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Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
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Research Article

Popularization and application of the capillary foam deliquification

technology in horizontal wells with low pressures and low liquid flow rates:
A case study on middleeshallow gas reservoirs in the Western Sichuan
depression*,**
Liu Tong a,*, Zhou Xingfu b, Chen Hailong a, Lu Guangliang b, Zhao Zhejun a, Liu Dayong b &
Du Yang a
a
Petroleum Engineering Technology Institute, Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Branch, Deyang, Sichuan 618000, China
b
No.1 Gas Production Plant, Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Branch, Deyang, Sichuan 618000, China

Received 30 March 2018; accepted 25 June 2018

Available online 26 January 2019

Abstract

The application effect of the foam deliquification technology in horizontal wells is poor because the foaming agent fails to reach the target
location. In view of this, the adaptability of the capillary foam deliquification technology in the Western Sichuan Gas Field in the Sichuan Basin
was analyzed from the aspects of gas flow rate, liquid flow rate and casing program of gas wells, and the design of injection depth and the
selection of capillary size, tool string parameters (the maximum length and the minimum counterweight) and foam deliquification parameters
(foaming agent type selection, ground injection concentration and rate) were optimized. Then, a standardized capillary operation process was
developed. Finally, a field application test was carried out. And the following research results were obtained. First, the capillary foam deli-
quification technology has a popularization potential in the horizontal wells of middleeshallow depth, low pressure and low liquid flow rate, but
it is not suitable for the wells with too low gas flow rate, too high liquid flow rate or too high condensate content. Second, the well deviation
angle at the injection depth shall be between 70
and 80
, the selection of capillary size shall satisfy the requirement for tension strength by the
well depth, the foam deliquification parameters shall be optimized based on the specific well conditions and the liquid loading characteristics,
and the capillary operation shall comply with the standardized process. Third, by the end of July 2017, the capillary foam deliquification
technology had been successfully applied in 9 horizontal wells in the Western Sichuan Gas Field with a cumulative gas increment of
295  104 m3. Fourth, 4 supporting technologies of the capillary foam deliquification are formed, including capillary sticking prevention,
integrated agent injection and pressure measurement, combined cleaning and deliquification and capillary wellhead suspension. In conclusion,
the capillary foam deliquification technology provides a technological support for the deliquification and production stabilization of horizontal
wells with middleeshallow depth, low pressures and low liquid flow rates in the Western Sichuan Depression, and also provides technological
reference for the deliquification of horizontal wells in the similar type of gas reservoirs.
© 2019 Sichuan Petroleum Administration. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: Horizontal well; Capillary; Deliquification; Bottom-hole cleaning; Pressure measurement; Sticking prevention; Suspension; Sichuan basin; Western
sichuan gas field

