IN THE NAME OF GOD

A SUMERY OF WELL
COMPLETION STRING
DESIGN
 WELL COMPLETION EQUIPMENT

Wellhead
assemblies

Production
casing
Tubing and
assemblies

Iraj
khanalizade
SPE 1972
 WELLHEAD ASSEMBLIES

Three main components

• Christmas tree
• Tubing hanger
• Casing hanging equipment

SPE 1972
 1. Christmas tree

Description/functions
1. Assembly of valves to
control well
2. Cross of four-way flow
fitting above master valve
3. Wing valve(s) control flow
to choke and flow line

Buzarde et al. SPE 1972

 2. Tubing hanger

Description/functions
1. Hangs tubing in tubing
head
2. Donut-shape with outside
packing
3. Screws to top of tubing

SPE 1972
 3. Casing hanging equipment

Description/functions
1. Hangs casings by slips in
casing heads
2. Lowest casing head
welded or screwed to
surface casing that
supports total load
3. Usually two outlets per
casing head to bleed off
pressure from or pump
fluid into annulus

SPE 1972
 3. Casing hanging equipment – details

SPE 1972
 3. Casing hanging equipment – details

SPE 1972
3. Casing hanging equipment – details
3. Casing hanging equipment – details
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES

1. Open hole completion Some advantages

• Cheap
• Easy to deepen, or conversion
to liner completion

Some disadvantages
• Poor control of excessive
gas/water production
• Casing set before pay zone
drilled
• Frequent well cleanout if
hole sloughs
• Selected interval stimulation
not possible
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES

Some advantages 2. Screen and liner completion

• Formation damage by drilling
minimized
• Sand control (e.g. gravelpack)
may be installed later
• Cleanout problems avoided
Some disadvantages
• Poor control of excessive gas/water
production
• Casing set before payzone drilled
• Difficult to deepen
• Selected interval stimulation not
possible
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES
Some advantages
3. Perforated liner completion
• Formation damage by drilling
minimized
• Better control of excessive
gas/water production
• Can be selectively stimulated,
easily deepened or gravelpacked

Some disadvantages
• Usually difficult to obtain good
liner cementation
• Additional costs for perforating,
cementing
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES

Some advantages 4. Perforated casing completion

• Better control of excessive
gas/water production
• Can be selectively stimulated, easily
deepened or gravelpacked
• Easier to obtain good primary
cementation (vs liner cementation)

Some disadvantages
• Additional costs for perforating,
cementing
• Higher risk of formation damage
PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES

5. Casing flow

For very high production rates with

low-medium FTHP or CITHP
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES
6. Casing and tubing flow

For very high production rates with

low-medium FTHP or CITHP

Tubing may be used as kill string or

chemical injection
PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES
7. Tubing flow

Flow rate more restricted than that

for casing flow
Packer provides subsurface well
control
Circulating sleeve permits placing
low-density fluid in tubing for under-
balance perforation, or for
circulating kill brine down annulus
and up tubing
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES
8. Dual-zone/single-tubing

Two single packers

Choke prorates flow from

zones and avoids cross-flow
between zones
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES
9. Dual-zone/dual-tubing

Two packers – a dual packer and

a single packer

Avoids production commingling

More difficult to run than single
string completion
 PRODUCTION CASING/COMPLETION TYPES
10. Multiple-zone/triple-tubing

Three packers – a single-, a

dual-, and a triple-packer

Even more difficult to run than

single- or dual-string
completion
MAIN TUBING ASSEMBLIES

1. Packers
2. Subsurface Safety Valves
3. Blast joints
4. Flow couplings and landing nipples
5. Sliding sleeves (sliding side doors)
6. Traveling joint
 PACKERS

Main functions
• Isolate pay zones
• Fix bottom end of tubing to casing to
minimize tubing movement
• Eliminates surging or heading at wellhead
• Isolate completion interval from casing-
tubing annulus – to avoid high CHP
• Necessary for wells on gaslift
• Enables subsurface safety control
 PACKERS

Three main types (based on setting

method/permanence)
• Mechanical-set packers (retrievable)
• Hydraulic-set packers (retrievable)
• Permanent packers (usually drilled out to
remove)
 PACKERS

Mechanics common to all packers

• A cone is driven behind a tapered slip to force the
slip out to contact (“bite” into) the casing – thus
holding the packer in place
• A packing element is then compressed so it seals
against the casing – thus effecting seal above and
below the packer

Two essential packer components: slips and seals

Packers

Mechanical-set packers
(weight-set)

At setting depth:
1. Apply weight to engage friction
blocks
2. Apply further weight to shear
strap, engage cone and slips,
and to compress and thus seal
packing element against casing
3. Leave tubing weight on packer
To release packer, pull up
Packers

Mechanical-set packers
(tension-set)

At setting depth:
1. Pull tubing up to engage friction
blocks
2. Pull tubing further to shear strap,
engage cone and slips, and to
compress and thus seal packing
element against casing
3. Leave tubing on tension
To release packer, slack off tubing
Packers

Mechanical-set packers
(rotational-set)

At setting depth:
1. Left-hand rotate tubing to engage
friction blocks
2. Left-hand rotate tubing further to
engage cone and slips, and to
compress and thus seal packing
element against casing
3. Packer set regardless of tubing load
or tension
To release packer, right-hand rotate
tubing
Packers

