SPE 163887

Restoring Monobore Well Life with Novel Coiled Tubing Gas Lift Dip Tube
in a Highly Corrosive Environment
Chaipayong Manatrakool, Chevron; Stephen Dyer, Nguyen Hoang Son, Schlumberger

Copyright 2013, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing & Well Intervention Conference & Exhibition held in The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 2627 March 2013.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Monobore wells have been a staple of the oil and gas industry for many years due to their simplicity and flexibility for
common intervention techniques. One downside comes when a producing interval or intervals start depleting, compromising
lift performance. Velocity strings have been successfully deployed in monobore gas wells to improve lift performance.
Retrofitting oil wells, such as presented here, with a gas lift string can significantly enhance the productive life of a well.
Performing this retrofit rig less offers additional opportunities in maintaining field production from more marginal wells not
especially suited to full work over operations.
Retrofitting completions rig less presents a number of technical and operational challenges. Gas lift utilizing a coiled
tubing (CT) dip tube and the associated valve sizing, setting depths, and lift gas optimization are discussed in the context of
the reservoir conditions and well parameters. The mechanical aspects associated with the hanging of the dip tube, thermal
effects, and corrosion inhibition present specific challenges similar to conventional completions, but with the complexity of
deployment under live well conditions.
Well control aspects associated with deployment, retrieval, and production are important considerations both technically
and operationally. The Pressure Control Equipment (PCE) stack must be suited to the dip tube completion components, while
providing effective barriers to secure well during deployment and emergency scenarios. The ability to connect, test, and
deploy several gas lift mandrels suitably spaced with coil tubing tubing are operationally challenging. The deployment
aspects are thus fundamental to the success of the concept.
During a job in Thailand, a corrosive, high-CO2, nonproducing monobore oil well was revived using a corrosionresistant CT dip-tube gas lift completion. The project successfully restored well production from zero flow to 900 B/D.
Conceptual design, tool selections, key technical decisions, and operational aspects are discussed.
Introduction
The Gulf of Thailand (GOT) is approximately 115,830 square miles area, its widest point is 343 mile across and 522 miles in
long (Fig.1). Most of the reservoirs in GOT have North-South orientation because of the North-South fault traps within
graben network (Fig.2). The productive reservoirs are in between 4,000 ft and 9,400 ft depth. The pay sand thickness is
generally varied from 5 ft to 50 ft thick with the average of 15 ft thick (Fig. 3).
The reservoir thermal gradient is comparatively high in GOT; the observed maximum static temperature is 3900F at
11,540 ft (Fig.5). Carbon dioxide (CO2) content in the reservoirs depends on the reservoir depth. In some reservoirs, the CO2
content is high as 38% at depth of 9,600 ft. The combination of high temperature and high CO2 content in the wellbore
creates highly corrosive environment for down hole equipment with elastomer constituents and surface production hardware.
Unocal Thailand (now Chevron), was the first Oil Company to win exploration rights in Thailand in 1962. The company
started production of natural gas, oil and condensate in the Gulf of Thailand from 1981. As of September 2002, Unocal has
set 108 platforms near the center of GOT, in which 81 of them are wellhead platforms; total of more than 1,699 wells has

