Well completion Equipment

Production Packers:
• A packer is a downhole device used to provide a seal between the outside of the tubing and
the inside of the production casing or liner.
• The packer seal is created by resilient elements that expand from the tubing to the casing wall
under an applied force. When set, this seal prevents annular pressure and fluid communication
across the packer.
Production packer’s vs Service packers:
• Production packers are those packers that remain in the well during normal well production.
• Service packers, such as those used in well testing, cement squeezing, acidizing, and
fracturing are used temporarily and then retrieved from or milled out of the well
Functions:
Production packers are used to:
1. Isolate well fluids and pressures.
2. Keep gas mixed with liquids, by using gas energy for natural flow.
3. Separate producing zones, preventing fluid and pressure contamination.
4. Aid in forming the annular volume (casing/tubing/packer) required for gas lift or
subsurface hydraulic pumping systems.
5. Limit well control to the tubing at the surface, for safety purposes.
6. Hold well servicing fluids (kill fluids, packer fluids) in casing annulus.
7. Protect the casing from pressure and produced fluids.
8. Isolate casing leaks or squeezed perforations,
9. Isolate multiple producing horizons,
10. Eliminate or reduce pressure surging or heading,
11. Hold kill fluids in the annulus, and
12. Permit the use of certain artificial-lift methods.

Packer Components
• Packers have four key features:
1. slip,
2. cone,
3. packing-element system,
4. Packer body or flow mandrel
• The flow mandrel provides the flow conduit for production.
• packing-element form the tubing-to-annulus pressure seal.
• The cone assists in positioning the slips, which grip the casing wall and prevent the packer
from moving upward or downward.
• To set a packer, a compressive force is applied to the mandrel between the slips and the
resilient elements. The force moves the slips outward to grip the casing and then transfers the
compressive load to expand the packing element.
Packer Type: Permanent vs. Retrievable
• Retrievable packers are those packers that are designed to be retrieved and reinstalled in the
wellbore.
• Retrievable packers are normally run integrally with the tubing string and are set with either
mechanical manipulation or hydraulic pressure.
• They are unset either by a straight pull or by a combination of rotation and a straight pull or
with a special retrieving tool on drill pipe.

• Once unset, the compressible packing elements and slips or hold-down buttons relax and
retract, allowing the packer to be removed from the wellbore .

• Permanent packers are those packers that cannot be entirely retrieved and reinstalled in the
well.
• This type of packer is normally run and set separately on electric cable or slickline, a work
string, or tubing, and the production tubing is then either stabbed into or over the packer.
• A permanent packer may also be run integrally with the tubing string, provided that there is a
means of disconnecting the tubing above the packer. Permanent packers must be milled out to
remove them from the wellbore.

Number of Packer Bores…?

• The packer mandrel, or bore, refers to a cylindrical, machined opening in the packer. This
opening is required to allow produced hydrocarbons or injection fluids to pass through the
packer.
• Normally, packers possess 1, 2, or 3 bores and are referred to respectively as single, dual, or
triple packers.
• The number of packer bores required is a function of the number of tubing strings in the
completion and whether electrical cables will be passed through the packer.
• Single-string completions with no cable requirements use a single-bore packer. Dual-bore
packers are run with either dual completion strings or single-string completions that require
cables to be passed through the packer
Hydraulic-set single-string packer

Hydraulic-set dual-string packer

Packer Setting Method
• All packers are set by applying a compressive force to the slips and rubber packing elements.
• This force may be created in a number of ways, including tubing rotation, pulling tension
through the tubing, pressuring the tubing against a plug, or sending an electric impulse to an
explosive setting tool.
• These mentioned Packer setting methods can be classified as mechanical, hydraulic, or
electric.
• A mechanical setting method refers to those techniques that require some physical
manipulation of the completion string, such as rotation, picking up tubing.
• A hydraulic setting method refers to applying fluid pressure to the tubing, which is then
translated to a piston force within the packer.

• An electric line, involves sending an electric impulse through an electric cable to a wireline
pressure setting assembly. The electric charge ignites a powder charge in the setting
assembly, gradually building up gas pressure. This pressure provides the controlled force
necessary to set the packer.

Packer Setting and Unseating Forces:(Compression and Tension set

packer)
• Certain packers rely on applying a force to the packer to maintain the packer in a set position.
These packers are referred to as tension- or compression-set packers. They are set
mechanically, since the tubing string must be manipulated to provide the required
compressive or tensile forces. (A type of mechanical set packer)
• Compression packers require that a compressive load be continuously applied to the top of
the packer. Normally, this load is supplied by slacking off tubing weight; therefore,
compression packers are commonly referred to as weight-set packers.
• The compressive load may also be provided by a pressure differential across the packer; in
this case, the pressure above must be greater than the pressure below the packer. As a result,
these types of packers are suitable for injection wells.

