WEP presents “Re-drill into a high-pressure Cavern to re-establish brine production” at the upcoming SMRI conference

July 2014, Hoogeveen, The Netherlands

At the upcoming SMRI fall 2014 conference WEP will present the paper “Re-drill into a high-pressure Cavern to re-establish brine production”.

 

The magnesium salts carnallite and bischofite are being solution mined by NEDMAG on the mining location near Veendam in the Netherlands.  The magnesium salts are mined at an average depth of approximately 1700 m. A high wellhead pressure (approx. 120 bars / 1740 psi) is typical for these solution mining wells.

In 2013 the tubing of one of the production wells was damaged. An operation was set up with the objective to re-establish production with the planned production point at the original depth. As a result of the project the broken completion was removed and the well was recompleted with a new drill-in completion (5” x 4½”) and the well was brought back into production. The drill-in completion drilled 200m at high lithostatic brine pressure.

The paper describes the design and operation of this highly unique project, including the identification of the required services, equipment and materials. The operation itself is presented according to the different steps that were taken. Finally,  the paper reviews the actually performed operation and the learning points will be presented.

Volkert de Ruiter and Alexander Nagelhout are proud to present this project and paper to you, answer your questions and provide you with information coming autumn at the SMRI. If you need information already do not hesitate to contact us.

SMRI Fall 2014 Technical Conference
28 September – 1 October 2014
Groningen, The Netherlands