SPE 84915
Stimulation Through Back Surging In Horizontal Wells In Mumbai High Field
N.A. Siddiqui, K.K. Roy, O.V. Kumar, A.K. Hazarika (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, India)
Copyright 2003, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE International Improved Oil Recovery
Conference in Asia Pacific held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 20–21 October 2003.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
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Abstract
The CTU based stimulation jobs practiced for the horizontal
oil wells completed in the, LIII limestone reservoirs of giant
Mumbai High field in the Western Offshore basin of India was
gradually losing its desired efficacy due to the falling reservoir
pressures. As an alternative, the back surging technology used
for post gravel pack perforation tunnel cleaning operations in
sandstone reservoir was recasted with minor modifications and
applied for stimulating the horizontal wells in the saturated,
multilayered LIII reservoir Wells IQ-9H and S16-P1H
located in the downdipside and crestal part and of the field
respectively, were identified for pilot tests so that the field
trials are subjected to widely differing geological and
petrophysical environment. While Well IQ-9H is placed in the
thin uppermost layer of LIII limestone overlain by a huge
shale sequence, well S16-P1H is placed within an
intermediate layer of the same limestone formation overlain
by a large gas cap in the upper eight layers and underlain by a
shale band. Encouraging results in both these wells prompted
more extensive use of the technology elsewhere in the heart of
the field, and results of around twenty 8-1/2" horizontal
sections and forty-one 6” drain holes completed in the last
three years have been deemed to be successful without
exceptions, both in terms of effective stimulation and rig-time
savings to US $ 30,000 /well , thereby proving to be a cost
effective substitute over conventional bulldozing and CTU
based jobs.
The surge tool is tailormade for instantaneous drawdown
across the formation face thereby removing all post-
perforation fines. The assembly is run on a lock mandrel to an
appropriate landing nipple profile. The tool is surface dressed
with shear screws, number and type chosen to suit the pressure
likely to be created across it. After the horizontal well is
completed with packer, the dressed back surge assembly is
installed over the landing nipple through slick line. The tubing
volume above the back surge tool is knocked out for creating
the differential pressure. The preinstalled shear pins gives way
to the formation fluids. The back surge tool is ultimately
retrieved once the stabilised flow is attained.
The paper details the design of the surge tool, its preference
over other existing systems in practice and the performance
enhancement profile alongwith the financial indices in the 61
wells it has been tested in the LIII reservoir of Mumbai
High field.
Introduction
Stimulation/activation of the horizontal development/infill
wells drilled to drain bypassed/undrained oil in the depleted
multilayered LIII limestone reservoir of Mumbai High field
located 165 Km. NW of Mumbai City in the Western Offshore
Basin of India is a challenging job. Occurring at a depth of
around 1300m MSL and bounded by a major N-S trending
fault in the East and OWC/OSC in the west, this saturated
reservoir has more than ten distinct hydrocarbon bearing
layers separated by fairly co-relatable and mappable shales
with widely varying petrophysical properties. Differential
layer depletions in the 10 major oil producing layers coupled
with channeling/cusping from gas cap and preferential
movement of injection water through the relatively high
permeable layers/streaks often leads to
unpredictable/undesirable behaviour of the newly drilled
horizontal well preferably placed within a single layer. Most
of the reasons for low productivity vis-à-vis predicted of these
new horizontal wells are often attributed to non-suitable
stimulation/activation design and modifications for
improvement has been a continuous process in this reservoir
dependent on the requisition of reservoir management.
The reservoir
A graben demarcates the giant LIII reservoir of Mumbai
High field having an in place of more than 1500MMt in two
distinct reservoirs known as Mumbai High North and Mumbai
High South, the GOC being 1315m and 1330m MSL
respectively. Layerwise OWC have been mapped and is at
variance with its corresponding layer in the other sector. The
northern part of the field with an initial reservoir pressure of
156.7 Kg/cm2 has been put on production on 1976 while the
southern part having 1 Kg/cm2 more in the initial energy level
than the northern sector has started production in 1980. The
underlain aquifer in both the sectors has not been active and
2 SPE 84915

pressure maintenance by water injection has commenced from Activation/Stimulation Practice

