World's First Annular Safety Valve for Dual Concentric Water Injection

Abstract The Hibernia field is located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, approximately 315 km east southeast of St. John's (Fig. 1). The Hibernia Gravity Based Structure (GBS) platform has a total of 64 slots available for well construction and currently only a limited number of well slots remain. Since production began in 1997, it has become apparent more than 64 wells will be required to develop the resources adequately. As such, it was recognized a platform slot constraint issue could become a limiting factor for the timing of development of the remaining resources. To optimize the use of the remaining slots, a unique technical solution was developed. The design concept was to drill a well through the upper Ben Nevis - Avalon (BNA) reservoir (G Block) and into the Hibernia reservoir (DD Block). This well (WIDD1/AWIG1) was the first Hibernia dual concentric water injection well. To realize this design concept, the world's first annular safety valve for dual concentric water injection was designed, manufactured, fully tested, and qualified in a fast track manner to enable injection into the annulus for the upper BNA target and through the tubing for the lower Hibernia target. The WIDD1/AWIG1 well was successfully drilled and completed allowing dual concentric injection as envisioned in the original well proposal. To date, one additional dual concentric injector well has been drilled and other dual concentric well concepts are actively being pursued.