spe-211560-ms

SPE-211560-MS
Achieving Remarkable Long ESP Run Life Exceeding 9 Years Continuously
Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEADIP/proceedings-pdf/22ADIP/2-22ADIP/D021S060R001/3034683/spe-211560-ms.pdf by British University Egypt, esraa moussa on 16 May 2023
in Brown Oil Field Thru Leak Free Production in Highly Corrosive
Environment
Mostafa Mahmoud Kortam and Hany Rafat Elrayek, Belayim Petroleum Company, Petrobel; Amr Alkhouly,
Maxtube
Copyright 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/211560-MS
This paper was prepared for presentation at the ADIPEC held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 31 October – 3 November 2022.
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
A very interesting case in mature field in Egypt, has embarked on a project of replacing Oil Production
wells, originally constructed with API 5L carbon steel pipe, with fiberglass lined API 5CT Threaded and
coupled tubing.
Previously, all wells had a conventional EUE carbon steel string producing with different ranges of
production within 600 - 3000 bbls/day of oil without water production in early stage of the field. Later
on, water injection commenced in 2004 in order to arrest reservoir pressure decline and increase the oil
offtake. Accordingly, the water production progressively rose since in 2011 the measured water cut was
up to 90% of with much salt content as high as 330,000 ppm, and fully saturated with dissolved oxygen.
As a result, the field has been facing severe corrosion related failures in Carbon steel strings in producer
wells. Furthermore, the problem has been escalated and the average pull out of hole workover jobs of each
well reached two times per year due to tubular failure resulting from corrosion. The tubing leakage failure
increased the OPEX of the field by which impacted negatively on the value of the asset. Many actions had
been taken attempting to sole or at least reduce the severity of the problem such as; using 13% Chrome steel
tubing, and placing down hole injection of corrosion inhibitor chemicals. But each solution has a drawback
and the improvement in the runlife of wells were below expectations. Upon all the above repeated workovers
were done to replace the frequently leaked tubing, affecting on the field performance.
GRE lining technology proved as the best erosion and corrosion resistance method that save ell integrity
with the lowest cost in the field of discussion where the water salinity is 330,000 ppm, high dissolved
oxygen, high temperature, and high co2 up to 6%.
Three wells were chosen as trial to be completed using Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) lined tubing
for internal corrosion protection. However, one of these wells has lasted for over nine years of continuous
production without the even ESP fails. Such positive results of achieving Outstanding Performance in
attaining longer tubing life with less workover operation with very cheaper technology.
2 SPE-211560-MS
Afterwards, the company decided to try 3%Chrome tubing for the oil production wells with a premium
thread connection. In this paper, we will demonstrate the pros and cons of utilizing such a material and
connection failure.
Guided by the successful trail, a shift in the inventory was done toward such application that turned up
the economic value of the field. Special components were engineered to provide a transition between GRE
lined tubulars and plain end unlined fittings and flanges.
This paper chronicles the history of the Oil Production, the nature, reasons and consequences of the
multiple corrosion failures and the failed corrosion mitigation strategies. It will highlight the reasons why
this specific well lasted for 9 continuous years and the root cause leading to the ESP consistent performance
during this period, unlike the other bare steel wells.
Furthermore, the paper will shed light on the techno-commercial analysis and engineering that forms the
basis for this mammoth effort.
Introduction
Tubular Corrosion problem in oil and gas fields
In the mature stage of oil and gas fields, the ratio of water to hydrocarbon in the produced fluids increases
and in many cases the ratio exceeds 20 times. Thus such increase in water proportionality cause an
increase in corrosivity of produced fluids and also rock particle movements that entertained with the
water stream. Consequently, both erosion and corrosion problems are introduced to the system. In turn the
Internal corrosion caused by produced fluids is the costliest of the corrosion problems in the whole oil and
gas industry since internal mitigation methods cannot be easily maintained and inspected unless a rig is
scheduled to replace the corroded tubular. The problem can be escalated and turned into a high risk issue
in case of the corrosion occur in the casing.
The major corrosion sources encountered in the oil and gas wells are the following;
• Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) Corrosion When water is present, the iron in steel reacts with sulphur to
form iron sulfide (FeS) which will release free hydrogen.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) especially with the presence of water, will form carbonic acid (CH2CO3).
• Oxygen (O2) in sea water injection.
• Acid Treatment pumped in the well bore to either improve well productivity or remove plugging
from DH equipment.
• Salinity of water is an excellent electrolyte, and mainly chloride percent
• Bacteria that creates H2S, and such biogenic formation by the microbial action of sulfate reducing
bacteria (SRB) is the main reasons for increasing H2S progressive concentration.
• PH of completion brine used during workover operation.
• Temperature usually increases corrosion rate.
• Well Pressures maximize corrosion level, since CO2 and H2S are more soluble in H2O.
• Velocity - important in stripping films, even for sweet systems.
• Wear and abrasion accelerates corrosion.
• Solids and any strips film erodes metal as well.

