In fields with marginal economic impact and a considerable amount of wells, it is easy to develop a mindset that accepts past drilling performance and costs. Changing the "status quo" requires the application of new techniques, well analysis, planning, and knowledge management. Accept nothing less than measurable and continuous improvement and reward appropriate risk taking. Under that line of thought, a cemented casing completion was designed. Cemented casing completion is a technique that provides an opportunity for reducing completion costs along with delivery days without impacting safety or well integrity. In this project, the completion is run straight into the open hole and cemented in place like any conventional casing, without the need to run a liner and perform a traditional cleanup. In an attempt to save rig time and cost, this new completion approach was trial tested successfully on unconventional exploration gas wells for the first time in Saudi Aramco. Both the completion string and the annulus were pressure tested to the required pressures successfully. About six days of rig time and substantial costs were saved. The team used the latest advanced software to ensure a complete long-term zonal isolation of the cemented completion. Models of the expected stresses, which will be applied inside the completion string and in the annulus during the testing and fracturing stages, were developed. An optimum cementing job schedule was developed to achieve the best quality cement job. This paper will highlight the advantages of the cemented casing completion design over the conventional monobore design for applicable wells, the challenges while planning and executing, the full risk assessment approach, and software simulation for cementing and completion stages. In addition, this paper will discuss the case study, including detailed operational execution.

Under challenging market conditions, optimization and cost reduction become a priority, this paper presents the results and the best practices learned after the implementation of an innovative drilling fluid and cuttings separator in Latin America with three operators. This new technology has been field proven worldwide, in Latin America, operators in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia have experienced improvements in overall solids control equipment efficiency and optimization of drilling operations. The use of new technologies regarding solids control equipment has allowed operators to significantly reduce drilling fluid consumption, waste volumes and improve the HSE profile in their operations. Three case studies are presented, each one of them correspond to the implementation of the new technology with a different operator in the region.