SPE 163887

been drilled. As a part of reduction of the development capital cost and improved recovery, a number of drilled wells were
completed as slim hole monobore wells. The simplicity of the monobore well significantly reduces well cost by as much as
50%. The well with its completion consists of cemented tubing string without completion components, and a sub-surface
safety valve (SSSV). However, there are some drawbacks of monobore completion, a key of which is the absence to
artificially lift hydrocarbon as the well becomes impossible to produce naturally (Fig.3).
In this paper, a case history of artificial gas lift system, which was designed and applied for slim hole monobore in GOT,
is presented. The novel gas lift system was designed to reestablish production for non-producing monobore well. The gas
conduit method, anti-corrosion material selection, packer element design and significant post-job oil production result are
presented.
Challenge Description
When a slim hole monobore well (Fig.3), which is on small offshore wellhead platform in GOT, does not naturally flow,
there are few alternatives to bring it back on production. One of the options is to deploy artificial lift. The value of various
alternatives were considered versus well intervention costs / risks.
Potential productivity gain was compared for production recovery techniques. Work over rig is required for major well
intervention due to the limited wellhead platform deck space. The costs of deploying a work-over rig do not outweigh the
uncertainty in potential productivity gain. A simpler, more cost-effective option was sought. CT well intervention, which
requires a small footprint, was proposed. Number of artificial lift options is available to return the well to production.
However, due to the wellhead platform structure setup and the present of gas on platform, gas lift proved the most promising.
A novel gas lift system design for slim hole monobore well was conceived combining both gas lift mandrels and conveyed,
set and tested on coiled tubing.
Since the well consists of a cemented production tubular, a novel method to transport lift gas to the gas lift mandrels was
required. In addition the high reservoir temperature and CO2 content necessitated significant metallurgy considerations for
the gas lift string.
CT Gas Lift String Conceptual Design
Because of the simplicity of the slim hole mono bore well, the production tubing is cemented in hole and pre-installed gas lift
mandrels are not available. The production tubing cannot be removed. Therefore, to create a gas lift system, both gas lift
valve completion and lift gas conduit must be built. There are two phases of studying, lift gas conduit from surface and gas
lift valve selection (Fig.4).
Creating a lift gas injection path is challenging in this type of well architecture. The production tubing is cemented in the
casing and there is no communication between annulus and production tubing. A port, which leads gas from the annulus to
tubing, must thus be made. This can be done by punching holes on current tubing above the cement top.
A gas lift valve completion must be installed and secured in the wellbore. Because gas lift valves are designed to be
placed at different depths in the wellbore and the supply for those gas lift valves is from the same source they must be
installed in series as a string in the wellbore. This string is secured in the wellbore, isolation packers must straddle the lift gas
entry port in the cemented tubing. A set of two hydraulic packers are used to seal the annulus between gas lift string and
tubing at both ends of the string. Those packers are also used to anchor the string in place in the wellbore.
Because of high corrosion environment in the wellbore due to high reservoir temperature and high CO2 content, the
materials of the gas lift string must withstand corrosion environment. High chrome steel has excellent property against
corrosion; and was used for the entire gas lift completion string. The high chromium steel utilized in this coiled tubing
completion, required special attention to thermal expansion effects.

Creating Lift Gas Conduit

The lift gas conduit was planned through the production tubing casing annulus. The production tubing is cemented to
approximately 3490ft. The top of cement (TOC) was first verified at 3,490 ft using electric wireline with cement bond log.
The cement quality and bond condition between cement and tubing was confirmed.
The cement integrity was tested. Gas was used to pressurize the annulus to 1,500 psi - 500 psi above planned operational
pressure. Test pressure was cycled three times to simulate ballooning and contraction of the tubing to the cement bond. The

SPE 163887

test proved tubing-cement bond integrity.

The location of the tubing punch holes to be used for gas lift injection was planned some 450ft above TOC to provide
sufficient rat hole for debris fallout within the annulus. A 4 foot tubing punch complete with 4spf 90deg phasing was used to
perforate the gas lift entry ports in the tubing without risking penetrating the casing behind.

Gas Lift System Design

Based on the latest reservoir data, nodal analysis was run to design gas injection points, injection rates and gas injection
pressure. The result of nodal analysis confirmed three optimum depths of the gas lift valves in the wellbore at 2552 ft, 5,431
ft and 6,015 ft (Fig. 6).
The gas lift valve string configuration, consists of three gas lift valves and two packers. They are connected together by
1.75 CT. Two packers are used to create the annular between production tubing and coiled tubing. The gas, which flows
from the casing-tubing annulus to the perforated orifices into the tubing, will be trapped in the production tubing-coiled
tubing annular until its pressure reaches the setting pressure of the gas lift valve. At this time, gas is injected into the
production stream in the coiled tubing to lighten the wellbore fluid in order to flow the well artificially.
The gas lift valves set and secured by two packers in the wellbore. At equilibrium conditions the string was designed to
be under tension. When lift gas is offloaded, the temperature of the injected gas tends to cool down the string, which
increases the degree of tension in the string between two packers. Under production, the temperature of hydrocarbon flow
increases causing the coiled tubing to expand. As a result of this the string tends to switch from tension to compression
against anchored packers.
The critical points of the gas lift string, which must withstand the tension and compression, are the anchored packers.
The packers originally built for coiled tubing intervention are shear pull to release. When there is compression or tension on
the string, these loads apply on both packers. The selection of release shear pin is thus critical. Get them wrong and the
packer will unset resulting in either leaking completion, or worse lack of completion anchor to the casing. Selecting shear pin
rating too high, and the packer cannot be unset and retrieved when required. For this reason, the shear pins of the packer must
be selected so that the packer can withstand the load due to thermo-effect and can be retrieved by CT.
Hence, there are two conditions to select the right shear pins. First, the shear pin is strong enough to withstand
compression and tension effects. Second, the shear pins must be sheared to unset the packer under the CT pulling force:
/

(*)

To verify this, the tubing force model of gas lift string was run under static condition, gas unloading condition, and
producing condition to predict the forces. Appropriate thermal expansion and Youngs moduli for the 16Cr Coiled Tubing
material were used in the completion stress analyses.
In this case study, the tubing force module predicts the max pulling force (string is in tension), FTension, is 10,000 lb on
top packer when the well is offloading. The max pushing force (string in compression), FCompression, is 10,000 lb on the bottom
packer when well produces with max production temperature. Four set screws were used in the packers that withstand 16,600
lb (FPacker) for both push and pull loading (Fig.7; Fig.8 and Fig.9). Coiled tubing force simulation predicted the safe allowable
pull at the packer setting depth is 22,500 lbf (Fig.10). By using 4 set screws on the packer, the (*) condition was met.
Metallurgy
A 16Cr steel coiled tubing was selected for the CT completion due to its enhanced corrosion resistance. This special grade of
tubing was designed especially for extended exposure to wet CO2 gas applications. It has been tested at 250degF with 5%
CO2 with sea water environment for extended lifetime, showing an almost 10-fold improvement in corrosion resistance
compared to 13Cr coiled tubing.
Coil Tubing Completion Equipment
A number of alterations of coiled tubing completion equipment were made to ensure its stability, integrity and longevity of
the completion over the life of well:
Isolation packers the elastomeric elements in the coiled tubing isolation packers were modified to manage the

SPE 163887

combination of differential pressure and axial loading associated with the tubing force envelopes expected during installation,
gas lift offloading, production, and well shut in cycles (Fig.7 and Fig.8). Finite element analyses coupled with environmental
tests were made on standard elements to determine design improvements. Environmental qualification of new element design
was made under combined tension, compression and differential pressure loading. The key enhancements made to the
conventional coiled tubing packer design included:

A 3 element design specially designed back up elements was successfully qualified to enhance extrusion resistance at
elevated temperatures (Fig.11).
Modified body lock ring and ratchet material to reduce risk of galling during setting or pulling operation.
Upgraded release shear screws to manage upward loading on mandrel compression from below top packer during
production, or upward tension from above on lower packer during cool fluid injection.

