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Introduction
Several gas reservoirs in the Adriatic Sea are formed of lowpermeability, dirty sandstones; the Giovanna field, located in the
Adriatic Sea Fig. 1, is one example. Its reservoir is composed of
turbiditic sediments interbedded with sand, silt, and clay. The average formation permeability to gas is 12 md, with clay content
close to, and frequently more than, 50%. All of the original wells
in this field were completed with openhole gravel packs; one
inside-casing completion and one conventional completion Giovanna 6, pool 10 were also installed in two sublayers pools to
assess the productivity and longevity of these kinds of completions in very dirty sands.1 Many different sandstone streaks, more
and more often encountered by wells in the Adriatic Sea, such as
in the Giovanna field, are grouped and completed in pools.
The Giovanna 6 well was completed with 2 83-in. dual-string
completion technology. The short string was extended in front of
pool 10 by a perforated 2 83-in. extension pipe inside the casing.
The well was put on production in December 1992, sanded out
completely at the end of 1994, and consequently shut-in.
We selected the latest innovative viscoelastic surfactant fracturing fluid technology for field trial in the Giovanna 6 well, pool 10,
and the operator decided to use the upper zone of pool 10 as a test
for a rigless, screenless sand-control completion technique. Successful application would confirm that the screenless completion
sand-control technique could be applied to other wells throughout
the area, while failure could be remedied in any similar future
application. Screenless sand-control completion technology is of
particular interest for dual-string completions in the Adriatic Sea.
It will allow low-cost development of any numbers of layers to be
produced by the short string, which otherwise could not be
drained using conventional sand-control technologies without exCopyright 2000 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 67836) was revised for publication from SPE 58787 first presented at the
2000 SPE Intl. Symposium on Formation Damage Control held in Lafayette, Louisiana,
2324 February. Original manuscript received for review 20 April 2000. Revised manuscript received 23 August 2000. Paper peer approved 12 September 2000.
293
Fig. 2Completion of Giovanna 6, pool 10 showing the proposed location of the fracture.
maximize the chance of success, we designed a tip-screenout fracture incorporating the best available fluid technology to maximize
the fracture conductivity. The proposed completion with the original hardware in the well is shown in Fig. 2.
Three key objectives which had to be met for a successful and
effective screenless sand-control completion were to
bypass any formation damage,
create a highly conductive path to economically deplete the
field, and
control sand and fines production by connecting the sand
streaks with a single, wide fracture Fig. 3 combined with effective proppant flowback control.
We selected the proppant, fracture fluid, and proppant flowback
control type to optimize the fracture conductivity.
Proppant Selection. The relatively low closure-stress environment 3,000 psi in the zone made the choice of sand as a proppant easy on economic grounds. However, the choice of proppant
size was more difficult since there were conflicting requirements.
Maximizing fracture conductivity required the largest proppant
size possible. To prevent invasion of formation particles into the
proppant pack, the situation was reversed, with the smaller proppant being better. The selected proppant size to prevent the ingress of formation sand was 40/60 U.S. mesh. This size would not
prevent invasion of the proppant pack by fines, as evidenced by
the many gravel packs plugged up by fines, especially in the Giovanna field. However, the presence of the fracture would significantly decrease the gas velocity in the formation, thereby decreasing the likelihood of fines transport into the fracture during
production. The benefit of fracturing to minimize the risk of fines
production has been demonstrated in similar formations by the
significantly increased lifetimes of fracpack completions compared with gravel-pack completions.
Fluid Selection. Fluids viscosified with hydroxyethylcellulose
HEC have been used traditionally, after shearing and filtration,
294
108F
12 md
2 md
50%
0.0011 to 0.0013 in.
3,000 psi
5,735 ft
15 ft
39 ft
3 in.
33
22,500 lbm
700 psi
Job Execution
Three key parameters controlled the fracture treatment design.
First, the requirement for maximum fracture conductivity necessitated a tip-screenout TSO design. Second, the unfavorable
completion scenario limited the proppant concentration that could
be safely pumped to 6 lbm/gal. Finally, the small diameter tubing
and a weak snap-latch connection and its pressure limitations dictated that the pump rate be limited to 5 bbl/min. In fact all injected
treating fluids were heated to 104F to avoid any tubing contraction and possible snap-latch opening. In addition logistics and
limited space on the platform allowed only batch mixing of the
slurries at three proppant concentrations 2, 4, and 6 lbm/gal.
Coiled-Tubing Sand Clean Out
1
We used 1 4-in. coiled tubing to clean out the top 39 ft of the fill
inside the perforated extension pipe. Cycling the coiled tubing up
and down over the interval also removed the sand between the
perforated pipe and casing. A sand plug was set with the top of
sand at 5,754 ft, leaving 39 ft of perforations open for fracturing.
Fracture Treatment
We premixed all slurry stages in batch tanks and added the VES
product directly into fresh water, containing 4% by weight KCl, at
a concentration of 0.625%. The viscosity developed to the required level without any hydration time; onsite laboratory analysis
measured 18 cp at 170 sec1. For stabilization of the high clay
presence in the Giovanna formation, we added 1% permanent clay
stabilizer. The proppant was added to the tanks while simultaneously circulating and agitating the slurries but we saw no evidence of gravel sedimentation. Finally, we switched the recirculating pumps off and added the fibers with only paddle mixing
continuing. The excellent suspension properties of the VES fluid/
fiber combination were confirmed by the lack of any settled sand
at the bottom of the mixing tanks even after prolonged residence
with just paddle agitation.
The pad fluid, VES fluid at 0.625%, was also premixed. The
treatment was underdisplaced by 10 bbl, corresponding to 2,580 ft
of tubing fill, to reserve sufficient slurry volume to stress and to
inflate the fracture width after screenout and to leave slurry above
the perforations in case fracture growth occurred after closure.
Reducing the pump rate to stop lateral fracture extension promoted tip screenout. The net pressure further increased and resulted in a mature, very wide fracture. The well was cleaned up
with coiled tubing and put immediately on to production. No sand
or gravel production occurred. No fibers were returned from the
fracture.
Results
Full details of the fracturing design, job execution, and result
evaluation have been given in a separate paper.11 However, a
summary of the results is given in Table 2.
The parameters obtained from the evaluation of the fracture
treatment clearly indicate that we achieved our required objectives. The fracture height remained confined over the targeted
interval, while the high net pressure generated a very wide fracture and consequently a very high dimensionless conductivity.
The fracture remained confined because of the VES fluid; this
result will allow the planning of multiple staged fracpacks without
the risk of intersection of consecutive fractures.
SPE Drill. & Completion, Vol. 15, No. 4, December 2000
295
E01 m3
E03 Pas
C
E01 m
E02 m3
E03 m3
E00 cm
E01 kg
E04 m2
E00 kPa
SPEDC
297