Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Drilling the First SAGD Wells in the Orinoco Oil-Belt Bare Field:
A Case History
Pedro Guinand, Fernando Ruiz, Ronald Mago, ngel Hernandez, PDVSA; Rosa Ospina, Ramon Soto, Eduardo
Papaterra, Osbadis Mndez, Halliburton
parallel to the present Orinoco River, covering the Monagas, Horizontal Drilling in Bare Field
Anzotegui, and Gurico states of Venezuela. It is divided into The Bare field, located in the heart of Ayacuchos Division in
four main areas: Boyac, Junn, Ayacucho, and Carabobo, Orinocos Oil Belt, with Carina and Arecuna, is one of the
which, in turn, are segmented by blocks. most productive fields by the Extra-heavy Production Unit.
The first SAGD project in the Orinoco Oil Belt is applied Until now, this field contains 888 wells drilled, including 251
on the Bare Field of Ayacucho Blocks, specifically in the verticals, 140 deviated or high angle, 455 horizontals, 20
MFB-53 reservoir, sand U1, 3, which consists of multilaterals, 14 stratigraphics, 2 SAD, 2 SWSAGD, 2 HASD,
unconsolidated sands rich in quartz, with variable amounts of and 2 SAGD. Owing to the extra-heavy oil type present, the
detrital clay. This sand is of excellent reservoir quality with Bare field wells need a major drainage area unlike the
porosities around 30% and permeabilties ranging up to 7,000 conventional wells; for this reason, the operator is trying to
md. The net sand thickness in the reservoir varies between 60 achieve longer horizontal sections that vary from 1,500 ft to
and 100 ft. more than 5,000 ft.
From a structural standpoint, the MFB-53 reservoir is a
monocline with an average dip angle of 3 North, and it is
enshrined into the trap 15. Stratigraphically, the MFB-53
reservoir is located in the formation of Oligocene Merecure,
beneath the surface unconformable on the igneous -
metamorphic, overlying Formation Office Freites and Mesa
Las Piedras.
allowing for adjusting the planned profile in real time during including the mobilization that depends on several factors,
the drilling process according to the judgment of the geologist which can add 6 days/well.
present on location, assuring landing accuracy and correct well
positioning into the pay zone. The first 500 to 800 ft of this Drilling Operations of First Pair Wells in the Orinoco
section is reactive shale, followed by alternating sands and Oil Belt
shales to TD, where 9-5/8-in., 53.5-lpf, N-80 casing is set,
with ROP oscillating between 30 and 450 fph. Because of the Well Planning of Producer MFB 772 and Injector MFB
high reactivity of the shale presented in this interval, a 9.2 773 Pair Wells (Planning Stage)
10.2-lpg polymeric inhibited water mud system is used. The first phase of the project assessed the several critical
Once the producer sand is reached at +/-85 and the 9-5/8- factors prevailing during the application of any pilot SAGD.
in. casing is set, a 3,0004,500-ft 8--in. lateral production For this, simulation models were conducted, which evaluated
section is drilled. Then angle building continues until reaching important parameters, such as the optimum rate of injection,
+/-90. From this point lateral section is drilled to TD.A 6-- the vertical spacing, and the effective horizontal section. In
in. fulcrum steerable assembly with a 1.50 bent-housing addition, the models determined the appropriate cement grout
motor and PDC bit is used, requiring sliding 1015% of the to prevent mechanical problems in the wells during the
total drilled footage to keep horizontality between 89102 of project. The simulation model of the SAGD process main
inclination, depending on the formation dip angle, although objective was to evaluate the implementation of the SAGD
the difficult geometry associated with the sands small process in the MFB-53 Reservoir Sand U1, 3, analyzing the
thickness that we encountered all through this part of the well behavior of fluid production, recovery factors, and steam-oil
demanded several actions to be performed by the directional ratio.
driller, increasing the percentage of slided footage. It is The study was developed with a 3-D Cartesian mesh
important to control the deviation in this hole, trying at all 34x29x38 ft. It was defined as two parallel horizontal wells,
times to keep it straight, where DLS should be reduced as according to the definition of the SAGD process. A sensitivity
much as possible to facilitate drilling the well to TD and study was performed to identify possible scenarios that might
running the production liner to TD as well. This section is arise in the application of the SAGD process in the reservoir
generally drilled by geosteering using conventional LWD sand MFB-53 U1, 3. Sensitivities were conducted on the
tools, cutting samples obtained from shakers, correlations to steam injection rate, the length of the horizontal section of the
nearby wells, and the judgment of the geologist present on wells, and the vertical spacing between the producer and
location. From time to time, a sidetrack is required to drill a injector. These sensitivities were focused on optimizing the
cleaner and better section after an inaccurate wellbore application of the SAGD process from the point of view of the
placement in the objective sand. Typical ROP for this stage reservoir.
