SPE 89348

Coiled Tubing and Wireline Intervention for Well Abandonment

S. Kirby, SPE, BP; G. Skelly, Team Energy; D. Gordon and S. Sheed, Weatherford Wellserv

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Copyright 2004, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
strings, junk or fill and lost circulation. These operations
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing Conference and began in May 2002 and were completed in May 2003 and are
Exhibition held in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 23–24 March 2004.
the subject of this paper.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in a proposal submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to The second phase was to recover the tubing, casing and
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at conductors, using the two existing platform drilling rigs and
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
facilities. This phase began in June 2003 and was completed in
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is January 2004.
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to a proposal of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The proposal must contain conspicuous
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. Production on NW Hutton came from the Brent reservoir. It
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
has a true vertical depth of 11,500 ft. The original reservoir
pressure was 7,500 psi but had declined, in areas, to be sub-
Abstract hydrostatic, reservoir temperature is 270° – 290° F, and the
well depths vary from 12,300 to 20,000 feet.
This paper discusses the systematic approach adopted by BP
Exploration to achieve its goal of safely abandoning the wells
Abandonment Methodology
on a major North Sea platform. Having determined the
abandonment methodology, an integrated team, comprising oil The principles used to adequately seal and abandon the
company engineers and key service company personnel wellbores on NW Hutton were designed to conform to UK
developed processes and procedures to reach the objective. legislation, BP Policies and relevant Industry Standards (2).
These included advances in coiled tubing rig-up procedures Typically the requirement is to have two barriers between
and the use of Technical Limit to capture learning. This hydrocarbon zones or over-pressure water zones and the
approach facilitated the timely and cost effective abandonment surface and one barrier between normally pressured water
of 24 wells in a safe and environmentally friendly manner and zones and the surface.
in achieving world-class performance.
For NW Hutton this involved placing a permanent cement
Introduction primary barrier immediately above the reservoir. Typically
this barrier would be 200 to 500 ft long and require 30 bbls of
BP Exploration operates the NW Hutton oil production cement. A secondary barrier backed up the primary barrier.
platform located in Block 211 of the North Sea, 130 kms
The secondary barrier was normally 1,200 to 1,500 ft long and
North East of the Shetland Islands. The field, developed by
required 100 bbls of cement. A third barrier was placed near to
Amoco, began production from the Brent formation in April
surface to isolate some shallow, normally pressured, water-
1983, with peak production reaching 86,500 barrels of oil per
bearing sands and would be 700 ft long, typically using 100 to
day (BOPD). Output declined steadily, to less than 4,000
120 bbls of cement. Each barrier was verified by pressure
BOPD, until May 2002, when the decision was made to begin
testing or tagging. Detailed design depended on actual well
operations to decommission the facility.
conditions. Appendix A gives further detail of the procedure.
The platform has 40 well slots, served by two drilling
The cement placement techniques were either to use coiled
packages. It stands in 473 ft of water and the total structure
tubing or to circulate or bullhead the cement into place. Once
weight is approximately 40,000 tonnes.
the well was sealed the completion tubing was severed in
preparation for recovery during the second phase of the
Amoco had abandoned 13 wells in 1993 (1). The current
project.
programme for reservoir and well abandonment was planned,
in a similar manner, in two distinct phases. The first, using
This methodology was decided as being most suitable for NW
well intervention techniques such as coiled tubing, wireline
Hutton, based on previous abandonments on the platform (1),
and cementing service, through the existing completion experience and lessons learned from the abandonments of the
strings, to set cement plugs in the wellbore. During this phase Maureen and Hutton TLP platforms.
anticipated problems included leaking completions and casing
2 SPE 89348

Operator Philosophy (OIM) to the Offshore Abandonment Team Leader (OATL) to

the service company team leads and so on.
BP carries the principle of “No accidents, no harm to people
and no damage to the environment” at the core of its Onshore there was a similar reporting structure linking the
operational ethos. These aspirations were embedded into the Decommissioning Manager and Well Abandonment Team
Project at the start. Leader (WATL) to the service companies and between the
onshore and the offshore organisation.
Though there was no time pressure on the Project, previous
case studies have shown that continuous well abandonment Each team member was given a detailed description of their
operations are the most economic scenario. One means by roles and responsibilities prior to their acceptance of the role

