The 200th Horizontal Openhole Gravel-Packing Operation in Campos Basin: A Milestone in the History of Petrobras Completion Practices in Ultradeep Waters

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents an overview of the evolution of Petrobras open hole gravel packing operational practices after the 200th well has been successfully completed with this technique in Campos Basin (CB): a milestone in the history of Petrobras completion practices in deep and ultra-deepwaters. The paper also presents a comprehensive description of the main steps taken to improve our horizontal open-hole gravel packing (HOHGP) practices towards a best-in-class status in unconsolidated oil-bearing turbidites. Since the first HOHGP job done in 1988 we had to move progressively from shallow to ultra-deepwater completion scenarios. Along this path a series of innovations has been incorporated to our sand face completion practices due to the ever-growing-complexity of the wells geometry, longer intervals to be completed, heavier oil reserves to be developed, rock mechanics restraints (ever-lowering fracture gradients) and the necessity of damage-free-, high-performance-wells to cope with the skyrocketing capital expenditures which is a general rule for offshore ultra-deepwaters nowadays. Petrobras strategy conceived to continuously enhance its HOHGP completion efficiency index encompasses, the following interrelated subjects: -a comprehensive long-term plan to deal with the problem, -a multi-disciplinary team-work approach, -a strong cooperation with gravel packing tools & screens suppliers, -improvement of operational procedures and guidelines against which to measure well performance and -research & investment in cutting-edge technologies. Discussions on the challenges envisioned for HOHGP operations in ultra-deepwaters in the years to come are also presented.