Deepwater Horizontal Openhole Gravel Packing in Marlim Sul Field, Campos Basin, Brazil—Completion Project Learning Curve and Optimization

Abstract

Summary Most of the deepwater Campos Basin reservoirs, offshore Brazil, have unconsolidated formations that require sand control. Openhole gravel packing has proven to be the effective completion method of choice. The main objectives were to achieve low damage ratios, maximize completion efficiencies and reduce completion time. The project was conducted in one of the largest deepwater offshore fields in Brazil, Marlim Sul. This paper describes the learning curve and completion optimization obtained during planning, execution, and post-job analysis of six horizontal wells campaign with five water injectors and one oil producer. A combination of integrated service lines and experienced personnel were important to achieve excellent injectivity and productivity ratios. Several key operations from drilling to completion contributed to successfully complete these wells: openhole stability, drilling practices, drill-in fluids (DIFs), wellbore clean-up, filtration, completion fluids, completion tools, sand control, gravel-pack software simulator, and job execution. The efficiency of the service company was measured with a system of penalties and rewards allowing the operator to monitor and measure the progress of the learning curve on completion. As a final result, the partnership between the operator and the service companies contributed to a more economic completion cost by reducing completion time, and improving well performance.