SPE 130655

High-Temperature Conformance Field Application Through Coiled Tubing:

A Successful Case History
G. Ramirez, G. Arredondo, Pemex; J. Chapa, R. Macias, J.E. Soriano, Halliburton

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference and Exhibition held in The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 23–24 March 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
Jujo Teco is one of the most important oil fields located in southern Mexico. It produces an average oil gravity of 35 API,
which is combined with the heavy oil from offshore Mexico to enrich the Mexican oil blend. Sustaining oil production rates
is one of the main targets for this mature field, and controlling the water produced is one of the primary challenges to keep
the oil production up to the desired levels. Performing conformance treatments in this field is also a major challenge.
Formations to be treated are naturally fractured carbonates averaging depths of 19,000 ft with bottomhole temperatures above
300°F. They are completed in openhole sections with typically 300 ft of exposed formation. It is especially difficult to
address if the water-control treatments are bullheaded because there is no way to distribute and place the fluids in the right
zone without the risk of sealing off the oil producing sections.
Using coiled tubing for placing these types of treatments has been a viable alternative to increase the rate of success on
these deep, openhole completions in conjunction with the introduction of a high-temperature conformance polymer. The
cases presented in this paper show how the water cut has remained almost zero in some instances, even when the treatment
was performed three years ago.

Introduction
Jujo Teco is a complex of two fields located 70 km north of the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. This field has one of
the longest pay zones in the area at nearly 990 meters. Producing formations are composed mostly of naturally fractured
dolomite with an average permeability of 5 md. The produced fluids are typically 35 degree API oil at an average reservoir
pressure of 220 kg/cm2 (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1—Localization of the area of study in Mexico.

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The field in reference was formed by a geologic structure with an asymmetric, anticlinal form and NW-SE direction affected
by normal and inverse faulting with the presence of saline intrusions to the north and south of the structure. The rocks are
from sea deposits from a different stratigraphic level than the geologic column, with the exception of the upper Jurassic
Kimmeridgian, which is of continental platform. The gross thicknesses of the rocks that lodge the deposit vary from 418 m to
1595 m whereas the net of thickness varies from 332 to 1341 meters (Fig. 2).
Wells on these fields have a gas-lift valve system to help the production because each well has an average depth of 5,200
m (17,000 ft) and low reservoir pressure. Several wells, like the one presented here, have a tubing packer instead of gas-lift
valves as a way to inject and help lifting the production. Production tubing sizes installed are 3 ½ in. and 4 ½ in. packerless
or a combination of both.

Fig. 2—Field representation and the ubication of the water-oil contact.

One of the biggest problems that this field has experienced is water invasion on the lower oil-bearing zones and high
GOR. The operator tried to resolve this problem, but in most cases workover rigs were used to plug the invaded zones that
produced water, so the cost and time were high because the traditional procedures for change to a new interval with workover
rig are BOP and rotary table installation, temporary zonal isolation (to act as a second barrier for Christmas tree removal),
production tubing pull out of hole, permanent zonal isolation, production tubing run in hole, new zone perforation, kick off of
the well using a temporal killing subsurface valve, run the tubing or the use of CT that causes more time and costs. Zonal
isolation can be a very difficult job because of several reasons:
• Poor cement bond behind the casings.
• Returns cannot be attained on surface because of the low reservoir pressure.
• Deviated deep wells over the range of 5,200 m to 6,000 m (17,000 to 19,700 ft)
• Openhole completed zones.
• High-permeability streaks on the openhole section because of the presence of natural fractures that cause major
difficulty in placing fluids by bullheading.
• High temperatures over 300°F
• Contamination of fluids while pumping during any attempt of water control in an openhole.

For the reasons described above, conformance with CT was evaluated as an alternative to control the unwanted water
under difficult conditions.

History of the Coiled Tubing

The CT unit has many advantages. It has been working since the 1960s in the oilfield because of the diverse types of jobs this
technology can do, from logging, cleaning wells with many different tools, perforating, fracturing, etc. Jobs performed with
the CTU can be more precise, cost efficient, and faster. This is why this technology has grown by a very large scale in the
market in the last 30 years. Many countries are also using the CTU to drill because of its advantages and small footprint area.
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The evolution of CT in the mechanical area has nearly reached its limits, so the oil industry is trying to make better modeling
software and simulators to enhance string management so that CT behavior can be predicted before a job, and after the job
the results can be compared with the simulation to help improve every job.

