DOE funds gas completion research

The U.S. Department of Energy's fossil energy office has selected two research projects to improve the way operators complete natural gas wells. The two projects mark the beginning of DOE-supported research on gas well completion technologies. DOE is contributing $305,030 toward the $436,808 cost of a 3-year project at Texas A&M University to address the problems of formation damage caused by the fluids used in open hole well completions in gas reservoirs.

June 29, 1998

DOE is contributing $305,030 toward the $436,808 cost of a 3-year project at Texas A&M University to address the problems of formation damage caused by the fluids used in open hole well completions in gas reservoirs.

Researchers will test new fluids for their potential to create a removable filtercake. The cakes are intended to stabilize the well face during drilling and can be easily removed or dissolved to enable fluid to flow through the well after the drilling phase is complete.

APS Technology of Hellertown, Pa., will receive $626,425 toward the $979,439 cost of its 3-year project to develop a fluid analyzer tool that will use remote sensing and fiber optics to measure fluid properties inside the well in real-time without interfering with production. The tool will be integrated into current completion system technologies.