Paper: Hard Scale Removal In West Texas

The first use of a through-tubing technique to selectively remove hard and inert scales in West Texas proved successful. The technique incorporates an abrasive jetting technology that uses two new coiled tubing tools and pumps specially manufactured particles through nozzles in a rotating head. The goal was to remove an inert scale, predominantly barium sulfate, from the production tubing in an old gas well in order to deploy tubing cutters as close to the packer as possible. The engineering and actual execution of this project are examined here. The results are compared with the previous attempt to clean out the well and an offset well to show the economic value of the technique. The subject well is located just south of Mentone, Texas, in a field that is notorious for barium sulfate scale production.