly caused major operational problems in
some recent 3 1h-in. completions. In this
area, the CT industry faces a major engineering catch-up exercise. Failures in the injector and guide-arch areas are major
roadblocks for an otherwise successfully
planned operation.
May 1994 JPT

CT Clean out Technology

"Composite CT
development is
progressing rapidly,
with 1994 targeted
for the first field
application of this
entirely new concept in
coiled workover strings."
One area of new CT research is in the development of reelable preperforated or slotted tubing for liner applications. This
pressure integral CT promises to simplify
deployment of liners in live well completions
and may have applications in sand control.
Another area for consideration applies
specifically to the CT material. CT is generally considered a short-term expendable
commodity. Completions, however, typically are chosen for long life in widely diverse
environments, including sour, corrosive,
and high-pressure service. Currently available materials, not to mention welds, are not
particularly well suited for some of these environments. Road limitations restrict largediameter CT lengths to less than about 6,500
ft. Although connectors may meet most requirements for deeper service, reintroduction of the dreaded field butt-weld-nemesis
of early CT operations-may be required in
some cases.

CT Material Advancements
Relatively high R&D and manufacturing
costs and the higher price required for exotic materials have limited the speed of development of this area of CT technology.
However, work to provide higher-strength
CT materials, special corrosion-resistant alloys (CRA's), and composite materials continues to plow ahead. Several of the CT
manufacturers are pursuing development of
CRA's that, unlike many CRA's, are compatible with CT milling procedures.
High-strength, full-body quenched-andtempered CT is now available on a limited
basis. In addition to the more conventional
steel alloys, titanium-alloy CT should be
commercially available later this year. Last
year, two 7,OOO-ft reels ofl-in. titanium CT
were delivered to California for use as
chemical injection strings in geothermal
wells.
Composite CT development is progressing rapidly, with 1994 targeted for the first
field application of this entirely new concept
in coiled workover strings. Information
released to date suggests that composites,
while having special requirements, may
revolutionize CT applications presently considered out of reach with current isotropicmetals technology. 15
CT material advancements will playa significant role in continued progress in many
of the leading edge CT applications.

,IPT May 1994

Cleanout applications were among the

primary reasons for developing the light CT
workover units. 16 Therefore, it is somewhat surprising that this subject made the
list 30 years after the introduction of CT
services in the oilfield workover industry.
Many cleanout procedures and practices
are developed for regionally specific needs
and using widely varying amounts of applied
technology. Reports of unsuccessful cleanouts are not uncommon. Some circumstances reveal real challenges, while all too
many involve pumping lease water as fast
as they could through mule-shoed I-in. CT,
which invariably resulted in an unsuccessful operation.
As previously stated, there are some real
cleanout challenges that require innovative
solutions. One regionally specific cleanout
need led to the introduction of a concentric
coiled-tubing unit. A string of I lA-in. OD
CT installed within 2%-in. OD CT is used
to power a downhole jet pump, thus providing the force to vacuum fill from the wellbore. The concentric CT reel was
manufactured to clean fill out of relatively
shallow horizontal wells in Canada.

Special Application
CT Tools and Equipment
Here again, the regionally specific incentives
and economics separate the latest in technology from the most common CT activities. Although certain areas are pushing the
technological envelope, the largest percentage of CT jobs are common applications
such as cleanouts, stimulations, or kickoffs.
Now, as in the past, the need for technology
must justify the means for developing the
tools, techniques, and procedures.
Fields in Alaska's North Slope, Canada,
and the North Sea are breeding grounds for
developing or refining new procedures because of the unique combination of potential
economic incentives and a relatively large
number of similar applications for the technology. Here, the rewards of refining a new
process can quickly offset the high cost of
development. Examples of such refinements
from these areas include improVed cement
squeeze techniques, through-tubing inflatable packers, CT logging, underreamers,
underbalanced drilling, and large-diameter
CT completions.
Development efforts in these regions include continued refinement in CT drilling
and completion practices, high-pressure and
abrasive jet applications, electric submersible pump opportunities, and improvements
in cleanout techniques. Other geographic
areas are refming offshore operations, evaluating extended-reach parameters, 17,18 and
looking into higher-pressure needs for CT
development. 19 (Information from a recent
CT forum regarding equipment and procedures required to run CT on floating platforms validates the belief that onshore
activities are immensely less challenging
than even relatively simple jobs offshore.)

Along with the higher-tech applications

comes the availability of pretty much offthe-shelf electronic monitoring packages
capable of monitoring virtually all parameters and even controlling certain aspects of
the job. 7 Many computer models are now
available that are proving to be valuable jobplanning tools.20,21 This technology, like
similar developments for rotary equipment,
however, comes at a cost that many areas
cannot justify.
Although interest levels are high, the
number of more technologically demanding
jobs still represents only a small percentage
of total CT activity. The ideas that survive
economic and technical scrutiny should become more widespread over the remainder
of this century.

