Systems Approach to Product Design for Ultradeepwater Completion Systems
Authors: Wilson Adam 
Published: May 2017

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper OTC 26937, “Systems Approach to Product Design for Ultradeepwater Lower Tertiary Completion Systems,” by Robbie R. Pateder, Kirby G. Schrader, SPE, Jason Allen, and Michael Manera, Baker Hughes, prepared for the 2016 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 2–5 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Copyright 2016 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

This paper describes how a systems-engineering approach was used to develop completion technology targeted for the ultradeepwater Lower Tertiary Trend. The paper describes how an integrated completion system was developed for this market from concept through qualification by an integrated product team (IPT). The IPT is a cross-functional team that was assembled with the objective of developing a sandface-to-safety-valve integrated completion.

Introduction

The traditional approach to developing completion tools is to create requirements for each individual component. These tools form the portfolio of products from which a completions engineer would design a completion to meet the well requirements. The onus of developing the completion as an integrated system falls upon the operator’s completion engineering team. If there is a gap between well conditions and tool-performance specifications, the completion engineering team would contact a service company to seek an augmented product.

This paper describes the approach used to understand market needs for the ultradeepwater Lower Tertiary Trend and the development of an integrated completion system to meet those needs.

Systems Approach

The IPT was created with the mission of developing an integrated completion system for the Gulf of Mexico Lower Tertiary. A reservoir-engineering team evaluated publicly available data from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico Wilcox play and developed a basis of design (BOD) for the Wilcox/Lower Tertiary Trend. The BOD formed the target-reservoir specifications for the completion system. The study identified reservoir and geomechanical properties as well as potential regional trends and challenges facing deepwater Gulf of Mexico exploration and development.

The traditional catalog approach assigns the risk of tool integration and interoperability to the completion engineer. Because catalog products are developed within narrow requirements focused on the individual tool, the implication of the tool being used as part of a complex completion system is not taken into account (i.e., the broader perspective of the tool functioning as part of an integrated system over the life cycle of the well is not taken into consideration in typical tool development).

In contrast, the systems-engineering approach used by the IPT takes a holistic, top-down approach to solving the completion and production problem. The IPT objective is to design a purpose-built completion system that targets the life-cycle needs of ultradeepwater Lower Tertiary wells. Thus, the IPT approaches design and development by taking the operators’ perspective during the development of design drivers, system requirements, and completion concepts. This broader idea of the system drives the requirements for subsystems and individual tools.