Cyclic Stean~~injectionOperations -
Guadalupe Field, California t
K.J Stracke, D C Mason, and R G Altman*
ABSTRACT
T h ~ s paper descr~bes some of the problems en-
countered In c y c l ~ csteam ~njectlon In the Guadalupe
F ~ e l d San
, LUISO b ~ s p oCounty, Callforn~a
Tradlt~onalproblems, Inherent t o steam stlmulat~on
- such as caslng fallure, sand control, and adaptlon of
exlst~ngfacll~tiest o greater volumes of high-temperature
product~on- were encountered
lnnovatlons In methods and equ~pnlent used to
lmplement cost reduct~onsare d~scussed
INTRODUCTlON
Development of practical technlqiles of thennal
stlrnulat~on,lncludlng in sltu combustion, steam drlve,
and cycllc steam lnjectlon, was rece~vedwlth enthus~asm
by 011-product~onpeople assoc~atedw ~ t hlow-grav~ty,
high-v~scos~ty 011 reservoirs C y c l ~ c- more popularly
called "huff-and-puff' - steam lnjectlon was the tech-
nlque first used by most operators because of lower
cdpital Investment and more r a p ~ dresponse
The response from many of these early projects was
encouraglng However, w ~ t h ~an short tlme ~t became
apparent that a new set of problems would have to be
solved ~f cycllc steam lnject~on was t o be a financ~al
success In some areas the most perplexing problem was
the fa~lureof well caslngs to w ~ t h s t a n delevated tempera-
tures In others it was necessary to revamp or enlarge
011-treat~ngfaclllt~esto enable d e h y d r a t ~ o nof the larger
volumes of h~gh-temperaturecrude emulsions All oper-
ators found ~t necessary to refine techniques t o reduce
high operating costs
The objective of t h ~ paper
s a to present a case hlstory
of cycllc steam ~tljectlon,the related problems, and how
they were solved by one Callforn~aoperator
BACKGROUND
The key to successful operatton of the Guadalupe
Fleld has frustrated 011 men for over 15 years Contl-
nental 011Company drllled the d~scoverywell In 1949,
but did not develop commercial p r o d u c t ~ o nfro111 t h ~ 1s 0
API gravity reservoir which has an average thckness of
4 0 ft and an average depth of 2,700 ft The Thornbury
Drilllng C o n ~ p a n y acqulred the lease by purchase In
1950 and drllllng was resumed U n ~ o n 011 Co of
Callfornla became the operator In 1953 The low
product~onrates rebultlng from the hlgh vlscoslty of the
crude and sand-control problems plagued Unlon as ~t had
*Union Oil Co of Cahfornia, Orcutt, Calif
?Presented at the spring meeting of the Paclfic Coast
Distnct, API Dlvislon of Production, May 1969
I the prlor operators R e c o g n ~ z ~ nthe g potentla1 of vls-
c o s ~ t y r e d u c t ~ o n by thermal methods, Unlon experl-
mented w ~ t h bottom-hole electrlc heaters, but cable
fallures and sand-control problems proved too much
Durlng t h ~ sperlod of experunentat~on ~t was de-
termlned that the sand could be controlled by gravcl-
paclung T h a method has essent~allyel~mlnated sand
productlon In the field
In February 1964, cycllc steam lnject~ontests were
~ n ~ t ~ a tTehde response was encouraglng S o l u t ~ o nof the
new set of problems presented by steamlng operat~ons
has encouraged U n ~ o nto drill a d d ~ t ~ o nwells
al
I CASING DESIGN AND CEMENTING TECHNIQUES
Caslngs In 1 5 of 37 wells faded after belng subjected
t o hlgh temperatures d u r ~ n gsteanllng It IS posslble that
addltlonal fallures occurred whlch have not been de-
tected because product~on has not been affected Thls
fallure rate was understandably prohibltlve, and "huff-
and-puff' steamlng operattons were suspended untll the
problem could be solved
Caslng deslgn for, and fa~lures from, thermally
Induced stresses hds been dlscussed at length In num-
erous papers and reports and wlll not be further
dlscussed In technical detad in thls paper Restrained
caslng, dented free expanslon, wlll fall or be permanently
deformed when heated to temperatures which produce
stress values above the y ~ e l d strength for the caslng
tnaterlal
There are four b a s ~ capproaches to the s o l u t ~ o nof the
cas~ng-fa~lure problem for wells w h ~ c hare t o be sub-
jected to cycllc elevated temperatures
1 Pertn~t free expanslon of the caslng t o a v o ~ d
conlpresslve stresses
2 Prestress the caslng strlng In tension t o reduce
cornpresslve loads when expansion occurs
3 Select caslng grade of suffic~entstrength t o with-
stand stresses f r o m the antlc~patedtemperatures
4 Llrn~t the tnaxlrnunl temperature to which the
caslng is subjected t o nlalntaln stresses below the y ~ e l d
strength for the particular grade of caslng used
After conslderat~onof each of the four alternatlves.
methods 3 and 4 were selected for use to resolve t h ~ s
problem D e s p ~ t ethe added expense, the hlgher strength
caslng IS bel~evedt o be more rel~ablefrom all aspects
Grade N-80 buttress-thread caslng 1s used for all newly
conlpleted wells In the fleld The casing IS cemented
solldly to the surface uslng d two-stage cement slurry
The ledd slurry IS composed of 1 cement 2 Perf-A-Llte
w ~ t h4 0 percent sll~ca flour and 10 percent salt as
add~tlves The second stage IS a h~gher-strengthneat
cement w ~ t h4 0 percent s d ~ c aflour and 10 percent salt
36 K J Stracke, D C Mason, and R G Altman
as addltlves The stronger cement will theoret~callyfill t o
approxrniately 6 0 0 ft above the caslng shoe
The 111jectlon temperature for the wells cased WI th