SPE-211560-MS 3
Table 1—Causes of Petroleum Related Failures (1970's study)
Statistics about tubular corrosion
The total annual cost of corrosion in the oil and gas production industry is estimated to be US$1,372 billion,
splitting into the following items;
• $589 million in surface pipeline and facility costs, representing 42 % of overall cost,
• $463 million annually in downhole tubing expenses, and representing 33 % of overall cost,
• $320 million in capital expenditures related to corrosion, representing 42 % of overall cost1.
It is well known that if there is an effective management of corrosion in the oil and gas industry, it will
contribute toward not only cost reduction but also improve safety, health, and environmental impact.
One of the application that shows a solution for protecting oil and gas field tubular goods is the
Glass Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) liners that are field proven in different corrosive environments. Many
advantages of this proposed application over other solutions used to overcome tubular corrosion. GRE is
widely regarded as a highly effective material when deployed as a barrier to corrosion in steel tubing. The
technology can be effective on the inner side and outside of tubing, through cementing the GRE liners to
guard ID of tubing, and use epoxy-wetted fabric wrapped onto casing and tubing as a shield against OD
damage from corrosion.
Other applications comprise different methodology, and acting mechanisms in protecting the tubular such
as; using high-grade corrosion-resistant alloys (CRA), and down-hole (DH) injection of corrosion inhibitor
chemicals. This paper describes the operator's experience in confirming glass fiber-reinforced epoxy (GRE)
as an effective alternative to the costly high-grade corrosion-resistant alloys (CRA) to extend tubing life in
saline wells with higher level of abrasion.
GRE Lining Technology to Protect Tubing

Fiberglass is an inert epoxy material, and this property results in it being resistant to corrosion cells resulting
from chloride attacks.
The technology of lining tubing with GRE has been used by the industry as a method for corrosion
protection of downhole tubing. Over 55,000 wells have been installed in water handling, oil and gas
producing and gas injection and disposal wells. GRE lining acts as a barrier between the corrosive fluids
and the base metal.
The GRE lining is a joint-by-joint process carried out on a pumping rack with specialized pumping
equipment and qualified personnel. The corrosion protection barrier is achieved by inserting a rigid GRE
tube into the steel pipe and filling the annular space with a special mortar / cement.
4 SPE-211560-MS
The liner is centralized at each end by the threaded fixtures used for injection of mortar. More importantly,
the end fixtures centralize the liner to the thread profile, providing for improved joint to joint centreline
alignment within the couplings, an important consideration in wireline or other through tubing interventions.
On both ends of the tubing, the GRE liner is protected by a precisely molded fiberglass flange, commonly
as the "flare". A specially designed reinforced elastomeric corrosion barrier ring (CBR) is compressed in the
coupling by the opposing flares. Flares and CBR's provide continuous isolation of the unlined connection
area from process fluids, thereby ensuring complete system integrity.
Figure 1—GRE Liner (Inset) and GRE Lined Threaded Pipe
In brief, Laboratory testing and field implementation in the field, and in oil-production and water-
injection wells along with surface pipe lines, proved that, when GRE within the operating limits, GRE can
extend tubing life and provide effective cost savings among field run life.
General Information About Field Used for Case Applied