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which this was achieved was to temporarily park problem within the team. For the offshore personnel this description
wells encountered throughout the project while solutions were highlighted the areas where multiskilling was to take place.
fully engineered.
The organisation was built around having single points of
Service Company Philosophy contact and accountability. The service companies provided
onshore personnel who were single points of contact between
Three service companies were directly involved in the the project and their companies. The onshore support team met
abandonment operations. One company provided the coiled at least on a daily basis to discuss ongoing and future
tubing (CT), electric & slickline services along with the operations.
wellhead maintenance; one provided the cementing services
and the third, the drilling rig support. Each of the three service Between offshore and onshore all formal communication was
providers was selected for their upper quartile operational and channelled through the single link was OATL to WATL.
safety performance. The key messages delivered by the Though there were many informal communication links, all
service contractors were closely aligned to BP’s desire for “No decision-making was made via this link.
accidents, no harm to people and no damage to the
environment” along with exceptional operational performance. All the above information was contained within bridging
All companies achieved their performance targets and in some documents for the Project and the NW Hutton Safety Case.
cases exceeded them.
Preparation & Mobilisation
The service companies provided dedicated onshore personnel
who were single points of contact between the project and Prior to the mobilisation of any equipment and personnel there
their companies. was a considerable amount of preparation and pre-job
planning.
The service companies selected their own personnel for the
project. The criteria, which BP imposed, were that all One of the key issues was the interface between the equipment
personnel should be competent, be dedicated to the entire of the various service companies and with the platform. This
phase of the project and they should all have equal time required a number of site visits and detailed discussion of
working (i.e. 2 weeks on the platform then 2 weeks at home). proposed layouts with the various teams. All equipment was
This was not compromised throughout the operation and was a stacked-up and tested onshore prior to mobilisation. The tests
major contributing factor in the excellent positive safety checked all interfaces between coiled tubing, wireline and
performance. cementing equipment This proved invaluable as there proved
to be less than a one-foot discrepancy between the stack test
The service companies were very proactive in organising their and what was seen on the live rig up offshore. This was
personnel. One area of immediate benefit was to ensure their particularly important for the 1.75”, 20,000 ft CT reels.
offshore teams were trained and multi-skilled across as much
of the entire service range as possible. This was not done to A challenge to the Team was to eliminate all man riding from
reduce numbers of personnel onboard but to ensure more the project, following a fatality in the North Sea. The coiled
competent people were available to facilitate efficient tubing service providers developed a successful system that
equipment rig ups. It also enabled personnel to feel more eliminated any requirement for man riding when stabbing the
involved with the entire operation each shift, as they did not coil into the injector head. The system was functioned and the
have long intervals between performing their specialist role. procedure checked during the stack-up tests. Operationally the
system proved to be very cost effective and efficient.
The service companies appointed their more senior personnel
for the key positions both in the onshore and offshore roles. Due to the amount of equipment, it was important to
incorporate a high-level maintenance programme. This was
Roles & Responsibilities developed during the planning phase and was designed for
maintenance to be done offline. This covered all equipment
Given the scale and duration of the project, a clear operating that would be in service for the duration of the project.
structure was required. This had to encompass the platform
chain of command from the Offshore Installation Manager In preparation for potential problems, there was 100%
SPE 89348 3

redundancy on all critical equipment; therefore there were two abandonment in 1995. The study work done by Amoco
coiled tubing, wireline and cementing units. For the back-up summarised the configuration and condition of the well stock.
equipment a separate maintenance procedure had to be drawn This greatly shortened the time required to develop the
up, since it was likely some equipment would not normally see detailed programmes.
actual service.
Two important decisions were made which were to greatly
During the site surveys, it was recognised that there was an improve the project efficiency. First, each well had a
issue with the limited space to accommodate the spread of contingency plan, based on the known details of the well. If a
equipment to be installed. This was overcome with scaled well required work outwith its immediate contingencies, then
drawings and planning to have minimal movement of operations were suspended. The abandonment team would