Conveying the Packer

• Packer conveying is the manner in which the packer is run to its setting depth.
• Conveying methods include running the packer (and any tailpipe) on wireline, running the
packer on a work string or drill pipe, or using the production tubing to convey the packer,
either separately or integrally.
• The packer conveying method selected must be mechanically compatible with the type of
packer and the means of connecting the packer and tubing. For example, a permanent type
packer is normally conveyed and set separately, and such packers are used with connections
that allow the tubing string above the packer to be easily retrieved.
Commonly used Packers and their Application
Hydraulic Retrievable Packers
• Hydraulic-set retrievable packers are designed to be set by pressuring up the tubing string
against a plugging device below the packer. Once the packer is set, the tubing may be put into
tension or compression or left in a neutral mode.
• A hydraulic packer has bidirectional slips or a set of slips to resist downward movement and a
hydraulic hold-down system to prevent upward movement. The packer is released by a
straight pull on tension-actuated shear pins.
• In general, hydraulic-set retrievable packers can normally be used in applications with a BHT
up to 275°F and a pressure differential of 6500 to 7500 psi.
• that is actuated by a predetermined amount of hydraulic pressure applied to the tubing string.
To achieve a pressure differential at the packer and set it, a temporary plugging device must
be run in the tailpipe below the packer. The applied hydraulic pressure acts against a piston
chamber in the packer. The force created by this action sets the slips and packs the element
off.
• Retrieval of the hydraulic-set single-string packer is accomplished by pulling tension with the
tubing string to shear a shear ring, or shear pins, located within the packer.
Mechanical Retrievable Packers
• Mechanical-set retrievable packers are designed to be run and set on tubing, released, and
moved and set again without tripping the tubing.
• In general, these packers are capable of BHT up to 275°F and a pressure differential of 6500
to 7500 psi.
• Mechanical-set retrievable packers may have slips above and below the seal element.
• Depending on their internal locking mechanism, they can be set with tension, compression,
or rotation and, once set, the tubing can be left in tension, compression, or neutral mode.
• Certain types of mechanical-set retrievable packers can be used for production, steam
injection, disposal, injection, testing and reservoir stimulation.
• Typically, they cannot be used in deep, deviated wells because it is difficult to transfer
sufficient tubing movement to set and maintain the packer.
Tubing Movement and Packer Forces
• Changes in downhole pressure and temperature can cause the tubing to elongate or contract.
• If the tubing movement is not be provided for then the changes in tubing length that cannot
actually occur are translated into forces on the packer.
• Any packer selected should be able to withstand such forces. If the packer cannot withstand
the induced force, it will move or unseat.
• If it is preferable to allow tubing expansion or contraction to occur downhole, then the
downhole equipment must provide that capability.
Tail Pipe
• The tubulars and completion components run below a production packer. All Length of the
tubing below packer is called tail pipe
• The tail pipe may be included in a completion design for several reasons. It can provide a
facility for plugs and other temporary flow-control devices, improve downhole hydraulic
characteristics, and provide a suspension point for downhole gauges and monitoring
equipment.

Wireline re-entry guide

• The wireline re-entry guide is run on the end of the tubing string (or the tailpipe below the
packer) and is designed to facilitate re-entry into the tubing string of those electric-line or
slickline assemblies.
• It has an internally bevelled, bell-shaped ID that eliminates any sharp edges or square
shoulders and helps align the tools as they are pulled back up into the tubing string
Tubing Annulus Communication Equipment
• Tubing annulus communication refers to an opening or access between the inside of the
tubing string and the tubing casing annulus.
• Such access is required to
 circulate fluids in a well, to treat a well with chemicals,
 to inject fluids from the annulus into the tubing string,
 to produce a zone that is isolated between two packers.
 provide the ability to circulate a well and selectively produce multiple reservoirs.
• In general, two devices sliding sleeve and the side-pocket mandrel provide communication
between the inside of the tubing string and the tubing casing annulus
• They can be installed either above a packer or between two packers