*
Project supported by the National Major Science and Technology Project “Safe and Efficient Development Technology for High Sulfur Gas Reservoirs” (No.:
2016ZX05017) and “Key Technologies for Development of Tight and Low Permeability Reservoirs with Low Abundance” (No.: 2016ZX05048).
**
This is the English version of the originally published article in Natural Gas Industry (in Chinese), which can be found at https://doi.org/10.3787/j.issn.1000-
0976.2018.06.011.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: liutong697@126.com (Liu T.).
Peer review under responsibility of Sichuan Petroleum Administration.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ngib.2019.01.004
2352-8540/© 2019 Sichuan Petroleum Administration. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
26 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
The application of foam deliquification technology in the
Sinopec's Western Sichuan Gas Field began in 1995. Since the
technology was initially introduced and applied, diverse
foaming agents and a series of injection processes have been
formed through technical research, refined management and
process optimization for complex wells [1]. In recent years,
with the advancement of development technologies, horizontal
wells have been widely deployed in the development of the
Western Sichuan Gas Field [2]. Since the critical flow rate of
gas-carrying fluid in the deviated well section is larger than
that of the vertical well section, liquid loading is mainly
observed in the deviated well section with long liquid loading
section. The foaming agent injected from the wellhead is
prone to floating in the shallow surface of the loaded liquid
instead of entering into the deep inside of the liquid, leading to
less foaming, poor foam deliquification performance and dif-
ficulty of stable gas production. As to December 2014, there
were 223 horizontal wells drilled in the Western Sichuan Gas
Field, with an average single well liquid production of
1.12 m3/d and an average single well tubing pressure of
3.67 MPa. The liquid-loaded gas wells accounted for 64.13%
of the total wells. The newly drilled horizontal wells in
ZhongjiangeGaomiao gas field had high initial output but
declined rapidly due to liquid loading, which has seriously
affected the stable production of gas wells.
The original foam deliquification technology reflects a
deteriorating performance due to the failure to inject the
foaming agent into the ideal position in the horizontal well. In
the Western Sichuan gas field, the capillary foam deli-
quification technology was studied [3]. Through the adapt-
ability analysis, process parameters design, and research on
standardized operating procedures and supporting techniques,
the technology was tested in 9 horizontal wells (e.g. XS21-
10H, XS21-13H and XS23-5H). Finally, a series of capillary
foam deliquification technology was developed, including well
selection, process design, operation procedures, pipe-sticking
prevention, integration of agent injection and pressure mea-
surement, combined operation of purification and deli-
quification, and capillary wellhead suspension). This series of
technology provide a technical support for the stable gas
production through deliquification of the low pressure and low
gas rate horizontal wells and shallowemiddle gas reservoirs in
the Western Sichuan Depression.
1. Adaptability of the capillary foam deliquification
technology
The adaptability of the capillary foam deliquification
technology in the Western Sichuan Gas Field was analyzed in
terms of gas/liquid flow rates and casing program, in order to
effectively guide well selection, avoid investment waste and
increase the benefit of production enhancement.
1.1. Gas flow rate
The capillary foam deliquification technology is applicable
to gas wells which have a certain production capacity. High
gas flow rate can facilitate the continuous liquid carrying
without any assistance to deliquification. If the gas flow rate is
too low, the gas that exists in the liquid-loaded well section is
too little to generate stable foam, leading to an inferior deli-
quification performance. Therefore, the applicable gas flow
rate of this capillary foam deliquification technology should be
between the minimum stable foam gas flow rate and the
critical liquid-carrying gas flow rate.
The Li Min's ellipsoid liquid-carrying model is combined
with the Belfroid's angle correction relation to derive the for-
mula of the critical liquid flow rate in horizontal gas well [4]:
"  #0:25
sL g rL  rg ½sinð1:7qÞ
0:38
vcr ¼ 1:41 ð1Þ
rg
2 0:74
where, vcr is the critical flow velocity of gas-carrying liquid in
a horizontal gas well, m/s; similarly, sL: the surface tension
between gas and liquid, N/m; g: the acceleration of gravity, m/
s2; rL: the density of liquid, kg/m3; rg: the density of gas, kg/
m3; q: the angle between the pipe section and the horizontal
plane, (
).
Eq. (1) is converted to the form of gas flow rate under
standard conditions,
Apvcr
qcr ¼ 2:5  104 ð2Þ
ZT
where, qcr is the critical flow rate of gas-carrying liquid in a
horizontal gas well, 104 m3/d; similarly, A: the cross-sectional
area of the tubing, m2; p: the pressure, MPa; Z: the natural gas
deviation factor; T: the temperature, K.
According to the studies by Mitchell [5], Princen [6] and
Kraynik [7] on foam rheology, when the void fraction is less
than 0.52, the agglomerated foam will disperse into individual
small bubbles (Fig. 1), leading to significantly reduced yield
stress and unstable foam state. Therefore, the gas flow rate
corresponding to the void fraction of 0.52 at tubing cross
section is taken as the lower limit of the gas flow rate of the
deliquification technology, and is defined as the minimum flow
rate of gas at stable foam.
According to the two-phase flow drift model [8], the void
fraction at the tubing cross section is:
vsg
a¼   ð3Þ
C0 vsg þ vsL þ vD
Fig. 1. Characteristic curve of foam yield stress under different void fractions.
 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
where, a is the void fraction at the tubing cross section;
similarly, vsg: the apparent flow velocity of gas phase, m/s; vsL:
the apparent flow velocity of liquid phase, m/s; C0: the ve-
locity distribution coefficient, 1.2; vD: the drift velocity of gas
phase, m/s.
When the void fraction at the tubing cross section is 0.52,
the corresponding apparent flow velocity of gas phase is the
minimum flow rate of gas vcf at which stable foam is pro-
duced. In this case, the flow pattern is slug flow, and the drift
velocity of gas phase is calculated by the Bendiksen [9] Taylor
bubble velocity formula, namely,
  0:5
gdt rL  rg
vD ¼ ð0:35 sin q þ 0:54 cos qÞ ð4Þ
rL
where, dt is the inner diameter of the tubing, m.
Integrate Eqs. (3) and (4), and substitute a (¼0.52), and the
minimum flow rate of gas to produce stable foam is obtained:
  0:5
gdt rL  rg
vcf ¼ 1:659vsL þ ð0:484 sin q þ 0:747 cos qÞ
rL
ð5Þ
where, vcf is the minimum flow velocity of gas at stable foam,
m/s.
Eq. (5) is converted to the gas flow rate equation under
standard conditions,
Apvcf
qcf ¼ 2:5  104 ð6Þ
ZT
where, qcf is the minimum flow rate of gas at stable foam,
104 m3/d.
According to the calculation results, 51% of horizontal
wells in the Western Sichuan Gas Field meet the requirement
of the capillary foam deliquification technology for gas flow
rate.
1.2. Liquid flow rate
The foam deliquification technology is suitable for gas
wells with a gaseliquid ratio higher than 180 m3/m3 [10], but
it has poor performance for wells with lower gaseliquid
ratio. The gas flow rate in horizontal wells in the Western
Sichuan Gas Field is mainly (0.2e3.0)  104 m3/d, and the
liquid flow rate is generally lower than 10 m3/d, so the
gaseliquid ratio is generally higher than 5000 m3/m3, which
meets the above requirement for gaseliquid ratio. In addi-
tion, the foam deliquification technology is not suitable for
wells which produce condensate exceeding 50%. Foam can
only be formed in the water phase other than in oil phase. Oil
phase could result in poor foaming effect, and accelerate the
break of foam by spreading on the foam liquid film. Except
for a small amount of horizontal wells producing condensate
in the ZhongjiangeGaomiao block, most of the horizontal
wells produce no oil or little oil in the Western Sichuan Gas
Field.
27
1.3. Casing program
The capillary is slim and rigid, presenting no special
requirement for the casing program of gas well. The capillary
tools with optimal steel grade, wall thickness and size can be
conveyed into the horizontal section. Therefore, the capillary
foam deliquification technology meets the requirements for
liquid injection in the deviated section or horizontal section in
horizontal wells in the Western Sichuan Gas Field. Wiper trip
is needed to ensure the smooth running of capillary.
2. Parameters for the capillary foam deliquification
technology
Proper design of the parameters for the capillary foam
deliquification technology is critical for ensuring a successful
process. Especially, a proper injection depth is the premise to
fully optimize the wellbore pressure drawdown and obtain the
best stimulation performance. Optimal capillary specification
and tool string parameters can guarantee the landing of the
capillary to the targeted well depth. Optimum foam deli-
quification parameters relate to the foam generation amount
and ultimate deliquification performance.
2.1. Injection depth
Too small injection depth would result in an inferior
reduction of the wellbore pressure drawdown, while too large
injection depth would lead to a poor deliquification perfor-
mance and increase operation cost and risk. In addition, the
capillary would be elongated due to the gravity and thermal
expansion, leading to inconsistence between the actual injec-
tion depth and the designed injection depth. Therefore, the
capillary elongation should be checked and corrected.
2.1.1. Determination of injection depth
Liquid loading in deviated section is the main cause of
liquid loading in horizontal wells [11]. Therefore, the injection
depth should be designed only to meet the requirement of
deliquification in deviated section, without considering the
horizontal section. Even if the injection depth reaches the
horizontal section, due to gaseliquid layering and weak
agitation, only a small amount of foam is produced, thus
failing to further improve the foam deliquification perfor-
mance [12]. In the Western Sichuan Gas Field, the capillary is
generally run to the depth with a well inclination of 70
e80
.
For horizontal wells with serious liquid loading or flow pres-
sure gradient greater than 0.4 MPa/100 m, the capillary is
generally run section by section, and the deliquification is
done section by section too.
2.1.2. Correction of injection depth
The downhole capillary elongation is mainly related to
capillary weight, liquid column weight, pump pressure and
thermal expansion. Based on the Hooke's law and thermal
expansion law [10], the downhole capillary elongation is:
28 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
 
