Case History: Real-Time Fiber-Optic Technology Maximizes Tight Carbonate Formation Returns in Kuwait, Multistage Acid Fracturing Diagnostics, Post-Treatment Flowback Allocation, and Production Profiling

Abstract

This paper presents a case history application of real-time fiber-optic technology in the Bahrah oil field, onshore Kuwait. A primary challenge during openhole swellable packer completion operations with multistage fracturing is understanding the number of fractures induced in the formation, particularly in heterogeneous formations where the fracture pressure energy will be distributed along the openhole section. Therefore, fiber-optic technology was selected for the Bahrah project. The application consists in diagnosing a tight carbonate reservoir after multistage acid fracturing and milling the baffles of a production sleeve completion to obtain a well production profile. This technology consists of a fiber-optic cable and a modular sensing bottomhole assembly (BHA). The fiber-optic cable provides distributed temperature sensing (DTS), whereas the BHA is used to monitor pressure, temperature, and the casing collar locator (CCL) in real time. The usual procedure when using conventional coiled tubing (CT) to stimulate a carbonate openhole section is to treat all pay zones with acid and diverter, which increases both operation time and operational costs. In addition, inadequate control of the treatment placement will often result in ineffective stimulation. When using the fiber-optic technology, monitoring is performed by analyzing the distributed temperature profiles both before and after stimulation; the BHA helps ensure that the optimum pressure is maintained and that the fluid is placed accurately through depth correlation sensors. All components of this intervention are performed in a single trip, which reduces both costs and operation time. This paper presents an application that uses the modular sensing BHA to improve the performance of milling balls and baffles in the horizontal production sleeve completion. Afterward, DTS is used to diagnose the reservoir performance after multistage acid fracturing to identify fracture initiation points (FIPs). This assists in design optimization, provides better understanding of formation properties, and helps determine the flow rate distribution of each stage across the entire lateral. Another application uses DTS to obtain the production profile of a 3,286-ft horizontal section while flowing back the well through an electrical submersible pump (ESP). The paper presents the methodology and results of these applications. Using this technology in the petroleum industry helps reduce operation time by up to 50% as a result of performing various CT activities in a single run. This eliminates the need for additional logging or slickline runs using the same BHA, after performing the milling operation to collect DTS data for FIPs and flow rate distribution analysis in the same run. It also reduces costs by enabling real-time decision-making capabilities and effective stimulation.