1984 and 1987 in MHN and MHS respectively. Oil
exploitation/water injection strategy of the reservoir in the The conventional activation mechanism practiced for
commingled format has been resorted to for higher returns, horzontal wells in western offshore fields is to complete the
resulting in preferential movement of injected water and well singly by keeping the hydraulic retrieval packer at
differential layer depletion. Inter-layer and intra-layer around 60o with continuos Gas Lift system inplace. Routine
hetrogeneity compounds the problem and layer performances packer testing followed by CTU based 15% HCl matrix
evaluated through close grid simulation models are not acidisation, is the usual stimulation design, nitrified diesel
without an element of subjectivity. being the spent acid displacement fluid. Occasionally the
CTU gets held up prior to the lateral toe, thereby limiting the
The activation/stimulation problems acid job to the held up depth itself. Well is subsequently
flown back to burner till BS&W>1% and/or constant water
The first horizontal well in this reservoir was drilled in 1997- salinity is attained. The entire job is completed in 30-36 hours.
98. The success in terms of drilling, placement and
completions in the thinner layers of LIII reservoir necessitated
a re-look into the feasibility of more horizontal completions.
However, barring a few, productivity had enhanced marginally
from its vertical counterpart, but still remained well below the
expected levels. Integrated analysis of all available data
followed by hectic scientific parleys pointed that
activation/stimulation was the gray area that needs attention BARREL
for any possible increase in productivity. The bore hole
formation face petrophysics and reservoir pressure depletions
are the two most important parameter for the success of
activation/stimulation jobs of the newly drilled horizontal
wells. The isobaric average reservoir pressure based on
pressure transients/shut in pressure data acquired from
commingled flowing wells in Mumbai High field are not
necessarily indicative of individual layer pressures. Indications
of differential depletion are far too many. Activity during
drilling in charged layers followed up by losses combated by
LCM pills in a single well is a common experience while SHEAR PIN
targeting deeper layers for horizontal completions. The
diagnostic tool of Production logging in use for the
conventional wells are still not used for the laterals of
Mumbai High field and unit-wise performance of the lateral
section cannot be ascertained. However due to favourable INNER BARREL
drilled well density, the predicted petrophysical parameters
for a well locale are usually within a fair degree of accuracy,
but the variations within the lateral sections are often differing
with well models due to variation in facies. Additionally, the
drilling profile are often undulated and encountering of
unwanted shales/poor permeable sections specially for thin
layers/porous sections often stands hindrance for good Figure: 1
effective CTU based stimulation jobs. Acid based stimulation/
activation in conventional wells though statistically DRAWING OF BACK SURGE ASSEMBLY
encouraging in the early part of reservoir life, has of late often
failed to give the expected yields even in the conventional
wells and certain quarters perceive inorganic acid dumping to The pressure depleted L-III reservoir was increasingly become
have detrimental effects on specific wells. The CTU used for difficult to activate with time. The traditional Gas cycling
MAJ jobs in the lateral sections even fail to reach the desired through annulus-tubing system used to lessen the hydrostatic
target umpteen times resulting in either job abandonment or head and activate the well after filling production string with
acid dumping at the stuck up depth itself. Nevertheless, diesel was gradually loosing its effectivity in removing the
Horizontal/Drain hole completions in the depleted energy entire mud cake on the bore-hole wall. This remnants of mud
layers of LIII reservoir with high left over oil saturations are cake in the bare-foot drain-hole bore-hole wall not only
usually ideal for exploitation subject to an equally improved decreases effective horizontal cross-section area but also
version of activation design. Successful completion of increases the skin and inhibits flow of fluid from reservoir to
horizontal wells thus pose a serious challenge to the well the bore-hole.
completions in general and activation/stimulation in particular.
SPE 84915
To improve cake removal on the drain-hole wall of the entire
lateral section and subsequent hole clean up, innovations in
activation mechanism seemed imminent Minor alterations
did not give the desired results. Downhole activation was
conceptualised to be a probable alternative. Field data
suggests matrix acidisation with 15% HCL under the present
circumstances had more counts of disadvantages such as non-
uniform contact with acid and use up of the acid locally. Even
with CT unit, low pumping rate and frequent stuck-ups in the
undulated horizontal sections limits its usage. Any cost
extensive solutions lacked the backing of pro-rata gains. The
creation of surge downhole at the formation face without
changing over to fluid other than drilling mud was an
alternative deliberated worth trying. The back surging
technology used for post gravel pack perforation tunnel
cleaning operations in sand cut prone reservoirs by using
Halliburton tool was recasted with minor modifications and
designed (Fig1 and Fig2) for implementation in a couple of
horizontal wells of LIII reservoir for quick and effective
activation/stimulation aimed to attain well productivity to the
desired level .
The completion and testing programme under this process is
initiated by displacing the well fluid with the completion
fluid(brine). Hydraulic packer is set and tested, with Xmas tree
in place. The back surge wireline plug rated to shear at 400psi
differential pressure is installed in the landing nipple and
differential is created by injecting gas through annulus across
the back surge plug so as to activate the already installed shear
pin, and the well starts flowing. Once stabilised flow is
attained, the back surge assembly is retrieved through slickline
operation for reuse.
Pilot concept
The process before full scale implementation was decided for
pilot trials. The reservoir being extensive, it was felt prudent
to carry out the pilot experimentation in two wells located in
the crestal part and downdipside of the field respectively so
that the field trials are subjected to widely differing geological
and petrophysical environment. Accordingly the well IQ-9H
completed in February,2000 is placed in the 10-12m thick
uppermost layer overlain by a huge shale sequence, while the
other well S16-P1H completed in May,2000 is placed within
2.5m thin layer overlain by thin shale sequence followed by
a large gas cap of around 35m in the upper layers, and
underlain by another shale sequence.
The Pilot study
IQ-9H: The well was drilled as a horizontal well in the
topmost layer of LIII reservoir lateral being 158m. LIII top
was encountered at around 1420m TVD MSL, landing point
and terminal point of the lateral being 2m and 6m structurally
down with respect to the reservoir top respectively. The
horizontal drift of the terminal point from the platform is about
1540m, direction being S14.850W. The barefoot 6" lateral
section of (drilled depth) 2174m-2332m was drilled with FLO-
PRO polymer base mud system. This has got ultrahigh low
shear rate in viscosity and provides excellent cutting
3
suspension thereby minimizing formation damage and
filtration control. The section 2150-2332m showed good cut
and GYF.
S16-P1H The well located in the crestal part of the field is
completed in one of the few oil bearing lower layers, overlain
by a large gas cap. LIII top is around 1295m TVD MSL and
the target layer is 43 m below it. Losses during drilling of the
334m 81/2"section within LIII reservoir was high and as
many as 5 pills of LCP-2000 was used. The 703 m (2572m-
1869m), 61/2" barefoot lateral section was drilled with the
same FLO-PRO mud system. Geo steering with LWD was
used for geological steering for correct placement of the
lateral within the thin section. The horizontal drift and
direction of the terminal point from the platform was 1623m
direction being N3.7oW. Oil and gas shows with +ve cut and
GYF was recorded in the section 1973-2572m. Predrilled
31/2" tubings are hanged with 5"/7" liner hanger for
hole stability.
The results
The initial testing results of the wells IQ-9H and S1-6PH are
given as under:
Well No IQ-9H S1-6-P1H
Choke Free 48/64”
Qoil 2428BOPD 1731BOPD
GOR (V/V) 112 539
W/C (%) 0.8 Nil
SBHP (psi) 1685 1562
FBHP (psi) 1303 1390
PI (b/d/psi) 6.38 10
Both the wells have shown much better productivity than the
existing conventional wells in the area. Also these results are
significantly higher than that obtained through earlier
horizontal wells drilled in this area. Part of this improved
performance is attributed to the surge plug based activation
mechanism .Additionally reduction in activation time resulted
in reduced rig time costs. Coupled with this is the non-use of
inorganic acids which on many occasions are believed to
affect well performance adversely.
The economics
Since 1997-98 as many as 53 horizontal wells are drilled out
of which in 47 wells ,activation has been carried out by surge
plug and 6 by conventional and /or CTU method. The total
rigtime consumed per well by the surge plug technique is
around 17.34hours as against 34.8 hours of conventional
activation, indicating a rig time saving of 17.46hours/well.
Apart from rigtime savings the enhancement in productivity
coupled with removal of any positive skin ensured initial oil
gain from these development/infill/sidetrack wells on
sustain basis.
The cost of back surge tool including all statutory duties is
around US$17000. Each of these tools gives at least 15
settings subject to additional redressing kit costs of around
US$200-400. The additional expenditure vis-à-vis rig-time
4 SPE 84915

