SPE-192570-MS

Acid Fracturing Depleted Carbonates Improving Very Low Reservoir Quality

Inside Slim Horizontal Open Hole

Amr Abd El Baky, Halliburton; Nawaf Al-Shuaibi, Kuwait Oil Company; Alaa Eldine Alboueshi and Mohamed
Elmofti, Halliburton; Ebrahim Elafify and Meshal Alkhaldy, Kuwait Oil Company; Ahmed Allam and Walid Eid,
Halliburton; Anfal Ashkanani, Kuwait Oil Company

Copyright 2018, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Caspian Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Astana, Kazakhstan, 31st October – 2nd November
2018.

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
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Abstract
The execution of pinpointed multi-stage acid fracturing inside 4-1/8-in. slim horizontal open hole sections is
discussed. For the first time in Kuwait, pinpoint stimulation of 16 frac stages across a total 4,666 ft open hole
while commingling three reservoir sections in very low reservoir quality carbonate rock was performed.
Pumping rates were optimized while managing differential sticking hazards in the implementation of this
frac procedure. Electric submersible pump completion deployment and well testing enhanced production
by more than 100% over the anticipated rate.
Stimulation parameters were optimized with 2-7/8-in. tubing as the frac string for greater reservoir
penetration and productivity enhancement. Differential sticking was addressed by removing drilling filter
cake prior to the frac job. Possible risks were evaluated, and mitigation plans were implemented which
resulted in the successful application of multi-stage acid fracturing across the open hole.

Introduction
When an operator considers a horizontal completion in a low permeability carbonate reservoir, cost
containment becomes a prime drilling and completion consideration. For many recent and currently planned
projects throughout the world, the opportunity for openhole horizontals to give increased production per
completion dollar economically may be what justifies the development of a new field or additional drilling
in an existing field. Also, the reentry of older vertical wells for horizontal recompletions may dictate that
the completion is openhole because of hole-size limitations.
The global reality is that our industry seems slow to accept that horizontal completions in low-
permeability reservoirs usually require significant stimulation for achieving truly economic production
rates. Many horizontal drilling programs have been based on incorrect assumptions that long laterals will
avoid the need for expensive stimulation treatment normally required for economic vertical well completion
in that reservoir.
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Hydrajetting, the use of water under high pressure, is a well-known technique that many industries use
to perform different tasks. These tasks include cleaning and preparing surfaces, placing cement, drilling,
cutting, slotting, perforating, machining, grouting, mining, and even household uses such as car washing
and dental hygiene (Rees et al. 2001).
In the oil industry, the most common applications for hydrajetting have been some type of slotting or
perforating. In these applications, sand usually performs the abrasive cutting function. In recent years,
hydrajet system quality has improved significantly, resulting in nozzles with greater resistance to abrasives
and various chemicals, yielding significantly increased tool life. With the advent of better and more reliable
tools and by meshing with other proven technologies, this technology has become more useful for oil and
gas well stimulation uses.
A relatively new hydrajet fracturing process can be used in two ways: (1) dynamic fluid energy is used
to divert flow into a specific fracture entry point to initiate a fracture at the intended location with live acid
directed into this fracture plane, (2) high-pressure downhole mixing is used to create foam for high-intensity
acid squeezes. This technique typically uses two independent fluid streams, one in the treating string and
another in the annulus. The two fluids (if dissimilar) are mixed downhole at a tremendously high energy
to form a homogenous mixture.

The Hydrajet- Squeeze Process

By using a tool with hydrajet nozzles at the end of the treatment string, a new squeeze process has been
employed. The annular area between the formation and the treating sting is pressurized by injection of fluid
or by being shut in; diverting fluid from the treating string into the formation through nozzles will increase
the fluid velocity forcing fluid into the formation at a certain depth against the tool nozzles. The effect of
the nozzles will generate a condition called dynamic diversion (Surjaatmadja et al. 2002).
Well A
Well A was drilled and completed as a gas-lift completion. It is located in the eastern flank of Kuwait field
(Fig. 1) and has been a poor producer due to poor rock quality. A sucker rod pump (SRP) was installed and
the last portable test showed the well produced 196 BLPD with 32% water cut. An acid stimulation treatment
was performed and an SRP pump was installed to sustain oil production but low production remained. New
objectives were determined to abandon the existing perforations and geosteer the well horizontally across
three reservoir sections to increase the cumulative reservoir exposure with about 4,666 ft of drain hole.
The existing well had 7-in. casing up to surface and a 6-1/8-in. hole was drilled as a build-up section from
the existing vertical motherbore down to the landing point, followed by a 4-1/8-in. slim horizontal section
across the reservoir as a drain hole. The well target was an open hole consisting of a carbonate reservoir
across thin layers. Geosteering was used to place the desired drain area inside the reservoir sweet spots.
The existing reservoir pressures were depleted so the well was not capable of natural flow. In addition,
there were no slim hole completion tubulars available in Kuwait at the time, consequently, the well had to
be completed as follows:

• Bottom part: completion as an open hole with 4,666 ft drain hole across three reservoir layers.