This study is carried out on two of the major on-shore oil fields in Egypt; Belayim Land field, and Abu
Rudeis Field are located in the central part of the Gulf of Suez, along the coast of the Sinai Peninsula. These
fields are operated by Belayim Oil Company (Petrobel) on behalf of the concession shareholders EGPC
50% and IEOC Prod B.V which owns the remaining 50%.
Belayim Land was discovered in 1954 and put in production in 1955. Both fields recovery has been
maximized carrying out reservoir pressure maintenance through water injection that was started in 1985.
The fields continue to perform with operational excellence in all areas from safety to production in-spite
of the several challenges that are faced on a daily basis. This is because of the focus on trying different
solution to develop best practices in dealing with the problem and sound reservoir management actions.
Currently total amount of 688 wells was drilled in both fields, 399 Producers, 44 Injectors and all wells are
pumped through either ESP, or sucker rod pump.
The average production rate at the time of the trial in Jan 2011 is 70,500 BOPD, with a cumulative
production of 2,526 MMSTB and an average recovery factor of about 32.6%. the tubing sizes used are 2
7/8, 3 ½, and 4″ conventional EUE carbon.
SPE-211560-MS 5
Figure 2—Belayim land and Abu Rudeis fields, Gulf of Suez, Location map
Reservoir features and Characteristics
✓ Avg. Porosity (Φi) 28.0 %
✓ Initial Reservoir Pressure (Pi) 3045 psi at level 6250 ft as Res. datum
✓ Current Reservoir Pressure (Ps) 1500 psi at level 6250 ft as Res. datum
✓ Oil Gravity 21.5 – 18.0 API
✓ Reservoir (DH) Temp. 170( F
✓ Crude Oil Viscosity "heavy oil type" 8 cp
✓ Co2 content 6%
It is worth to point out the presence of oil and water tight emulsion formation and asphaltene precipitation
problems due to considerable amount of asphaltene content. In addition to scale build up in the wellbore
as a results of employing Res Sea water as source for water injection used for improving oil recovery. The
main reason of scale deposition is the attribute to contrast in salt content between Sea water and formation
water along with high pumping pressure exerted with downhole pump. Furthermore, the problem of sea
water injection extended to populate SRP that generated higher rates of H2S.
Table 2—Formation water salinity of shallower reservoirs in the field of interest

6 SPE-211560-MS
Table 3—Salinity of sea water used for water injection project
Aside from scale and emulsion problems resulted from implementing water injection project, a critical
tubing corrosion issue has been introduced into the fields. The tubing corrosion was noticed in the inner
side of the tubing leading to cause pitting and hole yielding to full tubing leak and wells are pumped off.
Ultimately a greater operating expenditures was spending on workover operations to replace the leaked
tubing. Although the utilization of H2S and oxygen scavenger is used in the treatment of injected water, still
the produced water in produced wells possesses threat corrosion potential.
Adding to the above since the first oil production of the field till 2011, L-80 Carbon steel was the selected
material for the production tubing, however due to the elevation of water cut percentage, associated with
the mentioned salinity rates, carbon steel was not the suitable material for this application.
The average lifetime of continuous production for the production tubing was decreasing significantly.
Some wells showed low records with just few weeks until the well starts indicating tubing-annulus
communication readings and production pressure decline resulting from tubing leaks. This subsequently
results in oil decrement costs due to workover activities to replace the tubing which reflects to elevated
OPEX that ends up decreasing the overall value of the well. This process keeps repeating until the steel
thickness reaches a critical level and a leak is reported.
Many workover jobs were done after short run life and the only reason was a leakage in the tubing resulted
from internal corrosion.
As shown in the Fig 3 where total number of all workover jobs are nearly constant within range of 150
- 200 workover jobs, but the percentage of tubing leak problem that necessitate to schedule workover to
replace the corroded tubing had jumped from 10 % till 25 % at 2011 before stating the trial of proposed
applications and applying effective solution for controlling corrosion rate of tubing. Focusing on the high
number of workover jobs that used to just pull and run the tubing and related cost that is estimated to exceed
25 Million Us dollar in the 2010. Indicating uncontrolled problem and alerting the need to interfere and take
a serious action in order to optimise the running cost.
Figure 2—photo shows an example of tubing leak

SPE-211560-MS 7
Figure 3—Chart showing trend of number of workover operations
and tubing leakage as percentage from the total workover operations.
Figure 4—Chart of individual wells run life and average value among all wells.
SPE-211560-MS
Figure 6—TIM system used to manage corrosion of the tubing.