Grade N-80 IS l~nilted to a rnaxlmuni of 550 F T h e
~ n j e c t ~ otemperature
n for older wells w ~ t hJ-55 caslng 1s
llmlted t o 4 5 0 F These Im71tlng temperatures are
calculated and based on the yleld strength of the caslng
materlal However, some a r b ~ t r a r y assurnpt~ons are
~nvolved In these calculations In some ~nstances, the
~liiposedtemperature I l m ~ t a t ~ o ncause
s the ~njectlonof
low-quallty steam or even hot water ~f the requlred
~ n j e c t ~ opressure
n exceeds the saturat~onpressure corre-
spondlng t o the temperature l m ~ tThls requlres that a
greater volume of hot water o r low-qual~tysteam be
lnjected t o ach~evethe des~redtotal heat t o the resewolr
Slnce the foregoing c o m p l e t ~ o nmethods and Ilm~ta-
t ~ o n swere adopted, some of the wells have recelved as
many as SIX cycles of steam ~ n j e c t ~ oand n not one
~ncldent of caslng fallure contrlbutable t o steam
lnjectlon has been detected
WELL PREPARATION AND CASING PROTECTION
We belleve, as d o most operators, that lnject~onof
steam down the tublng wlth some form of tublng/caslng
annulus lnsulat~on1s necessary t o malntaln lower caslng
temperatures and deslrable to reduce heat losses durlng
Inject Ion
Thermal packers w ~ t hsl~dlngmandrels to permlt
tubing expanslon were used lnlt~ally at Guadalupe to
achleve the deslred lnsulatlon Even though the most
pa~nstalung techniques were used to set the packers
(casing scraper and hot-water caslng wash), approxl-
mately 5 0 percent of these packers faded d u r ~ n gsteam
lnjectlon
Other disadvantages of the thermal packers In our
operatlons were
1 Hlgh ~ n l t ~cost
al
2 Recondltlonlng costs prlor to re-use
3 Product~onholst and crew tlme requlred t o Install
and retrleve the packer
4 Reduced l n ~ t ~ product~on
al after steamlng because
of gas and steam loclung of the pump untll the packer
could be retr~eved
More recently, lnsulat~on1s achleved by displacing the
annulus f l u ~ d s wlth gas prlor t o and durlng steam
lnjectlon The weU fluld level 1s depressed by lnjectlon of
gas Into the tublng/caslng annulus The depressed fluld
level 1s nlalntalned durlng steam operatlons by contlnu-
ous lnjectlon of a small volume of compressed gas
delivered by a portable eng~ne-dr~ven compressor located
at the well head
T h ~ sgas-displacement process 1s no less expenslve
than the use of thermal packers, but lnsulat~on1s more
rel~ablymalntalned The o b v ~ o u sadd~tlonaladvantages
are the reduced work load for the p r o d u c t ~ o nholst and
more rapld recovery of flush productlon m m e d ~ a t e l y
after steamlng
P r ~ o rt o the displacement of the annulus, the rods and
pump are pulled from the well A high-pressure (ASA
9 0 0 Serles) wellhead valvlng assembly 1s Installed T h ~ s
assenibly conslsts of a master valve, flow cross, swab
valve, two wlng valves, and a check valve One wlng valve
and the check valve enable shutoff of the steam llne and
prevent backflow from the well to the steam generator
The second wlng valve 1s used t o p e r m ~ tblowdown of
elther the tublng or the steam llne T h ~ latter s blowdown
valve 1s also used t o "warn] up" the steam Ilne after a
shutdown, and prevents the thermal shock of cold
condensate o n the hot tublng when the steam generator
The valves of tlils wellhead assembly are equlpped
w ~ t hextended operating handles whlch pass through a
shleld located several feet from the well head T h ~ s h ~ e l d
would offer protection for operation of the valves In an
emergency s ~ t u a t ~ o n
The steam-dellvery Ilne 1s connected t o the wellhead
assembly by a flex~ble"hose" constructed of three
h~gh-temperature swlvel jolnts This flex~ble assembly
permlts expanslon of the steam llne and caslng
Wells are returned t o p r o d u c t ~ o nas soon as poss~ble
after steam lnject~on 1s completed Wellhead pressures
whlch have not dlsslpated wlthln one week are bled off
and the wellhead steam-valv~ngassembly 1s removed The
pump and rods are run and the conventional wellhead
e q u ~ p m e n tfor pumplng 1s reinstalled
Frequently, ~ n ~ t l apl r o d u c t ~ o n 1s only hot water
(steam condensate) In t h ~ event s the well 1s produced t o
the sump until some 011cut 1s observed
The problem of hlgh lnltlal productlon temperatures
on the pollshed-rod stufflng box IS effectively solved by
slrnply dlrectlng a small stream of water o n the stuff~ng
box for the flrst few days after returning the well to
product~on
In further regard t o the lnltlal hlgh p r o d u c t ~ o n
temperatures, all cast-~ron valves and flttlngs are re-
moved froni the flow llnes and test manifolds Provls~on
1s made for thermal expanslon of the flow llnes
FIELD STEAMING AND PRODUCTION FACILITIES
In the early expermental p e r ~ o dof steani Injection,
the skld-mounted steam generator and associated equip-
ment were moved t o each well locatlon In some
Instances fleld u t l l ~ t y systems (water, gas, and elec-
trlc~ty) had t o be extended t o the lndlvldual well
locat~onsto permlt steamlng Thls frequent movement
of the e q u ~ p m e n tby crane and truck was costly and
~neffic~ent
After determlnlng that a drllllng program would be
lnlt~ated and steamlng operat~onsexpanded, alternate
steam/product~on-fac~l~ty deslgns were cons~dered
 Cychc Steam-injection Operations-Guadalupe F ~ e l dCallforrua
, 37

