T.P.

3494

PERMANENT-TYPE WELL COMPLETION

T. A. HUBER AND G. H. TAUSCH, HUMBLE OIL AND REFINING CO., HOUSTON, TEX., MEMBERS AIME

ABSTRACT give increased well productivity, as plugging of the perfora-

Very encouraging progress has been made in the develop-
ment of the permanent-type well completion which decreases
considerably the cost of completions and workovers and aid,
in the acquisition of reliable reservoir information at low cost.
Completion and remedial operations are performed with tools
which pass through the well tubing. Perforating and plug-
back operations can be done with the tubing in place and do
not require pipe-handling equipment.
Because of the many advantages afforded by this method,
development work is going forward in anticipation of ulti-
mately being able to use it to perform all usual well
completion and workover operations. Effort is also being
directed to the development of a more permanent type of lift
equipment suitable for use with the permanent-type well
completion.
tions will not occur.
It is now possible to perforate selectively small sections of
the producing interval and to test a well through these sections
prior to perforating more interval. The perforating of addi-
tional interval will not entail the costly operations of killing
the well and pulling tubing, nor will the old or the new per-
forations be plugged. The productivity of small sections of a
reservoir and the actual gas-oil or oil-water contacts may now
be determined economically under flowing conditions. Selective
completions can be made in this manner to delay gas and
water problems and bring about maximum oil recovery.
At the present time, gas lift appears to offer the greatest
potentialities for artificial lift in the permanent-type well com-
pletion since it can provide full-open tubing to accommodate
the through-the-tubing tools and it may be ultimately devel-
oped into a fairly permanent type of lift. With present-day
gas-lift equipment, valve or mandrel failure necessitates occa-
sional removal of the tubing, thereby reducing to some extent
the permanence of the completion. New gas-lift valves are now

INTRODUCTION
The permanent-type well completion is one in which the
tubing and well-head are set in place only once in the life of
the well and the completion or remedial work is performed
through the tubing with a tubing-type perforator, a retrievable
tubing extension, and other wire-line tools. This new type
completion has made possible the saving of one to two days'
rig time in the completion of each of several hundred wells
during the past two years, and use of equipment developed
for this type of completion has resulted in a 75 per cent
reduction in costs of certain types of work overs. In addition,
the more reliable indication of the commercial value of a
reservoir and the more accurate general reservoir information
made possible promise to be of even greater value in oil recov-
ery than the reduction of costs for completions and workovers.
Recently, several wells were worked over by using the
retrievable tubing extension suspended on a swab line to plug
back with cement and then perforating a higher producing
interval with the tubing-type perforator, thus opening the way
for complete through-the-tubing workovers which may be per-
formed without pipe-handling equipment or mud. Those item<;
attendant to the use of pipe-handling equipment and mud.
such as board matting. rig substructure. and pits, were also
eliminated.
There are indications that the elimination of drilling mud
during completion and work over operations will frequent!::

lReferences given at end of paper.

Manuscript received in the Petroleum Branch office Aug. 4, 1952. Paper
nresented at the Petroleum Branch Fall Meeting in Houston, Tex., Oct.
1-3. 1952. FIG. 1 - PERMANENT-TYPE WELL COMPLETION.

Vol. 198, 1953 SPE 231-G PETROlEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME 11