• Top part: completion with an electric submersible pump (ESP) placed as deep as possible directly
above the 5-in. liner top to maximize well recovery.
SPE-192570-MS 3

Figure 1—Structure map of Mauddud

Finally, multi-stage acid frac treatment was required to enhance the oil production from the existing low-
quality reservoir at the field boundaries.

Well-A Slim Hole Drilling and Completion Challenges

The existing motherbore with a vertical profile contained 7-in. casing all the way from the reservoir section
up to surface, giving limited hole sections for both build up and lateral sections.
Slim Hole sidetracked to place kick off point (KOP) as deep as possible targeting the following objectives.
1. Minimizing angle/footage across shale sections.
2. Setting ESP as deep as possible due to reservoir depletion.
3. Minimize re-drilling time/cost.
The well was sidetracked with the hydraulic whipstock set at KOP followed by drilling the 6-1/8-in. build-
up section using a combination of Motor/rotary steerable system (RSS) to achieve the required high dog leg
severity (DLS) to deliver the shortest possible pass from existing vertical profile down to almost horizontal
at the landing point for reservoir entry.
The reservoir section was drilled across the 4-1/8-in. slim horizontal open hole using geosteering
techniques with the help of logging while drilling (LWD) to place the well within the reservoir sweet spots.
Unfortunately, only GR/Resistivity was available at the time, however, 4,666 ft drain hole was successfully
drilled to well TD.
Drilling Slim Holes had to overcome multiple challenges as follows.
1. Difficulty in weight on bit (WOB) transfer due to buckling.
2. Limited surface torque due to 2-7/8-in. slim drill pipe capacity.
3. High surface pressures due to smaller tubulars.
4. Utilizing motor as directional control due to RSS non-availability.
5. Unavailability of most LWD tools.
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Carrying out all lessons learned from previous slim wells, the required 4-1/8-in. drain hole with 4,666 ft
departures across the reservoir section was successfully delivered as the longest slim hole in Kuwait. The
optimum completion to be deployed for such multiple open hole reservoirs is to utilize an inflow control
device (ICD). Unfortunately, because there are no ICDs for such a slim size currently available in Kuwait,
commingling of production from the entire drain hole was required and then deployment of an ESP was
necessary due to reservoir depletion.
The subsequent plan was to improve reservoir productivity via multi-stage acid fracturing before
deploying an artificial lift string with ESP completion. Unfortunately, the slim hole configuration has an
inadequate availability of surveillance tools, so stimulation options were limited either to use coiled tubing
with limited rate due to high pumping pressure or using production tubing with a high probability of
differential sticking due to high overbalance combined with a long stationary time of about 10 hours per
station. Pinpoint stimulation of 16-frac stages was conducted across a total 4,666 ft open hole very low
reservoir quality carbonate rock while commingling the three reservoir sections.
A major challenge was to maximize the injection rate by reducing internal pressure loss via utilizing
2-7/8-in. tubing; however, the high probability of a differential stick due to stationary tubing for more than
10 hours per stage across the depleted low permeable layers on the low side of the horizontal section had
to be addressed. The mitigation plan was executed to remove drilling filter cake before commencing the
frac stages.
Operational challenges:

• The well is located in very low reservoir quality area.

• Fluid loss control in the open hole section after placing very conductive frac into depleted
formation.
• Risk of differential stick during pumping.

• Risk of openhole collapse.

Treatment Design
The purpose of this treatment was to look at an innovative method to improve the recovery and hence,
increase the productivity of the Mauddud in the Kuwait Field.
A proprietary pinpoint stimulation service was selected for this well as it offered a wide range of options
for maximum flexibility in selecting the optimum multi-stage fracture completion. With benefits such as
reduced stimulation time, selective production, and specific zonal treatment, the service, combined with
fracturing fluids and other services, offered a stimulation solution for maximum production.

Pinpoint Technology Discussion

The proprietary pinpoint stimulation service offered a quick, effective method to help boost production/
injection from tight open hole horizontal completions and completions where zonal isolation may be
compromised. There were no packers or mechanical devices to set. This technique can be used for acid
fracturing or proppant fracturing applications. In the sand fracturing process, the BHA is moved to the first
target and sand-laden fluid pumped through jet nozzles creates a cavity in the formation. Increasing pressure
on the bottom of the cavity by injecting fluid into the annulus eventually initiates a fracture at the hydrajetted
point and annular fluid is pulled into the fracture by the continued hydrajetting aciton, helping to extend
it. During the treatment while the sand-laden slurry is pumping down the tubing through the hydrajet tool
(Fig. 2) into the fracture, base gel is simultaneously pumped down the annulus at a designed dilution ratio.
During the fracturing treatment, the annulus pressure with minimum friction and a constant injection rate
could be used to monitor the bottom hole frac pressure for fracture diagnostics.
SPE-192570-MS 5

The pinpoint stimulation service provides control of fracture initiation and propagation and can help
operators achieve several goals:

• increase production in open hole horizontal wellbores with high or low permeability formations

• using coiled tubing or jointed pipe to deploy the hydrajetting assembly and create precisely-
positioned fractures in bypassed and underperforming zones;
• optimize reservoir drainage by precisely locating fractures customized to meet well conditions;

• add new production more quickly by creating multiple fractures in hours with no mechanical
sealing required between zones; and
• reduce fracturing treatment costs by using less equipment and lower viscosity fluids.