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equipment between wells. A major time saving was move to the next well in the sequence while a solution was
identifying a permanent location for the pumping station and engineered. Second, there were only approved programmes for
all treating lines. The CT reel, control cab and hydraulic three wells at any time; this was done to make it simple to
power pack were the only operational equipment that would incorporate learning as the project progressed.
be repositioned when a rig was traversed. A schematic of the
deck layout is shown in Figure 1. Given the scale and repetitiveness of the project it was
recognised the principles of Technical Limit (TL) (3) would be
Over 100 people were mobilised to the platform for this phase very applicable to the operations. During preparation,
of the work. Onshore inductions were given to all personnel. implementation of TL was planned to take place once
The inductions covered the project, its scope and the role of operations commenced.
each company, the HS&E expectations of BP, NW Hutton and
the service companies. It introduced awareness to the team Logistics was recognised to be a major challenge for the
that they would be dealing with a platform that had not had project. The planned cycle time to abandon each well was nine
any well operations for a number of years. To emphasise this days and typically, each well would require 250 bbls of
commitment, inductions were given by platform OIMs, BP cement for the barriers. The platform bulk storage facilities
project managers, HS&E specialists and service company were not usable, therefore a stand-alone bulk facility was
managers. A key message given to all personnel being installed along with the cement mixing and pumping
mobilised was the sensitivity of the workscope as this equipment. The storage capacity allowed the platform to carry
effectively spelled the beginning of the end of the life of the sufficient cement for one and one half wells (12 days supply).
platform. This was particularly pertinent for some of the rig
workforce who had spent a great deal of their working lives on Implementation
this installation. This was handled with great sensitivity
throughout and to the credit of the entire offshore team there At commencement of the project, a key issue was to integrate
was unanimous backing from all for the entire operation. the project team with the culture and ethos of the platform.
There had not been any significant well activity on the
The offshore team was mobilised to the platform and spent a platform in the previous three years, therefore, within the
lot of time becoming familiar with the platform before going Permit to Work (PTW) system the platform wished to actively
to work. In all the familiarisation period was 21 days. control all activities. Initially up to forty permits were required
to rig up the cementing equipment the result being the PTW
The mobilisation required considerable work to conform to system become overloaded and unworkable. As the platform
applicable legislation and standards including PUWER and management became more comfortable with the operations
LOLER. This involved the preparation of lift plans for each and the experience and competence of the team the vast
individual piece of equipment being mobilised to the platform. majority of the activities were converted to routine tasks,
Over 40 separate lift items were mobilised from one single freeing the PTW system to control the more significant
contractor comprising some lifts in excess of 28 tonnes. Each operations.
of these was successfully transported and installed on the
platform without incident as per the detailed plan. It was recognised there were significant opportunities within
the programme to carry out certain simultaneous operations
The drilling facilities had been maintained in a “warm- (SIMOPS). When production ceased, in preparation for the
stacked” condition i.e. all essential services and equipment had full platform decommissioning, core production staff were
been regularly maintained. It was then a relatively simple transferred to other BP assets. This resulted in a loss of key
operation for the drilling contractor to bring the rigs to a area authority skills and opportunities for the early
condition where they were fit for purpose for this operation. introduction of SIMOPS. It is difficult to place a value on
NW Hutton has two complete mud systems, only one was SIMOPS availability but, following the appointment of new
commissioned for this work. The platform bulk system is area authorities, 54 days worth of “offline” activity was
discussed later. completed during the last 119 days of phase 1.

During the preparation time, detailed work programmes were A number of minor operations could be carried out off-line
being prepared. The project was fortunate to be able to draw from the critical path activity. This work was carried out in
on previous work by Amoco who had considered full field separate areas of the platform away from the main drilling
4 SPE 89348

derrick, which raised issues of safely controlling the various raw data is given in Table 1.
work areas. The nature of this work ranged from the
preparation of the wellhead for the initial slickline intervention Improvements and lessons captured within the TL process
of the operation to the final severing of the tubing. were used in three ways;
(1) minor changes were introduced to operational procedures
The wellheads were in poor condition due to the prolonged using the project management of change process;
shutdown period that had preceded the abandonment project (2) the more significant changes were incorporated into the
where preventative maintenance of a detailed nature had not subsequent well programmes;
been possible. To reduce time spent on the critical path time (3) changes were also made in the corporate operating
the wells were prepared off line, as a SIMOP, in advance of procedures of the service companies.