Gt þ Gf þ pp Af L
DL ¼ þ Ce LðTwe  Twh Þ
Am E
where, DL is the downhole capillary elongation, m; similarly,
Gt: the capillary weight, N; Gf: the weight of the agent in the
capillary, N; Pp: the pump pressure, Pa; Af: the flow cross-
sectional area of capillary, m2; L: the capillary length
measured on ground, m; Am: the body cross-sectional area of
capillary, m2; E: the elastic modulus of the metal of capillary,
2.06  1011 Pa; Ce: the linear thermal expansion coefficient of
stainless steel, 7.2  106
C1; Twe and Twh: the formation
temperature and wellhead temperature, respectively,
C.
2.2. Capillary specifications
The capillaries with an outer diameter of 9.525 mm and a
wall thickness of 1.245 mm and 1.651 mm are used in the
Western Sichuan Gas Field, with the tensile breaking force of
20.1 kN and 25.3 kN, and the weights of string fully filled with
liquid are 2.91 N/m and 3.49 N, respectively. According to the
tubing tensile safety factor formula, the tensile strength of the
capillary at the wellhead was checked [13]. Given the safety
factor of 1.5, the maximum safe running depths of the capil-
laries with two wall thicknesses are 4610 m and 4830 m,
respectively, which are suitable for shallow and medium deep
wells. For deep wells, a composite capillary formed by cap-
illaries with two wall thicknesses could be run to increase the
string tensile strength, leading to a maximum safe running
depth of 5500 m.
2.3. Tool string parameters
The downhole injection tool of the capillary needs to be
equipped with a connector, check valves, an injection head, a
weighting rod and a guide head from top to bottom. The length
of the tool string is optimized to ensure the capillary can
smoothly pass through the maximum curvature point of the
tubing. Since the capillary has low stiffness and may bend due
to the vertical topping force and frictional force, it is necessary
to add a certain weighting rod under the capillary.
2.3.1. Maximum length
The calculation method for the maximum rigid length of
the tool string allowed by the tubing is specified in SY/T
6030e2012 [14]. The specification ignores the diameter
variation of each section of the tool string, and uses the
maximum diameter of the tool string to calculate the
maximum length allowed by the tubing. Therefore, the
calculated maximum length of tool string is relatively small,
which reduces the risk caused by uncertain factors such as
material defects and string deformation, presenting a conser-
vative calculation result. The model is shown in Fig. 2. The
allowable maximum length of the tool string is:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Lp ¼ 2 ðR þ dt  dÞ  ðdP þ RÞ
2 2
ð7Þ
Fig. 2. Limit dimensions of a tool string.
+
in which R ¼ 180pk where, Lp is the maximum length of tool
string allowed by the tubing, m; similarly, R: the radius of
curvature of the tubing, m; d: the gap between the tool string
and the tubing, m; dp: the maximum diameter of the tool
string, m; k: the rate of overall angle change, (
)/m; p: the
circular constant, which is 3.14.
For the Ø73 mm and Ø89 mm tubing commonly used in the
Western Sichuan Gas Field, the gap between the tool string
and the tubing is required to be no less than 2 mm. The
relationship between the diameters of the tool string and the
maximum length under different overall angle change rates is
calculated, as shown in Fig. 3. The horizontal wells in the
Western Sichuan Gas Field are long-radius horizontal wells
with the overall angle change rate (k) of 17
e22
/100 m in
build-up section. For the capillary with a maximum outer
diameter of 44.4 mm, the composite length should be less than
6 m and 8 m respectively in the tubing with a diameter of
73 mm and 89 mm.
2.3.2. Minimum counterweight
As shown in Fig. 4, when the tool string is run into the
liquid, the weight of the weighting rod needs to counterbal-
ance the sum of the topping force (the pressure difference
between the lower and upper end faces) and the frictional
force, in order to keep the capillary in tension [15]:
 
