Courtesy of bakerhughes.com

An operator with a deepwater field development in the Lower Tertiary Wilcox formation in the Gulf of Mexico chose to use the Baker Hughes TORRENT™ multizone single-trip (MST) completion system to execute three frac-pack treatments in a single run.

Conventional technology requires at least one trip for each frac-pack treatment. The TORRENT MST system has been systematically upgraded and improved to efficiently treat multiple zones in only one trip, providing significant cost savings and reducing nonproductive time.

“For this job, the efficiencies gained through the use of the TORRENT MST system enabled the operator to start production 12 days sooner than would have been expected with a conventional frac-pack completion, saving an estimated USD 12 million, considering rig time alone,” says Kevin Joseph, Baker Hughes completion engineer. “In addition, initial tests on the well confirmed higher production rates than expected.”

A 27,460 ft (8370 m) total depth (TD) well was drilled in 8,149 ft (2484 m) of water and cased with 10-1/8 in. casing. The well intersected three pay zones. After perforating, the operator ran the Baker Hughes TORRENT MST system.

“After the zonal-isolation packers were simultaneously set and tested, the MST service tool was repositioned to close the monitoring sleeve and the frac sleeve in one upward movement,” Joseph explains. “The dual shifter configuration optimizes the operation by reducing rig time, while also reducing the risk associated with excessive tool manipulation. The zone was pressure tested to confirm well integrity, and the same process was followed for the second and third zones.”

The frac-pack operation used 8 PPA of high-strength proppant pumped at 32 bpm with a surface treatment pressure of 13,000 psi (896 bar). The three zones were successfully treated with more than 1 million lbm of proppant.

Source: bakerhughes.com