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the main work party. This included rigging up the second CT
shear seal BOPs and running a short riser up to the Wireline The important issue was that all programmes and procedures
working deck. were considered as live documents that changed organically as
the project progressed. To enable easy capture of learnings no
Similarly, the initial perforation of the completions was done more than three well programmes were issued at any time.
in advance, using a slickline “trigger” system. This was used
to great success reducing the safety implications incurred Team participation across all disciplines resulted in over 260
during change from slickline to electric line and reducing the ideas being proposed of which 55% were implemented. Both
time spent on each well during the slickline preparation phase the operating and contracting companies will be carry forward
of each well programme. The “trigger” selected was unique in the valuable lessons learned for implementation on future
having five safety features for the prevention of accidental projects of a similar nature.
misfire. The final pressure testing of cement plugs took place
offline after activity had moved onto the next well. Each The outcome of introducing TL to well abandonment is
tubing string was severed off line during phase one in order to discussed below.
reduce time spent on the phase two of the operation, which
was the recovery and disposal of the tubing, casing and Coiled Tubing Experience
conductor strings.
Significant timesavings were made in organising the operation
Technical Limit & Operational Improvements to minimise CT rig up and rig downs. This was achieved by
sequencing the work such that the drilling rigs could be
After the first two wells, operations were suspended to skidded with the CT stabbed in the injector head. The design
introduce TL to the project team. It is believed this is the first of the CT riser enabled it to be racked back in the derrick
time TL has been used in well intervention operations as when not required. The CT riser could also be used for
opposed to drilling operations. wireline operations.

The key messages were the creation of the “Enabling Additional time saving and reductions in exposure to
Environment” in which every team member would be treated potentially unsafe operations were realised with the
with respect and whose input, comments and suggestions were introduction of a new CT stabbing system. This system was
equally valid. This aligned well with the BP principle of Time initially developed to eliminate man riding and employed a
Out For Safety (TOFS) where any person is empowered to system for stabbing coil tubing without manual intervention on
stop operations if they were not comfortable with the activity top of the injector. The system and procedure was refined
or forward programme. As part of the TL process, the offshore within the first two wells and in its final execution was highly
project team were invited to set their own target performance efficient and used throughout the remainder of the project to
on the basis of a perfect operation in perfect conditions with great success.
perfect equipment.
In this phase of the project 17 cement plugs were set using CT.
Specific areas on which TL concentrated were in collecting Of these seven were primary barriers (Plug #1), eight were
performance data and in capturing the lessons learned in secondary barriers (Plug #2) and the remainder were near-
operations by carrying out formal and informal post-operation surface barriers (Plug #3). For the team, placement of the third
debriefs. BP used newly qualified well engineers to administer barriers was the most challenging. With the coil at
the system. The results of this initiative are discussed below. approximately 3,000 ftBRT the pumping pressures to displace
the cement through 20,000 ft of coil were much higher
The performance data was collected at a high level, because of the increased friction in the coil and since there
considering plan time, total time on a well, non-productive was far less gravity effect on the cement.
time (NPT) and hence actual time, being the difference
between these. For this purpose NPT comprised all factors With CT operations the fluid dynamics of the cement slurry
including waiting on weather (WOW). The plan variance is can be important. The basic slurry characteristics were
the difference between actual and plan time. There was no designed for use with CT, even though, occasionally, the
formal review of invisible lost time; this was measured by cement was bullheaded using the completion tubing. This
reduction of the actual time as the programme proceeded. The added to the cost of the slurry but greatly simplified the
SPE 89348 5

logistics with cement additives and minimised the Having failed to free the coil, the contingency plan was
opportunities for error. followed. The decision was made to severe the coil with the
shear-seal BOPs, which were mounted directly on the xmas
Some of the statistics associated with the CT part of the tree. As planned, the coil fell below the tree valves allowing
project were quite impressive. In total the run distance for CT the well to be closed in and made safe. The well was then
was over 72 miles and 496 tonnes of cement were pumped “parked” to allow the abandonment team to devise a recovery
through the coil. programme. These actions freed up the offshore personnel and
equipment to continue operations on the next well in the
To establish accurate placement of cement, the CT unit used project.
two independent methods of depth measurement, one

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mechanical and the other electronic. Initially, to confirm and In planning the fishing operation it was worth restating the
improve depth correlation nipple locators were run as part of objective was to safely abandon the well in line with
the CT tool string. The locators were used to give a selection regulations and company policy, the objective was not to
of correlation flags on the coil for later operations and to recover the coil. This subtle distinction allowed the team to
confirm the accuracy of the primary depth measurement make more pragmatic decisions in the programme.
devices. There were a number of operational problems in
using the locators; therefore, once a satisfactory level of depth Once initial planning was completed, extensive trials onshore
accuracy was established with the primary systems, their use were performed to realistically simulate the fishing operation.
was discontinued. This proved to be invaluable and produced several learning
points that were transferred offshore to execute a successful
In general both the electronic and mechanical depth systems fishing job.
proved to be reliable throughout the campaign; this was
mostly due to the high level maintenance conducted on them The operational sequence for the fishing operation is included
after each run. Previous experience in running the systems in Appendix B. The end result was that the CT fish was
had proven that carrying out constant maintenance on under- cleared to 9,139 ftBRT, which allowed the well to be safely,
head electronic counters would reduce slippage and enhance and successfully abandoned. The fishing operation did take 37
reliability. days.

