SPE 130694

Fishing Live Perforating Guns Stuck in the Wellhead: The Challenges and
Obstacles
J.L. Powers, Weatherford International

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference and Exhibition held in The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 23–24 March 2010.

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
The Piceance Creek field is a high pressure gas field located in the northwest corner of Colorado and production is from
multiple zones at depths in the order of 12,000ft. Standard well construction in the field takes the form of monobore
completions with several sets of perforations producing commingled. Typical exploitation techniques involve the
perforating, fracturing and cleanup of the lowest zone followed by each successive zone being completed in the same manner
by running a composite bridge plug and perforating guns on the same run in the well using electric line methods.
In a recent well completion procedure the same techniques were used however, on one of the later runs, the composite bridge
plug preset at a depth of 75ft while going in the hole resulting in a fish at surface straddling the lower part of the tree with the
perforating guns still attached to the bridge plug and with high pressure at the wellhead. The only alternative available was to
pull out of the e-line rope socket and attempt to fish the guns. Subsequent attempts to fish the guns with wireline techniques
designed to shear out the plug setting tool resulted in two additional fish being left in the hole with the upper end straddling
the tree and the swab valve. This presented a unique set of circumstances which required extremely careful handling in order
to prevent a major well control problem.

In this paper the author will describe the subsequent operations which were performed to remedy the situation and bring the
well back to a productive condition and all the challenges associated with it. This included freezing the wellhead to allow
removal of the wireline lubricator and the upper part of the wireline fish followed by the installation of additional upper
master/swab valves and a fishing operation using coiled tubing. Finally the plug was milled and full access to the well
achieved, all without any HSE incident.

Introduction
The Piceance Creek field is a high pressure gas field located in Rio Blanco county in the north west of Colorado in the
vicinity of Rangely at an elevation of approximately 6300ft. (see Fig. 1). This large area field is being developed by several
operating groups using similar well completion techniques whereby a monobore casing string is set through the producing
zones and each is in turn perforated, fractured and cleaned up in turn starting with the lowermost zone. Subsequent zones are
then completed in similar fashion by running a composite bridge plug together with perforating guns on the same electric line
run in the well. This enables the plug to be set and released using a standard wireline pressure setting assembly and the zone
is then perforated on the same run in the well thus eliminating one run – the savings thus achieved can be considerable since
the wells are typically completed in as many as eight separate zones. The zone is then fractured, cleaned up and subsequently
isolated below the bridge plug when the next zone is similarly treated. In this same way the other zones are treated moving
up hole and when all have been finished the bridge plugs are drilled up in one trip and the well completion finalized (see Fig.
2 for typical well schematic).
In a recent such well procedure the same methods were used, with 4-1/2” 15.1lbs/ft P-110 casing set and cemented at
13,084ft, but during the process one of the composite bridge plugs preset at a depth of 75ft while running in the hole with a
total of 45ft of perforating guns attached. Unfortunately it was only a partial preset which meant that the setting tool failed to
release from the bridge plug with the result that a fish was left in the well straddling the lower part of the tree with open
perforations below the plug, however the bridge plug was holding pressure. With live perforating guns located that close to
the surface the only viable and safest course of action available was to pull the e-line out of the rope socket and then attempt
to fish the gun assembly consisting of bridge plug, setting and releasing tool, 45ft of 2-1/2” OD guns, casing collar locator
and electric line rope socket. However subsequent wireline fishing procedures, designed with the objective of shearing the
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release stud in the setting tool and retrieving the guns not only failed to remedy the situation but also succeeded in making
things worse as the end result was an additional fish left in the well attached to the guns, consisting of a JDC pulling tool,
jars, slickline stem and rope socket, with the upper end straddling the tree and the swab valve. A unique set of circumstances
thus prevailed wherein the lubricator could not be detached from the tree and very careful handling of the situation was
required in order to avoid a serious HSE occurrence.

Remedial Plans
The first procedure required was to make the well safe by removing the upper section of the wireline fish so that the swab
valve and upper master could be closed. To achieve this it was decided to kill the well and then freeze the wellhead to enable
the lubricator to be removed and the protruding section of the wireline fish backed off as deep as possible into the tree
leaving a fish as illustrated in Fig 3, which left the top of a section of 1.5” OD slickline stem looking up. Following that the
plan was to use coiled tubing (CT) methods to retrieve the fish, this would require rigging up a new BOP stack on top of the
swab valve consisting of the following components:
• A 4in. x 2.5in. ID slip and pipe rams. A 4in. annular BOP.
• A 4in. Quad CT BOP.
• A 4in. x 60ft long 10,000psi working pressure lubricator.
• CT injector head

This assembly is illustrated in Fig.4 – note the addition of a kill line and a flare line to the pit -. would thereby provide an
effective overall lubricator height of 81.6ft sufficient to allow it to accommodate the 65ft length of fish to be retrieved using a
fishing assembly which could be as much as 15.6ft in length. Several different fishing assemblies were configured as
contingencies for the operation using both up and down hammers and an accelerator and hydraulic release overshot.
One important contingency was to allow for the possibility of the fish being retrieved but becoming stuck in the frac stack.
Assuming the well could not be killed then it would be necessary to close the main BOPS around the gun OD, bleed down
the lubricator and then open the flow cross to the pit and monitor the situation. If safe to do so the lubricator can then be
broken at the connection above the annular BOP and the fish that is visible broken and laid down. However as the
perforating guns have hollow steel carriers they can provide a pressure path so this connection can only be broken if the
pressure at the lower connection is known to be zero. In this event the balance of the fish would require further fishing
assemblies to be configured and a procedural review to be carried out.
The total equipment package thus arrived at was then mobilized to location along with a 1-3/4in. CT unit to carry out the
fishing operation.

