SPE 77626

Subsea Well Testing at the Subsea Tree

Nathan Waldman, SPE, Data Retrieval Corp., Chris Fair, SPE, Data Retrieval Corp., Charlie Tyrrell, Oceaneering
International, Inc., Rakesh Kumar, Shell

Copyright 2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

and subsea tree specifications will be discussed. Then, a
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and detailed procedure for installing this instrument on the subsea
Exhibition held in San Antonio, Texas, 29 September–2 October 2002.
tree will be presented. Next, the issue of wellhead to
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
bottomhole pressure conversion will be addressed. Results
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to from field tests with the system will be presented. This new
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at tool makes it possible to test subsea wells in which downhole
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
gauges were not installed or where they have ceased to
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is operate. The tool has also proven useful for pressure integrity
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous tests when commissioning sub sea pipelines.
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
Introduction
Accurate pressure versus flow rate data is as important to an
Abstract engineer concerned with optimizing well production as an
Operators are often presented with a dilemma when installing altimeter is to a pilot concerned with safety. Producing a
instrumentation in a subsea well. Do they install permanent reservoir at excessive rates risks collapse of the completion
downhole gauges? If so, is there a back-up plan in the due to pressure drop exceeding the strength of the formation.
eventuality that the downhole gauge fails. In the past, when a Producing at reduced rates results in reduced cash flow.
downhole gauge on a subsea well failed, the back-up plan has
either been to “fly blind” or to rely on low-accuracy The industry has recognized the importance of this trade-off
measurements from subsea tree gauges or pipeline gauges by investing in frequent well testing. In the case of subsea
(which can also fail). While tree or pipeline gauges may be wells, it is much more difficult and expensive to conduct
adequate to determine if the well is flowing, they are rarely of pressure transient tests than it is from dry trees. Therefore
sufficient accuracy and resolution to optimize production from downhole gauges are permanently installed at a cost that can
the well. The need for high resolution, accurate pressure data exceed a million dollars per installation. However, experience
is greatest in high permeability wells and in unconsolidated has shown that the majority of these downhole gauges
sandstones, where the production of sand can be catastrophic. installations will fail, many in less than a year. When that
happens, the operator has no way of knowing if he is in danger
In 2001, a solution to this problem was developed. It allows of collapsing his completion or is producing at an
an operator to temporarily install a highly accurate pressure unnecessarily reduced rate. The high-precision subsea
recording system on the well in order to perform diagnostic pressure recorder (SSPR) allows an engineer to acquire the
tests on the well bore, completion and/or reservoir. This data necessary to safely optimize well production.
option is available to any subsea tree equipped with an
Industry Standard “Hotstab” port. Typically, subsea trees are Subsea Pressure Recorder
fitted with at least one female hotstab port conforming to The subsea pressure recorder (SSPR) is a self-powered device
ISO/CD 13628-8 enabling a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) specifically designed for the acquisition of pressure transient
to connect instrumentation specifically designed for this data in the subsea environment. The device is housed in a
application. The ROV is then used to operate the isolation subsea pressure vessel approx. 6 inches in diameter and 14
valves to allow well bore communication via the hotstab port. inches long. The system weighs approx. 40 pounds in air, 20
Once pressure communication with the well bore is pounds in water, and is designed to operate in water depths up
established, diagnostic tests may begin. to 10,000 ft. Integral to the pressure vessel is the ISO/CD
13628-8 male Hotstab which is internally ported to the
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a mobile high- pressure transducer. The maximum allowable working
precision, high-accuracy pressure recorder for pressure pressure of the system is limited by the Industry Standard
transient testing at subsea well heads. First, the instrument Hotstab to 10,000 psi.
2 N. WALDMAN, C. FAIR, C. TYRREL, AND R. KUMAR SPE 77626

The pressure transducer in the recorder utilizes dual quartz Installation

crystals, one for pressure measurement and one for thermal The high precision subsea pressure recorder (SSPR) is
compensation of the pressure measurement. The transducer delivered to the wellhead by an ROV. When the ROV dives,
has an accuracy of 0.02% of full scale including corrections the SSPR’s are usually stored in receptacles on the ROV
for thermal compensation, hysteresis and repeatability. Tether Management System (TMS) or ‘cage’. Figure 2 shows
Resolution is 0.01 psi. In addition to pressure, the recorder three SSPR’s installed on the cage of an ROV.
can also measure two additional variables such as seawater The ROV will also carry a methanol or glycol pump to be used
temperature or casing pressure. for hydrate treatment and also to confirm that there is pressure
integrity within the hotstab interface. The ROV may also
The importance of high-quality, high-resolution data can be carry a Torque Tool to operate the various isolation valves
seen in Figure 1. In this plot, the low-resolution subsea tree associated with the hotstab port on the tree.
gauge data is superimposed over data from the SSPR that has
been converted to bottom-hole conditions. The low-resolution
data from the tree gauge could not be used to determine that
the pressure was dropping, much less reservoir permeability.

Figure 2 – SSPR’s on ROV Cage

When the cage is at depth, the ROV leaves the cage and
locates the worksite or tree. After inspecting the tree, the
methanol/glycol pump assembly is connected to the tree at the
hotstab port. The pump is then activated and pressure built-up
against the isolation valves to confirm the integrity of the
hotstab interface and associated seals.