pd 2e Le pd2e p d2e  d2o þ d2i
re g ¼ pw  ðpw  rL gLe Þ
4 4 4
fL rL v2e
þ pde Le ð9Þ
8
where, re is the density of the weighting rod, which is
7.9  103 kg/m3; similarly, de, do and di: the diameter of the
weighting rod, the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the
capillary, respectively, m; Le: the minimum length of the
weighting rod, m; pw: the downhole pressure, Pa; fL: the
ð8Þ friction coefficient of liquid phase, 0.017; ve: the capillary
running speed, m/s.
 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
Fig. 3. Relationship between the maximum diameter (dp) and the maximum length (Lp) of the tool string under different overall angle change rates (k).
For the capillary with an outer diameter of 9.525 mm and a
wall thickness of 1.651 mm, a weighting rod with a maximum
diameter of 44.4 mm is used. Given the running speed of 10 m/
s, the minimum counterweight and minimum length of the
weighting rod corresponding to different bottomhole pressures
are calculated, as shown in Fig. 5. According to the calculation
results, the counterweights of weighting rod for different
bottomhole pressures have been proposed for the Western
Sichuan Gas Field. For horizontal wells with a bottomhole
pressure greater than 12 MPa, the capillary foam deli-
quification technology is not recommended because the min-
imum length of the weighting rod is close to the limit length
(Le ¼ 6 m).
2.4. Foam deliquification parameters
The essence of capillary foam deliquification is foam-
assisted deliquification. The deliquification performance is
Fig. 4. Force diagram of the tool string in wellbore.
29
subject to the selection of the foaming agent, the concentration
of the injected agent and the injecting amount.
2.4.1. Foaming agent selection
According to the Technical Specifications for Chemicals
for Gas Production of SINOPEC Southwest Oil and Gas
Company, the RosseMiles method and the air flow method
[16] are used to select the liquid foaming agent suitable for
different working conditions of wells in the Western Sichuan
Gas Field, so that the performance testing and quality control
of the foaming agent are realized, as shown in Table 1.
2.4.2. Ground foaming agent injection concentration and
amount
The relationship between ground foaming agent injection
concentration and ground injection amount, downhole liquid
loading amount and downhole effective concentration of
foaming agent is:
we ðmL þ mi Þ
ws ¼ ð10Þ
mi
where, ws is the ground injection concentration of the foaming
agent; similarly, we: the downhole effective concentration of
the foaming agent; mL: the downhole liquid loading amount,
kg; mi: the ground injection amount of the foaming agent, kg.
In the Western Sichuan Gas Field, the capillary is used to
inject the foaming agent. The concentration of the injected
agent on the ground is generally 9e50% (foaming agent:
Fig. 5. Relationship between the bottomhole pressure ( pw) and the minimum
counterweight (We) and minimum length (Le) of the weighting rod.
30 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33