Hydraulic-set packers

At setting depth:
1. Pressurize fluid in tubing
to drive cone and slips,
and to compress and thus
seal packing element
against casing
2. Packer locked in position
by shear pins - set
regardless of tubing load
or tension
To release packer, pull up to
break shear pins
Packers

Permanent packers

1. Run in to setting depth on electric

wireline (usually) or pipe or tubing.
2. If wireline used, turn on electric current
to set powder charge in packer.
Explosive gas drives cone and slips, and
compresses and thus seal packing
element against casing
3. If drill pipe or tubing used, set packer
hydraulically or mechanically.
4. Packer locked in position regardless of
tubing load or tension
To release, usually drill out packer
Packers

Permanent packers
(retrievable)
Packers

Special packers
(inflatable packers)

Provides seal in open

hole or casing

At setting depth, drop ball

to shut off bottom of
tubing, inject fluid into
tubing to inflate packer
until ball is pushed out.
Rotate to lock. Produce or
inject. Retrieve by
mechanical rotation.
Main Tubing Assemblies

2. Subsurface safety
valves

Seals off tubing below valve if

loss of control at wellhead –
e.g. due to blowout. In
offshore operations, it is
placed below sea-bed.

The ball valve remains open

by applying hydraulic
pressure (via ¼ in. control
line) against a spring. It
closes when the hydraulic
pressure drops (to zero when
the control line breaks).
Main Tubing Assemblies

Subsurface safety
valves - details
Main Tubing Assemblies

3. Blast joints

Blast joints are thick-

walled tubing placed
opposite casing
perforations to better
Blast joint
withstand erosion
particularly by sand
Perforations

Casing

Tubing
Main Tubing Assemblies

4. Flow couplings and landing nipples

Flow couplings
• short tubing joints placed
above and below a flow-reducing
tubing assembly Flow Coupling

• has same ID as tubing but

thicker wall to delay erosional
Landing Nipple
failure from turbulence
Flow Control
•I-Khanali

Flow Coupling
Main Tubing Assemblies

Landing nipples
No-Go
• short thick-walled
tubulars machined
internally providing locking
profile and packing bore
• used to locate, lcok, and Locking
Dogs
seal subsurface flow
controls Packing

• three main types: no-go No-Go

nipples, slecetive nipples,
and subsurface safety
valve nipples

Bottom no-go
landing nipple
Main Tubing Assemblies

5. Sliding Sleeve

• device with interval

sleeve that may shifted
(by wireline tool) to close
or open ports, controlling
flow between tubing and Inner
annulus Sleeve

Open Closed
Main Tubing Assemblies

6. Travel joint

• device consisting of two

concentric tubes that can
Travel Joint
permit telescopic movement,
thus permitting tubing string to
expand or contract due to
downhole temperature and
pressure changes without
buckling tubing.

•I-kh
 Resulting force on packer (1)
"tubing wt (7000 lb)"
Depth: 6000 ft
Salt water in annular space
annular salt water in annulus The packer was set with
pressure 8.6 lb/gal
force 7000 lb "tubing weight"
We inject oil with 1000 psi
crude oil in tubing surface pressure in the tubing
6.9 lb/gal
(to displace some acid)

tubing pressure Question: will the injection

force unseat the packer?

If the net force is upward:

the packer will be unseat!
Casing: (OD: 5 ½ in.) ID = 4.91 in.
Tubing OD: 2 3/8-in. (C-75, 4.7 lb/ft) ID = 1.99 in.
Smaller circle area of of casing: 18.8 in2
Larger circle of 2 3/8-in. tubing: 4.4 in2
Smaller circle of 2 3/8-in. tubing: 3.1 in2
I-KHANALIZADEH
 Resulting force on packer (2)
38,900 lb 7,000 lb tubing wt
Smaller circle area of of casing: 18.8 in2
annular Larger circle of 2 3/8-in. tubing: 4.4 in2
pressure 8.6 lb/gal Smaller circle of 2 3/8-in. tubing: 3.1 in2
force wt salt water
Annular bhp: (6,000 ft)(0.45psi/ft) =
6.9 lb/gal 2,700 psi
crude oil
Tb bhp: (6,000 ft)(0.36 psi/ft)+
1,000 psi =3,160 psi

49,600 lb (18.8-3.1 in2)(3,160 psi)=49,600 lb

(18.8-4.4 in2)(2,700 psi)=38,900 lb
tubing pressure
force

49,600 lb -38,900 lb -7,000 lb = 3,700 lb

The injection operation will unseat the packer!
How to design the sssv safety depth.

• FSSD=(FC-FS)/MHFG
• FS: Safety factor (Usually 0.15*FC,Min+75psi)
• MHFG: Max. Hydraulic fluid gradient (Psi/ft)
• FC: Minimum closing pressure psi
• FSSD: Final setting sub surface safety valve depth (foot)
How to calculate the pressure bellow
the sssv?
• After determine the setting depth of sssv.as
the well fluid gradient & close well head
pressure.
• Pb=CWHP+(WFG*SD)
• Pb: Pressure from Below
• SD=Setting Depth(FOOT )
• CWHP=Close Well Head pressure
• WFG=Well Fluid Gradient
 How to calculate the operating
pressure of ssv?
• P۪=(SF+(Pb*Ea))/Ha
• SF: Spring Force –valve closed
• Ea: Equalizing Area
• Ha: Hydraulic Area
• Pb: Pressure from Below
• Hydraulic Control Pressure=Shut in Tubing
Pressure at Valve Depth+ Opening Pressure
+Safety Factor(0.15FC)-Hydrostatic Head in
Control Line