Anaconda: Joint Development Project Leads to Digitally Controlled Composite Coiled Tubing Drilling System
Abstract: fax 01-972-952-9435.References at the end of the paper. AbstractIn 1997, Statoil and Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. began jointly evaluating technologies that could be used to develop a revolutionary coiled-tubing and well-intervention system. This system, which will be deployed initially in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, sets a new standard for drilling with conventional drilling rigs or coiled-tubing drilling units. The advanced well-construction system consists of a digitally controlled and autom… Show more
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Composite Coiled Tubing (CCT) has been field tested on a number of applications with generally good results. This paper will summarize these field experiences and how the tubing has been improved from early versions to the latest product. Introduction Over the past seven years Fiberspar has developed continuous spoolable composite tubing technology, building upon work done by Conoco in the previous five years. Early development centered on downhole applications as a low fatigue and corrosion resistant alternative to steel coil tubing, but after this initial development period, market pull re-focused the technology on surface applications. As a result, the technology was first commercialized in 1999 as LinePipe, for surface gathering and injection applications. Almost two million feet has now been manufactured and installed successfully in these surface applications, mostly in North America. The technology has proven to be a reliable and cost effective alternative particularly for any corrosive application. It has also enabled innovative installation techniques, which are rapid, safe and require little manpower, and is setting new standards in installation speed and reliability for the small diameter pipe construction industry. As operating companies realize the promised benefits in installation and performance, the momentum in this area is gathering and composite spooled tubing has become a realistic alternative to existing corrosion resistant solutions such as lined steel, and discrete length reinforced fiberglass pipe8. The range of applications is growing as the technology matures and develops. The technology, and in particular the development of the manufacturing processes, has greatly benefited from this commercial success and volume production. When the technology was first developed, many industry experts believed that the biggest risk to establishing a commercial rather than a technical success would be the ability to manufacture long continuous lengths to a consistent high quality standard. Now, product is routinely made in lengths of 18,000 feet, and occasionally longer, in a highly automated, 24 hour, continuous process. The process is not labor intensive, and is very robust. Length limitations are a result of the product packaging rather than process reliability. While not the top priority over the last three years, some development of the technology for downhole applications has continued. The surface applications are reaching a point of maturity, which will now allow some additional focus on the downhole market. Although the basic technology for use in surface and downhole applications is broadly similar, several changes have been implemented to make the pipe suitable for these applications. Field testing as well as lab testing was undertaken and this paper will review some of these field experiences, lessons learned and further improvements which were made as a result. It will also briefly cover the planned strategy and focus areas for expanding the use of the technology for downhole applications, and some current development, which will further extend the capabilities and applications of Composite Coiled Tubing. Tube Design The basic design of the spoolable composite tubing consists of an internal fluid barrier- normally a thermoplastic extrusion, on which the reinforcement is wound in a continuous process. (See Figure 1).
