Slickline power unit on coiled tubing provides innovative solution for setting a nippleless lock in a multilateral completion

In the procedure most often used for drilling laterals from horizontal comp letions, a retrievable bridge plug is set in the casing. The bridge plug se rves as the base for orienting and setting the whipstock used to drill the window in the casing so that the drilling of the lateral section can be ini tiated. In monobore completions, operators can drill lateral sections through the t ubing, and if coiled tubing drilling technology is used, this procedure can often be performed without killing the well and pulling the in-place compl etion. Drilling the horizontal lateral with the well flowing offers the adv antages of efficient removal of the cuttings and reduced formation permeabi lity impairment. The retrievable bridge plug commonly used when being set with coiled tubing is the inflatable bridge plug. This plug con be run through most tubing re strictions and the element inflated to create the seal against the casing w all. If, however, casing damage or other well conditions prevent the inflat able bridge plug from being set, the operator may be left with few viable o ptions for completing the drilling program. This article will discuss such a case. In this scenario, repeated attempts to set an inflatable bridge plug failed during the operator's drilling prog ram. To provide a solution, a slickline running tool and nippleless lock ma ndrel were adapted for use with coiled tubing. Combining the slickline runn ing tool and lock mandrel with coiled tubing had never before been attempte d. In addition to providing a cost-efficient, innovative solution for a dif ficult service problem, the capabilities gained by combining these technolo gies shaw promise of enlarging the scope of viable alternatives for other s ervice needs.