Table 1
Performance of liquid foaming agents and recommended agents for the Western Sichuan Gas Field.
Type of foaming Performance and purpose Recommended agents Downhole effective
agent concentration
Conventional For water-producing gas well with wellbore temperature of 30e60
C XHY-2A, XHY-4K, 0.2%
and condensate content no more than 10%, mainly in shallow to UT-11C and SP-7
medium-deep formations (Shaximiao, Penglaizhen, and Suining Fms)
Oil-resistant For water-producing gas well with wellbore temperature XHY-4A and UT-11C 0.3%
of 50e80
C and condensate content of 10e30%, mainly
in the ZhongjiangeGaomiao blocks
Temperature- and For water-producing gas well with wellbore temperature XHY-4K, UT-11D and SP-11 0.2%
salt-resistant of 80e130
C and salinity of 40e100 g/L, mainly
in deep Xujiahe Fm
Low density and low For low pressure and low yield well with wellbore temperature UT-8 and XHY-4L 0.2%
surface tension of 30e60
C, mainly in shallow to mediumedeep formations
Self-gas generation For wells suspended due to waterflooding with wellbore temperature XHY-16 (including Agent A 50.0%
of 30e60
C, mainly in shallow to mediumedeep formations Agents A & B) Agent B 16.7%
Corrosion inhibition For water-producing gas well with wellbore temperature of UT-15 and XHY-7 0.3%
80e130
C and chloride content of 60 g/L or more, mainly
in deep Xujiahe Fm
Note: Agent A refers to main reaction agents such as nitrite or ammonium salt, and Agent B refers to acidic catalyst.