oscillates between 250 and 800 fph. At times, to avoid sand To determine the effect of the steam-injection rate,
exits resulting in sidetracks, a 8--in. slant well is drilled from sensitivities were performed using values of 100, 200, 300,
the surface casing shoe and then abandoned before drilling the 400, and 500 Ton/D. It can be seen that by injecting between
12--in. intermediate hole section, contributing to the sand 100 to 200 ton/d of steam, it was possible to recover as much
continuity. An 8.68.8-lpg calcium-carbonate-densified reserves as compared to the remaining rate.
viscoelastic mud water system is used to minimize formation
damage. Once the well is finished, it is chemically stimulated
with 5% HCL.
In both phases, 12--in. build section and 8--in
horizontal section, the mud system poses an inverse reology
(YP>PV), which is used to increase the transportation capacity
for the formation cuttings and to keep the hole clean. High
drilling rates of penetration in the Orinoco Oil Belt (300800
fph) require low flow rates (450500 gpm), in order to avoid
losing inclination, thus affecting directional work. Here some
common practices are: Back ream two times after each stand
is drilled, pump High-Vis pill every certain interval, perform
short trips to the last casing shoe and reaming the hole when
reaching the desired depth, before running casing or liner.
Once reaching TD, a 7-in., 23-lpf, N-80 slotted liner is run
over a 0.015in. wide slot, which is well defined for the area
and statistically determined to control sand production. This Fig. 3Steam-Rate Simulation.
liner is set in 9-5/8-in. casing with a 9-5/8-in. x7 -in. packer
hanger having an overlap of 200 ft. For closing operations, 4- When the optimal rate of injection was reached, the
-in. EUE or 3--in. EUE free-point tubing is run in the well, optimum horizontal section was determined using sensitivity
and in some cases, PCP can be run with the same drilling rig. lengths from 750 ft to 2,000 ft. It was determined that 1,500 ft
Drilling average times for the Bare field at surface hole is is the optimum horizontal section for the drilling of the wells.
3.4 days, 8.4 days for the intermediate section, and 4.2 days
for the production hole, for a total of 16 days per well, not
Pedro Guinand, Fernando Ruiz, Ronald Mago, ngel
Hernandez, Rosa Ospina, Ramon Soto, Eduardo
4 Papaterra, Osbadis Mndez SPE-WVS-051
section up to 3,142 ft, where it was decided to include a set of in the reservoir. Gravity drives the warm oil toward the lower
LWD tools in the BHA as an additional support for producing well. In Venezuela, heavy oil is produced with a
appropriate well placement. After picking up the new BHA, mix of cold and thermal recovery processes. Today, SAGD
the 12-1/4-in intermediate hole section was completed at at drilling technique is being evaluating for its implementation in
3,868 ft, with an inclination of 77.10, azimuth of 240.10, the development of San Tome Area Bare field.
distance center to center of 34.50 ft, and orientation of HS.
The magnetic ranging began at 3,000 ft MD, where the
respective directional corrections were conducted to assure the
fulfillment of the target separation window.
Once the 9-5/8-in. casing was set at 3,780 ft, a Gyro was
run in hole to minimize the uncertainty associated with the
MWD tools and to assure a better reference for future collision
analysis with nearby wells. A 6--in. fulcrum steerable
assembly with a 1.50 bent-housing motor, ABI sensor,
Magnetic Ranging Tool (MGT), and standard M/LWD tool
was then picked up and tripped in hole to drill a 2,000-ft, 8--
in. lateral injection section, with an average inclination of
90.0, DLS 0.87/100 ft, distance center to center of 31.60 ft,
and orientation of 12R. In this stage, the magnetic ranging was
Fig. 8SAGD Drilling Schematic.
used all along the drilled interval.
Maintaining Precise Distance between Wells Along 1,998 ft
of Trajectory
After drilling and completiing producer well MFB 772,
drilling of injector MFB 773 began. The exact relative
position of the injector well with respect to the producer was
determined by the MGT, which includes a downhole
electromagnetic source used in combination with a specially-
designed directional sensor for magnetic-ranging applications.
