SIMULTANEOUS PACKER AND SCREEN RECOVERY
On April 26, 2000, Vibration Technology’s proprietary equipment and methods made it possible to simultaneously recover a gravel pack screen and packer from a high capacity gas well located in South East Texas. The Halliburton gravel pack completion assembly consisted of a packer, sliding sleeve, shear release, blank and wire wrapped screen as illustrated in Figure 1.
In South East Texas, as well as throughout the surrounding Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast and Offshore Gulf of Mexico area, packer and screen recovery is somewhat of a routine maintenance procedure, normally done over the course of several days using either jarring or washover techniques. Conventional fishing can be tedious, time consuming, as well as costly and, as experienced oil industry personnel know full well, with each step of a procedure there is an inherent risk of something else going wrong, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.
This 5,500 Ft. well had experienced a dramatic increase in sand production to the extent that immediate remedial procedures were required. The job was accomplished by leveraging the unique capacity of Vibration Technology’s mechanical oscillator to "fluidize" sand, turning it into a quasi liquid state that allows tubular goods to move freely through the gravel pack sand. Conventional fishing procedures were not required.
The economics of this job proved favorable for the customer because of the elimination of three days (more or less) of various services and costs that are conventionally required. But the real story is that the well was back on production several days sooner than expected and without any "surprises" or contingencies that often have to be overcome. Been there, done that?
In South East Texas, as well as throughout the surrounding Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast and Offshore Gulf of Mexico area, packer and screen recovery is somewhat of a routine maintenance procedure, normally done over the course of several days using either jarring or washover techniques. Conventional fishing can be tedious, time consuming, as well as costly and, as experienced oil industry personnel know full well, with each step of a procedure there is an inherent risk of something else going wrong, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.
This 5,500 Ft. well had experienced a dramatic increase in sand production to the extent that immediate remedial procedures were required. The job was accomplished by leveraging the unique capacity of Vibration Technology’s mechanical oscillator to "fluidize" sand, turning it into a quasi liquid state that allows tubular goods to move freely through the gravel pack sand. Conventional fishing procedures were not required.
The economics of this job proved favorable for the customer because of the elimination of three days (more or less) of various services and costs that are conventionally required. But the real story is that the well was back on production several days sooner than expected and without any "surprises" or contingencies that often have to be overcome. Been there, done that?
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"To our knowledge, simultaneous recovery has never been attempted much less accomplished" notes Paul Moore, Vibration Technology Service Manager, in Shreveport, LA. "We used our 85,000 pound load capacity oscillator and the job only took about 30 minutes to have everything free and started out of the hole."