saving/nonuse of acid stimulation vessel is nominal and

possibility of improved well performance is the key parameter
for its application popularity in the horizontal wells of
Mumbai High field.
LOCK
Conclusions MANDREL

♦ Application of surge plug for activation of horizontal

LANDING
wells in the LIII reservoir of Mumbai High field has NIPPLE
proven to be a boon resulting in enhancement in well
productivity and retaining good well bore conditions at
the formation face.
V. PACKING

♦ Replacement of tedious and time consuming activation

methods by CTU based stimulation and activation job by
surge plug activation technique resulted in 50% reduction
of rig time allocated for activation related jobs. BACK SURGE ASSE.

♦ Surge plugs served to be a very suitable alternative to use

matrix acid base stimulation during activation. Non-use SHEAR PIN
of 15% HCL protected the much sought after cement
bond isolation between gas cap layers/ water
breakthrough layers and the oil saturated horizontal
sections. High angle cased sections preceeding the lateral
part exhibiting good CBL-VDL is scarce, and a repair
job is rarely undertaken thereby ensuring the protection
of the available cement is protected.

♦ The surge/reverse surge of formation face effectively

remove the drilling mud/ filter cake thereby eliminating
the need for any acid stimulations. In the process it also
removes the microfines generate by perforations in case
of cased hole laterals and avoid deteioration of cement Figure: 2
bond near shoe.
POSITION OF POSITION OF
♦ The retrievable surge tool in use is costing around BACKSURGE BACKSURGE
US$17000 and the field data of Mumbai High shows that ASSMBLY AFTER ASSMBLY AFTER
INSTALLATION SHEARING OF
it can be used for a minimum of 15 settings. PINS

Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to Director (T&FS) for according
permission to publish the paper. The constant guidance
provided by Dr. S. Ramanan, GM(Reservoir), is also
gratefully acknowledged.