Removing Settled Barites From a Wellbore Using an Electrically Powered Well Cleanout System

Removing Settled Barites From a Wellbore Using an Electrically Powered Well Cleanout System

Abstract

This paper describes a job on a well in the Valhall field to remove approximately 241 liters of settled barite in order to gain access to retrieve a bridge plug assembly that had been installed in the well for more than seven years. The traditional industry methods of cleaning out such debris are mechanical bailers run on slickline, or coiled tubing. The clean out was initially started as planned with conventional bailers run on slickline. After 19 runs and 88 liters of debris removed, mechanical slickline bailers made no further progress, as a result of increased debris compaction. The powered wellbore cleanout system was then run. This system had been extensively tested on a test rig before the job with samples simulating expected downhole debris conditions. This testing resulted in a number of toolstring configuration options dedicated to the downhole challenges expected in the well and the use of two technologies (debris collector and suction tool), to retain and transport the debris from the well.

The powered wellbore cleanout system successfully removed all the remaining debris (152 liters). It was able to continue from where the mechanical slickline bailers stopped and removed the remaining debris three times faster than the mechanical slickline bailers. Each run with a powered wellbore cleanout system could collect, on average, approximately five times the volume of debris collected by conventional slickline bailers.

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