ISO-Flex™ High-Expansion Retrievable Bridge Plug Overcomes Well Obstruction During Temporary Abandonment Workover, Operator Saves Six Rig Days

Perform a temporary abandonment in an injection completion by restoring its secondary barrier within the well. During a caliper-logging run for a previous workover operation, an existing nipple-profile was confirmed to be fully corroded and unusable. This made it impossible to install a standard slickline plug that met the operator’s well- abandonment regulation needs.
Install a reliable well barrier beyond the corroded nipple-profile obstruction using through-tubing techniques to overcome the challenge of not having a proper setting-profile within the well.

Following a thorough pre-job analysis to assess operator objectives and specific wellbore challenges, Weatherford well-services specialists formulated a nippleless well-barrier solution to address workover issues. The team selected the ISO-Flex high-expansion retrievable bridge plug for its ability to create a V0-rated, temporary barrier below restricted tubing with recoverable convenience. The ISO-Flex provides a mechanical barrier and large, direct-to-the-wellbore equalization area that is ideal for sub-hydrostatic applications. Its multi-conveyance methods allows for deep or shallow deployment, setting, and retrieval using industry-standard conveyance techniques.
A drift run was performed to ensure the well was clear of any obstruction. In addition, a caliper run was made to confirm the tubing conditions at the plug’s setting depth. The Weatherford team deployed the plug using wireline conveyance and the ISO-EasySet setting tool with an electromechanical, non-explosive setter to establish the barrier. Once the intended depth was reached, a setting command was sent from surface and the ISO-Flex bridge plug was set as planned.
After releasing the wireline cable from the plug, a pressure test was performed per the operator’s specifications to confirm plug effectiveness and that the temporary abandonment was successfully achieved.

The ISO-Flex solution effectively created a temporary barrier below the restricted area with recoverable simplicity. This allowed the operator to save 21 operational rig days over the minimum time required by heavy workover operations.
The robust API 11D1 V0 well-barrier solution was deployed in the same operational timeframe as a standard profile dependent barrier, but with a greater level of reliability for the well-abandonment project.

Details

Location

Brazil

Well Type

Offshore, deepwater, injection

Hole Size/ Well Angle

4-1/2 in./54°

Water Depth

5,544 ft (1,690 m)

Setting Depth

7,746 ft (2,361 m)

Products/Services

AlphaV™ Single-Trip, Casing-Exit System