The decision on when to run CT was dictated by well Performance Outcomes

conditions. Reservoir permeability was established during the
initial injectivity test and, where rates in excess of two bbl/min Most importantly there were no injuries resulting in days away
were achieved, the cement was deployed from surface through from work (DAFWC) during the project and no spillages to
the production tubing. If the rate was lower then CT was used. the environment. There was only a 5% turnover of offshore
In addition where communication between the production personnel.
tubing and the A annulus was problematic, the CT was used.
In very broad terms, 24 wells were abandoned in phase 1 in
On two occasions even this was insufficient to place the 290 days at a gross cost of £10.3 million. This equates to 11.6
cement correctly. These were when there was tubing to days and £412,000 per well. The initial project plan had
annulus communication above the planned depth for the estimated at P50 241 days and £8.94 million, and at P90, 276
cement plug. To place the cement inflatable packers had to be days and £10.12 million. However these statistics hid the fact
run with the CT. The packer would be set above the expected the project team encountered four “train wreck” wells.
case top of cement and the cement would be bull-headed
through the coiled tubing into the production tubing and The “train wrecks” included the extended fishing job with 37
squeezed into the annuli via the pre-perforated holes. This days NPT. One well, where the production casing had
technique proved to be very successful and no problems were collapsed caused 15 days NPT. In one well the tubing failed
experienced in setting the packers. Care was taken to allow the causing 18 days NPT and a well where the sub-surface safety
packers sufficient time to deflate and consequently there was valve flapper had broken and required to be milled out using
no problem with the recovery. coiled tubing, causing 8 days NPT.

During the project there was one “train wreck” with the CT. Once the time and cost of these incidents and the costs
Whilst attempting to place a cement plug in the 5” liner at associated with logistics are taken into account the net direct
18,424 ftBRT and when 50 ft of cement had exited into the time and cost to abandon the wells in phase 1 was 8.4 days and
coil - tubing annulus, it was not possible to move up. The pull £187,600 per well. The “best in class” well took 6.8 days. This
test at this depth prior to pumping cement and when the coil compared very favourably with the 1993 programme, where
was half full of cement indicated there would be no potential the cost had been £400,000 per well and the Maureen platform
problem; the pull weights agreed with the pre-job simulations. abandonment, where the equivalent cost was around £136,000
The rest of the cement was circulated out of the coil and per well; Maureen did not need to use coiled tubing.
circulation was maintained while contaminant was pumped
around the system. Based on the evidence it indicated the coil The raw performance data is listed in Table 1. Graphing the
was either differentially or mechanically stuck. plan variance (plan vs. total well times) by operational
6 SPE 89348

sequence in figure 2, the problem wells or “train wrecks” are unachievable and a positive hindrance to operations.
quite evident. The key performance indicator is, despite these
wells, the trend in the variance is down over the whole project, • Good management of change process allowed problem
indicating continuous improvement of the operation. wells to be “parked” until a solution could be engineered.
This allowed operations to continue productively.
Figure 3 shows the variation in NPT with the well sequence. It
is debatable if the result is a “learning curve” effect or if it is • Only three programmes were live at any time, which
evidence the application of TL to the project had a positive allowed rapid incorporation of lessons learned and
benefit in reducing the NPT. In any event the NPT per well operational improvements.
reduced from around 17% to 7%.

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Acknowledgement
When the actual time on the wells (total time minus NPT) is
compared to the target time initially set by the offshore team it The authors wish to thank BP Exploration and the other NW
is possible to demonstrate a 28% improvement in performance Hutton co-venturers for permission to publish this paper.
(see Figure 4). The average variance of actual time from the
“technical limit time” for the first eight wells was 13%. Once The authors would also like to congratulate everybody who
the TL process was embedded the average variance was –15%. was involved with NW Hutton for their contribution to
In other words, excluding NPT, the operations were being success.
completed 15% faster than the offshore team had thought
possible. This was a positive indicator the invisible lost time References
had been significantly reduced.
1. Matkowski, R. S. et al. “A Multiple Well Abandonment
Key Lessons Learned Program: Methodologies and Techniques” paper OTC 7479
presented at 1994 OTC, Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 2-5 May.
There are many lessons to be learned from this phase of the
well and platform abandonment project. They are captured in 2. Guidelines For The Suspension And Abandonment of
the following bullet points: Wells. July 2001, UKOOA