T.P. 3494 PERMANENT-TYPE WElL COMPLETION
being tested, however, which will decrease the number of or
eliminate tubing pulling operations.
Recent advances and successes in corrosion control no longer
make tubing and casing corrosion a serious detriment to
permanent-type well completions.
EQUIPMENT FOR PERMANENT-TYPE WELL
COMPLETION
Tubing-Type Perforator
The first tool specifically designed for permanent-type well
completion was the tubing-type perforator. ' The use of this
small perforator in a permanent well setting is shown in Fig. 1.
The tubingtype perforator presently used is 1% in. OD and
employs five jet charges per ft. These jet charges fire at an
0
angle of approximately 45 above horizontal and are contained
in a selfdestructible aluminum carrier, as shown in Fig. 2.
While the 1% in. OD aluminum tubing-gun carrier may be used
safely with hydrostatic heads up to 4,000 psi, the 1.9 in. OD
aluminum carrier can be used to 9,000 psi, and the 1% in.
OD brass carrier may be used to 7,000 psi. Since the gun
E XPEN DA8Il.E
CARRIER
PRI MACORD -~b44I!unr.:
~+--c:.HAPED CHARGE
5 SHOTS PER FOOT
FIG. 2 - TUBINGTYPE GUN PERFORATOR.
12 PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME
carrier is self-destructible, the gun may be of any convenient
length desired. The longest continuous interval thus far per
forated with one gun was 31 ft and the gun contained 155
shots.
The tubing-type perforator has been used several hundred
times with excellent results. This small gun has been used
successfully in the following cases:
5Yz-in. casing inside of 8%-in. hole,
7-in. casing inside of 9%-in. hole,
3Y2-in_ liner inside of 5Yz-in_ hole,
4-in. liner inside of 9-in. hole
5-in. liner inside of 101.4 -in. hole,
3-in. liner inside of 5Yz-in. hole, and
2-in. tubing cemented inside of 5-in., 18-lb liner cemented
inside of 7Y2-in. hole.
The tubing-type perforator has proved to have sufficient
penetration in all the above-mentioned cases although this gun
was primarily designed for 5Y2-in. or smaller casing. The
perforation produced is elliptical in shape, approximately
three-eighths by one-quarter in., which is a somewhat larger
hole than is made by some larger jet guns in present use.
Laboratory work is now being conducted on larger jet
charges for use in a tubing gun to be run through 2Yz-in.
tubing. The larger gun should have 25 to 30 per cent more
penetrating ability than the l%-in. OD gun and will probably
operate in pressures up to 4,000 psi.
The tubing-type perforator has been run on standard 7/16-
in. monocables from standard shooting trucks but experiments
are being conducted with a small panel shooting truck and a
3/16-in. standard steel single-conductor line. In its present
stage of development, some items of this small equipment
have limitations in depth of use and the overall setup should
be limited to depths to 8,000 ft.
A magnetic casing collar locator is run with the perforator
and is capable of locating the landing nipple, packer, end of
the tubing, casing collars, top of the liner if present, and flush
joint liner collars. Fig. 3 shows two typical casing-collar logs.
One example illustrates the characteristic deflections produced
by drillable aluminum joints contained in the liner. The collar
locator and firing head are four ft in length, and, since the
gun is self-destructible, the lubricator necessary to withdraw
the collar locator and firing head need be only four ft in length,
making possible the use of short handling equipment. Gin pole
trucks and swab units have been used to support the sheave
for the shooting line when completing wells with the tubing-
type perforator, allowing the drilling rig to be moved sooner.
With the tubing-type perforator, it is possible to perforate
additional producing interval without removal of the tubing
and without placing a rig on the well. With improvements in
running the tubing-type perforator under pressure, it will be
possible to perforate a small portion of the producing interval
to facilitate the acquisition of accurate reservoir information;
and, by perforating additional portions of the producing zone,
the correct location of the oil-water or gas-oil contacts may be
determined. The perforation of a well with the tubing in place
and the removal of the drilling rig without pressure on the
wellhead are safety features to be considered.
Retrievable Tubing Extension
The currently used retrievable tubing extension is con-
structed of extra heavy 11.4-in. pipe with I %-in. tool joints. It
is lowered into place at the bottom of the stationary tubing
string to give in effect a variable depth of tubing bottom,
making possible the cementing of a producing interval without
a drilling rig. A 9/16-in. stranded swab line on a standard
Vol. 198, 1953
 T. A. HUBER AND G. H. TAUSCH T.P. 3494

