Publications

Liquid loading is a common problem in many gas wells in offshore East Kalimantan field, Indonesia. Many wells have to be shut-in prematurely due to the accumulation of water, condensate, or both in the wellbore. At the late stage of well life, reservoir pressure declines, gas production rate decreases, and liquid begins to accumulate at the bottom of the well creating hydrostatic pressure. Experience has demonstrated that selection of foaming agent cannot be completed in a lab under all circumstances. Field testing and selection of foaming agents is necessary to obtain accurate results. In the field trial presented here, foaming agent in the form of surfactant solution is injected to idle wells to induce foam. Initial batch treatment through tubing (bull-heading) strategy is selected to confirm foaming agent effectiveness to unload liquid column on the wellbore. The Value of Information (VoI) will then be used as reference to develop go/no-go decision to inject stand-alone foaming agent continuously using capillary string or combined with existing gas lift facility (Foam Assisted Gas Lift/FAGL). FAL application selection process in general starts with choosing the most appropriate well candidates then followed by selecting foamer and de-foamer candidates, laboratory testing, batch field trial, and improvement measurement.