(2023054) Facilitating Fishing Operations in the Permian Basin: Pump Catcher

One of the most expensive issues while workover operations are fishing and sometimes it ended up being a non-successful operation when the fish is left in the hole. The time expended trying to pull a fish in horizontal wells is particularly long and the costs are high. Proper planning and good practices should reduce the risk associated with this problem but as a contingency, a new tool has been incorporated in more than 150 installations in the Midland and Delaware basin during 2022. The tool was installed below the weakest point of the BHA or at the end of the tubing and its purpose is to catch the BHA at the TOL avoiding the fish to land in the curve or horizontal section of the wellbore. Once, the fish is maintained above the top of the liner and at the same time allows fluid flow around it, the fishing becomes an easier operation. Two case studies in the same field are presented where one well was installed with this new catcher and the fish was recovered in 3 days. On the other hand, the second well did not have a catcher and the company expended more than two months trying to pull the fish and in the end, they couldn’t recover it. This well had expenses of more than 1 million dollars without counting equipment expenses.