Figure 5—Active running ESP producers vs average run life
8
SPE-211560-MS 9
Figure 7—Historical production Performance of well 113-134, upper chart contains water cut % (blue curve)
along with produced water salinity as ppm (red curve), lower chart contains gross rate in M3/d (green curve)
Figure 8—Active running ESP producers vs average run life in 2021
Detailed assessment has been carried out on the well performances and after reviewing the run life of all
wells, lower run life of wells that is the average value is more or less than 400 days. Merely, this performance
10 SPE-211560-MS
is below expectations especially that leakage in the production string causes around 30% of field down time
wells (stopped wells during either pup off or down hole electric failure).
Problem Investigation
Going deeper into the root cause of this operational problem, with considerable H2S and CO2 levels, and
the elevated chlorides rate in the produced water, in a not very high temperature environment (170 F), the
expected reason for this material failure is believed to be mixed corrosion mechanisms including chloride ion
effect and presence of H2S and CO2. Hence, the wells are being operated in a complex environment, such as
in high salinity, corrosive gases CO2 and O2 entrained with injected water stream and microbiology activity
produce H2S. upon that the operating conditions had changed with respect to the design, and damaged tubing
did not achieve the expired design life.
Water reacts with iron forming an iron oxide film (Fe2O3 or Fe3O4) which acts as a protective passive
later to the steel beneath.
With the presence of chloride in the flow, the iron oxide film absorbs chloride ions forming a soluble
intermediate iron complex:
Fe2 → Fe2+ + 2e−
Fe2+ + 4Cl− → (FeCl4)−2 + 2e−
This iron complex (FeCl4)−2 reacts with water to form Fe(OH)2
(FeCl4)−2 +2H2O → Fe(OH)2 + 2H+ + 4Cl−
Once the chlorides are released on the metal surface, the process becomes self-generating. The repeated
cycle involving the reaction of Fe2+ with Cl− ions, formation of Fe(OH)2 and release of H+ and Cl− ions,
continue until the protective layer of Fe2O3 or Fe3O4 is completely destroyed.
A dedicated effort and an action plan is envisaged in order to comply with the issue. The sequence of
the plan is as follow:
• Collect updated production data.
• Definition of possible remedial actions and/or opportunities suggestions.
• Analysis will be carried out in strict integration with candidate's applications.
• The reservoir limitations/constraints will be taken into account.
• Applying Tubing Integrity Management (TIM) system.
Integrity Methodology & Strategy

The studies and the activities planned for enhancing well performance and controlling corrosion rate are
focused on the implementation of a tuning integrity management system in order to investigate the current
integrity status of the production and injection strings and to individuate action to guarantee safety and
efficiency of the asset.
Tubing Integrity Management (TIM) is a systematic process which requires continuous set of activities
and controls related to tubing design, materials specification & procurement, instillation, operation,
inspection and maintenance, aimed at minimizing the risk of failure to as low as reasonably practicable
(ALARP) and maximizing the efficiency of the tubing.
TIM is a multi-disciplinary project which involves completion, HSE, corrosion, inspection, and
production departments.
The TIM process start with identify the leakage location in the corroded tubing, in order to properly
organize the subsequent activities.
SPE-211560-MS 11
Both International and Company standards in addition to best practices give a framework for TIM
activities planning. The major elements will be discussed briefly.
Data gathering: Up-to-date tubing inspection reports represents an essential aspect of the TIM process.
This because the collected data allow to perform a risk-based first level analysis finalized to the identification
of the potential pipeline criticalities and prioritization of activities to be started in order to investigate and
determine the tubing integrity status.
The considered failure modes, categories, parameters and their weights are strictly related to the context
of the tubing to be evaluated and shall be defined appropriately for each system based also on engineering
experiences.
Information on the original design/assessment, fabrication and installation, including results of numerical
analyses, operating data, in-service inspections, engineering evaluations, design pressure and temperature,
design factors, nominal diameter, outer diameter, wall thickness, corrosion allowance, hydrostatic pressure,
operative parameters (pressure and temperature at bottom and well head, fluid composition, water content,
flow rates, density, and viscosity are all reviewed and analyzed.
Integrity evaluation: requires internal and external inspection of corroded tubing. Based on the collected
information and inspection results a complete integrity assessment is then carried out and the requirement
for possible intervention works are evaluated.
Intervention and mitigation activities: change in operation parameters and apply a different solution
to compare the results and realize the best practice of each solution.
Proposed Actions
Several solutions were proposed to solve this problem:
• Continue using bare carbon steel tubing with chemical injection (squeeze continuous treatment)
• Using corrosion resistant chrome alloy material.
• Installing GRE liners to be integrated with the production conventional carbon steel tubing.
Chemicals corrosion inhibitors