1 Trailer mount generating equipment to facll~tate
movement
2 Construct a permanent central~zedl o c a t ~ o nfor all
steam equipment wlth a field-wide steam-distribution
system
3 Construct satellite l o c a t ~ o n sfor steam e q u ~ p m e n t
and product~on test e q u ~ p m e n t to serve six to e ~ g h t
surround~ngwells
The latter design, referred t o as the "spider" or
"radial" pattern, was selected as tlie most efficient for
Guadalupe Factors considered in t h ~ sselection were
number of antic~patedsteam cycles, c a p ~ t a linvestment,
cost to move e q u ~ p m e n te, x ~ s t ~ nf ~g e l dutilit~es,and heat
loss
Fig 1 is a siniplified field map s h o w ~ n ghow the
"sp~der" patterns have been applied This system is
especially applicable in development programs in w h ~ c h
the boundaries of the field are not d e t e r m ~ n e d
Steam and Product~onTest Man~foldlng
Pipel~neswhich serve as cornbinat~onsteam-~njectlon
lines and production flowl~nes are used In the new
facil~ties Some capital and labor-saving teclin~queshave
been utilized in the p r o d u c t ~ o nand iiiject~onnianifold-
lng
The use of high-temperature and high-pressure valv~ng
~n the test rnan~fold is avoided by removal of a pipe
spool w h ~ c hisolates the steam I ~ n efrom the man~fold
d u r ~ n g the p e r ~ o d of steam ~njection The steam/
production l ~ n e sterni~nate~n an arc centered by the
steam supply line from the steam generator Thus tlie
same plplng spool can attach any steam line to tlie steam
supply Un~boltor similar h~gli-temperatureconnections
are used at t h ~ slocat~on rather than flanges, because
they are faster connect~onsand bolt-hole alignment IS
not required
Flow S p l ~ t t e r
Many wells In the field are "tight" because of li~glier
reservoir pressure and h ~ g hoil viscos~t~esTliese wells
accept steam or water injection at a very low rate In t h ~ s
event, to better use the full capacity of the steam
generator, the steani output stream IS s p l ~ tand lrljected
into two wells simultaneously The equlpment used to

