Successful Revival of Well Production Using Radial Jet Drilling in a Water-Conning Case Study

Abstract Radial Jet Drilling (RJD) is an unconventional drilling method using high fluid jet energy which is considered a stimulation technique to revive or improve production conditions in marginal fields. Several stimulation techniques were subsequently applied to a Middle Eastern case study oil well suffering from production halt due to high water cut and excessive bottomhole pressure caused by water conning; however, all the applied conventional workover methods including shut-off of emerging water zones failed after a short while due to water conning. As the last resort, RJD was proposed as the final remedy. The RJD objectives set in the plan were successfully fulfilled in 12 out of 13 holes based on the plan. The greatest and lowest holes / penetrations achieved were respectively 65 ft (~20 m) and 32.8 ft (10 m). Following the completion operations, the well was on stream successfully with a stable production rate of 500 STB/Day using the 3/8-in choke size with sufficient wellhead pressure of 380 psi. The stable and increased production conditions (by ???%) following application of RJD technique proved its efficacy to revive productivity compared with the previously applied and failed conventional techniques. There are several factors contributing to the RJD success in this case study: proper candidate well selection, the selected depths for RJD penetration considering cement bond logs in addition to geological graphical well logs and petrophysical wells logs, selecting appropriate RJD tools during the planning stage, considering the personnel experience and the execution of the plan. Owing to proper design to allow enough spacing between the inner and outer pipes, depth and mud formulation selection along with effective function of the MWD sensor, the success of this RJD job was considerably greater than the previous job in 2020 which suffered from numerous tubing stuck and twist-off. The RJD application showed to be an efficient stimulation technique in wells suffering from rising aquifer water/water conning, though the operation was completed with 18.9% down-time/delay from start of RJD to completion due to stuck and fishing operations. Therefore, this case study work presents the lessons learned and factors contributing to the job success compared with the previous case in the same field.