Tools and Behavior of the CT

The tools used for this job were a 1 ¾-in. nozzle wash with a complete BHA and two long rods to get better rigidity on the
openhole section of the well for the tip of the CT.
The wells where the intervention was carried out are deviated. This will cause the weight of the coil to be more than the
normal expected weight for a vertical well of this depth on POOH because of friction forces involved.

Fig. 3—Software simulation of the weight behavior during the tripping.

Fig. 3 illustrates the weight RIH and POOH on one of the example cases, and indicates that mechanical lock up has not
occurred. This simulation is very important for the operation of the CT because figures very similar to the actual weight on
the coil can be attained and a safety factor of 80% can be added.

Fig. 4—Software simulation of the set-down forces during tripping.

Fig. 4 illustrates the maximum set-down weight at target depth that the CT can support before buckling and permanent
damage can occur. In this case, at the depth of 5420 m (17,782 ft) the maximum set weight of the tool is 1,318 lb and the
weight indicator is going to read 14,204 lb.
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Fig. 5—Software simulation of the pick-up forces involved during tripping.

Fig. 5 shows the maximum pick-up force that the coil can handle during this job with an 80% safety factor. At target
depth, the max pull before breaking the CT string is 7,033 lb, and the weight indicator on surface will be 37,829 lb.
The type of CT used in this job is tapered with seven different thicknesses. The tip has a wall thickness of 0.125 in.,
which is the thinnest part of the CT. The thickest part is 0.203 in.
Fig. 6 shows all the properties of the CT; hardness of the steel, maximum elongation, and minimum tensile and yield
strengths. The CT has a test pressure of 15,686 psi, and the collapse pressure with different ovalities is also specified. This
affects the collapse pressure, and it is shown in five different ovalities with load and no load.
Other important data shown is the weight per foot and capacity of the CT. Another important parameter is the
displacement that the CT causes inside the well.

Fig. 6—Material properties of the CT string used.

Wellsite Procedures
The pumping schedule was performed to a precise volume as programmed, one of the main concerns was to run CT inside
the openhole section to reach the target zone and place the treatment. The following general procedure was used for the
execution of the jobs.
1. Rig up surface equipment and pressure test with water.
2. Verify both annuluses are open.
3. Obtain the physical CT volume with tainted water.
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4. RIH while pumping N2 to displace the fluid inside the well and leave full of N2 to decrease the hydrostatic
pressure while pumping the treatment.
5. Once the top of the openhole is reached, decrease pumping rates to determine the circulation pressure behavior.
6. Running in openhole at a speed of 5 m/min and check weight every 20 m.
7. Stop CT at target depth, slack off, and begin the simulation of the treatment to help assure the proper POOH
velocity.
8. Return to the target.
9. Pump the displacement to control the next fluids for freefall.
10. Pump the OCP stage.
11. Pump the next stage of cement to help ensure better seal off and a better job.
12. Displace with water, and once the OCP begins to leave the CT in the annulus, start POOH.
13. After the displacement is complete, stop pumping and close both annuluses to squeeze the fluids into formation.
14. Retrieve the CT to surface at 30 m/min without pumping.
15. Shut in the well for 24 hours.
16. RIH and tag the top of the cement plug and begin to pump N2 for lifting the production.
17. Begin measuring the production.

System Used to Control Water

The system used is a polymer system that makes it possible to control unwanted water production. This organically
crosslinked polymer (OCP) system provides more important benefits compared to widely used chromium crosslinked
polymer systems. The OCP system
• Penetrates deeper into the formation than other chrome-based system on the market.
• Is one of the longest lasting polymer systems available.
• Is applicable to higher temperature formations up to 350°F.
• Is easy to pump through CT.

Throughout the past four years, many OCP treatments have been successfully performed in this region of Mexico in
formations with BHTs higher than 250°F with the aid of preflushes to cool down the formations and avoid premature gelation
problems. The development of a new retarder for the OCP system allows an easier pumping schedule and the treatment of
several candidates at higher temperatures (up to 350°F) for conformance control (Ortiz et al. 2004).