Sliding Sleeves Door

• A sliding sleeve is a cylindrical device with an internal sleeve mechanism.
• Both the inner sleeve and outer body are bored to provide matching openings.
• The inner sleeve is designed to move upward and downward, through the use of a wireline
shifting tool.
• When the sleeve is shifted to the open position, the sleeve openings mate with the openings in
the outer body, thereby establishing tubing/annulus communication.
• When the sleeve is shifted to the closed position, the sleeve openings are displaced from the
outer body openings, which are then isolated by the inner sleeve wall
 • Sliding can be used virtually any point in the completion string where circulation, injection,
or selective production is required.
• The device can be opened and shut by wireline and therefore does not require the completion
to be retrieved after circulation is established.
• Sliding sleeves include a nipple profile above the inner sleeve. This profile is often used to set
a blanking sleeve inside the device, to provide a means of shutting off flow if the sleeve is
stuck in the open position.

Side Pocket Mandrel

• A side pocket mandrel along with its through bore, contains an offset pocket which is ported
to the annulus. Various valves can be installed/retrieved into/from the side pocket by wireline
methods to facilitate annulus-to-tubing communication. Side pocket valves, which provide a
seal above and below the communication ports, include:
• Gas lift valves
• Chemical injection valves
• Circulation valves.
• Differential kill valves Dummy valves
 • To provide an emergency-kill capability, the SPM is fitted with a dummy valve.
• This valve is normally closed and prevents communication between the tubing and the
annulus.
• The dummy valve is set to shear at a predetermined pressure and can, therefore, be opened by
applying pressure to the annulus or the tubing.
• Since the dummy valve can be sheared open by applying pressure to the annulus, SPM's can
also be used as a means of circulation.

SSD vs SPM…?
• SPM can be used as the principal circulation device.
• However, the SPM has a restricted flow area that limits the rate of circulation. For this reason,
most operators use a sleeve as the principal circulation device and include an SPM as an
emergency, or backup, method for killing a well.
• In addition, the valve must be replaced once circulation is completed

Blast Joints
• Fluids entering perforations may display a jetting behavior. This fluid-jetting phenomenon
may abrade the tubing string at the point of fluid entry, ultimately causing tubing failure
• The blast joint is used in multiple-zone wells in which the tubing extends past a producing
zone to deter the erosional velocity of the produced fluids and formation sand from cutting
through the tubing string.
• The blast joint is simply a thick, heavy wall joint of steel pipe; however, there are also more
sophisticated designs that use materials such as Carbide ® for severe service applications.
• The blast joint delays the erosional failure at the point where fluids enter the wellbore and
impinge on the tubing string.
• Blast joints are normally available in 20-ft or 30-ft lengths.
Flow Couplings
• They are run above and below any profile seating nipple and sliding sleeve in which it is
anticipated that the turbulence created by the flow through the nipple restriction can reach
erosional velocity and damage the tubing string.
• The flow coupling does not stop the erosion; however, because of its thick cross section, it
can and will extend the life of the completion because more material must be lost to erosion
before failure occurs than in the case of the tubing string alone. Flow couplings are
recommended when a flow-control device is to be installed on a permanent basis

Pump-out plug
• Pump-out plugs act as a temporary bridge that isolates the tubing from the annulus in order to
set a packer. Available in a variety of configurations, the plug is removed by simply applying
pressure to the tubing.

Subsurface Safety Systems

• If a catastrophic failure of the wellhead should occur, the subsurface safety valve provides a
means to automatically shut off the flow of the well to avoid disaster.
• There are basically two types of downhole safety valves
1. subsurface-controlled safety valves and
2. surface-controlled subsurface safety valves (SCSSV).
Subsurface-Controlled Safety Valves
• This valve is normally closed, and the bottom hole pressure must be higher than the present
pressure valve for the valve to remain open.
• If the flow rate of the well becomes too great and the bottom hole pressure falls below the
present value of the valve, the valve will automatically close. It is reopened by applying
pressure to the tubing string to raise the pressure above the present pressure value of the
valve.
Surface-controlled subsurface safety valves (SCSSV)
• The SCSSVs are also installed in the tubing string below the surface tubing hanger; however,
they are controlled by hydraulic pressure through a capillary (control) line that connects to a
surface control panel.