Tubing Packers
I
2" TUBING Special tubing packers have been specifically designed for
COUPLING
the permanent type well completion that may be used as
~
squeeze packers and as production packers and are arranged
2" TUBING to be set with the tubing in tension, hanging free, or in com-
COUPLING
"- pression. These new packers, shown in Fig. 5, are of two
types; namely, (1) the retrievable tubing packer, and (2) the
2"' TUBING drillable tubing packer.
COUPLING
1 - - - k H- 2" TUBING The retrievable tubing packer is a cup-type packer with the
COUPLING
"( packer mandrel made from a tubing joint. This tubing packer
is not held in place against squeeze pressure below the packer
~ by the tubing weight but is supported by the packer slips
TOP OF which are set by upper and lower chrome-plated cones driven
LANDING f--
TUBING behind the slips. The packer may be released by jarring the
I~- '== f- PACKER BOTTOM OF
2" TUBING ~ two sets of cones from behind the slips. By removing the
1--1-:
BOTTOM OF
F- ~I-
'1 upper cup, this same packer has been adapted for use as a
squeeze packer in wells which do not require a production
2" TUBING packer, as shown in Fig. 4.
5:'2" CASING The drillable packer is a commonly used packer which has
COUPLING
P r--t--- been modified to allow the packer stringer to be full opening.
TOP 4"
4"X S!-\" LINER _
I- LINER
The packer for 5Y2-in. casing, shown in Fig. 5, has only one
PACKER
,:;o~-r-- packing element and has a latch-on device to prevent the
stringer from being forced out of the packer due to high
Sv," CASING
COUPLING
TOP OF SECURALOY squeeze pressures and to allow the tubing to be set in tension
3.S" LINER LINER
when desired.
3.S" LINER - 4" FLUSH JOINT
CONNECTION
COUPLING
'- F-

, Gas-Lift Apparatus
4" FLUSH JOINT
3.5" LINER CONNECTION
COUPLING
I -- t--
3.S" LINER
COUPLING
f--- !---
4" FLUSH JOINT
CONNECTION
~
...
FIG. 3 - TUBING-TYPE COLLAR LOCATOR LOGS.
swab truck has been used to lower the tubing extention into
wells; however, small swab trucks with smaller swab lines,
such as one-quarter in., are practical.
When the retrievable tubing extension is used for cement
plugbacks, the extension is fastened to a wire-line locking
mandrel which is locked in place in a landing nipple contained
at the lower end of the tubing as shown in Fig. 4. The locking
mandrel has chevron packing which holds pressure exerted
from the upward direction only; this allows the circulating
fluid to wash cement particles from around the mandrel while
reversing excess cement from the tubing.
Vol. 198, 1953 PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME
The two new gas-lift valve arrangements being developed
for application in permanent-type well completions, shown in
Fig. 6, are the retrievable gas-lift valve and the gas-lift man-
drel with inner sliding sleeve. Neither of these gas-lift installa-
tions has as yet been given extensive field testing to determine
performance; nor has either been used in cementing operations.
The retrievable gas-lift installation consists of a special man-
drel in which the gas-lift valve is offset. This valve may be
replaced when faulty with a new valve by use of wire-line
equipment. When it is desired that these valves be blanked off,
the gas-lift valve may be replaced with a dummy valve. Future
tests may prove that modification of this installation is neces-
sary to insure that cement will not settle around the dummy
valves, to make their removal impossible, or that the seals on
the dummy valves will seal against high squeeze pressures.
I
The new style gas-lift mandrel with inner sliding sleeve has
I two gas-lift valves which may be used alternately. The inner
i sleeve has three positions of placement, one for the blanking
I position and one for each of the gas-lift valve inlets. This man-
!
drel should prove ideal for permanent-type well completions
because the mandrel may be blanked during cementing and
may be positioned on a valve inlet during production periods.
Economics may dictate the need for a mandrel with two posi-
tions, one blanking and one gas inlet. This type of mandrel
would allow the upper gas-lift mandrels in the tubing to con-
tain chokes which would be blanked once the well is unloaded.
PREPARATION OF WELL FOR PERMANENT-
TYPE WELL COMPLETION
Since the advent of the tubing-type perforator, it has been
possible to perforate the casing of wells without removing
the tubing whenever the interval for perforation has been
below the total depth of the tubing. When using the tubing-
type perforator and, when preparing a well for permanent-
13
T.P. 3494 PERMANENT-TYPE WELL COMPLETION