water ¼ 1:10e1:1) to reduce the viscous resistance during
injection. The injection amount is determined by Eq. (10)
based on the amount of liquid loading. For wells with less
liquid loading, the injection could be finished in one day. For
wells with great liquid loading and continuous water produc-
ing, the injection frequency can be increased to 6 to 12 times
per day.
3. Standardized capillary operation process
The SLG50 capillary operation unit is used in the Western
Sichuan Gas Field. It consists of a capillary truck, an injection
system, a blowout prevention system, a skid-mounted power
and control system and a reel system (see Ref. [4] for details).
The unit could allow operation of capillary with an outer
diameter of 9.525e14.000 mm, with a maximum lifting ca-
pacity of 5000 kg and a rated working pressure of 35 MPa.
Due to the large number of parts and a long installation time, a
standardized capillary operation process has been established
to ensure operation safety and improve work efficiency.
3) Install the injection head
Assemble the injection head on the ground. Pass the
capillary through the injection head and the blowout preven-
tion box. Install the hydraulic line. Check the movement of the
chain inside the injection head. With the support of the in-
jection head stabilizing system designed for the capillary
which is flexible, less neutral and difficult to smoothly pass
through the blowout prevention box, the capillary one-time
pass through rate is increased from 75% to 100%.
4) Assemble the tool string
Install the upper, middle and lower brackets in turn. Raise
the injection head gradually to the top of the blowout pre-
venter, and install the blowout prevention pipe and capillary
tool string under the blowout preventer. Connect the blowout
prevention pipe with the relief joint. Use steel line to pull and
fix the injection head. The installation is completed until the
overall pressure test is qualified (Fig. 6.).

