Landing nipples

The majority of wells will include at least one landing nipple in the completion string. This is usually a "no-go"
nipple at the bottom of the well conduit (string), where it may be used for:

preventing wireline tools larger than the "no-go" dimensions from passing below the tubing;

permits recocking of hydraulic jars (jarring upwards);

location of BHP gauges;

location of plug for pressure testing conduit.

Additionally wireline nipples may be installed in a variety of other locations in the well conduit to offer the
operational facilities, such as:

Installation of SSSVs, chokes, etc.

Landing nipples may incorporate ports to provide tubing/annulus communication. Flow through the
ports is governed by wireline run tools (separation sleeves, side door chokes), which are landed and
locked in the nipple profile.

Slip, packer and collar type lock mandrels may be used where no landing nipples are available, however, the
permissible differential pressure needs to be carefully analysed.
The basic choice between nipple systems is whether a no-go or selective nipple design is chosen. If a no-go
nipple system is used then its use is checked by reference to a production performance optimisation package
to calculate the effect on pressure loss of the reduced bore of the no-go shoulder. If it represents a major
restriction to flow, the installation of flow couplings around the nipple is recommended. The bore of the nipple
selected must be smaller than the smallest nipple bore used higher up the string, e.g. there must be sequential
nipple bore reduction.
If a selective nipple is considered, then it will offer the capability to set the nipple size equal to the minimum
nipple bore used higher up the string. The major problems identified with selective nipples are:
1.

In deep wells, e.g. greater than 7000 ft, cable stretch may pose a problem in identifying exact nipple
locations. For such cases, a minimum nipple spacing of 30 ft is recommended.

2.

The reliability of selective nipple operation is considered with the level of technical expertise of wireline
crews with the system.

Profile seating nipples

Profile seating nipples are often referred to as:

Top no-go

Bottom no-go

Selective.

As the names indicate, each has a unique machined profile with a locking groove to accept a flow-control
device that is run and installed on slickline or coiled tubing. The profile seating nipple also has a honed and
polished sealbore to allow the slickline device to not only land and lock into the nipple, but also to seal off,
assuming the accessory item to be installed also has a packing stack.
Profile seating nipples are positioned at strategic locations within the tubing string to allow the accurate
placement of:

Slickline plugs

Check valves

Bottomhole chokes

Downhole flow regulators

Bottomhole pressure recorders

At least one profile seating nipple is recommended near the bottom.

Top no-go profile seating nipple

The top no-go nipple accepts a lock assembly with a no-go shoulder located on the lock itself (Fig. 2). When
the lock assembly is run in the hole, the no-go shoulder on the lock engages or locates on top of the nipple.
Once located, the locks are engaged into the locking groove, and the installation process is complete. Care
must be taken when designing the completion to ensure that there are no ID restrictions above the nipple to
prevent passage of the lock assembly. The top no-go nipple is generally run when a single nipple is required
in the hole and the largest ID possible is required through the nipple profile. However, more than one top nogo may be run if the IDs of the profiles are reduced sufficiently as the nipples progress in the hole to allow
passage of the appropriate locking assembly through the nipple located immediately above the intended target
nipple.

Fig. 2Top no-go profile nipple and lock assembly.

Bottom no-go profile seating nipple

The bottom no-go nipple has a no-go shoulder located in the bottom of the nipple (Fig. 3). The lock assembly
or slickline device landed in this type of nipple locates the nipple by landing on the bottom no-go. Once landed
and located in the nipple, the locks can be engaged and the installation completed. Because its ID will not allow
passage of any flow-control device through the nipple, the bottom no-go nipple is always run as the lowermost
nipple in the completion. Another benefit of having a no-go nipple in the completion is that any other slickline
tools or tubing swabs that are lost in the tubing string should not fall to the bottom. The lost equipment usually
can be fished out of the tubing string or, in cases when it cannot, the tubing can be pulled to recover the tools.

Fig. 3Bottom no-go profile nipple and lock assembly.

Selective profile seating nipple

Selective type profile nipples are perhaps the most versatile of the three (Fig. 4). In such a design, an
unlimited number of the same size and type profile seating nipples may be run in the hole, because the locking
assembly or flow-control device is able to find and selectively land in any of them. In most systems, either the
packing stack or a collett indicator is used to help the slickline operator locate the nipple, and alternately picking

up and slacking off through the nipple actuates the locks and sets the flow-control device. The benefit of this
type system is a larger ID through the completion and fewer slickline accessory items that must be inventoried.
Generally, it is still advised that a no-go nipple be run on the bottom of the tubing string to prevent any lost tools
from falling into the cased hole below the completion.

Fig. 4Selective profile nipple.