type well completion, the following factors should be con
sidered:
L The bottom of the tubing should be open ended or provided
with a seating arrangement to facilitate the use of a
removable tubing stop.
2. Prior to setting the tubing, a drift bar should be run
through the tubing to determine that all of the tubing
joints are full open. This may be accomplished easily while
the tubing is standing in the derrick.
3. The bottom of the tubing should be set above the possible
producing intervals.
4. When packers and landing nipples are used, equipment is
provided which will permit passage of the tubing-type
perforator. Consideration should be given to the use of
packers which do not require excessive tubing weight.
5. Upon running the tubing, the drilling mud is displaced
with clean fluid, preferably formation oil or salt water, and
the packer, if used, is then set.
6. The Christmas tree is placed on the well and sufficient
fluid is removed from the well to reduce the hydrostatic
pressure exerted by the well fluid to less than the formation
pressure; this will provide a differential into the well bore.
This use of clean fluid and a pressure differential into the
well bore should eliminate the partial or complete plugging
of perforations or sand face. Past performance has indio
cated that a differential of 500 to 750 psi into the well bore
will generally allow the well to come in without additional
help if the formation permeability is sufficient to obtain a
flowing well.
7. Prior to perforating a new well, the drilling rig is removed
and a smaller type of handling equipment is used to sup
port the sheave for the shooting line. Tubing can be run
while allowing cement to set and the overall time saving
will generally be one to two days per well.
FIELD OPERATIONS
W orkover of Existing Wells
Many work overs are performed on wells where only the
reperforation of the old producing interval or perforation of
additional interval is involved. In the past it has been the
practice to (1) kill the well with mud, (2) pull the tubing,
(3) perforate the desired interval, (4) rerun the tubing, and
(5) place the well back on production. When using this proce
dure in an 8,000 ft Frio sand field in Southwest Texas, three
wells were worked over last year with an av~rage cost per well
of $4,450.
If the bottom of the tubing is above the desired producing
interval, it is possible to perform any additional perforating or
reperforating without removing the tubing or using a work
over rig. Recently five producing wells in this 8,000-ft field
were worked over by reperforating with the tubing gun with
the total cost of these five workovers averaging $1,160 per job,
a 75 per cent reduction in costs. Four of the wells were origi-
nally equipped with pin collar tubing bottoms and one had
a perforated nipple and a hydraulic bull plug. Wire-line tools
were used to (1) remove paraffin from the tubing, (2) gauge
the tubing, (3) determine if the gun could be passed through
the tubing, (4) remove the pins from the pin collars by me-
chanical jarring action, and (5) determine if the casing con-

SQUEEZING REVERSING PERFORATJ NG PRODUCING

FIG. 5-PACKERS FOR PERMANENT-

FIG. 4 - USE OF WIRE-LINE RETRIEVABLE TUBING EXTENSION.
TYPE WELL COMPLETION.

14 PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME Vol. 198, 1953

 T. A. HUBER AND G. H. TAUSCH T.P. 3494

SQUEEZI NG REVERSING SQUEEZI N G REVERSING

HOLES WI LL BE
SEALED WHILE WELL
IS PROOUCIN G

FIG. 6 - NEW GAS LIFT VALVES FIG. 7 - PLUGGING BACK A WELL HAVING FIG. 8 - SQUEEZING CEMENT IN A PERMA-
FOR PERMANENT - TYPE WELL A PRODUCTION PACKER. NENT-TYPE WElL COMPLETION. ","i:L
COMPLETIONS.

tained any fill-up of debris which would prevent the small gun
being lowered to the desired perforating interval. The hydrau-
lic bull plug could not be removed by jarring and an experi-
mental blow-off charge was used successfully on the standard
shooting line to open the end of the tubing. Work is now in
progress to develop a blow-off charge which may be run on a
wire line and ignited by percussion.
A gin pole truck was used to support the sheave for the
standard perforating line, and tubing-type perforators, ranging
in length from 3 to 14 ft, were run in these five wells. A short
lubricator was used because the wells were incapable of flow-
ing. All five wells contained compression-type packers which
had been set with approximately 10,000 lb of tubing weight on
the packer. Slight difficulty was experienced in running both
the 3 and 14-ft small gun through the lower end of the tubing
which was crooked by the weight placed upon the tubing
packers.
Within the last year, a gas well under pressure in a 5,SOO-ft
Frio sand field was reperforated in its producing interval, with
a resultant 22 per cent increased in production, without killing
the well. It is interesting to note that the tubing-type per-
forator was run in this gas well on the 3/16-in. shooting line
with a tubing pressure of 1,040 psi, and it is likely that higher
pressure can also be easily handled. The upward force exerted
by the tubing pressure against the larger cross-sectional area
of the standard monocable and the difficulty in sealing around
the large strands make the use of the larger line impractical.
A 30-ft jointed aluminum derrick, with a 16-ft lubricator, was
installed on this gas well. A special lubricator assembly con-
taining a pull-in device, stuffing box, and automatic grease
injector was used to run the small gun under pressure.
W orkover of Wells Not Containing Production
Packers
Several wells in a 5,100-ft Cockfield sand field have been
plugged back with cement and reperforated in a higher inter-
val without the use of a drilling rig. These wells contained
2Y2-in. tubing with three constant flow gas-lift valves having
6/64, 7/64, and 8/64-in. chokes with reverse checks. Forma-
tion salt water was used as a workover fluid during the entire
operation of cementing and reperforating. A landing nipple
was run immediately above a special packer with a single cup
designed to hold upward pressure. This packer allowed the
well to be circulated when fluid was pumped into the casing.
This same setup, shown in Fig. 4, can be used with flowing
wells which do not have the usual type of production packer.
To perform the cement plug backs, the wire line mandrel
with a short blank sub of F4,-in. pipe was run and locked into
place in the landing nipple and the tubing was tested to 3,500
psi. The mandrel and blank joint were then withdrawn, and
100 ft of open-ended tubing extension was run and locked into
place in the landing nipple. The old perforations were plugged
with a 15-lb per gal slurry of slow-set cement having two per