• Ensure sufficient front end planning time to source a 3. Bond, D. F. et al. “Applying Technical Limit
competent abandonment team. It is estimated that a 6- Methodology for Step Change in Understanding and
month planning period would be a minimum requirement Performance” paper SPE 51181, first presented at the 1996
for future projects of this scale. IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, New Orleans, 12-15 March.

• The lessons learnt during the stack up trials proved the

value of performing these tests prior to mobilisation.
Each time they have been repeated with subsequent
projects, the trials have yielded further savings in time
and HSE benefits.

• Dedicated onshore personnel and offshore crews, from

both the operator and contractors, produced real benefit.

• Retaining experienced platform operations personnel

after cessation of production would have been a benefit.

• The system used by the platform to control work (PTW)

must be sufficiently flexible to allow programme changes
at short notice and rigorous enough to be able to handle
simultaneous operations.

• Familiarisation period for new crews was some 2 weeks

longer than planned, but was a worthwhile investment.

• Technical Limit gave a positive benefit. This process tool

should have been identified and introduced to the crews
prior to operations commencing.

• The initial plan was to maintain production while

abandoning wells. This was quickly realised to be
SPE 89348 7

APPENDIX A taken from the A annulus.

Well Abandonment Methodology (See figure A-1 well 10. For verification the second plug would be pressure tested
schematic) to the same pressure as the first plug. The difference in
test volumes would confirm plug 2 was being tested.
1. Test the A, B, & C annuli for integrity and to give a base
point for pressure testing of cement plug three. 11. After a successful pressure test on cement plug 2, slickline
would run a drift to determine top of cement and data
2. Drift the well with slickline to TD, this would assure the gathering gauges to ascertain the perforating depth for
completion and liner will allow cement plug one to reach cement plug three.

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the top perforations. The production tubing tailpipe was
perforated during this run to allow cement to reach the 12. Slickline punched the tubing in preparation for circulating
vicinity of the production packer. a balanced Viscous Reactive Pill (VRP) in the production
tubing and A annulus. The VRP was required as a base for
3. Carried out two tubing volumes injectivity test. the third cement plug. Typically the VRP was placed from
(Monitoring the A annulus for communication) at up to 3,000 to 2,500 ft. Slickline then perforated the production
six bbl/min. This was necessary to displace all tubing, 9 5/8” Casing and the 13 3/8” Casing (if required)
hydrocarbons from the well bore and ascertain if the above the VRP.
required rate would be achievable for bull heading
cement. 13. The A, B and, if necessary, the C annuli were circulated to
seawater to ensure a clean fluid was present throughout
4. If sufficient rate (over 2 bbl/min) was achieved, bullhead them. The status of the well was now adequate to
the calculated volume of Cement to isolate the reservoir, circulate the third cement plug.
from the top of perforations to the production packer.
Typical cement volumes were 20 bbls. 14. The final plug was a balanced cement plug in the tubing,
A, B & C annuli. This was achieved by circulating the
5. If an insufficient rate was achieved during the injectivity calculated volume of cement into the A annulus with the
test, CT would be used to lay a cement plug from the top B & C annuli closed. The A annulus was closed and the B
of perforations to the production packer. After one bbl of annulus opened to allow cement circulation. The B
cement had exited the toolstring nozzle, a constant pump annulus was closed and the remaining cement circulated
rate of one bbl/min and a calculated Coiled Tubing pulling to the C annulus and allowed to remain in the tubing to
rate would ensure that the cement would stay above the form the balanced plug. Only one surface annuli valve
toolstring nozzle. This was imperative to stop was open at one time until all the cement was in place. At
contamination of the cement. this point all three annuli surface valves were opened and
the cement was allowed to equalise then the well was shut
6. To verify the first cement plug, after the calculated in. Typical cement volumes were 100 bbls if the A & B
cement curing time, the plug was pressure tested to 1,000 annuli needed to be plugged or 120 bbls if the C annulus
psi above the original injection pressure. Slickline would also needed to be plugged. The third cement plug would
be ready to conduct a data gathering and perforating run. be 700 to 900 ft in length.
This was necessary to get an accurate top of cement and
ensure it was in the predicted area. Perforating the tubing 15. Operation then moved on to the next well while the
above the production packer was in preparation for cement set. The plugs were tested to 500 psi above the
cement plug two. pressures obtained in step 1 and the test volumes
monitored.
7. Full production tubing and A annulus displacements were
required after perforating above the production packer. Contingencies Used
This ensured all the annulus fluids were displaced out of
the well to seawater and would eliminate the risk of • Where there was significant communication between the
cement contamination. production tubing and the A annulus, CT would be used to
place plug one.
8. With clean seawater now in the production tubing and A
annulus, the second cement plug could be circulated using • Where communication still existed after plug one, a
the calculated volume required to give the adequate florescent dye pill was circulated down the production
barrier. Typical cement volumes were 100 bbl to give a tubing and up the A annulus to determine the depth of the
final plug length of 1,500 ft. upper circulation point.

