Clad through Clad: A Mechanical Water Shut Off Solution for Commingled Production from Multilayered Reservoirs

A casing or tubing clad is a metal sleeve that can be run by several intervention means into a well to isolate an area of interest, be it to provide a permanent seal over splits, holes, or perforations in tubing and casing or for water shut off. Once it is on depth, the clad or metal sleeve is expanded out against the tubing or casing wall to form a seal. Taking the example of water shut-off isolation, conventional clad technology only permits a ‘bottom up isolation’, the current technology does not have the ability to pass through an expanded clad of the same size thus it is not possible at a later date to install a second clad below an existing clad. To resolve this issue, in 2006 TOTAL instigated the development of a “Clad thru Clad” technology through a JIP (Joint Industrial Program) Water Management R&D Project with Maersk, Statoil, Chevron, and BP as partners. Meta was selected to develop the clad through clad technology. The project objective was to design an electric line conveyed clad able to pass through other similarly sized clads previously installed in a well incorporating a metal-to-metal interference fit with elastomer seal against the 5-1/2” production casing or tubing wall. In addition to the dimensional, pressure rating (5000 psi absolute, 2000 psi differential) and temperature rating (125 degC) constraints, one of the major challenges was to achieve sufficient collapse rating for the clad once expanded. The Internal Clad™ is deployed using a hydraulic expansion system. The setting tool consists of a standard electric line cable head, an electronic section (consisting of gamma ray (GR), a casing collar locator (CCL), a motor control module and pressure sensors), a down-hole reservoir, hydraulic module (consisting of motor, a pump, an intensifier and valves), and the setting tool itself. The first trial was performed in Total Indonesia’s Peciko field; well C, a gas well producing from a multilayered reservoir. The field trial was SUCCESSFUL although a number of improvements for future operations were identified.