Coil Connectors an Inconel lock ring was introduced for corrosion resistance. Pull tests were performed to qualify the
coil connectors for installation, life of well and retrieval operation loading.
Pump Out Plug Higher shear pin settings allowing sufficient pressure window between hydraulic pressure to ensure
full packer element compression set and that to pump the plug.
Partial Packer Set Test The packers were set simultaneously. A partial pressure setting test was performed which
affirmed that full setting pressure is required to fully anchor the slips into the casing. A sequential packer setting operation
was thus not recommended for this packer design.
Flow By Tests flow by tests were performed to ensure maximum trip in hole speed to avoid element swabbing.
Well Control Equipment
Rigorous well control is one of the key challenges during the gas lift installation. Because the gas lift string is deployed into
the well by connecting each component at surface and lowering into the wellbore, the well is opened to atmosphere during
installation, like a well completion process. The only active well control barrier is the kill fluid in the wellbore. Kill fluid was
made available at all times to maintain the well full at all time during gas lift string installation. Secondary and tertiary
barriers were also required as per standard well control policies.
The well control stack consisted of a standard quad BOP and a shear-seal ram, which provides 5 hydraulic rams in total
(Fig.12). They are capable of 3 barriers in addition to the kill fluid barrier. The stack also provides a slip ram for holding CT
and 2 shear-rams cut shear the CT and close the well in case of emergency.
Gas Lift String Installation
The gas lift string was built by connecting 4 main assemblies together. Chromium steel CT was used as a medium to connect
between each module and conveyed it to the setting depth. Before installation, the well was filled with loss control material
fluid and kill fluid. Wellhead pressure was monitored for 1 hr and verified stable prior to opening the swab valve and running
the gas lift string. The kill line was rigged up to fill up the wellbore if fluid level drop during installation. The challenge was
to maintain fluid level at surface since the depleted reservoir was unable to naturally suspend a column of brine in the
wellbore. To reduce fluid loss into formation, loss control material fluid was used to reduce fluid leak off to the reservoir.
To hold the string in the wellbore, both slip ram of BOP and down-hole tool slip collar were used. As soon as the slip
ram and slip collar completely engaged on the CT, 10,000 lbf down force was applied to verify the connection prior to
cutting the CT above the BOP. After making up new connection with deployed string, the connection was pressure tested to
1,000 psi to ensure integrity and a pull test 10,000 lbf up force before retracting and removing the slip ram and tool collar.
The abnormal configuration of the CT string in the wellbore and its chromium steel material had not been run before in
this combination. Therefore, the CT speed was reduced to 30 ft/minute; slow enough for the operator to recognize any
abnormal CT behavior, which represents instability of the string in wellbore.
Assembly # 1 (Fig.13) is the bottom most assembly. It includes a pump out sub, a hydraulic double grip packer, bottom
most gas lift mandrel, and connection sub. This assembly has three functions. It anchors the gas lift string, provides a gas
injection point at the deepest location, and holds the fluid column in the gas lift string for setting packers. All components
were connected and deployed in the wellbore.

SPE 163887

Between assembly # 1 and assembly # 2 (Fig.14) is a 1,870 ft Chrome 16% CT 1.75. Slip type CT connector were
chosen to connect the assembly with coiled tubing. Depending on the location of the assembly, the thread connection of top
and bottom of component of the assembly were custom made so that it can be connected to CT.
Assembly # 2 and assembly # 3 (Fig.15) were the second and the third assemblies from the bottom of the gas lift string,
they have the same configuration which includes 2 x CT connectors, one swivel connector and a gas lift valve. Both CT
connectors were used to connect to CT on top and bottom of the assembly, gas lift valves were for the second and third gas
injection points. Because the CT above and below the assembly are non-ratable during making up, a swivel connection was
employed.
Assembly # 4 (Fig. 16), the final assembly, contains a hydraulic disconnect, a packer, a swivel connector and CT
connector. The packer works as top anchor of the gas lift string and a barrier to seal the CT-Production tubing annulus. The
hydraulic connector on top of the packer work as disconnect device which disconnects the deployment CT from the gas lift
string after setting both packers.
After completing the gas lift string deployment at surface, the final pressure test at 1,000 psi was done to ensure integrity
of the whole gas lift string prior to running in hole.
The gas lift string was run 100 ft deeper than the setting depth then POOH to setting depth, to straighten the string and
remove any compression forces in the tubing prior to setting the packers. The string was then left stationary in wellbore in 6
hrs. for temperature equilibration to maximize the length of CT prior to setting the packer. The setting gas lift string was
performed through 3 steps:

Step 1 - Set packers, the pressure in the string was built to 3,700 psi. The setting pins on the packers are sheared
to set both packers at the target depths. After packers were set, pressure in the CT was bled off and held at 2,000
psi, brine was pumped to pressure test the tubing-casing annulus and CT-tubing annulus to test the integrity of
the packers seals.
Step 2 - Shear the pump out plug, CT pressure was slowly built up to 4,000 psi and held for 10 min to apply
additional setting force into the packer element and slips and then increased to 5,200 psi to shear out the pump
out plug of the gas lift string. At this time, fluid in the wellbore and fluid in CT were communicated together
which gained ability to pump through CT.
Step 3 - Disconnect the gas lift string form the conveying CT tubing. A ball was dropped and circulated through
CT. Once the ball seat on the CT disconnect, CT pressure was built up to shear the shear pins to disconnect and
leave the gas lift string at designed depth (Fig.17).

Conclusion
It is possible to efficiently deisgn and install a gas lift string for installation in slim monobore wells for extending well life.
Coiled tubing is an effective means of deploying such completions, and with the appropriate design attention can deliver an
effective completion for remaining life of the well.
Significant production gains are possible utilizing coil tubing completions in certain well environments. In this case study, a
non-producing oil well was returned to 900bopd production by efficient use of platform lift gas.
A number of cautions are required when attempting to deploy a coiled tubing completion as opposed to a conventional
completion:
Coil material selection
Appropriate packer setting procedures to accommodate life of well tubing forces while allowing for retrieval by CT
in case of difficulties.
Well control during installation
Coil connector design, verification and testing during installation

SPE 163887

References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

T.W. Clapp, E-E Crest Engineering Inc. Development of the Erawan Gas Field, Gulf of Thailand journal of
Petroleum Technology
Walt Chapman, Baker Oil Tools. Case History of One-Trip Monobore Completion System 2 Years of Cement
through Monobore completions in the Gulf of Thailand SPE103668.
E.R. Callahan III, G.Scht, Unocal Thailand Ltd. Slim hole Development in the Gulf of Thailand SPE 38053.
Jeff Hibbeler, Richar Seymour, Phil Rae, BJ Services Company. Faster, Deeper, Cheaper Slim hole Well
Construction in the Gulf of Thailand SPE 90999
David F. Grimm, Unocal Thailand. Platform Continuance of Classification Program Third International Offshore
and Polar Engineering Conference, Singapore, 6-11 June 1993

SPE 163887

Fig.1 - Offshore Oilfields in the Gulf of Thailand

Fig.2 - North-South Fault Traps

Fig.3 - Typical Slim hole Monobore Well in GOT

Fig.4 - Proposed Coiled Tubing Gas Lift Valves String

SPE 163887

Fig.5 Reservoir Temperature Profile in the Gulf of Thailand

Fig.6 Gas Lift Design

Fig.7 Tubing Force Simulation Summary - Tension

Fig.8 Tubing Force Simulation Summary Compression

SPE 163887

40000

30000
Pickup

Weight Indicator Load - lbf

Slackoff
Stripper Friction Load - 500 lbf
Well Head Pressure - 50 psi
Coiled Tubing Circ. Pressure - 0 psi
Tensile Load on Tool at Max Depth - 22500 lbf
Compressive Load on Tool at Max Depth - 0 lbf

20000

10000

-10000

1000

2000

3000

4000

Measured Depth of Tool String - ft

Fig.9 Temperature Gradient of Target Well

Finite Element Analsis analysis and photograph of element

following differential pressure from below packer under mandrel
loading. Top of element is to left of FEA chart

Fig.10 Coiled Tubing Force Simulation

Adverse extrution of initial packer element in the lab

test.

Finite Element Analysis of one of the revised element design

options showing impact of back up anti-extrusion rings
Fig. 11 Finite Element Analysis and Packer Element Design

10

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Fig.12 - Pressure Control Stack

Top Connection Sub

Swivel Connector
Gas Lift Valve # 2
Bottom Connection Sub
Fig.13 Assembly # 1

Fig.14 Assembly # 2

Top Connection Sub

Swivel Connector
Gas Lift Valve # 1
Bottom Connection Sub
Fig.15 Assembly # 3

Fig.16 Assembly # 4

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11

Fig.17 Setting Gas Lift Valve String & Off loading