Description of the Organically Crosslinked Polymer System

The base polymer is a copolymer of acrylamide and PAtBA. The organic crosslinker is a low-toxicity material based on PEI.
The amine groups on PEI react with the amide (and probably with the ester groups) to form an amide linkage. The presence
of multiple amine groups on the PEI and ester/amide groups on the PAtBA results in a crosslinked, three-dimensional gel
structure. The short gel times are thought to be caused by an increased reaction rate of the PEI amine groups with the
polymer ester/amide groups. In the past, to make this polymer system work at higher temperatures, a preflush phase would be
required to cool the zone down to ~250°F so that the polymer system could be placed before gelling. A recently developed
carbonate retarder has been added to the system to delay its crosslinking time. The general crosslinking mechanism for this
system is illustrated in Fig. 7 (Mercado et al. 2009).
This system is easy to mix because both components are in solution. They need only be diluted in the mixing brine to
avoid lumping problems that can occur with a dry polymer. The system is easy to pump because the initial viscosity of the
base fluid is no more than 30 cp, so friction pressure from pumping is minimal.
The OCP system has predictable reaction rates. This system has very good compatibility with other fluids, which allows
pumping of cement and other types of fluids in the same job.
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Fig. 7—Appearance of the conformance system before and after activation.

Case History No. 1

Well 1 is a deviated, cased-hole well drilled at 5,518 m (18,100 ft) and completed in an openhole section of 326 m (1,070 ft)
of carbonate formation (Fig. 8). This well was initially acid stimulated to improve oil production; however, a water cut of
almost 90% was observed after this stimulation treatment. It was then decided to attempt to decrease water production by
pumping the OCP system followed by a small tail-in of foamed cement. This operation was carried out with CT in three
stages, alternating the OCP system and the foamed cement. The three OCP/foamed-cement stages performed focused on
sealing-off a net of natural fractures present at the bottom of the openhole section. After the third stage was complete, the
well was shut in overnight to allow the system to fully consolidate. Following the treatment, the remaining exposed openhole
section was acid stimulated, and the well was put back in production. The OCP system has been previously shown to be
resistant to acid, CO2, and H2S. Fig. 9 illustrates the results of the treatment that decreased the water cut from 90.0% to 0.2%
and sustained this decrease even two years after the OCP treatment was performed.
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Fig. 8—Well schematic and openhole log interpretation highlighting the zone treated with the OCP system (Case 1).
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Fig. 9—Water cut history of Well 1 after the treatment.

Case History No.2

Well 2 is a deviated well drilled at a total measured depth of 6,000 m (19,680 ft) and completed with an exposed openhole of
250 m (818 ft). After completion, the openhole section was also acid stimulated, which induced water production at an
average of 60%. To decrease water production, the OCP system was pumped with the aid of CT followed with a small tail-in
of foamed cement. After treatment, the water cut dropped to 2 to 10% and remained stable for a period of five months. A
second acid stimulation was then performed to improve oil production; however, the water cut also increased to 30%. A
second OCP treatment was again performed with the aid of CT and dropped the water cut to 2%. This percentage has
remained stable for two years, even when two additional acid treatments were performed, causing some peaks of water
production reaching 30%, but which became stable again at about 2 to 5% (Fig. 10).
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Fig. 10—Well schematic and openhole log interpretation highlighting the zone treated with the OCP system (Case 2).

In the two cases presented here, oil production has been sustained after the water-control treatments, even when acid
stimulation was performed on these wells (Fig. 11).
Table 1 presents the water-control tracking along 360 days for these two cases plus two more cases also pumped though
CT.

Fig. 11—Oil history behavior of the treated wells; Case 1 (left) and Case 2 (right).
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TABLE 1—WATER CUT OF THE WELLS TREATED FOR WATER CONTROL WITH CT

Before 30 Days After 90 Days After 120 Days After 360 Days After
Well No.
Treatment Treatment Treatment Treatment Treatment

1 90 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.2

2 60 30.0 6.0 2.0 2.0-5.0
3 63 0.0 0.1 0.2 13.0
4 65 31.8 36.3 55* 2.0
*A second treatment was placed 270 days after of the first one.

Conclusions
• The use of CT has been an aid in achievement of water control in the cases presented. The openhole condition of
the wells left no viable options for another method.
• The OCP system used and modified for high temperature has been demonstrated to be a solution for high-
temperature enviroments.

Acknowledgements
The authors thank PEMEX and Halliburton for their support and permission to publish this work

References
Mercado, M., Acuna, J.C., Caballero, C., Vasquez, J., and Soriano, E. 2009. Succesful Field Application of a High-Temperature
Conformance Polymer in Mexico. Paper SPE 120966 presented at the SPE International Symposium of Oilfield Chemistry, The
Woodlands,Texas, 20–22 April. DOI: 10.2118/120966-MS.
Ortiz, R., Toledo, N., Dalrymple, E., Eoff, L. 2004. Field Applications of Low Molecular-Weight Polymer Activated with an Organic
Crosslinker for Water Conformance in South Mexico. Paper SPE 90449 presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition, Houston, Texas, 26–29 September. DOI: 10.2118/90449-MS.