Vol. 198, 1953 PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME 15

T.P. 3494 PERMANENT-TYPE WELL COMPLETION
cent bentonite. The excess cement was circulated out of the
well after obtaining a final and maximum squeeze pressure of
3,400 psi. The tubing extension was withdrawn from the well
and found to be free of cement. After allowing cement to set,
the well was reperforated in a higher zone by using the tubing.
type perforator.
These plug back jobs in the 5,100.ft Cockfield sand were
accomplished without difficulty and established the practicality
of the tubing extension. The top of the cement plug was
checked while using the tubing-type perforator and found to
be within one to two ft of the lower-most depth of the tubing
extension used during the plug-back operation. Upon recom-
pletion of the wells in which cementing operations had been
performed with the tubing extension, it was found that the
gas-lift valves functioned properly. The small amount of fluid
passing through the chokes in the valves while reverse circu-
lating had apparently removed any cement that may have
settled in the inlet of the gas-lift mandrels. Although the
reverse checks used with these gas-lift valves functioned prop-
erly, experience in the field has shown that more development
work should be done with gas-lift valve reverse checks if they
are to perform satisfactorily during cementing operations
after a number of years in an operating well.
DEVELOPMENT WORK IN PROGRESS
W orlwver of Wells Containing
Production Packers
Plans have been formulated and operations are ready for
the plugback of flowing wells which contain tubing packers.
A packer will be used in this operation which will function
as a production packer and as a squeeze packer and will be
set in tension or with a very slight amount of weight. A full-
opening circulating port will be placed in the tubing string
between the packer and the landing nipple so that excess
cement can be circulated out of the tubing and the tubing
extension. This circulating port has a spring-loaded sliding
inner mandrel which seals off pressure contained in the tubing
string and permits circulation from the casing into the tubing
when a pre-determined pressure differential between the casing
and the tubing is reached. Thus, the circulating port may be
set at a pressure such that it will remain closed and will allow
salt water or light mud to be placed in the casing-tubing
annulus. With this type of setup, as shown in Fig. 7, care
must be taken not to use too much cement while plugging
back since the pressure necessary to reverse out excess cement
will equal the difference between the hydrostatic head of the
column in the tubing and the column of fluid in the casing
plus the opening pressure of the circulating port. To offset this
handicap, 12Y2 lb per gal modified cement is considered an
ideal cementing agent.
An alternate setup for this type well is the use of reverse
checks in gas-lift mandrels in placing of the circulating port.
These reverse checks will not necessitate as high a pressure
while reversing as the circulating port and will be sealed off
while the well is producing.
A type of well for which equipment has been designed and
which is in the experimental stage is the well containing a
production packer and intermittent gas-lift valves without
chokes. The equipment to be used in this case for a cement
plugback of a perforated interval will be similar to the above-
mentioned apparatus used with a flowing well having a pro-
duction packer except for special gas-lift valves. Intermittent
gas-lift valves are available which open at a predetermined
pressure in the conventional manner and which close against
16 PETROlEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME
flow at a pressure several hundred lb in excess of the opening
pressure. This type of valve or the two new gas-lift installations
recently designed would allow excess cement to be reversed
out of the tubing without excessive fluid flow through the gas-
lift valves which do not contain chokes.
Squeeze Cementing Operations
In order to make the permanent-type well completion more
versatile, a method is being developed whereby the old pro-
ducing perforations can be squeeze cemented to prevent exces-
sive gas and salt water production and then be reperforated.
In order to accomplish this, it may be necessary to provide a
means of varying the position of the tubing extension while a
seal is effected between the tubing and the tubing extension.
Self-sealing rubber packers are being developed which seal
against a wide range of pressures but which are easily moved
when the pressures are released. The tubing extension equipped
with these self-sealing packers will be suspended on a swab
line during the entire cementing operation. After the required
squeeze pressure has been obtained, the tubing extension can
be lowered to the desired depth and the excess cement can
then be reverse circulated from the well bore at that point, as
shown in Fig. 8.
In order that gas and salt water shut-offs can be accom-
plished successfully, experiments are being conducted to obtain
cementing materials with the desired characteristics: (1) light
weight, (2) good pump ability , (3) early strength, and (4)
low filtration rate. When squeeze cementing operations have
been performed satisfactorily, the permanent-type well com-
pletion equipment will be standardized to allow all normal
well remedial operations to be performed.
SUMMARY
Results obtained from laboratory studies and field use of
the permanent-type well completion have led to the following
conclusions:
1. Permanent-type well completion is now practical. Wells
can be plugged back and perforated without disturbing the
tubing setting.
2. This new type of completion greatly reduces completion
and workover costs.
3. Development of a method is being continued and will soon
be completed wherein the old producing perforations may
be squeeze cemented to exclude excessive gas or salt water
production and be reperforated using the permanent-type
well completion.
4. The possibilities and accomplishments of this method war-
rant development of new equipment for handling wells
completed by this method.
5. Developments in accessory artificial-lift devices are prom-
ising and should be continued so as to provide suitable
valves for through-the-tubing operations and for greater life
of operation.
REFERENCES
1. Lebourg, M. P., and Hodgson, G. R.: "A Method of Per-
forating Casing Below Tubing," Trans. AIME, (1952),
195,303.
2. Huber, T. A., Allen, T. 0., and Abendroth, G. F.: "Well
Completion Practices," presented at meeting of the API,
Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 14, 1950. * * *
Vol. 198, 1953