The first solution -Chemicals Injection- is where corrosion inhibitors substance is pumped into the system
(surface lines and through the wellhead) by adding small concentration to the produced stream downhole,
then a protective film is deposited on the ID internal walls of the string in order to prevent the exposed
metal to oxidize. Usually there are three mechanisms of such created film passivating, precipitation, or
adsorption film.
The outcomes of this method was not as expected, since it comprises operational complications. Because
injection of the several chemicals are used to improve flow dynamics such as asphaltene dispersant, de-
emulsifier, and scale inhibitor. By which require many control lines and large surface pumping skid.
Moreover, the presence of corrosion inhibitors showed asphaltene precipitation. Finally, this method
however is not recommended with such a high water cut percentage and salinity levels, where persistent and
continuous squeezing of the chemicals will be a must to assure the non-formation of a corrosion cell, even
underneath the protective layer formed by the inhibitors, which will end up in extremely elevated OPEX
and operational complexity.
Chrome Tubing
The utilization of 13% Chrome tubing which is the most popular alloy to act against corrosion. Chrome
steel works in a way that Chromium element reacts with oxygen to form a passive protective film. When
this film is exposed due to corrosion attacks such as H2S, CL- or dissolved oxygen, the chromium tends to
regenerate the protective oxide layer. The higher the composition of chromium, nickel and molybdenum,
12 SPE-211560-MS
the resistance to elevated corrosion sources with higher temperatures increases. The trials were done with
accepted results except a poor performance was noticed in wells where scale deposition is occurred and the
need to perform acid back ash job on rigless mode. Pumping acid treatment in the well is not recommended
with 13% Chrome tubing, in addition to the greater operating cost because it is expensive material.
Company then decided to work with modified alloy and to run with L-80 3% Chrome tubing material as
a trial for a newly introduced material. Both lab and field results obtained with 3%Cr carbon low alloy steel
allowed us to consider it as an alternative material replacing L80 tubing in such downhole conditions. Field
results showed that the proposed material would be certainly an improvement and considered as economic
alternative for 13%Cr material to be used in such a specific enviroment.
As a result of the whole process, Grade 80 Ksi 3%Cr tubing was adopted in Petrobel's wells and currently
more than 240 wells are operating with this material, without any reported tubing failures and achieving a
downhole run life of more than 6 years is some of the wells and more than two years on average.
However, very specific procedures must be considered during handling, RIH and POOH operations;
improper handling and stocking in contact with non-corrosion resistant material can lead to superficial or
even embedded rust that will require addition remedial work.
Thread galling (cold welding) is another very important consideration while running the chromium
tubing. The higher the chrome and nickel content, the more ductile the steel is, and this leads to a higher
tendency that the threads are cold welded when being torqued, if not from the first couple of times, the
number of make ups it takes for a chrome threads to cold weld is much less that of L80 carbon steel.
This has been a problem facing workover team, even when over pull loads are applied to overcome this
issue, this the company has sometimes encountered thread rejection rate of almost 50% of the pulled-out
joints due to thread failures of galling.
We will go to the third option, using GRE lined tubing, demonstrate in detail, and then afterwards we
will compare this solution to chrome alloys material selection.
Trial of using GRE in Belayim land field