1) Make preparation 5) Run the capillary

Make sure the well site, gas production process and well-
head meet the operation requirements. Conduct wiper trip
using the drift with a diameter greater than 44 mm to ensure
that the wells are cleared; if necessary, test the downhole
flowing pressure to provide basis for determining the opera-
tional parameters. Make the capillary operation program.
Deliver the capillary operation unit to the well site.
2) Install the blowout preventer
Install a adapter at the top of the gas Christmas tree. Hoist
and install the blowout preventer and the blowout joint on the
gas Christmas tree after the blowout preventer and ram are
proved qualified in pressure test and check.
Fully open the Christmas tree wax-clear gate valve, read the
pressure data, and check the blowout prevention box to make
sure no leakage is observed. Run the capillary according to the
capillary operation procedure and design program.
6) Inject the foaming agent through capillary
After running the capillary to the injection depth, prepare
the foaming agent according to the design. Close the ram BOP,
lock the capillary reel, stop the injection head, and start the
plunger pump to inject the foaming agent into the well. After
the injection, unlock the reel device, open the ram BOP, and
lift the capillary to the specified position according to the
operation program.
 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
Fig. 6. Wellhead installation of the capillary operation unit.
7) Lift the capillary out of hole
Lift the capillary, close the wax-clear gate valve after
confirming that the tool string completely enters into the
blowout prevention pipe. Open the relief joint to relieve the
pressure, and stop the operation.
4. Supporting technologies for capillary foam
deliquification
4.1. Capillary sticking prevention
Previous tests revealed that string sticking may likely
occur when contaminants like sand, wax and mechanical
impurities exist in the wellbore, or when the tubing is
deformed. The capillary sticking releasing is very complex
due to the small diameter and large flexibility of the
capillary. Thus, sticking prevention is preferred. Replacing
the ordinary steel weighting rod with high-density tungsten
alloy weighting rod can reduce the length of the tool string
under the same weight. The flexible joint is adopted at the
connections between the weighting rods or between the
weighting rod and the injection head, as shown in Fig. 7,
to achieve an angular deflection between tools. The
running speed of capillary is generally controlled within
5 m/s. The tool string should be lifted to the vertical
section after the injection to prevent the tool string from
being stuck by the impurities carried out by the foam. The
above measures are taken to ensure the smooth operation
of the capillary.
4.2. Injection and pressure measurement integration
To ensure the performance of the capillary foam deli-
quification technology, it is necessary to optimize the injec-
tion timing and frequency. Traditionally, the downhole liquid
loading condition is indirectly diagnosed according to the
ground parameters, and then the operation is optimized;
however, such diagnose is less accurate and the optimization
31
Fig. 7. A flexible joint.
success rate is low. In this circumstance, the injection and
pressure measurement integration technology is proposed for
the first time. To be specific, a CEP storage pressure gauge
(Fig. 8) is added below the capillary tool string; the wellbore
pressure is directly measured during the injection, and it is
used to calculate the pressure gradient, invert the liquid
holdup rate, and calculate the wellbore liquid level and flow
pattern change; the injection depth and the injection system
are optimized according to the liquid level. As a result, the
optimization success rate and deliquification performance are
improved. The pressure gauge has a weight of about 3 kg, a
diameter of 36 mm and a length of 630 mm with the
maximum pressure rate of 80 MPa, the maximum tempera-
ture rate of 150
C and the accuracy of 0.05%. It can store
100000 sets of data and continuously work for 120 days. This
technology has been successfully applied in Well SF20e1HF
and Well MP23-2H.
4.3. Purification and deliquification joint operation
For the horizontal wells with pollution at bottomholes, the
capillary positioning and blockage remover/foaming agent
injection operation combined with gas lift deliquification are
carried out to remove the bottomhole pollutants (e.g. frac-
turing sand, and waxy mixture) to increase the gas well pro-
duction. The blockage remover is corrosive. According to the
lab evaluation, the 315L capillary has a corrosion rate of
0.001 mm/a in the environment with blockage remover, which
is much smaller than 0.025 mm/a specified in NACE RP0775-
2005, thus meeting the anti-corrosion requirements for puri-
fication operations. The technology has been successfully
applied in Well XS21-13H, Well XS23-5H and Well
SF3e3HF, with a great deliquification, purification and stim-
ulation performance.
4.4. Capillary wellhead suspension
Considering that the truck needs to be resided on the well
site during the injection operation using capillary, and only
one well can be operated at a time, a capillary wellhead
Fig. 8. A CEP storage pressure gauge.
32 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33

meet the needs of capillary deliquification in the whole life

cycle of multi-wells. Currently, the technology is being
demonstrated in certain wells selected.

