How Do Solid Expandables Work?

It is inevitable. Over time, wells develop issues: low productivity, production or injection profile
distribution, early gas or water production or simply normal reservoir depletion. Solutions for
correcting well behavior are selected based on the amount of remaining reserves and are
evaluated for economic feasibility.
In most cases, an integral solution takes into consideration both inflow issues (related to the
reservoir and near wellbore) as well as outflow issues (related to completion, artificial lift and
surface facilities).
Solid expandable liners are solid steel liners that are expanded downhole to isolate sections of
an existing wellbore. This type of solution addresses outflow issues (access in and out of the
reservoir) without compromising inflow conditions.
Real Time Surface Expansion

Any effective reservoir exploitation strategy must maximize final recovery of reserves. Solutions
for mechanically sealing problematic perforations are designed to solve:

Production or injection profile problem

Shutting off gas or water zones

Re-completing wells in a commingled configuration

Re-fracing unconventional gas wells

However, many solutions reduce and/or restrict production rates, causing formation damage or
deferring production, and do not address completion integrity. This is where solid expandables
provide the greatest advantage.
Real Time Surface Expansion

Maximizing Internal Diameter

By their nature, solid expandables minimize internal diameter (ID) loss (average reduction of the
current hole is less than 9.8% - Figure 1). Maximum ID enables existing complementary
completion technologies and running traditional or special logs, which in turn ensures high
production or injection rates.

Minimizing Formation Damage

Formation isolation with the solid expandable system does not force fluids into the reservoir;
therefore, there are minimal risks to the formation. Additionally, other remediation methods that
force fluids (chemicals and cement) into the wellbore require new perforations programs that
penetrate further out of the wellbore to bypass damage. Alternatively, since the expandable liner
is benign to the formation, all perforation energy can be focused on creating maximum
penetration, cleaner channels and usable length for well connectivity.

Reducing Defferral Production

Fast completion of workover activities makes production available soon. Solid expandables
have a proven track record (97% reliability), and they are timely two installations have been
done by the same crew in two different wells in one day.

COMPLETION INTEGRITY
Casing integrity is fundamental for maximizing an asset's lifecycle and final recovery. Solid
expandable technology supports current and new exploitation strategies because it provides a
new solid casing inside the old existing casing. This allows the same wells to be used for
continued recovery of remaining reserves, allows diversified exploitation strategies, and reduces
capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX).