Near a Kilometer of Perforating Guns, in a 7 1/2 km, Extended-Reach Well Coiled Tubing Shows Its Mettle in New Zealand

摘要

This paper details a coiled tubing perforating campaign conducted in New Zealand, during the first half of 2006. Coiled tubing has been used for deploying perforating guns for many years now. The challenge with this type of work, is first designing a coiled tubing string which can push and pull long gun lengths along highly deviated wells. Secondly, a method of retrieving (and deploying) the guns against a high wellhead pressure is required. In this instance, down hole isolation valves could not be used. Instead, a pressure deployment system was utilized. The length of perforating guns run during this campaign is extreme, but not unique1. The use of pressure deployment systems is also not unique2. The combination of these factors along with the facts that this is a very remote operation (with regard to oilfield manufacturing and supply), that much specialized equipment needed to be fabricated (in a market cycle where all equipment deliveries see long lead times), and that the operation must take place in a seismically active area, all combine to make this a very challenging project. This paper lists observations taken from the project that may prove useful to future campaigns of a similar nature.