9. If production tubing to A annulus communication was • If the dye confirmed the depth of circulation at around the
observed prior to perforation above the production packer, top of the production packer, this communication point
the cement would be laid into the well using CT in the was used as the means to access the A annulus.
manner described above, returns from the well being
8 SPE 89348

• When a dye confirmed the communication depth higher

than the production packer, slickline was used to punch a
hole above the production packer to give the cement
circulation point. CT was then used to deploy a
retrievable inflatable packer. The packer was set below
the unplanned communication point at the depth predicted
top of cement volume. The second cement plug barrier
was then circulated from this depth.

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• When communication was observed between the
production tubing and the 9.5/8” Casing prior to
perforating for cement plug three, a florescent dye pill was
circulated down the production tubing and up the A
annulus to determine the depth. When the dye confirmed
the depth was lower than the desired cement plug depth,
then the plug was placed as normal. When the dye
confirmed the depth was higher than the desired cement
plug depth, then CT was used with an inflatable packer.
SPE 89348 9

APPENDIX B was still stuck. The coil would not come free and the coil
was again cut at the gooseneck. A “hot tap” system was
Coiled Tubing Fishing Methodology used to ensure no pressure was present inside the coil.
The electric line was rigged up onto the cut coil and a
The following is the sequence of events that was used to 1.187” drift was run down passed the surface cut to
successfully fish an adequate amount of coiled tubing to ensure access to the fishing string.
continue with the main objective off the well intervention,
which was to safely abandon the well: • The explosive cutter held up at 9,139 ftBRT and could
not pass this point. Several attempts were made to pass
• The first run was to use an external milling tool to dress by pumping the wire down, but this was unsuccessful

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up the sheared Coil that was sitting just below the Tubing possibly due to the low injectivity rate through the coil of
Hanger. This run was successful and a total of 120 min 0.14 bbls/min. The cutter was fired at this point and the
were spent milling 9.7 ft of the fish as the onshore trials coil was cut successfully.
indicated to be the optimal time to achieve a smooth and
tapered external profile and assured the removal of any • With the coil fish now free and there was no longer an
damage at the top of fish. This would give ideal access internal barrier, a barrier would have to be created
for the Continual Coil Cutting Overshot (CCCO). internally. A 2,300 ft temporary gel plug was pumped
6,000 ft into the coil fish. The gel was allowed to set up
• The next run was an eight blade CCCO, this tool was and was pressure tested to 500 psi to confirm integrity.
designed to change the shape of the fish and allow easier
access with the Continual Overshot. This run was 100 % • Again a spoolable connector was used to join coil on the
successful and when the CCCO was recovered to surface, reel to the fish. The fish was then pulled out of the well.
all indications were that the cut was smooth and 21.8 ft As the fish approached surface, the swab valve was
of the fish was recovered. periodically checked to see if it would close and this
would ensure the end of the fish could not be pulled into
• The next run was an internal tapered mill to ensure the Injector and lose well integrity.
access inside the fish with the explosive cutter. Thirty
minutes were spent milling, again this was determined by • The well was now in a condition that would allow the
the onshore trials. When the milling tools were abandonment to be successfully executed.
recovered to surface and inspected, the markings on the
mill indicated success.

• Next it was decided to run a overshot with no internal

grapples, this would allow the overshot to be set over the
dressed coil and then be removed after a dummy drift
was run to prove access to the fish with the explosive
pipe cutter.

• The next operation was to cut the coiled tubing at the

injector gooseneck and rig-up electric line to carry out a
simulated drift of the explosive cutter.