In early 2011, Petrobel decided to run the well with a -back then- newly introduced technology to the
company which is fiberglass lining of the bare steel tubing aiming at isolating the ID of the joints from
the corrosive material flowing inside the string. Three wells were chosen to install GRE lined tubing. The
first well has stopped after 21 months due to electric cable problem that is not related to the GRE tubing.
So that the tubing was pulled and re-run again quickly in the same workover without removing any joint
from the old string. Later the well stopped shortly because of circuit short in the electric cable of the ESP,
which is also not related to the GRE tubing. Another GRE tubing string was ran in a another well that was
experienced sand production and achieve 21 months as run life but this time the tubing had a hole and was
eroded due to abrasive force resulted from produced sand particles.
Finally, the third well, which will focus on is well 113-134. That is a good example of a production
challenge of tubing leaks due to corrosion, and how the company attempted to solve this problem.
Results and main findings

Since its RIH with GRE lined carbon steel in August 2011, 113-134 has been continuously operating for 9
years without any operational issues. This solution has extended the lifetime of the well -before the need
for workovers due to tubing leak- from 200 days to 2700 days (13.5 times the lifetime of a bare carbon steel
tubing) and without the need to continuously inject or squeeze chemical inhibitors.
This has resulted in drastically minimizing the operational costs of the well and hence increasing the
value of the asset.
After 9 years of operation, 113-134 had to go for a POOH workover job due to ESP motor short, and
the string went for inspection by the company's teams, the inspection report demonstrates in details an
SPE-211560-MS 13
accepted tubing wall thickness, showing intact condition for the liner and the readiness to be reused in
further applications weather production, injection wells or surface flowlines.
Table 4—Results highlights of four GRE runs in three wells
14 SPE-211560-MS
Table 5—Monthly inspection report of pulled 3 % cr during workover operations in May-22
Table 6—Monthly inspection report of pulled 3 % cr during workover operations in Jan-22
Based on the above results, both 3 % Cr tubing and GRE lined tubing showed remarkable results in
mitigating corrosion and improving wells run life. Supporting the results with a long run life achieved in
well 113-134 and the average run life of all wells have been doubled. Revealing the success of applying
TIM strategy. Recently GRE is being used extensively in all injection wells and also in the surface lines.
SPE-211560-MS 15
In the following section, we will demonstrate the technical and economical comparison between bare
carbon steel, GRE lined carbon steel and 3% Cr tubing
Comparing GRE Lined Carbon Steel VS Bare Carbon Steel VS 3% Chrome

