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A cased-hole liner/specialty packer workover solution salvaged a South Louisiana, inland water oil completion and paid for itself in under five months' time.
Solid expandable casing liner salvages inland water completion
A workover solution featuring a cased-hole liner, in tandem with a specially designed packer, salvaged a South Louisiana, inland water oil completion and paid for itself in under five months.
Vic Toce, TOCE Oil Co., Lafayette, Louisiana, and Mark Holland, Enventure Global Technology, Houston
TOCE Oil Co. (TOCE) salvaged a Louisiana inland water completion by using a 1,560-ft, cased-hole liner (CHL*) installed by Enventure Global Technology inside 5-1/2-in., 17-lb. casing. Data from caliper logs were essential in determining the length and location of the required CHL system.
Prior attempts to regain casing integrity using conventional cement squeeze operations had been unsuccessful. The new completion provided sufficient clearance for a specialty packer, which was set below the cased-hole liner. The workover solution paid for itself in about 4-1/2 months (based on $30/bbl oil), and production has averaged about 100 bopd since the August 2003 completion.
BACKGROUND
TOCE's LL&E A-1, an inland water location in southern Louisiana, was originally drilled in 1986 and completed in the Lower 96 sand at about 10,000 ft. It produced 200 to 300 bopd from initial completion until the mid-1990s, when casing integrity problems became evident from sand and shale production. Pending remedial operations, the well was shut-in for about a year.
The LL&E A-1 completion is a low-pressure oil zone that eventually required artificial lift. In this case, the well produced enough natural gas to supply not only the gas needed for gas lift operations, but also enough gas to sell to a nearby pipeline for compressor operations. Beyond the need for casing integrity to...