Fishing Operations
The following equipment was rigged up at the location:
• A pump truck was made up to the kill line and the line pressure tested to 6000psi.
• A high pressure flow line was rigged up and tested to 6000psi from the flow cross to the choke manifold from where
a flare line to the pit was installed
• The BOP system, lubricator and injection head were then rigged up on top the frac stack and pressure tested to
10,000psi for 5 minutes and to 500psi for a further 5 minutes.
• The first fishing tool bottom hole assembly (BHA) was then assembled consisting of the following items as
illustrated in Fig. 5:
o CT connector, pull tested to 20,000lbs.
o 2-7/8in. OD motor head assembly (MHA), pull tested to 25,000lbs and pressure tested to 5000psi.
o 2-7/8in. OD Accelerator.
o 2-7/8in. OD SAU(Up) hammer.
o 2-7/8in. OD SAD(Down) hammer.
o 2-5/8in. OD x 1.375in. ID Hydraulic Release overshot.

This assembly was made up to the CT and thence to the stack, the lubricator and stack were pressure tested to 5000psi and
the BHA run in, however it was unable to enter the wellhead as it kept hanging up and so was pulled out and the well shut in
while the BHA was changed to another hydraulic overshot with a 2.625” skirt OD to provide for a stand off from the 2.875”
fishing string OD. The new BHA was installed and, following another 5000psi wellhead pressure test, it was run in the well
to tag the fish and set down weight of 2,000lbs was then applied to try to latch the fish and hammer down to shear out the
JDC pulling tool from the electric line rope socket.. The BHA was then pulled and found to have retrieved the upper part of
the fish – the balance of the slickline fishing string consisting of 5ft of stem, jars and the JDC pulling tool - thereby leaving
the 1.75” OD electric line rope socket looking up. The BHA was then changed, the SAD hammer was left off, since only
upward jarring would be required to release the setting tool from the bridge plug and the latch changed out prior to running in
SPE 130694 3

again but once again failing to get through the CT BOPs, perhaps due to lack of stand off. The BHA was again pulled out, the
skirt on the hydraulic latch was changed out once more to remedy this and it was rerun successfully to tag the top of the fish
and set down 2000lbs weight to latch onto it. The BHA was again pulled out but this time with overpull and when the
lubricator was broken the complete fish consisting of everything except the bridge plug was found to be on the BHA.
The guns having been successfully retrieved the fishing stack was rigged down and CT again rigged up and a new BHA
assembled to run and mill out the bridge plug at 74ft. This assembly is illustrated in Fig. 6 and consisted of the following
components:
• CT connector
• 2-7/8in. OD Heavy Duty MHA
• 2-7/8in. OD Dual hydraulic jar.
• 2-7/8in. OD Heavy Duty hydraulic disconnect.
• 2-7/8in. OD Downhole filter.
• 2-7/8in. OD eCTD downhole motor.
• 3.701in. OD Carbide mill/bit with concave bottom.

Pull tests of 25,000lbs were applied and the motor tested at 1.5bpm and 3100psi using 10lbs/gallon brine and the pump rate
and choke size were adjusted to hold 1800psi on the back side with 6000psi on the CT. The lubricator assembly was then
tested to 5000psi and the BHA was run in to tag the plug at 78ft., circulation was initiated and it was milled up in 15 minutes
at a pump rate of 1.75bpm with CT pressure of 6000psi. The CT was then run into the well to tag bottom at 12,950ft and the
well circulated clean.

Conclusion
This hazardous situation was resolved by an extensive plan carefully carried out and from start to finish the operation took a
total of 37 hours. The cause of the situation was the standard procedure for the well completion going wrong with major
repercussions and a full review of its advantages and risks is probably warranted.

Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Weatherford International Ltd for permission to write this paper and their encouragement to do
so.

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1 Map of the area.
Fig. 2 Typical field well completion.
Fig. 3 Wellhead illustration with stuck guns
Fig. 4 Well condition with 1st fish removed
Fig. 5 BOP and lubricator set up.
Fig. 6 Fishing Assembly Run #1
Fig. 7 Milling Assembly Run #2
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Fig. 1 Map of the area.

Fig. 2 Typical field well completion.

SPE 130694 5

Fig. 3 Wellhead illustration with stuck guns

Fig. 4 Well condition with 1st fish removed

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Fig. 5 BOP and lubricator set up.

SPE 130694 7

Fig. 6 Fishing Assembly Run #1

Fig. 7 Milling Assembly Run #2