The various isolation valves can then be opened to allow direct

communication from the hotstab port to the well bore. The
Figure 1 – Pressure Data Resolution pump is then activated again and if no hydrates or blockages
are present in the line, fluid will flow from the pump to the
Pressures being sampled by the SSPR are recorded internally. well bore. If fluids will not flow into the well, and the valves
The most recent pressure value can also be displayed on the between the hot stab and the well bore are open, the blockage
integral LED readout for viewing with the ROV cameras. The must be eliminated before the test can begin.
recorded data are recovered after the recorder is retrieved to
deck by the ROV. The recorder maximizes memory Once pressure communication with the well bore has been
utilization by monitoring the rate of pressure change in the established and the pipework from the hotstab to the well bore
well and adjusting the rate of data storage to match. has been dosed with Methanol or Glycol for hydrate
mitigation, the isolation valves are closed and the pump
The recorder is internally powered by three alkaline “D” cell assembly is detached. The SSPR can then be plugged into the
batteries which can operate for up to two years or two million hotstab port and the isolation valves re-opened to allow
samples, whichever occurs first. This level of energy pressure communication to the SSPR. The ROV can monitor
efficiency means that it is possible to leave the recorder the LED readout to confirm that well bore pressure is being
connected to the subsea tree for the extended flow tests read. Figure 3 shows the SSPR installed on a subsea tree.
necessary for delineating reservoir limits.
SPE 77626 SUBSEA WELL TESTING AT THE SUBSEA TREE 3

Field Data – Case 1: Hydrotesting

The SSPR was first used for the pressure integrity test on
commissioning a subsea pipeline in about 4,000 ft. of water.
A custom built subsea pump was used to pressurize the
pipeline with seawater taken from the same depth as the
pipeline to eliminate the time that would have otherwise been
required to allow the system to reach thermal equilibrium.
Figure 4 not only shows that the pipeline contained the test
pressure over the required time interval but the resolution of
the pressure recorder was sufficient to show the pressure
changes accompanying the six hour tidal cycle.

FIGURE 3 – SSPR Rigged-Up on a Subsea Tree

Upon completion of the test, the isolation valves are closed

and the SSPR is unplugged and recovered to surface by the
ROV. Once on deck, the stored data can be downloaded.

Data Quality and Processing

The high precision subsea pressure recorder measures the
wellhead pressure of the subsea well as opposed to the bottom
hole pressure measured by permanently installed downhole
gauges. The recovered wellhead data must then be converted
to down hole or reservoir conditions before it is useful to the
production engineer. The models for making these
conversions have been developed over several years to the
point where almost any well that continuously unloads all of
its produced fluids can be tested from the tree.(1)

In spite of the extensive experience of pressure transient Figure 4 - Hydrotest of a Subsea Pipeline
analysis from wellhead pressure measurements, some
engineers remain skeptical of the ability of the models to fit
their specific well. To satisfy those concerns, the operator Field Data – Case 2: Well Testing
should test his well with the SSPR while the downhole This well is a deepwater Gulf of Mexico turbidite sandstone.
pressure gauge is still functioning. In that manner, any model The subsea tree is in several thousand feet of water. The
tuning that may be necessary can take place before failure of reservoir rock has a porosity of 29% and a water saturation of
the downhole gauge. 20%. At the time of the test, the well was producing in excess
of 20 MMscf/D with minimal condensate or water. After
Wells should be screened to ensure that they are viable treating for hydrates, the SSPR was installed and a build-up
candidates. To be a good candidate, a well must produce test was performed on the well. The objective of the test was
naturally with a constant mass flow rate. Wells that slug or to determine the current reservoir pressure and to ascertain the
that have a gas/liquid interface between the subsea tree and the reason for poor well productivity. These results were to be
perforations will probably not yield valid results. In addition, used to update and improve existing reservoir models, which
well test procedures must consider the phase behavior of the were needed to justify further development of the field.
fluids both in the well bore and the reservoir (2).
At the end of four days of data collection, the SSPR was
retrieved from the subsea tree and returned to the surface,
where the data was downloaded. The subsea tree pressures
were then converted to downhole conditions and analyzed for
skin, permeability, reservoir pressure and limits. Figure 5
4 N. WALDMAN, C. FAIR, C. TYRREL, AND R. KUMAR SPE 77626

shows a Cartesian plot of wellhead and bottomhole pressures.

A semi-log plot and a derivative plot are shown in Figure 6
and Figure 7, respectively.

Figure 7. Pressure Derivative Plot of BHP

The pressure transient analysis indicated that the reason for the
well’s poor productivity was that the reservoir pressure was
about 1,000 psi lower than expected and the permeability was
only 25% of the anticipated value. These results permitted
the generation of a more accurate reservoir model, which was
used to justify further capital expenditure in the development
Figure 5. Subsea Tree Pressure and BHP of the field.

Conclusions
The SSPR makes it possible to test subsea wells, where
downhole gauges either were not installed, or where they have
ceased to operate. Data acquired with the SSPR are
comparable in both quality and accuracy to downhole gauges
on candidate wells. Pressures recorded at the subsea tree with
the SSPR can be readily converted to bottomhole pressures if
there is a single-phase fluid from the subsea tree to the
perforations or if the well is producing naturally with a
constant mass flow rate. To build confidence in its use, the
SSPR should be installed on wells with functioning downhole
gauges. In this manner, it is possible to verify that the SSPR
can be used for reservoir management and production
optimization when the downhole permanent fails.

References

1. Cullender, M.H. and Smith, R.V. (1956), “Practical

Solution of Gas-Flow Equations for Wells and
Pipelines with Large Temperature Gradients”, Trans.,
AIME, 207, p281-287.
2. Fair, C., Cook, B., Brighton, T., Redman, M., and
Newman, S., SPE 77701 “Gas/Condensate and Oil
Well Testing - From the Surface,” ATCE, San
Figure 6. Semi-log plot of BHP Antonio, Oct. 2002.