Information Exchange
Efficient information exchange pathways
have always been one of the good things
about the CT industry, and they are getting
better. Pick up just about any petroleum
journal and there will likely be an ad or flyer
for another CT forum or a CT paper. These
forums have been good at attracting the
major players as well as the small independents and hasten technology transfer through
their open discussion format.
Library searches on CT -specific papers
show dramatic increases in the number of
papers in the last 10 years. In addition to
the number of papers, the relatively low
number of CT units worldwide (reported to
be 570 in Dec. 1993, of which 75% were
operated by major integrated service companies) facilitates easy access for "reality
checks" on the available literature by those
actually performing the work.
As procedures are further refined and the
information disseminated, other regions with
fewer economically motivated needs are able
to apply the techniques. Fewer calls are
coming in asking "Is what was presented
in that paper really true?" More papers are
providing testimony that CT applications can
be applied successfully in a wide range of
situations.

Simplified Hydraulics
This area has been gradually improving over
the years with few quantum leaps. Time and
market-driven demands will determine
whether and how this area evolves.

Missed Targets
This paper summarizes an admittedly incomplete review of one group's "important
issues." Many other projects are probably
underway that did not fall into one of the
categories. Two ideas that did not make the
top 17 have become huge success stories.
One niche market that is taking off is not
geared to ever-increasing CT sizes, but to
small, highly portable CT equipment for land I lA-in. CT. Prices for common CT activities, such as nitrogen lifting, have been
greatly reduced in the North Sea U.K. sector by downsizing equipment for use on the
lower decks of offshore platforms. This is

429

one example where "downsizing" has resulted in tremendous growth for some fortunate companies.
Another particular "hot spot" that did not
make the top 17 is similar to CT cementing
and drilling in that it is not a new idea but
a reevaluation of a previous CT technology.
In fact, this application-prefabricated flowlines and service lines-has been around
from the beginning of the CT industry. 16
Then, as now, the impetus for development
was improving methods to reduce costs.
The interest in pipeline applications has
attracted a new group of individuals to the
table. Last year, one of the CT manufacturing companies delivered more than
200,000 ft of CT for pipeline and service
line use from the U.S. gulf coast, of which
80% is reported to be 3'h-in. CT. This improved CT is externally coated for corrosion resistance in subsea applications.
Interest in this reborn technology is rapidly
spreading worldwide.

Challenge for the CT Industry

Development of CT applications historically
has been innovation followed too often by
disappointment and occasionally by extreme
satisfaction for the limited number of ideas
that pass the test. Even after passing the test,
new ideas or a successful technique can take
years to diffuse to other areas, as is well
documented by modern history of CT cement squeeze procedures.
Preconceived limits, grossly exaggerated
expectations, and high developmental price
tags further hinder expansion of new CT
ideas. However, the appeal of new CT technology, sometimes regardless of current
needs, greatly influences individuals in the
CT industry. Perhaps past hardships during
the early CT developmental years have conveyed an "underdog" identity to the industry. Whatever the cause, the majority of the
CT community has a willingness to help one
another and to share as much as possible in
a true frontier, pioneering spirit.
The CT industry'S pioneer spirit is essential to the continued propagation of successful CT techniques that is required to
legitimize the business. Therefore, the
challenge for the CT industry can probably
be summed up by the following sentence:
To provide equipment, tools, and procedures in a form that allows anyone to achieve
the same high success rates and reap the
same benefits from CT as those companies

430

that were fortunate enough to have the

resources to develop modern CT technology.

11.

Acknowledgments
This paper reflects my opinions and conclusions only and not necessarily those of Arco
Alaska Inc., BP Exploration Alaska, or
other Prudhoe Bay Unit owners or affiliated companies. I thank all the CT industry
personnel who helped to gather information
for this paper and also thank Arco Alaska
Inc., Arco E&P Technology, BP Exploration Alaska, and other Prudhoe Bay Unit
owners for permission to publish this paper.

14.

References

15.

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SI Metric Conversion Factors

ft x 3.048*
in. X 2.54*
mile

1.609 344*

E-01 = m
E+OO = em
E+OO = Ian

* Conversion factor is exact.

This paper is SPE 28286. Technology Today Series arti

cles provide useful summary information on both classic and
emerging concepts in petroleum engineering. Purpose: To
provide the general reader with a basic understanding of
a significant concept, technique, or development within a
specific area of technology.

May 1994 JVr