Field Cases of Cost Efficient Well Interventions Performed With Advanced Slickline Technology

Economic initiatives usually drive technological development, and with the significant decline in the oilfield climate during the last decade, it is not surprising this era has been momentous in providing stimuli for operational change. Unfortunately, however, operators who are seeking new methods will usually look to new technologies as the potential problem solvers, and in so doing, overlook enhancements to the traditional technologies that could provide the cost efficient alternatives they are seeking. This has been true of slickline. Until the resurgence of investigation into new strategies to meet the oilfield cost constraints of the last decade, slickline service had only been considered for routine mechanical workovers. This paper will discuss new developments in this technology that provide efficient alternatives to services traditionally reserved for other, more costly options. The discussion will include in-depth descriptions of the new scope of services, an overview of the equipment that combines to make the new options possible, and case histories that illustrate how the equipment combines to efficiently provide low cost solutions for a broad scope of well interventions. Slickline capabilities now include accurate locating of downhole tubular goods/profiles; high-speed data retrieval and transmission for production of quality logs from downhole memory surveys; accurate correlation of tubing or casing collars; setting bridge plugs, packers and other downhole equipment without explosives; shifting downhole tubular sleeves; setting monobore tools and other well interventions that are dependent upon measurement accuracy. In addition to operational efficiency and safety, these alternatives meet the stringent economic needs of today's oilfield.