Openhole (OH) toe isolation in deepwater high‑pressure, high‑temperature (HP/HT) wells remains operationally complex when deeper drilling is required to confirm reservoir boundaries, oil/water contact (OWC), or proximity to salt. Conventional balanced cement plugs can be time‑consuming and uncertain, and risk additional remediation at ultradeep measured depths. The complete paper documents the testing, integration, and field deployment of a metal expandable packer (MEP) used as an OH toe-isolation plug in a deepwater well at approximately 30,000 ft true vertical depth under HP/HT conditions (to approximately 21,000 psi and 350°F).
Background
On a newly explored area in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, a single-zone OH gravel pack (OHGP) was selected as the most-effective method to complete the wells. Batch drilling was performed for the three producer wells to the top of the reservoir, where the 10⅛-in.
