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WHOC 2008-394 Coiled Gas Lift design installing at the well PM02. Morichal
District, Venezuela

Conference Paper · March 2008

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 PAPER 2008-394

Coiled Gas Lift design installing at the well

PM02. Morichal District, Venezuela
J.C.BROWN, S. MARFISSI, F. CAMPOS, E. LOZADA
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.

This paper has been selected for presentation and publication in the Proceedings for the World Heavy Oil Congress 2008.
All papers selected will become the property of WHOC. The right to publish is retained by the WHOC’s Publications Committee.
The authors agree to assign the right to publish the above-titled paper to WHOC, who have conveyed non-exclusive right to the
Petroleum Society to publish, if it is selected.

Abstract
This paper presents the results obtained with the application of a The pilot test in the well PM-02 was considered successful
new artificial lift alternative, which was tried in a heavy oil well because the oil production rose from 200 bpd before the test to an
that increased the oil production of a gas lift producer well, average of 1,104 bpd with the new method, and the gas
which was showing holes in the production casing. Heavy oil consumption used as gas lift dropped in 500,000 scfd. Nowadays
wells from the Morichal District in Venezuela commonly present the well is producing with normal operational parameters. This
corrosion damages and sometimes it reaches the production methodology proved to be so successful that it is planned to use it
casing so that wells are currently abandoned. The well PM-02 is in 20 wells more with an associated oil production of 3,500 bpd.
located in the Morichal District in Venezuela and it is a heavy oil
producer well (12 ºAPI) where a gas lift method is used. Due to
the damage in the production casing of the well, it was Introduction
considered to be abandoned, so it was thought as an excellent Pilon Field is located in the West Basin of Venezuela, in the
opportunity to test the new artificial lift alternative. south-center of the Monagas State (Fig 1) and it belongs to an
east-west oil strip along with other fields like Morichal, Jobo,
The system is based on the gas injection through a 1.9 inch pipe, Temblador, Isleño, Uracoa, Bombal and Tucupita.
which has a special tool inserted in order to inject gas to the
bottom of the pipe, and the 1.9 inch pipe is placed inside of a 4.5 The well PM-02 is situated in the south of the reservoir Oficina
inch pipe. The hole in the pipe was isolated utilizing a packing, so 01, Pilon Field. The reservoir inclines towards the northeast with
fluids are produce through the annular between the 4.5 and 1.9 the original water-oil contact.
inch pipes.
This well was completed in 1948 as vertical, and then in 1997 a
reentry of 1,524 ft in the sand D was conducted to turn the well
into a horizontal one. The artificial lift method was continuous

1
gas lift . However the well was seen as an excellent opportunity Production behavior with the new gas lift
to implement an experimental design as the well was presenting design.
holes in casing.
The investment carried out to implement this methodology in the
It is important to point out that to this well, this methodology well PM-02, was equivalent to a routine service of the well at a
represented the last try of activation and drainage of oil associated cost of US$ 186,000. The well was activated with a better
in the reservoir because it was a logical candidate to an eventual productivity, which indicates that the proposal has been highly
abandonment for the holes in casing condition. successful (at present the injection pressure is 800 psi, the
wellhead pressure is 100 psi, gas injection is 260,000 scfd and
water cut is 42%). Likewise, tests were conducted which showed
an average oil production of 1,140 bpd, a fact that confirm the
Basic information of the well mentioned before as the oil production has been much higher than
Geometry: Reentry it was expected (Fig 4).
Field: Pilón
This new system is more efficient with this approach than the
Sand / Reservoir: D / Oficina
conventional one, basically because the gas consumption is
5200’ MD / reduced in 65% and it is likely to increase the oil production in
Depth, feet:
3403’ TVD 50%.
Pay Sand, feet: 65
Porosity, %: 26 Positive Impacts and the development of
Permeability, darcy: 3 components to the implementation of the
Temperature, ºF: 125 new lift system.
ºAPI: 12.5
The well is currently in operation with an average oil production
GOR, scf / barrel: 280
of 1,104 bpd. It is necessary to state that if the strategy had not
Reservoir Pressure, psi: 1250
been applied the well PM-02 would have been abandoned for
presenting hole in casing and to exploit the reserves that are being
Development now drained it would have been necessary to drill a new well at a
cost of US$ 2 million. With the application of the lift system it
Because of the damage in casing and with the aim of reactivating was obtained a saving of approximately US$ 140,000 compared
the well, it was visualized to use the well as an opportunity to with the cost of using the casing patch technology.
apply a gas lift experimental design in wells with holes in casing,
which consists of running a pipe of 1.9 inch that has a piece to the To undertake the project it was necessary to manufacture pieces
injection of gas inserted inside a production tubing of 4.5 inch. that are part of the well completion, hence an especial design for
Fluids are produced to the surface through the annular created the injector of the gas was made. The main piece has a function of
between the tubing of 1.9 and 4.5 inch respectively. In Figure 2 it injecting gas at the bottom of the well to allow the lift of oil to the
is showed the completion scheme of the well, where can be seen surface and it is located at the bottom of the 1.9 inch injection
the design utilized to reactivate the production of the well, pipe (Fig 5). That tool was constructed in “Talleres Venezuela
isolating the annular space. (PDVSA)” in time and complying with quality standards.

