Liner top packers help safeguard your completion , but not all packers are up to the challenge.In liner completions, the liner top is sealed in place using either cement or a liner top packer, which provides a mechanical seal that is more reliable and predictable than cement.
High pressures from below can unseat some liner top packers. A blown top seal can have serious consequences, posing threats to the environment, surface personnel, and the value of your asset.
Install a liner top packer that won’t budge.
The ZXHDTM liner top packer offers unmatched protection and reliability through proven ZXTM seal technology and rugged hold-downs that keep the packer securely in place, even in wells with excessive upward pressures. With over 45,000 successful ZX seal installations worldwide, this packer offers the next step in the evolution of the most extensively tested liner top packer in the industry.
The ZX elastomer is reinforced with carbide buttons, enabling the ZXHD packer to maintain a gas-tight seal with differential pressures as high as 10,000 psi (690 bar), from above and below. A wide operating envelope, up to 400°F (204°C), combined with standardized construction and a new streamlined design supports a broad range of conditions and shortens lead times. The result: reliable protection for your completion, and reduced safety risks to your personnel and the environment.
The ZXHDTM liner top packer offers unmatched sealing capabilities in a design that uses hold-downs to keep the packer securely in place, even in wells with excessive upward pressures. Built on ZXTM seal technology with over 45,000 successful installations worldwide, this packer offers the next step in the evolution of the most extensively tested liner top packer in the industry.
It is typically run as a component of the primary liner hookup, and may also be run with a tieback seal assembly to serve as a tieback packer in the event remedial repair of the liner top is necessary.
The ZXHD packer combines the proven V0-rated sealing capabilities of the ZXPTM liner top packer with a streamlined design. It incorporates carbide button hold-downs as part of the ZX seal element to set the packer firmly in the wellbore. This has the added benefit of reducing the number of moving parts on the tool body, which enhances reliability and performance without sacrificing functionality.
The ZXHD packer is part of the Baker Hughes End- to-End (E2E) Configure-to-Order (CTO) offering, helping save time by cutting approximate lead times to eight weeks or less. Standardized construction combined with a proven elastomer gives the packer a wider operating envelope than was previously available, from 175°F (80°C) to 400°F (205°C).
To an operator, the ZXHD packer looks and feels very much like its predecessor, the ZXP packer. It can be run in hole faster than conventional liner top packers, and delivers exceptional performance with up to 10,000 psi (690 bar) differential pressures from above and below.
Applications
▪ Most liner hanger applications, including deepwater, geothermal, and shale gas
▪ Environments requiring high circulation rates
Features and Benefits
▪ Proven V0-rated elastomer
– Creates a gas-tight annular seal
– Provides exceptional performance across a wide range of temperatures
▪ Bonded ZX seal with carbide button hold-downs
– Reduces risk of swab-off
– Permits faster running speeds, reducing tripping time of liner
– Holds the packer in place, even with excessive pressures from below
Application Case
A shelf operator off the coast of Louisiana was drilling a 16,000-ft (4875-m) openhole well from a jack-up rig. The plan called for installing roughly 3,000 ft (914 m) of 7-in., 32-lb liner starting at 10,770 ft (3283 m)—and then running 5-in. liner below that to the toe of the well—to stabilize the hole and reduce potential non-productive time (NPT) typically caused by hole instability. Because of its ability to create a gas-tight annular seal and stop gas flowback with pressures from below as high as 10,000 psi (690 bar), the ZXHDTM liner top packer was chosen to use with the 7-in. liner.
The liner hanger system design combined the ZXHD liner top packer with a ControlSETTM FLEX-LOCKTM liner hanger to firmly seat the 7-in. liner and protect well integrity by shutting off any upward gas flow through the annulus.
The crew drilled down to 13,539 ft (4127 m), pulled the drilling bottomhole assembly (BHA) out of hole, and ran a hole opener to clean out the wellbore. As expected, gas flowback was observed. They had difficulty pulling the hole opener up through an 18° S-curve in the well, and made an operational adjustment to add glass beads to help run the liner in hole. With the addition of the beads, the liner was run to depth successfully through the S-curve without incident.
The Baker Hughes crew set the hanger at 10,770 ft, disengaged the setting tool, and then set the ZXHD liner packer. All gas flowback stopped, indicating that the V0-rated ZXHD packing element had created a gas-tight seal in the wellbore.
Drilling resumed below the 7-in. liner, and the 5-in. liner was installed below with no issues, finalizing the completion in the 16-000-ft well.
Adding liner to the well helped prevent NPT caused by hole instability, and the gas-tight seal established by the ZXHD liner packer stopped unwanted gas migration from the formation below, reducing operational risk and protecting surface personnel and the environment.
Results
▪ Protected well integrity with V0-rated, gas- tight annular seal
▪ Supported successful liner installation to guard against hole instability
▪ Reduced operational, personnel, and environmental risk
Challenges
▪ Openhole well in unstable formation
▪ Gas flowback observed from the formation below
▪ S-curve in the wellbore made running the liner more difficult
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