Customer challenges
- Return idle wells to production through continued depletion of reservoir pressures, deepwater Gulf of Mexico
- The client wanted to lower the gas lift point by punching a hole in the tubing and running a concentric-style gas lift system - they needed to avoid working over the well or using high risk explosive tubing punchers that might damage two exising encapsulated control lines
- Production casing was 9 5/8" 53.5 ppf C-110, with a deviation of +/- 33 degrees
Expro Excellence
- During shop testing in Expro's test facility in Broussard, Louisiana, the Kinley perforator mechanically punched a perfectly round hole in the tubing (crucially without any damage to two control lines strapped to the outside of the tubing) in 5.5", 17 ppf tubing
- The production tubing was successfully punched with a 1/2" hole at 9,242 feet (2,245 feet below the lowest gas lift mandrel in the string), without any damage to the control lines, and one concentric gas lift mandrel installed across the hole (there were existing gas lift mandrels above the SCSSV)
- Expro successfully correlated depth measurements before shooting the Kinley perforator with memory logging tools to confirm the hole would be exactly where the client required
Value to client
- Idle wells were successfully returned to production, in excess of ~2,000 bopd
- Wells were returned to production without the need for a costly workover - all operations were performed through tubing with mechanical wireline
- High level of confidence in successful intervention through detailed onshore testing and simulation; quality and repeatability of tubing punch geometry suitable for retrofit gas lift insert
- Critical control line functionality was maintained and tested from surface after the tubing punch was made