Additionally, to make use of the new artificial lift alternative, it Equally, another piece was fabricated with the purpose of
was necessary to develop an additional section over the connecting the 1.9 inch injection pipe to the wellhead. The
conventional wellhead (figure 3) where a 1.9 inch injection pipe construction of both pieces allowed a saving of roughly US$
is installed and through this section, production fluids are carried 4,700 in comparison with acquiring it abroad.
to the surface. These pieces were designed and fabricated in the
Morichal District, achieving with this significant financial It is important to highlight that the designs of the pieces are
savings, particularly if the company would have bought those unique as they were fabricated using well-qualified PDVSA
pieces abroad. workers, complying with the substitutions of importations and
making stronger the Endogenous Development.

2
Conclusions 5. Baker Jardine, “PIPESIM for windows, Additional Notes”,
1996.

• It was demonstrated that this methodology is a cost effective 6. BLANN, J. “Gas Lift Optimization”, course dictated in
alternative that enable to reactivate oil production from wells Morichal, 1997.
presenting holes in casing.

• To exploit the reserves that are now drained for the well PM-
02, it would have been necessary to drill another well at a
cost of US$ 2,000,000.

• The success of this test has allowed planning its application

in 20 more wells additionally in the Morichal District, under
similar situations and with an estimated oil production of
3,500 bpd.

• The proposal system can be visualized as a good method to

be applied in well completions with either steam injection or
hybrid completions ESP-GL.

Nomenclature:

BPD = Barrels per day

SCFD = Standard cubic feet per day.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Mr. Edgar Centeno who provided an

unconditional support to achieve the goals of this project.
Similarly, special appreciation to the drilling supervisors who
gave useful ideas at the moment of running the well completion.
It is important to thank the contribution of Francisco Pacheco
who realized the construction of the pieces, which were used to
the well completion

References

1. BISOTTO, P. “Aplicación del sistema de extracción Gas Lift

Anular en el Yacimiento Cerro Dragón”, Pan American
Energy, www.oilproduction.net

2. BROWN, J. “Integral analysis of artificial lift system in

heavy crude oil, South Monagas Fields”, paper SPE 53965,
presented at the 1999, Caracas, Venezuela, 21-23 April

3. MARTINEZ, A., and MARTINEZ, J., “Coiled Tubing

Velocity String-Expanding the Cases”, paper SPE 46030-
MS, presented at the 1998, Houston, Texas, 15-16 March

4. BROWN,K.E. “The tecnology of artificial lift methods”.

Vol.4, Pennwell Publishing Co., Tulsa, 1984.

3
 MONAGAS
MONAGAS
Maturín
Maturín

Morichal Dictrict

D OR
BL A
T EM
JOBO ON
PIL
MORICHAL
bo
Ya
ío
O-16 •R
M-19
HEAVY OIL FIELDS
J-20 EXTRA-HEAVY OIL FIELDS

Fig 1. Location of Pilón Field, Venezuela.

Tubing 4 1/2” (13% Cr) Holes in casing

Tubing 1.9”

Hydraulic packer 7” x 3 1/2”

Casing 7” x 22 lbs/ft

Fig 2. New schematic completion of the well PM-02

4
 Gas injection

Additional section
Tubing 1.9 inch

Packer 7 inch x 4 1/2 inch

Casing 7 inch Tubing 4 1/2 inch

Fig. 3. Schematic Wellhead of the well PM-02

2500

Reentry
interchange of method from
2000
mechanical pumping to gas lift

1500
Holes in casing
BNPD

(1 inactive year)
Reliner 2 3/8 inch
1000

500

0
30/04/97

05/01/98

12/09/98

20/05/99

25/01/00

01/10/00

08/06/01

13/02/02

21/10/02

28/06/03

04/03/04

09/11/04

17/07/05

24/03/06

29/11/06

06/08/07

Fecha

Fig. 4. Production behavior of the well PM 02

5
 Tubing 4 1/2” (13% Cr) Holes in casing

Tubing 1.9”

Hydraulic packer 7” x 3 1/2”

Connector of pipe to
gas nozzle
Casing 7” x 22 lbs/ft

Fig. 5. Location of the gas nozzle in well completion

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