10/29/2017 Well intervention - Wikipedia

Well intervention
A well intervention, or well work, is any
operation carried out on an oil or gas well
during, or at the end of, its productive life
that alters the state of the well or well
geometry, provides well diagnostics, or
manages the production of the well.

Contents
1 Types of well work
1.1 Pumping Well intervention vessel Skandi Constructor (former Sarah) with X-
1.2 bow.
Wellhead and Christmas tree
maintenance
1.3 Slickline
1.4 Braided line
1.5 Coiled tubing
1.6 Snubbing
1.7 Workover
1.8 Subsea well Intervention
2 See also
3 References
4 External links
5 Commercial links

Types of well work

Pumping
Pumping is the simplest form of intervention as it does not involve putting hardware into the well itself. Frequently it
simply involves rigging up to the kill wing valve on the Christmas tree and pumping the chemicals into the well.

Wellhead and Christmas tree maintenance

The complexity of Wellhead and Christmas tree maintenance can vary depending on the condition of the wellheads.
Scheduled annual maintenance may simply involve greasing and pressure testing the valve on the hardware.
Sometimes the downhole safety valve is pressure tested as well.

Slickline
Slickline operations may be used for fishing, gauge cutting, setting or removing plugs, deploying or removing wireline
retrievable valves, and memory logging.

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Braided line
Braided line is more complex than slickline due to the need for a grease injection system in the rigup to ensure the
BOP can seal around the braided contours of the wire. It also requires an additional shear-seal BOP as a tertiary
barrier as the upper master valve on the Christmas tree can only cut slickline. Braided line includes both the core-less
variety used for heaving fishing and electric-line used for logging and perforating.

Coiled tubing
Coiled tubing is used when it is desired to pump chemicals directly to the bottom of the well, such as in a circulating
operation or a chemical wash. It can also be used for tasks normally done by wireline if the deviation in the well is too
severe for gravity to lower the toolstring and circumstances prevent the use of a wireline tractor.

Snubbing
Snubbing, also known as hydraulic workover, involves forcing a string of pipe into the well against wellbore pressure
to perform the required tasks. The rigup is larger than for coiled tubing and the pipe more rigid.

Workover
In some older wells, changing reservoir conditions or deteriorating condition of the completion may necessitate
pulling it out to replace it with a fresh completion.

Subsea well Intervention

Subsea well intervention offers many challenges and requires much advance planning. The cost of subsea intervention
has in the past inhibited the intervention but in the current climate is much more viable. These interventions are
commonly executed from light/medium intervention vessels or mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) for the heavier
interventions such as snubbing and workover drilling rigs.

See also
Blowout preventer
List of oilfield service companies
Oil well
Petroleum industry
Well services
Well stimulation
Riserless Light Well Intervention
Baker Hughes

References
ISO 13628-7

External links
Defining Well Intervention (http://www.slb.com/news/inside_news/2015/2015_0306_defining_well_intervention.as
px)
IWCF Well Intervention Pressure Control syllabus (pdf) (http://www.iwcf.org/IWCF/Public/PDF/QA-WIS%20WI%2
0Syllabus,%20Rev%203.2,%201-08-2004,%20B&W.pdf)

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Commercial links
Freemyer Industrial Pressure (http://www.indpress.com/)

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This page was last edited on 24 March 2017, at 22:16.

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