Sour Gas Well Testing Challenges-A Successful Case Study

ADNOC onshore tested HPHT sour gas reservoirs with 30% H2S, 10% CO2 to evaluate the reservoir and well potential as part of the efforts in supplying additional gas for meeting country's growing energy needs. Developing these massive HPHT sour gas reservoirs is essential for providing a sustainable source of energy for years to come. This critical project serves the broader national strategy and country aspirations in fulfilling the gas demand over the next few decades to come. Few HPHT sour wells were drilled but only one well could be tested successfully. The other two wells had to be suspended due to HSE /environmental and operational reason as elemental Sulphur was detected. Based on the previous well test and reservoir data, it was decided to use one of the existing well and sidetrack in the Sour reservoir to gain experience about drilling a long horizontal section in the High pressure, high temperature sour condition. A specialized drilling Rig capable of drilling the long horizontal well was selected. Due to nature of the reservoir, specialized sour service drilling tools were selected considered the long departure and long open hole horizontal length of 10000+ ft. Selection of the downhole material for these conditions was itself a challenge as very few vendors or IOC (Internatioanl oil companies) have experience of developing and producing from +30% H2S and +10% CO2. Due to the location of the well, stringent HSE measurements were adapter to ensure zero tolerance for the safety violation in accordance with 100% HSE. The testing of the HPHT sour gas was challenging due to not only HSE issues but also from the environment part too as flaring needed to be minimized in the brown field. Hence, it was decided to Tie-in the well to the nearby facilities. The challenge was that the existing facilities were not design to accept the sour gas. This was overcome by blending the sour gas with sweet gas to meet the existing facilities specs and capacities. After the well was drilled, the +10000 ft. open hole was flowed to clean to ensure all the drilling fluid lost was recovered to test to access well potential and obtain representative data for full field development plan. Drilling, testing and producing the highly sour HPHT gas reservoirs with more than 30% H2S and 10% CO2 along with temperature ranging up to 300 deg F is itself a huge challenge. Over the last few years, ADNOC Onshore have developed considerable expertise in testing the sour wells considering all the safety and environmental aspects. This paper highlights the work progress and the lessons learned during each step of the operation from planning phase to drilling, tie-in the well to the existing facilities after dilution during testing. All the proposed mitigation plans considering 100% HSE while dealing with these appraisal wells in the Arab sour reservoir having +30% H2S and 10 % CO2 were developed and implemented sucessfully.