L E G E N D

0 Slsom Generotor / Well

Test L o c o t ~ o n

/ Union Sugor Company I

Fig 1 - Guadalupe Field Map

38 K J Stracke, D C Masc3n, and R G Altman
spllt and control the stream 1s a symmetrrcal prplng
desrgn An o r ~ f i c eplate a installed In each vert~cal"leg"
of the splltter and the p r o p o r t ~ o n of the steam s p l ~ t
between the wells can thus be determined The lnjectlon
rate t o erther well can be controlled by a manual
throttl~ngvalve 111 each steam llne
Steam Llne Desgn
Plpelrnes whlch serve as cornblnatlon steam
~njectlon/product~onflow llnes are constructed from
4-111 diameter, Schedule 80, ASTM A-53, Grade B llne
plpe For safety, seamless plpe 1s used wlthln a 200-ft
radlus of any well or steam generator l o c a t ~ o nand for all
expanslon loops Less expensive c o n t ~ n u o u s electrlc
resistance weld prpe 1s used In remote portlons of tlie
steam llne
Prefabrrcated, ungulded expanslon loops are Installed
at 225-ft intervals In the steam llnes Precast concrete
blocks are used t o anchor the l ~ n eat m l d - ~ o l n t between
s well when producing Thls dlluent, whlch IS added a t the
each expanslon loop Casting these blocks In bulk
quantltles, haulrng, and a t t a c h ~ n g to the newly con-
structed line presents cons~derablesavlng when com-
pared to castrng In place
Steam Llne Insulation
The Guadalupe Fleld 1s located In an area of sand
dunes Thls sand, when dry, 1s a good insulator
Experiments conducted on bare steam llnes burled In the
sand demonstrate a heat loss rate of 1 5 Btulhrlsq ftldeg
F, as coliipared to a loss rate of 0 2 7 Btulhrlsq ftldeg F
for a llne protected wrth t y p ~ c a rnsulatron
l d u r ~ n g1965 The steam-drne pllot for the most part had
The value of heat loss froni ~ndlvldual-wellsteam l ~ n e s
with a steani~ngp e r ~ o dof one niontli per year does not
j u s t ~ f y lnsulatlon of these llnes Therefore, only those
llnes which are In continuous service or whlch might be
hazardous to personnel are rnsulated
Steam Generator Equipment and Maintenance
Frve steani generators are presently berng operated In
the f ~ e l d- three skld-mounted u n ~ t sand one trader-
mounted unlt whlch contallis two steam generators The
total capaclty 1s approximately 74 mllllon Btulhr
Fortunately, the field produces suff~clent gas t o
permlt the luxury of gas-flred steam generators and the
multitude of addlt~onaloperating problems associated
w ~ t h011-flred equipment can be avolded
Each steam generator 1s subjected t o a thorough
lnspectlon and overhaul annually In addltlon, a monthly
lnspect~onand operat~onalcheck of all safety shutdown
equlplnent 1s routine I t has been our experience that
falthful adherence t o these procedures pays dlvldends In
the prevention of operatlrig problems and serlous fad-
ures
The total f ~ e l d productlon 1s treated at two tank
batterles ~ e h ~ d r a t r oofn the crude 1s accomplished rn
wash tanks at each battery and 1s asslsted by a d d ~ t ~ o n a l
heat and cheni~cals
Emulsions produced by steam st~lnulatronare more
dlfflcult to "break" Some niodern~zatlonof the tank
batterles was necessary t o enable effective treatlng
Autornatlc custody transfer u n ~ t swere ~nstalled These
a d d l t ~ o n sperlnrtted one stock tank to be converted to
wash-tank servlce at each battery The p r ~ n c ~ p acom- l
ponents of each battery are one 1,500-bbl desander, two
3,000-bbl wash tanks operat~ng In parallel, one surge
tank, and one wet-or1 reject tank All tanks are heated by
steam thermopanes and a thermosyphon steam system
The best treat~ngtemperature for tlie crude a approxl-
mately 200 F
Dlluent (gas-orl) 1s Injected down the caslng of each
rate of approxunately 1 bbl for each 3 bbl of net crude
productlon, asslsts In pumplng, reduces all surface l ~ n e
pressures and asslsts In dehydration by lncreaslng the
gravlty of the treated 011 The gravlty of the dry 011
shlpped, lncludlng dlluent, 1s 13 to 1 3 API
FIELD PERFORMANCE
Recent p r o d u c t ~ o nperformance IS shown In Flg 2
T h ~ performance
s curve 1s dlvlded Into perlods In w h ~ c h
several secondary-recovery techniques were trred In the
Guadalupe F ~ e l d A pllot steam Flood was rnrt1a:ed
negat~veresults m a ~ n l ybecause of poor sweep efficiency
and early breakthrough of the ~ n j e c t ~ ofluld
n However,
after the pllot steani flood was terminated, the steam
rnjectors were returned t o productlon wrth dramatlc
Increases rn the 011-production rate
Steam stlniulatron (or "hu ff-and-puff' steaming) was
t r ~ e do n many wells from February 1964 t o March 1965,
and from September 1965 to October 1966 It was not
untll January 1967 that pattern steam stimulat~onwas
~ n l t ~ a t eand
d new wells were drllled uslng the Grade
N-80, buttress-thread caslng
The average f ~ e l d 011-production rate prlor t o the
1967 drllllng program was 1,700 BOPD, 4 2 percent
water cut The productlon peak was reached In October
1969, when the 011 rate reached 5,328 BOPD, 3 6 7
percent water cut
In 1967, a 19-well drllllng program was completed,
35 wells were drllled durlng 1968 and 1969
Average Well Performance
A conslderable varlatlon In productlon performance
of lndlvldual wells exlsts, particularly after steam stlmu-
 L E G END

