American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017 - 65

SpecialReport: Tubulars Technology
drill out plugs or ball seats. The bore is
fully open and production ready, with no
restrictions."

New CT-Deployed Tools
As laterals get longer, the risk of stuck
pipe becomes an ever-greater concern.
Traditional jars generally are used at the
top of the BHA, but their effectiveness
can be limited in long horizontal sections.
Fortunately, new technology is being introduced to shake pipe free of cuttings
buildup or move pipe through a tight
zone to mitigate downhole pipe sticking
issues.
One example is Tenax Energy Solutions' HydraShock™, which uses a balland-seat system to produce a CT stringlong pulse. Much smaller than traditional
jars, the system is deployed in the BHA
of the CT string below the stuck point
and is activated by dropping a proprietary
ball that seats in the tool and pressurizes
the full CT string, placing it in compression
rather than tension, explains Kevin Jones,
Tenax founder and chief executive officer.
By building potential energy in the
tubulars, the system allows the mechanics
of the entire string of pipe to act as a jar
without manipulating the tubulars, he
says. The potential energy pulse released
when the ball unseats is focused at the
point of sticking as the full string decompresses, releasing the pipe.
"When the dynamic energy release occurs through the entire tubular string, the
result is dramatic movement down hole at
the stuck point," Jones states. "The stuck
point becomes the intercept point as all of
this released energy impacts it."
Thruster Energy Corp.'s latest innovation, the Universal Jet Thruster™ (UJT),
is used primarily for cleaning and to pull
the BHA into the hole. Thruster Energy
President Dave Griffith explains that during run-in, the UJT diverts fluid up hole
to reduce string drag. Once on bottom,
the weight-on-bit closes the tool to put
the full force of the fluid hydraulics to
the bit face for milling or drilling.
"It is designed to be used in laterals to
remove residual debris, lessen friction
and clean the hole during pullout," Griffith
states, adding that the UJT is based on
the Venturi effect where a constriction
increases fluid flow for improved uphole cleaning.
"In many cases, the UJT can replace
fluid chemicals and vibrating tools in the
CT string," he concludes. "It can reduce

The CIRCA™ CT simulation software from Baker Hughes, a GE company, is designed to
maximize equipment performance and improve operational efficiency in complex wells.
The CIRCA suite includes applications for tubing force analysis and wellbore hydraulics
monitoring, solids transport modeling, and real-time job optimization using live
operational data to accommodate changing well conditions.

pulling-out-of-hole time by minimizing
friction, since the tool sends fluid up the
CT string directly from the tool above
the bit instead of sending the fluid pressure
out of the bottom of the bit, backfilling
the hole."

Simulation Software
Baker Hughes, a GE company, has
released CIRCA™ coiled tubing simulation software, which Tayo Akinokun,
vice president of pressure pumping, says
enables CT service providers and operators
to maximize equipment performance and
improve operational efficiency in complex
wells-particularly unconventional wells
with longer laterals and multistage completions.
Noting that operational guidelines for
CT applications typically are based on
experience rather than hard data, Akinokun
says CIRCA software validates theoretical
models with empirical field data to help
service providers move from experiencedependent operations to data-driven execution.
"The software delivers valuable insights
into the subsurface, such as downhole
conditions, flow rates and safe operating
envelopes, enabling operators to calculate
outcomes with more certainty to improve
job planning and execution," he remarks.
The CIRCA suite includes applications

for tubing force analysis and wellbore
hydraulics monitoring for operations such
as milling, setting and retrieving tools,
and intervening in extended-reach wells;
modeling solids transport to surface without compromising downhole equipment
in operations such as abrasive perforating,
clean-outs and multistage plug milling;
and real-time job optimization using live
operational data to accommodate changing
well conditions.
Akinokun references an extendedreach plug milling and clean-out job in
West Texas in which the CT and mill got
stuck down hole. The unplanned downtime
tripled the operational time, he notes.
After finally freeing the mill, the well
parameters were fed into CIRCA, which
Akinokun says has been used to model,
plan and execute solids transport on more
than 30,000 wells to date.
"The result has been months of subsequent millout jobs with no instances of
stuck CT," he concludes. "Furthermore,
the operator reduced costs by avoiding
nonproductive time and the need for intervention/fishing to retrieve tools stuck
down hole."
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