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By Dan W. Pratt and Victor Carrera, Owen Oil Tools
SPE 52203 was presented at the 1999 SPE Mid-Continent Operations
Symposium held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, March 30, 1999.
A synopsis of the abstract and conclusions follow.
Abstract
It is a well-known concept with those that design explosive
shaped charges that said charges can be optimized for maximum
performance in virtually any material. Charges optimized in
soft materials may produce significantly less penetration
in hard materials than charges initially designed in the harder
materials
This paper outlines tests of three charges optimized in soft,
medium, and hard targets and compares the penetration in seven
materials. Each charge type is developed and redeveloped for
each target type and thepenetrations are compared to one another.
Additional tests of five 
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different charge designs are made in seven target materials.
These charges were designed at different times over the last
14 years and show divergent individual slopes of penetration.
Conclusions
Shaped charges have been established as the most efficient
method of obtaining communication between a cased borehole
and the formation of an oil or gas well. The selection of
the correct perforating charge should be based on sufficient
information to assure proper communication, with assurance
of penetration beyond near well bore damage. Charges are individualistic
in nature; each having it's own performance characteristics.
Variations between perforator performance is a charge design
dependant phenomenon. When comparing the penetration of various
charges, it is wrong to assume that the charge that penetrates
deepest in a soft medium will maintain its superiority over
another when hard formation materials are encountered.
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Charge development can be accomplished in virtually any medium,
& The problems associated with designing in only one relatively
soft material, specifically concrete, lead to the optimization
in this single medium. This may yield a charge design that
has less than optimum performance when truly hard formation
rocks are encountered.
As shown by the data presented in this paper, optimization
in hard materials can significantly improve performance when
downhole high strength formation materials are encountered.
Ideally, the charge designer would optimize in the same formation
rock as found in the well. Since this is not always reasonable
or possible it is recommended that the designer use a material
with mechanical properties as close to the downhole formation
as possible. In extremely hard formations where charge penetration
is at it's minimum, and fluid invasion is most critical, optimization
in the proper medium is not only warranted, but essential.
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| Inside this issue:
Field Warehouse News
Thru-Tubing Technology
Remediation Techniques for Monobore
Completions
New Faces
President's Message
StimGun!" & StimTube!"
Production Enhancement
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Owen Oil Tools' Technical Services group successfully completed
the first hydraulically set X-Span!" Casing Patch in
Indonesia for UNOCAL. The operation was performed on the Lima
Platform in the Attaka field where a 10 foot patch and a 21
foot patch were set in 7' 26" casing on subsequent runs
with a hydraulic setting tool conveyed on 3-1/2" tubing.
The patches were positioned across squeeze perforations
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and a pressure test of the well after setting confirmed that
the operation had been a success.
Virtually all Owen products can be conveyed into the wellbore
by any available means. Completion of this operation shows
again that Owen is committed to offering solutions to our
customers problems. In this case: The need to set the patch
on pipe - No Problem!
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