Publications

Wells that have high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) are characterized by expansion include wellhead growth. It can then cause deflection in piping flowline due to high stresses in the piping components which could lead to leaking or system failure. In 2012, PT Medco E&P Lematang (MEPL) had plans to increase production rate from Singa #3 well to about 50 mmscfd. The increase was strongly related to well integrity. A specific study was conducted by BLADE Corp. where wellhead growth prediction could reach 22.9 cm at production rate of 50 mmscfd and 20 barrels/mmscf of water. Flowline is the weakest link of well integrity. Further assessment was undertaken using CAESAR’s software which indicated a critical part of the flowline at first reducer with the allowable wellhead growth was 18.5 cm. Some optional recommendations were proposed to increase flowlines integrity including: additional expansion loop and upgrading wall thickness material. However, these recommendations were considered unsuitable because of extra cost of material, temporary shutdown and hot work. This paper analyzes the effect of deflection in HPHT wells and a method to reduce flowline stress by using Counter Weight Balance (CWB). The CWB is an effective, cost efficient remedy for handling the piping stress due to wellhead growth of HPHT wells.