The purpose of well testing on development wells is to clean up and commission the well prior to its connection to the permanent production facility.

The permanent completion is used with a temporary subsea safety tree and production system.

Included in the development well testing segment are DST/TCP operations, associated with completions activity such as a ‘shoot and pull’ run prior to well clean-up, fluid separation, solids management and disposal operations.

Current methods for disposal in a well test or clean-up involve burners, water remediation, storage of produced fluids to a tank.

Fluids Disposal

In areas where strict regulations exist regarding the disposal of liquids by burning, well tests are performed without burning oil. Gas can be flared, and produced fluids stored in a barge or in workboat tanks for transport back to a land-based disposal facility.

A full test including data from downhole gauges and surface sensors in real time can be transmitted to the operator’s office onshore to monitor the clean-up and test.

Land frac flowback program on high-rate gas well

A typical fracture flowback program for a high-rate gas well onshore used a program comprising a multiple-stage fracture with three-to-five zones per well. Each zone was perforated, fractured and then cleaned up.

Special severe service equipment was required to handle high flow rates and pressures, as well as abrasive frac materials recovered during the cleanup. Multiple flare lines were run to a pit, measuring about 35ft wide by 30ft deep.