Figure 2—Pinpoint Stimulation Hydrajetting tool

Well data
Table 1 contains the well data and Fig. shows the well schematic.

Table 1—Well data.

6 SPE-192570-MS

Figure 3—Well Schematic at first fracture placement location

Operational Procedure
The treatment was designed to place 16 stages of acid fracturing into the lateral section. The proposed
technique was to create pinpoint perforations into the formation followed by the main frac treatment to
create and place the designed frac geometry. When there is a casing or liner in the hole the initial stage
of hydrajetting at each frac location will require an abrasive for the jetting to perforate the pipe. In bare
openhole completions, initially including an abrasive may not be required.
Usually, a designed frac treatment will require a real-time validation for the geomechanical model created
for the well. The calibration for the frac simulator model was performed based on the analysis of the fluid
efficiency test analysis results. The fluid efficiency test was performed for the first stage with the following
sequence:

• The hydrajetting stage was performed with high concentration acid to create enough
communications between wellbore and formation at the required pinpointed depth. (Table 2)
• The step rate test followed by a fluid efficiency test was performed and analyzed to calibrate the
simulator model.
• After the calibration and validation of the frac simulator model, the first stage frac treatment was
performed.
• Treatment was pumped with the dual pumping technique through the tubing for the hydrajetting
tool, and through annulus between tubing and casing to the openhole section. (Table 3, Fig. 4 and
Fig. 5)
• Acid concentrate was pumped through the tubing and a crosslinked gel (non-reactive fluid) was
pumped in the annulus. The pumping rate was engineered to achieve the required bottom hole
mixing and acid dilution suitable for the formation treatment. The bottom hole acid concentration
can be controlled instantaneously by the controlling and changing of the pumping rates on both
sides of the tubing and annulus (but primarily through the annulus, most commonly).
After the completion of the main acid frac treatment, the closed fracture acidizing technique was
performed by pumping a high concentration acid with a rate lower than the fracture extension rate to enhance
the near wellbore conductivity of the created frac geometry.
SPE-192570-MS 7

Table 2—Perforation stage schedule.

Table 3—First stage main frac pumping schedule.

The next step was to hut down the pump and obtain closure pressure and proceed with the closed fracture
acidizing schedule shown in Table 4.

Table 4—Closed fracture acidizing pumping schedule.

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Figure 4—Stage 7 Main Frac Pumping Summary

Figure 5—Stage 16 Main Frac Pumping Summary

Fig. 6 shows the simulation of the resultant 16 acidized fractures placed.

SPE-192570-MS 9

Figure 6—Frac Simulator Output Frac Geometry.

Production Data
Post treatment production analysis after frac fluid recovery and flow back has shown a stabilized rate of
889 BLPD with 30% water cut, resulting in more than a four-fold increase of production with a slightly
lower water-cut value.

Conclusions
In spite of the challenging well hole conditions from the reservoir and completion aspects, the proper
planning with the engineered stimulation treatment and the use of the pinpoint stimulation frac technique
has led to successfully placing 16 acid frac stages in the longest horizontal section in Kuwait.

• The stimulation saved the cost of drilling a new well or sidetrack an existing one.

• The collaborative efforts between the operator and service company led to the success of the
executed operations with zero service quality issues and unleashed reserves from a tight depleted
formation with challenging well conditions.
• The successful case history of the pinpoint stimulation has added more stimulation tools for
production optimization portfolios.

References
Jim B. Surjaatmadja and B.W. McDaniel, Halliburton, and Rod L. Sutherlan, Key Production CO. "Unconventional
Multiple Fracture Treatments using Dynamic Diversion". SPE 77905. The Asia Pacific Oil and Gas, Melbourne,
Australia, 8-10 October 2002.
M.J. Rees and A. Khallad PetroCanada Oil and Gas, A. Cheng, K.A. Rispler, J.B. Surjaatmadja, and B.W. McDaniel,
Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. "Successful Hydrajet Acid Squeeze And Multifracture Acid Treatments in
Horizontal Open Holes Using Dynamic Diversion Process and Downhole Mixing". SPE 71692. SPE Annual
Technology Conference, New Orleans, USA. September 30, 2001.