Long-term performance assessment of swell packers under different oilfield conditions

Sayyad Zahid Qamar*, Tasneem Pervez, Maaz Akhtar, Moosa Al Kharusi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Swelling elastomer seals and packers provide effective zonal isolation in difficult oil and gas fields, resulting in significant savings in rig time and development expenses. Companies involved in petroleum engineering applications provide no information about the longevity or endurance of swelling elastomer packers when exposed to different conditions in the well. This paper describes the design and construction of a test facility for long-term performance assessment of actual full-scale water and oil-swell packers, and the results of the 5-year study. The ten packers are made of three types of swelling elastomers, are kept in crude oil and saline solutions at room and high temperatures, and are exposed to varying high pressures. Regular logs of readings were maintained over the whole study period. Earlier sealing was observed in elastomers immersed in low-salinity water and subjected to high temperature. Rate of swelling was higher in water-based elastomers than in oil-based seals. One packer never sealed completely. Pressurized tubes either retained sealing the whole time or re-sealed after removing of pressure or reducing it to a lower value. Results for the fast-swell and medium-swell elastomer, low- and high-salinity water and crude oil, and low- and high-operating temperatures were mostly in line with short-term tests on laboratory samples published earlier. This unique longevity assessment study can be used by drilling engineers and developers in assessing the suitability of swelling elastomers for target fields and in improving the design of swell packers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number063006
JournalJournal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of the ASME
Volume143
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2021

Keywords

  • Enhanced oil recovery
  • Long-term service life
  • Oil-swelling
  • Oil/ gas reservoirs
  • Performance evaluation
  • Petroleum engineering
  • Petroleum wells-drilling/production/construction
  • Pressure
  • Swell packers
  • Swelling elastomers
  • Temperature
  • Unconventional petroleum
  • Water-swelling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Geochemistry and Petrology

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