DRILLING & PRODUCTION
Inflow control completion systems increase recovery
Baker Oil Tools reports installation of more than 2 million ft (609,600 m) of inflow control completion systems that achieved successful production rates in horizontal wells in more than 20 oil and gas fields around the world. The Equalizer reservoir optimized completion system has assisted in maximizing hydrocarbon recovery for numerous worldwide operators, says Brad Baker, director of Sand Control.
“We are very proud of reaching 2 million ft in ground with no reported sand control problems. This track record is made possible through strategic project management and the application of advanced technology — an extended-longevity well screen and a specially designed inflow control device,” Baker says.
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The Equalizer system well screen controls sand and resists plugging and erosion with three concentric layers of media — a protective shroud, a single-layer vector filtration membrane, and an inner jacket.
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Optimal reservoir drainage is a challenge when producing from extended-reach horizontal and multilateral wellbores, even in formations with uniform permeability. When alternating high- and low-permeability strata are penetrated by a long wellbore, or when high permeability exists at either the heel or toe of a lateral section, the tendency to lose production through various parts of the reservoir increases.
“Optimal production from long, low drawdown, high rate horizontal wells often requires more than sand control, so the Equalizer system also provides production optimization,” explains Baker. “The system balances, or equalizes, longitudinal inflow along the entire length of a wellbore. A uniform production profile ensures reduced influx of water or gas into the wellbore.”
To delay water or gas coning in horizontal wells, the system uses an extended-life well screen and an inflow control device as a restrictive element. The well screen controls sand, and resists plugging and erosion with three concentric layers of media — a protective shroud, a single-layer vector filtration membrane, and an inner jacket. The outermost layer of the screen is a vector shroud for erosion protection under turbulent flow. Within the shroud, the single-layer vector membrane has uniform pore throat openings and an inflow area of about 30%, 10 times that of a typical pre-pack screen. The inner jacket and drainage layer protects the overlying vector membrane layer from high differential pressure. These features combine to extend screen life to eight times that of a standard pre-pack screen, Baker says.
The inflow control device uses a restrictor element to distribute pressure along the entire length of a wellbore. Thus, local production rates at any point along a wellbore can be controlled as a function of both the average drawdown pressure and the average well productivity.
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Volume 68 Issue 9
September 2008
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