• A “Hot Tap” system was used to allow residual pressure

inside the coil to be safely bled off to a closed system.

• The coil was cut at the injector gooseneck and a dummy

explosive pipe cutter was ran through the fishing
toolstring, the overshot and into the CT fish successfully.
This proved access when the overshot was run with
grapples, since once the grapples were engaged they
could not be removed.

• After the electric line was rigged down, a spoolable

connector was used to join coil from the reel to the cut
coil at the gooseneck and the dummy CT fishing string
was recovered to surface.

• Next the overshot was run with grapples fitted. The fish
was latched and an overpull was taken to confirm the coil
10 SPE 89348

Figure 1: Schematic of Equipment Layout.

Well bay

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RIG 1 RIG 2
26 m

44 m

Table 1: Phase 1 performance data.

Well Plan Total Time Actual Time NPT Days Plan Variance Well Plan Total Time Actual Time NPT Days Plan Variance
A36 14 19.08 14.31 4.78 0.31 A22 12 22.60 19.24 3.37 7.24
A39 9 15.75 13.65 2.10 4.65 A51 9 26.32 21.00 5.33 12.00
A34 9 13.95 9.89 4.06 0.89 A31 9 7.42 6.69 0.73 -2.31
A50 9 8.02 6.79 1.23 -2.21 A04 12 6.58 4.83 1.75 -7.17
A21 3 6.51 6.16 0.35 3.16 A33 9 10.51 9.56 0.95 0.56
A08Z 9 15.77 14.13 1.65 5.13 A18 9 8.18 7.85 0.32 -1.15
A32 9 9.46 8.93 0.53 -0.07 A11 9 6.49 6.14 0.35 -2.86
A41Z 12 12.89 11.30 1.58 -0.70 A06 9 6.92 6.80 0.11 -2.20
A12 4 2.93 2.58 0.34 -1.42 A45 9 8.54 7.38 1.17 -1.01
A17 9 6.65 5.57 1.07 -3.43 A38 9 9.15 7.99 1.16 -1.01
A49 14 5.29 4.90 0.39 -9.10 A25 9 6.19 5.91 0.28 -3.09
A14 14 46.00 31.88 14.13 17.88 A35 9 16.68 15.46 1.22 6.46
A05 9 15.88 10.00 5.88 1.00
SPE 89348 11

Figure 2: Comparison of Total Time and Plan by Well Sequence

Variance Total Time vs Plan

35.00 A14

30.00

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25.00
20.00 A51

15.00
A22
10.00 A39 A08Z
Performance A35
A36 A34 trend line
5.00 A21
A33
A32 A41Z A38
0.00
A50 A12 A18 A45
A31
A17 A11 A06 A25
-5.00
A04
-10.00 A49

-15.00
Well Sequence

Figure 3: Comparison NPT % by Well Sequence

NPT as a % of Total Time

35.0%
A14
A34
30.0%
A04
A36
25.0%
A51
20.0%
% NPT

Performance
A17 trend line
A50 A22
15.0% A39 A45
A38
A41Z A12
A08Z A31
10.0% A33
A49 A35
A21 A32 A11
A18 A25
5.0%
A06

0.0%
Well Sequence
12 SPE 89348

Figure 4: Comparison of actual performance and target performance

OVERALL PERFORMANCE - Excluding Integrity issues

1.80
Actual Performance / Technical Limit

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1.60
Average Performance
1.40
1.13
1.20

1.00
1.00
0.80

0.60
Average Performance
0.40 0.85

0.20

0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Well Sequence
SPE 89348 13

Figure A1: Typical well configuration.

NORTH WEST HUTTON

Typical Well Configuration post Phase 1 Abandonment

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ALL DEPTHS ARE FT MD BRT

SEABED at 674'
5-1/2" tbg

TRSSV (4.562" ID) at 758'

TOC 13.3/8” @ 1000 ft

26" at 1069'
Cement Plug #3 18-5/8" at 1991'
Perforations at 2500’

VRP Pill
Tubing punch @ 3000’

13.3/8” at 6986’

9.5/8” TOC 8700'

Cement Plug #2
Perforate 5 ½” tubing at 13970’
9.5/8” production packer @ 13,985'

Top of liner at 14019'

Cement Plug #1
9 5/8" at 14450'

Top of prod perfs at 14457'

Bottom of prod perfs at 14772

FILL

PBTD @ 14868'
7" Liner at 15013'