Snubbing Operations Visit Report

by Victor Nagaev

1. Introduction
On 17th and 18th of April XTO Energy location was visited to witness the Snubbing
Operations. The Poynor well site is the Eastern Barnett Shale Field in Johnson County. Two new
horizontal wells on the pad were under completion at the moment. CUDD snubbing unit was
utilized to perform the job.

2. Summary of the completion work performed:

1) Wells had been fractured, isolating the stages with Halliburton EasyDrill plugs
2) Mobilization of the Mercer workover rig and CUDD snubbing unit
3) N/D top of the frac stuck
4) N/U rig BOP and CUDD snubbing unit
5) Snub-in Tri-Cone bit by 2 7/8 N80 #4.7 tubing (BHA: Bit, 3 float subs )
6) Drilled out the plugs
7) Snub-out the drilling assembly
8) Snub in production string (WL reentry guide, landing nipple, Ceramic disk, 2 3/8 string)
9) R/D snubbing unit, rig BOP, frac stack.
10) Installation of x-mas tree
11) R/D Mercer rig

3. Well information:
Name:
Type:
Wellhead pressure:
Profile:
Frac stages:

4. Area
Urban, 150 ft from buildings;

5. Equipment involved:

Mercer WO rig Crown type;

CUDD snubbing unit (5000 psi, 7100$ day)

Pump truck;

Water hauling truck;

Poynor Unit 2H:

Gas
2500 psi;
Horizontal
4

6. Well control Equipment

Rig BOP Townsend type. 2 set of pipe and 1 set of blind rams.

Snubbing unit stack: Annular BOP, Stripping rams, safety rams.

Both units are rated for 5000 psi.

7. Job Overviews
On 15th of April the well was spud. Next 2 days were spent to drilling-out the isolation plugs.
On 17th of April , the rig was performing snubbing out of the drilling assembly. The well was
flowing the gas in the tanks @ 1500 psi at the wellhead. The POOH was as a regular workover
operation till the moment of the neutral point of weight. Approximate time used is 45 sec per joint.
This point is calculated by CUDD supervisor on the site using pressure-area concept. Approaching
The operation approaches the neutral point, the supervisor checks the buoyancy of the string. The
well control is maintained at the moment using snubbing unit annular BOP.
After of the neutral point is found the rig starts to snub-out to prevent the string being blown
out of the well. Snubbing-out takes 1.5 minutes per joint. The well control is maintained by
snubbing unit annular BOP.
The rig was snubbing out the string when annular BOP started to leak. The supervisor shut in
the well using pipe rams and tried to reseal the annular. The process was unsuccessful and he
switched to back up plan which was ram-to-ram snubbing. During this operation the annular BOP is
wide open and well control is maintained by 2 sets of snubbing unit ram preventer where 1 set of the
rams are safety rams and second are stripping rams . The procedure for ram-to-ram is the following:
1) Close stripping rams
2) Open safety rams
3) Open annular (and keep it open until the job is finished)
4) Snub-out to the point when the coupling of tubing meets stripping rams
5) Close Safety rams
6) Equalize the pressures
7) Open stripping rams
8) Pick up the connection of the tubing above stripping rams.
9) Close stripping rams
10) Bleed off the pressure from safety rams
11) Open safety rams
12) Snub out string to break the connection
13) Repeat points 4-12 till reaching the last joint
14) Take the bit above blind rams of rig BOP
15) Close blind rams
16) Bleed off the pressure
17) Pick up the bit
Ram-to-ram stripping takes 2 minutes per joint. Annular sealing rubber was changed after
the POOH when blind rams of BOP and frac stack valve were closed.
Then, the production 2 -3/8 tubing string was snubbed in the hole. The procedure is similar
to snub-out. The first 50 joints were snub-in using annular of snubbing unit. Then, when it was
confirmed that string was going in with its weight, the RIH continued the regular way. The well if
fully sealed during all the operation and gas discharges dont occurs in the rig floor area.
After landing the hanger in the bowl, the screws were driven in to activate the pack-off. The
pressure was bled off the and hanger was tested for leaks. When it was confirmed that the pack-off
was sealing, the snubbing unit, BOP and frac stack were removed and x-mass tree was installed.

All cycle of the completion took 3.5 days (12 hours of operation per day).

8. QHSE overview
CUDD shows high level of safety culture. Company labeled coveralls, hardhats, safety
glasses, gloves, safety harnesses, ear plugs are available and used properly.
Mercer personnel dont use coveralls but the rest of PPE is also in place. In general, Mercer
is capable to satisfy COMPANY requirements.

Well control maintaining

At the different stages if the snubbing operations the following well control barriers are in
place.
1) Rigging up rig BOP. Frac stack valve + BPV. Satisfies COMPANY Two barrier
standard.
2) Rigging up snubbing unit. Frac stack valve + BOP.
3) Snub-in drilling assembly. String: 3 floats in the string. Annulus: snubbing stack+ rig
BOP.
Note: Rig BOP and snubbing stack have separate hydraulic systems and could be considered as 2
independent barriers. Moreover, snubbing unit has a back-up autonomous accumulator unit.
4) Snub-in production string. Annulus: snubbing stack+ rig BOP. String: 1 ceramic disk in
the string. FAILS COMPANY STANDARD. Could be solved using landing nipple with
wireline retrievable plug or with second ceramic disk.
5) N/D frac stack. String: Top plug + ceramic disk. Annulus: single seal pack-off. FAILS
COMPANY STANDARD. Could be solved by using two seal pack-off or by installation
of valve on the wellhead prior the operation.
To increase the safety level, the set of blind rams may be replaced with blind/shear rams.
The analysis shows that in general the snubbing has ability to fit in COMPANY standards
without exemptions.

HSE risks
The risks associated with snubbing operations are mostly the same as during a regular workover.
However, snubbing specific risks are:
1) Potential energy: Snubbing unit is about 25 ft high. Safety harness should be used to climb
up the rig floor.
2) High pressure. Well is under pressure and flowing at the moment of snubbing. Only
authorized experienced personnel should operate the unit. The wind direction should be
monitored. Safety glasses are mandatory for everyone.
3) High noise level. Ear plugs are to be used.

Safety record

CUDD supervisor didnt have any snubbing related incident in his experience.

Personnel certification and experience

Rig toolpusher and CUDD supervisor have valid WC certificates.
CUDD supervisor has 3.5 years of snubbing experience.
CUDD and Mercer crews are populated with experienced labors.

Conclusions
Snubbing operations are capable to satisfy COMPANY Well control standard. CUDD and Mercer
are capable to satisfy COMPANY standards.