First Installations of the 9-5/8-in. Enhanced Single-Trip Multi-Zone Sand Control Technology in Offshore Brunei

Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) operates the mature South West Ampa (SWA) and Bugan Fields in Brunei Darussalam. The fields, located 10 to 21 kilometers offshore Brunei in water depths ranging from 10 to 40m, are major sources of oil and gas production. Controlling sand production is a key completion challenge as the reservoirs are composed of multilayer unconsolidated sands, requiring sand control for safe production. Cased-hole, stack-pack systems were considered as the default solution for shallow reservoir zones and wells. Due to the reduced production rates in some reservoirs in the fields and increasing rig costs there is a demand to improve the cased-hole gravel pack efficiency. The wells require zonal isolation and sand-control treatment. Cased-hole stack packs have been a reliable completion method, due to their capabilities for better zonal isolation and multi-zone functionality. Due to the reduced production rates in the mature fields, however, wells were no longer considered economically feasible. Therefore, BSP decided to try a new 9-5/8-in. enhanced single trip multi zone gravel pack system. This system appeared capable of providing significantly greater cost efficiency than conventional cased-hole stack-pack systems, which would make the marginal wells profitable. This paper describes the 3 wells completed by BSP in 2010 and 2011 using the enhanced single trip multi zone gravel pack system. For the 3 wells, a total of 10 zones required a sand control treatment. The paper also will describe why the enhanced single trip multi zone gravel pack system was chosen and will discuss the wellbore configuration, the implementation, and other field possibilities for the system. Finally, the paper will discuss the "best practices" learned from the first enhanced single trip multi zone gravel pack system installations; the challenges encountered during the job execution, and also, will compare the enhanced single trip multi zone gravel pack system with the conventional cased-hole stack-pack system to highlight the advantages of the new system.