- Sleom
Cyclic
Inject~on -

0 1 I I I I I 1 I 1 I
1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
YEARS
Fig 2 - Guadalupe Product~onSummary
lat~on The p ~ ~ n c ~ preasons
al for tlie var~atlons are per-barrel l ~ f t ~ ncost
g has declrned Essent~allythe same
d~fferencesIn sand development, reservoir pressure, and work force IS able to operate and nialnta~nthe fleld now
nieclianaal c o n d ~ t ~ o n sd u r ~ n g and after s t e a ~ n ~ n g as before steanilng T h ~ sIS attributable to consol~dated
Improved performance has been o b t a ~ n e dby use of gas steam and test f a c l l ~ t ~ eand
s reduced subsurface m a ~ n t e -
d~splacementto ~nsulatetlie caslng annulus Before uslng nance 111 the new completions
tli; gas-pac k techn~que, frequent packer fallures
The drlll~ngcosts have also been reduced T h ~ shas
occurred resulting In heat losses and poor steam-
been accompl~shed by careful plannlng and closer
st~liiulat~on results
supervlslon, along w ~ t h changes In the d r d l ~ n g and
The average ~ n l t ~ prlniary
al p r o d u c t ~ o nrate per well IS complet~onprograln Hole s u e has been reduced from
4 5 to 5 0 BOPD The average l n ~ t ~parlo d u c t ~ o nrate after
17-114 to 11 I n , l ~ n e radapters substituted for hangers,
first-cycle steamlng IS 250 BOPD, and the average and tlie continuous gravel-packlng method used In place
first-cycle 011 recovery 1s 30,000 t o 33,000 bbl of tlie slower batch method Presently, the cost to drill
The product~ondecl~rierate per steam cycle vanes, and complete a well, lncludlng p r o d u c t ~ o n facdlt~es,
but averages between 10 to 12 percent per year Most of averages $60,000
tlie wells are steamed once everv 11 to 1 2 months
The reductlori In l~ftlngcosts, c a p ~ t a lexpend~tures,
ECONOMICS and the iniproved steaming techn~queshas resulted in
Although the dlrect f ~ e l dexpense has ~ncreasedafter t u r n ~ n gthe Guadalupe Field from a margnal operation
full-scale pattern steani s t ~ m u l a t ~ owas
n started, the into an e c o n o m ~ csuccess