Wireline re-entry guides

In some operations, it is necessary to run electric wireline, slickline tools, or coiled-tubing assemblies past the
end of the tubing string and into the casing below (Fig. 1). Upon retrieving these tools, there may be problems
pulling them back into the tubing string if the tubing is run open-ended and unprotected. Sharp edges and
square shoulders of pin threads, couplings, or muleshoes can cause the tools to snag or hang up on re-entry.
The wireline re-entry guide is run on the end of the tubing string (or the tailpipe below the packer) and is
designed to facilitate re-entry into the tubing string of those electric-line or slickline assemblies. It has an
internally beveled, bell-shaped ID that eliminates any sharp edges or square shoulders and helps align the
tools as they are pulled back up into the tubing string.

Fig. 1Wireline re-entry guide.

Gauges
Downhole data is required, to manage the reservoirs.
The permanent downhole gauges are principally targeted at subsea completions and other areas where well
intervention to run static and flowing well surveys is economically prohibitive.
Conduit design considerations:

permanent gauges vs. static/flowing well intervention surveys (equipment reviewed in Production
Operations Well Services Guide, Well intervention activities - Document 2: Wireline operations);

landing nipple requirements for flowing surveys vs. packer/collar/slip mandrels (Production Operations Well
Services Guide, Well intervention activities - Document 2: Wireline operations);

multiple completions vs. commingled with downhole flow meters.

A joint of tubing is usually run below the no-go landing nipple to protect the survey gauges.

Flow couplings and blast joints

These are important aspects of life-of-the-well completion planning. They are designed to inhibit the effects of
corrosion/erosion caused by flow turbulence and jetting actions.

Flow couplings should be used in the tubing string of a flowing well to protect the tubing above and below
turbulence-inducing equipment, such as safety valves, from the abrasive action of the turbulence. A flow
coupling is, in effect, a length of tubing usually with enhanced wall thickness, the inner surface of which is
specially hardened. In general the length is twenty times the inside diameter, although a minimum of 3 ft is
recommended.

Blast joints are used in the tubing string opposite the perforations in producing zones where the jetting action of
fluid can erode the outside of the tubing.

Extension of blast joints beyond the perforations should never be less than 8 ft downstream and 5 ft upstream
of the flow direction.

Flow couplings should be considered in high rate gas wells above and below completion accessories which
restrict the tubing or induce turbulence, such as SSSVs and side pocket mandrels (SPMs).

Wire line entry guides and tubing shoes

Tubing shoes (or "mule" shoes) are short, cut-away lengths of tubing fitted to the bottom end of a tubing string
to facilitate stabbing into a packer or packers. The outside should be barrel shaped to aid entry into the packer
bore and to prevent hold-ups when running, and the inside bottom edge should be chamfered to aid wireline reentry. When the tubing string is stepped down in diameter below the packer, some form of centralizer(s) should
be fitted to, or near the shoe, especially in deviated wells.

When selecting the type of guide to be used, remember to think about the equipment that may have to pass
through the guide during the life of the well.

Minimum distance between equipment

Between sliding sleeves/packer setting sleeves: one joint of tubing

Between two sliding sleeves: (30 ft)

Between blast joints/packer setting sleeves: 6 ft

Between sliding sleeves/no-go nipples: 6 ft

Experienced and competent wireline operators should be capable of locating a landing nipple within 0.1 to
0.2% of its actual depth. The minimum recommended distance between landing nipples, therefore is:

Depths to 10,000 ft: 15 ft

Depths from 10,000 to 15,000 ft: 25 ft

Weco-602 connection
Refer WECO Hammer union Alert

NTU (nephelometric turbidity units)

Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that
are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a
key test of water quality. The propensity of particles to scatter a light beam focused on them is now
considered a more meaningful measure of turbidity in water. Turbidity measured this way uses an
instrument called a nephelometer with the detector set up to the side of the light beam. More light
reaches the detector if there are lots of small particles scattering the source beam than if there are
few. The units of turbidity from a calibrated nephelometer are called Nephelometric Turbidity Units
(NTU).

Turbidity standards of 5, 50, and 500 NTU

If properly filtered brine is used as per the following discussion on filtration, the hole is displaced as
recommended, and surface facilities are cleaned, it is easy to obtain returned brine that has less than 20 NTU
(nephelometric turbidity units) throughout the entire gravel-pack operation. Again, this is only possible if all of
the steps are followed. NTU are measured with turbidity meters that should be carefully calibrated.

Drift
To guarantee the inside diameter of a pipe or other cylindrical tool by pulling a cylinder or pipe (often called a
rabbit) of known outside diameter through it. The drift diameter is the inside diameter (ID) that the pipe
manufacturer guarantees per specifications. Note that the nominal inside diameter is not the same as the
drift diameter but is always slightly larger. The drift diameter is used by the well planner to determine what
size tools or casing strings can later be run through the casing, whereas the nominal inside diameter is used
for fluid volume calculations such as mud circulating times and cement slurry placement calculations.

An accurately machined device that is pulled through the casing, tubulars and completion components to ensure
minimum-diameter specifications are within tolerance, as described in definition 2. While this tool is usually of a short
length, the well planner may specify a special drift that either has a longer length or a nonstandard outside diameter.
The large-diameter casing drifts are frequently known as "rabbits."