Case Study

Intelligent Intervention of The Annulus Regains Production

In Brief

Expro diagnosed the problem and solved it with a bespoke tailor-made solution 

Customer Challenges

  • Expro was approached by the customer who was experiencing gas influx in the B-annulus in a well which caused the well to be shut in
  • To remove the shut in casing pressure, the annulus fluid was replaced with 1.5 SG of brine. The lub and bleed option was considered too time-consuming due to the high viscosity of oil based mud in the annulus
  • Our intelligent integrity solution was seen as a cost effective alternative to re-completing the well

Expro Excellence

  • Expro diagnosed the problem and solved it with a bespoke tailor-made solution to run a 6mm OD WellSpring system for the operation due to the low clearance between the B-annulus casings
  • It was deployed to 49 metres underneath the B-annulus inlet allowing the brine to enter the annulus, while allowing the old annulus fluid to be circulated out of the annulus
  • The operation lasted 25 days, with 40,000 litres of brine being pumped into the annulus. Returns showed that a total of 27,000 litres of annulus fluid was replaced
  • Our minimally intrusive equipment allowed the remediation of annular integrity issues without the use of a heavy workover rig. The alternative for the customer would have been to recomplete the well
  • Expro's Annulus Intervention service can remove the requirement for more arduous work to repair well integrity. Therefore reducing the emissions that would be generated from retrieving
    casing strings and re-completing the well

Value to Client

  • Expro have the only system that can intervene the annulus
  • No spills or NPTs occurred during the project
  • A total of 27,000 litres of annulus fluid was displaced to 1.5 SG brine
  • The well is back producing from January 2020 and continues to produce with bleedoffs from the annulus every three days
  • The customer was extremely satisfied with the project and they have identified future candidates for future wells

Contact

For further information, please contact wellintervention@expro.com.