Composite Coiled Tubing (CCT) has been field tested on a number of applications with generally good results. This paper will summarize these field experiences and how the tubing has been improved from early versions to the latest product. Introduction Over the past seven years Fiberspar has developed continuous spoolable composite tubing technology, building upon work done by Conoco in the previous five years. Early development centered on downhole applications as a low fatigue and corrosion resistant alternative to steel coil tubing, but after this initial development period, market pull re-focused the technology on surface applications. As a result, the technology was first commercialized in 1999 as LinePipe, for surface gathering and injection applications. Almost two million feet has now been manufactured and installed successfully in these surface applications, mostly in North America. The technology has proven to be a reliable and cost effective alternative particularly for any corrosive application. It has also enabled innovative installation techniques, which are rapid, safe and require little manpower, and is setting new standards in installation speed and reliability for the small diameter pipe construction industry. As operating companies realize the promised benefits in installation and performance, the momentum in this area is gathering and composite spooled tubing has become a realistic alternative to existing corrosion resistant solutions such as lined steel, and discrete length reinforced fiberglass pipe8. The range of applications is growing as the technology matures and develops. The technology, and in particular the development of the manufacturing processes, has greatly benefited from this commercial success and volume production. When the technology was first developed, many industry experts believed that the biggest risk to establishing a commercial rather than a technical success would be the ability to manufacture long continuous lengths to a consistent high quality standard. Now, product is routinely made in lengths of 18,000 feet, and occasionally longer, in a highly automated, 24 hour, continuous process. The process is not labor intensive, and is very robust. Length limitations are a result of the product packaging rather than process reliability. While not the top priority over the last three years, some development of the technology for downhole applications has continued. The surface applications are reaching a point of maturity, which will now allow some additional focus on the downhole market. Although the basic technology for use in surface and downhole applications is broadly similar, several changes have been implemented to make the pipe suitable for these applications. Field testing as well as lab testing was undertaken and this paper will review some of these field experiences, lessons learned and further improvements which were made as a result. It will also briefly cover the planned strategy and focus areas for expanding the use of the technology for downhole applications, and some current development, which will further extend the capabilities and applications of Composite Coiled Tubing. Tube Design The basic design of the spoolable composite tubing consists of an internal fluid barrier- normally a thermoplastic extrusion, on which the reinforcement is wound in a continuous process. (See Figure 1).
Although wellbores have been intersected before - both through planned intersections for the purpose of well control and through unplanned wellbore collisions - they have not been intersected for the purpose of actually joining their wellpaths to effectively create one smooth continuous conduit from one surface location to another. There is just one exception: the very large conduit between England and France! The purpose of this paper is to review the planning and execution of what is believed to be the world's first planned successful joining of two such horizontal wells, with a slotted liner to casing connection in between them. Introduction This paper gives a review of the scope of this project and of its desired outcome. The review will include a description of the plans for the wells including their trajectories and depths. Also included is a discussion of pre-planning activities with emphasis on the technology that was expected to make the planned intersection a success. This paper will discuss testing the specialized equipment needed to enable the intersection, mock ranging tests necessary to know the positions of the wells relative to each other, and the accuracy achieved through modified use of magnetic ranging techniques. Finally, rigsite operations will be reviewed, problems encountered will be discussed, and the lessons learned pertinent to similar efforts in the future will be disclosed. Project Goals and Objectives As with any trial or development of new technology, clear goals, objectives and expectations must be identified prior to design and implementation. It was clear from the onset that this was to be a producing well, and, as such, sand control was a concern. The intersection of the two wellbores was strictly for science and had no value to the actual production of the originally planned wellbore. The value obtained was the knowledge of what could be accomplished, so that future implementation of the technology could be considered for strategic planning purposes. Following this line of thought, the goals of this project were laid out as follows:Apply current directional drilling technology to see if two horizontal wellbores could be intersected end to end. Success was defined as intersecting the two wellbores with the drill bit and being able to enter the wellbore of the second well with the drilling assembly.Run standard steel casing through the intersection to prove that the two wellbores could be linked with solid tubulars. Success was defined as being able to run regular 7-in. casing through an 8 3/4-in. intersection point without getting the casing stuck in the hole.Join the two casing strings with a connection technique that eliminated sand production. It was agreed that the connection technique used on this first well would be as simple as possible. If this initial trial was successful, future work could be done on a more advanced connection technique. Reservoir Description / Surface Location The location selected for the trial of this technology was on land in an unconsolidated sandstone reservoir. The reservoir was only 195 m true vertical depth (TVD). The original field development plan called for several horizontal wells to be drilled under a river running through the field. It was decided that one of these horizontal wells would be an excellent location to test out this technology, as only one additional well would need to be drilled and connected to the currently planned well. Since one well was already planned to be drilled from one side of the river, a second surface location was selected on the opposite side of the river. This arrangement placed the two surface locations approximately 430 m from each other.
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