Deep_offshore_completions

Open hole completion with expandable steel packers

What is an open hole completion?

Open hole completion

Open hole completion refers to the completion of a well where you completely expose the oil reservoir. There are two main ways to complete a well at reservoir level: open hole completion or cased hole completion. Open hole completion is when the bottom section of the well reaches the reservoir without any cementing. Cased hole completion is when there is a casing above the reservoir.

Advanced explanation

There are two types of procedures for open hole completion. In the first, you run the intermediate casing in, and you cement the well. Then in the second procedure, you run a bit with a smaller diameter through the intermediate casing, and drill the cement plug through. In either case, you drill the oil reservoir into the design depth and complete the well.

Certain types of openhole completion, known as composite well completions, are suitable for some thick oil reservoirs. If a gas cap or water-bearing bed exists near the top boundary, the intermediate casing may be run across the oil-gas interface and the upper part of the oil reservoir sealed. If necessary, the oil-bearing interval is then perforated.

In an OH completion there is no casing or liner installed across the reservoir’s course. As a result, the finished product allows the fluids to flow into the wellbore directly. In other words, such type of completion suffers the major disadvantage that the sand face is unsupported and may collapse. Also, the lack of a casing or liner makes it difficult to apply selective treatments or remedial works within the reservoir section.

What openhole completion means to us?

Open hole completions aim at reducing the drilling costs. Cementing the whole annulus involves significant costs. Openhole completion options might reduce these costs. Similarly, such alternatives allow reducing perforating costs with slotted liners or sand screens.

On top of that 100% of Saltel Xpandable Steel Packers are for OH completions. Only a few single cased-hole applications require stainless steel well packers. Moreover, in most cases our open hole packers run as part of the completion string. This completion design ensures openhole annulus zonal isolation as per final use by the operator.

Saltel open hole isolation packer deliver field-proven reliability and permanent annular isolation in OH completions.

Open hole packer applications.

So far we have deployed Saltel open hole packers in various applications worldwide, such as:

  • Open hole ball-drop multistage fracturing (non conventional).
  • Cementing operations during drilling.
  • Annular integrity configurations during completion.

Our packers offer various benefits, such as simplicity of design (no moving parts), high expansion ratios, and high-sealing capabilities.