between different materials
Comparison is based on the following assumptions:
Bare Carbon Steel:
• String fails on average one time per year due to tubing leak.
• Workover job costs around 2000US$ per day and takes average 4 days
• 3 ½" tubing is priced at 5$/ft.
3% Chrome:
• Every 2 years, the 3 % Cr string has to be POOH due to ESP failure.
• 15-20% of the string is replaced due to thread galling (cold welding).
• Need special handling and tubing running system at rig floor to manage the torque accurately,
accordingly it imposes an additional cost for additional running services.
• 3 ½" 3% Cr joint is priced at 10$/ft.
• Limited to certain chemical treatments.
• No issue related to any mechanical intervention such as Slickline runs, ball dropping for PKR
setting, SRP.
GRE Lining:
• GRE lined string operates continuously without tubing failure due to leaks.
• Every around 2 years when the ESP fails, 100% of the string is re-used since it is a Carbon steel
lined thread, so no galling is encountered.
• No need for tubing running system and connections can be done by rig tong.
• Carbon steel is priced at 5 $/ft.
• GRE lining is priced at 4 $/ft.
• Chemical treatment can be pumped without any criticality.
• Critical in the wells exhibit sand production.
• Concern in running slickline, or SRP where mechanical wearing is expected.
Conclusion
A number of primary conclusions may be drawn from the foregoing analysis obtained results:
Fiberglass Tubing Lining is recommended to be used for the Oil Production wells of Petrobel or any field
has similar conditions due to the following reasons;
1. Fiberglass GRE lined tubing provides premium ID protection against corrosion in a cheaper way.
2. Fiberglass GRE lined eliminates ID exposure to corrosive fluids and gases, extends life of tubular
goods in corrosive service.
16 SPE-211560-MS
3. Fiberglass GRE lined carbon steel tubing is treated as a normal carbon steel pipe during handling,
even thread galling incidents drop to zero providing effective Handling
4. Accepted reusability of Fiberglass GRE lining allows for the re-using of pulled out pipe, we can even
line pulled out carbon steel and 3% Cr tubing that have already undergone minimal corrosion and
re-run in the well.
5. Fiberglass GRE lined tubing is showing better performance in the water injection wells better than
3% Cr alloy tubing.
The 3% Cr provides an effective corrosion control, besides a reliable, and durable impact-resistant barrier
against mechanical damage due to intervention jobs. But the observed drawback is the damaged thread
connections which require replacing the whole joint completely.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank the management of Eni and Petrobel for the permission and encouragement
to publish this paper. The technical support provided from ENI team. Special appreciations for Eng.
Doaa Mousa, Mohamed Abu Zeid and Mohamed Adel for their exerted dedication, motivation and their
continuous support that led to produce this work.
Nomenclature
C.F. =Completion factor
P.I. =Productivity index
GOR =Gas oil ratio
BHFP =bottom hole flowing pressure
TIM =Tubing Integrity Management
H2S =Hydrogen sulfide
FeS =iron sulfide
CO2 =Carbon dioxide
O2 =Oxygen
DH =downhole
SRB =sulfate reducing bacteria
W.C =water cut
ESP =electrical submersible pump
BOPD =Barrel oil per day
PPM =part per million
MMbbls =million barrels
GRE =glass fiber-reinforced epoxy
3% Cr =3 Chrome
POOH =pull out of hole
RIH =run in hole
ID =inner diameter
OD =outside diameter
OPEX =operating expenditures
CRA =Corrosion resistance alloy
M3/d =cubic meter per day
SPE-211560-MS 17
References
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NACE International Oil and Gas Production, 2008).
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SPE-211560-MS

Achieving Remarkable Long ESP Run Life Exceeding 9 Years Continuously

Copyright 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/211560-MS

• Oxygen (O2) in sea water injection.

• Temperature usually increases corrosion rate.

• Velocity - important in stripping films, even for sweet systems.

• Wear and abrasion accelerates corrosion.

• Solids and any strips film erodes metal as well.

Table 1—Causes of Petroleum Related Failures (1970's study)

• $320 million in capital expenditures related to corrosion, representing 42 % of overall cost1.

GRE Lining Technology to Protect Tubing

Figure 1—GRE Liner (Inset) and GRE Lined Threaded Pipe

General Information About Field Used for Case Applied

Reservoir features and Characteristics

✓ Avg. Porosity (Φi) 28.0 %

Table 2—Formation water salinity of shallower reservoirs in the field of interest

Table 3—Salinity of sea water used for water injection project

Figure 2—photo shows an example of tubing leak

Figure 6—TIM system used to manage corrosion of the tubing.

Figure 8—Active running ESP producers vs average run life in 2021

• Collect updated production data.

• Definition of possible remedial actions and/or opportunities suggestions.

• Analysis will be carried out in strict integration with candidate's applications.

• The reservoir limitations/constraints will be taken into account.

• Applying Tubing Integrity Management (TIM) system.

Integrity Methodology & Strategy

• Using corrosion resistant chrome alloy material.

Chemicals corrosion inhibitors

Trial of using GRE in Belayim land field

Results and main findings

Table 4—Results highlights of four GRE runs in three wells

Table 5—Monthly inspection report of pulled 3 % cr during workover operations in May-22

Comparing GRE Lined Carbon Steel VS Bare Carbon Steel VS 3% Chrome

• 3 ½" tubing is priced at 5$/ft.

• Every 2 years, the 3 % Cr string has to be POOH due to ESP failure.

• 15-20% of the string is replaced due to thread galling (cold welding).

• Limited to certain chemical treatments.

• Carbon steel is priced at 5 $/ft.

• GRE lining is priced at 4 $/ft.

• Chemical treatment can be pumped without any criticality.

• Critical in the wells exhibit sand production.

• Concern in running slickline, or SRP where mechanical wearing is expected.

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