Annular Safety Valves

• The purpose of an annular safety valve (ASV) system is to seal the annulus between the
tubing and the casing immediately below the wellhead.
• This procedure protects surface facilities and personnel from any gas in the tubing/casing
annulus in the event that wellhead integrity is compromised.
• The ASV system is usually set shallow and near the wellhead to limit the volume of annular
gas that would escape in the event of wellhead failure.
• The primary application of annular safety valves is offshore platforms where there is a
concentration of personnel and surface facilities in the immediate vicinity of production
wellheads.
Profile Seating Nipples/Landing Nipples
• The purpose of this device is to provide a profile at a specific point in the completion string to
locate, lock, and seal subsurface flow controls, either through wireline or pump down
methods.
• These are short sections of thick-walled tubulars that are machined internally to provide a
locking profile and at least one packing bore.
• Every subsurface control device set inside a landing nipple is locked and sealed in the profile
with a locking mandrel.
• The packing bore allow the slickline device to not only land and lock into the nipple, but also
to seal off.
• Landing nipples can be used at virtually any point in the completion string. For example
 they are used in conjunction with a wireline subsurface safety valve at an
intermediate point in the tubing above a packer to pressure test the tubing or set a
flow-control device,
 and at the bottom of the tubing string for setting a bottom hole pressure gauge.
• There are two principal types of landing nipples.
 no-go nipples,
 selective nipples
No-Go Landing Nipples
• A no-go landing nipple includes a no-go restriction in addition to the profile and packing
bore.
• The no-go restriction is a point of reduced diameter, i.e. a shoulder. This no-go shoulder is
used to prevent the passage of larger diameter wireline tools and offers the ability to
positively locate subsurface control devices in the nipple.
• The no-go restriction determines the largest size of wireline equipment or other devices that
can be run through the device.
• Therefore, in completions that include many no-go profile devices, each successively deeper
profile device must have a smaller internal diameter than the one above, so that the wireline
equipment for the deeper profile can pass through the no-go of the profile device immediately
above it.
• No-go profiles may be included either above or below the packing bore of the landing nipple.
• When the no-go occurs below the packing bore, it is referred to as a bottom no-go. In this
case, the minimum internal diameter is the diameter of the no-go restriction.
• When the no-go occurs above the packing bore, it is referred to as a top no-go. In a top no-go,
the no-go diameter is the same as the packing-bore diameter.
• No-go profiles aid in positive setting for the wireline equipment because the wireline tool
physically bumps against the no-go shoulder when the tool is landed in place.
Selective Landing Nipples
• Landing nipples that do not include a no-go, or diameter restriction, are referred to as
selective.
• For a given tubing size, all selective nipples run in the tubing string will have the same
internal diameter.
• In many completions, a no-go landing nipple is preferred for the deepest nipple location,
providing a no-go barrier to protect against a tool string being run or dropped below the
tubing string.
Travel/Telescopic/Expansion Joints
• A travel joint is used to allow tubing movement or travel while maintaining pressure integrity.
A travel joint consists of two concentric tubes that telescope relative to one another.
• Seal elements on the inner tube isolate annulus pressure and fluids from the tubing string as
the travel joint strokes open and close.
• A travel joint allows the completion string to expand or contract freely with changes in
downhole pressure and temperature, thereby solving the problems associated with tubing
contraction and elongation in producing wells, injection wells.
• Typically, a travel joint is placed in the completion string above the shallowest packer to
accommodate tubing movement.
Blanking Plugs
• Blanking plugs may be landed in profile seating nipples or sliding sleeves to temporarily plug
the tubing string, allowing pressure to be applied to the tubing string to test tubing or set a
hydraulic packer, or to isolate and shut off the flow from the formation.
• The basic blanking plug consists of a lock subassembly, a packing stack, and a plug bottom.
Each size and type of blanking plug is designed to fit a specific size and type of profile
seating nipple or sleeve

Bottom hole Choke

• Bottom hole chokes are flow-control devices that are landed in profile seating nipples. The
bottom hole choke restricts flow in the tubing string and allows control of production from
different zones.

Common Downhole Designs

Single packer
Dual Packer

Multiple packer
Low P&T (<3000psi) Medium P&T(3000 to 10000psi) 100 to 300 0 F

High P&T (More than 10000 Psi and 3000F)

 • The design includes a tailpipe with a selective landing nipple, and a no-go nipple located
above the wireline entry guide.
• The bottom no-go nipple allows flowing bottom hole pressure surveys with flow
through the perforated pup joint.
• A tubing-retrievable SCSSV, protected with flow couplings both upstream and
downstream of the SCSSV can be used.
• A wireline entry guide below the packer but above the perforations should be used
to facilitate any through-tubing operations that are planned.
• The addition of the seating nipple allows a blanking plug to be run to test tubing if a
leak occurs, and the nipple will act as a stop should tools be lost in the hole.

Multiple-Zone Single-String Selective Completion

Dual-Zone Completion Using Parallel Tubing Strings