The data acquired by this tool provided exact coordinates to
the position of the upper horizontal injector well MFB 773
relative to the lower reference producer well MFB 772,
resulting in well pairs that are vertically aligned at 34 ft
(average distance) apart, along 1,998 ft of lateral section into
100% of net sand. The MGT tool solenoid was pumped down
into producer well MFB 772 on the end of an electric wireline.
For each station, two directional MWD surveys were taken,
Fig. 5Sand Percentage at Horizontal Section. while alternating the magnetization on the coil to correct the
effect of the earths magnetic field, casing interference, and
formation magnetic influences. The survey data was then
transmitted to surface, and high-side and right-side distance
values were calculated with high accuracy.
During ranging, clean magnetic surveys are not required,
which allows bringing the measurements closer to the bit. This
short bit-to-sensor distance, combined with the use of an at-bit
inclination sensor improved the ability to steer within the
required tolerance window for the MFB 773 and 772 pair
wells. The at-bit inclination sensor assisted in diminishing the
uncertainty of directional behavior of the bottomhole
assembly, thereby keeping the well bores correctly separated
and maximizing the heavy-oil recovery possibility from MFB
772 well by optimal placement of the wellbore into the
reservoir.
Fig. 6MFB-772 and MFB-773 Wells Section Graphic.
Completion Operations
February 2009 marked the start of the completion of the pair
of wells for SAGD project. Injector well MFB-773 was Fig. 12Completion Diagram of MFB-773 Well.
completed with 4--in. x 3--in. pre-isolated tubing, which
had shown excellent results in heat-loss reduction in the well SAGD Project Production Results
besides injection valves, which allow for selectively injecting The production phase of the project began in February 2009
(70% of the steam rate at the end of the horizontal section and with the initiation of cold production of the MFB 772 well,
30% in the heel). In such well pressures and temperatures, which showed an average oil production of 300 BOPD. Later,
sensors were installed in the horizontal section and tied to the in September 2010, the second phase of the production stage
pre-isolated tubing for monitoring steam conditions in the began with the injection of 100 tons of steam (80% quality)
reservoir. per day through the MFB 773 well. The oil-production rate
increase in 166%, gaining 500 BOPD by applying SAGD
technology. Todays production is 800 BOPD. Preliminary
calculations indicate that under production conditions, the
Drilling the First SAGD Wells in the Orinoco Oil-Belt Bare
SPE-WVS-051 Field: A Case History 7
NP (MBN)
QO (BNPD)
1500 100 139134 presented at the SPE Latin American & Caribbean
Petroleum Engineering Conference, Lima, Peru, 13 December.
80
1000
Silva, G. and Romero, T. 2001. Orinoco Oil Belt Well Construction
60 Using "Wells - In - Series" Technology With Horizontal and
40 Multilateral Trajectory. Paper SPE 69710 presented at the SPE
500
International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium,
20
Porlamar, Margarita Island, Venezuela, 1214 March 2001.
0 0 Zimmer, C., Person, J., Richter, D., Tilley, J., and Bittar, M. 2010.
Sep-09 Jan-10 May-10
DATE
Sep-10 Jan-11 May-11 Drilling a Better Pair: New Technologies in SAGD Directional
Fig. 13Production Behavior of MFB-772. Drilling. Paper CSUG/SPE 137137 presented at the Canadian
Unconventional Resources & International Petroleum
Conclusions Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1921 October.
SAGD drilling technique is a suitable technology for
the Orinoco Heavy-Oil Belt Bare Field.
Producer Well MFB-772 was drilled with an
effective combination of LWD-MWD tools and geo-
navigation techniques, reaching a horizontal section
of 2120 ft and 100% of oil net sand.
Oil-production rate can be increased in the area by
applying SAGD technology.
The recovery factor of the Orinoco Oil Belt Bare
Field was improved in 100% by applying SAGD
technology.
The precise placement of steam injector MFB 773
directly over and at a specified distance of 34 ft
above producer well MFB 773 by using MGT Active
Magnetic Ranging Technology was one of the main
drives of the success of this SAGD project.
The successful drilling of the first pair of wells in the
Orinoco Oil Belt opened a priceless way for the
Venezuelan operator to effectively meet its priorities.
Nomenclature
SAGD: Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage
SWSAGD: Single Well SADG
SAD: Steam Alternated Drive
HASP: Horizontal Alternating Steam Drive
M/LWD: Measure/ Logging While Drilling
PCP: Progressive Capacity Pump
MGT: Magnetic Guidance Tool
ABI: At-Bit Inclination
EM telemetry: Electromagnetic Telemetry
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all PDVSA and Halliburton
personnel who were involved in the planning and execution of
this successful project, even if they were not directly involved
in the collaboration of this paper.