5. Field application

As of the end of July 2017, the capillary foam deli-

Fig. 9. A capillary wellhead suspension device
suspension device is developed, as shown in Fig. 9. The
sealing ring is pressed and expanded under the weight of the
capillary to achieve sealing. The slip seat clamps the capillary
through the pressing of the back cone angle. Therefore, per-
manent capillary suspension at the wellhead is achieved. Then,
a plunger pump or a balancing tank could be used for agent
injection instead of the truck. The technology can greatly
reduce the cost of capillary foam deliquification, and also can
quification technology had been applied in 9 horizontal wells
in the Western Sichuan Gas Field. These wells have a vertical
depth of 1268e2490 m, a measured depth of 1488e2664 m at
Target A, an inner tubing diameter of 62 mm or 76 mm, a
tubing pressure of 1.25e4.20 MPa, a gaseliquid ratio of
(0.11e1.36)  104 m3/m3 and a liquid production of
0.1e3.5 m3. Through demonstration in selected wells, agent
optimization, tool string optimization, injection system
adjustment and research on supporting techniques, the tech-
nology was guaranteed in application, and has achieved a good
performance in production increase (as shown in Table 2),
with a cumulative gas increment of 295.045 5  104 m3. The
technology provides a guarantee for the deliquification and
stable production of the low-pressure and low-liquid hori-
zontal wells, and shallowemiddle reservoirs in the Western
Sichuan Depression. For the first time, the capillary foam
deliquification þ purification joint test was carried out in three
wells, thus contributing a new way to the effective removal of
pollutants in gas wells. Also, the capillary injection þ pressure
measurement integration test was first carried out in two wells,
thus helping achieve real-time monitoring of pressure and
timely optimization of the agent injection to ensure the per-
formance of the capillary foam deliquification. In the future,
the study will be made on the capillary's service life. The pilot

Table 2
Applications of capillary foam deliquification in Western Sichuan Gas Field.
Well Before operation After operation Remarks
Tubing Casing Gas flow rate/ Water flow rate/ Tubing Casing Gas flow rate/ Water flow
pressure/ pressure/ (104 m3$d 1) (m3$d 1) pressure/ pressure/ (104 m3$d 1) rate/(m3$d 1)
MPa MPa MPa MPa
XS21-10H 4.20 6.10 0.41 1.6 5.30 5.90 0.80 2.1 Foam deliquification
XS21-13H 1.71 3.70 0.72 3.0 1.50 2.80 1.36 5.0 Purification and capillary foam
deliquification joint operation,
rapid production recovery after
removing the pollutants at bottomhole
XS23-5H 2.30 6.00 0.80 1.1 5.70 7.40 1.30 1.2 Purification and capillary foam
deliquification joint operation,
rapid production recovery after
removing fracturing sand
XS24-1HF 2.40 14.00 0.11 0.1 6.30 9.60 0.25 2.2 Foam deliquification
XS21-21H 2.00 4.40 1.22 0.9 2.40 4.10 1.55 1.7 Foam deliquification
XS21-25H 1.80 4.30 0.65 1.6 2.20 2.70 0.77 2.1 Foam deliquification
SF20e1HF 2.02 3.86 0.37 3.5 1.93 2.89 1.01 4.4 Capillary injection and pressure
measurement integration
SF3e3HF 2.73 6.80 0.34 1.7 3.26 6.51 0.39 3.0 Purification and capillary foam
deliquification joint operation,
removing a small amount of sand
MP23-2H 1.25 5.50 0.46 0.4 1.48 5.48 0.93 0.9 Capillary injection and pressure
measurement integration
 Liu T. et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 6 (2019) 25e33
test of foam deliquification in conjunction with capillary
wellhead suspension will be carried out in the wells with the
potential for increasing production, so as to further reduce the
cost.
6. Conclusions
1) The capillary foam deliquification technology is worthy
of promotion in the low-pressure and low-liquid hori-
zontal wells in shallowemedium reservoirs the Western
Sichuan Depression. However, gas wells with low gas
production, high liquid or condensate production should
be avoided.
2) As to the parameters, the injection depth is designed at
the well section with an inclination angle range of
70
e80
, not considering the horizontal section. The
capillary specification should meet the tensile strength
required at the well depth. The length and counterweight
of the injection tool string are subject to the overall
angle change rate and the wellbore pressure. The foam
deliquification parameters should be optimized for spe-
cific well conditions and liquid loading characteristics.
3) The capillary operation should follow the standardized
process to ensure safety and improve work efficiency.
4) The sticking prevention technology has successfully
reduced the probability of capillary sticking. The in-
jection and pressure measurement integration technol-
ogy has improved the optimization efficiency and
deliquification performance. The purification and capil-
lary foam deliquification joint operation technology has
provided a new way for pollutants removal and stimu-
lation of gas wells. The capillary wellhead suspension
technology has further reduced the operation cost.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interest.
33
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