Horizontal Drilling with Coiled Tubing: A Look at Potential Application to North Sea Mature Fields in Light of Experience Onshore The Netherlands

Abstract

Drilling with a continuous coiled string presents an array of opportunities for reducing drilling costs and improving production potential. It offers exciting perspectives for enhanced resource management in established oil and gas provinces. A Shell operating company recently completed a horizontal sidetrack with coiled tubing onshore the Netherlands. A medium radius horizontal lateral was drilled with a 2-inch coiled tubing. This operation was the first step towards the development of a comprehensive Coiled Tubing Drilling (CTD) system able to re-enter and re-complete wells without conventional rig assistance. Operations in the Netherlands provided key parameters for evaluation of the potential and limitations of CTD. This experience indicates that CTD is a suitable technology for the optimization of mature North Sea fields. It offers potential cost advantages and should help to maximize hydrocarbon recovery in this area. New developments are required to meet the challenges of the offshore environment, under-balance operations, short-radius multiple drainholes or through tubing drilling to name but a few. Investments in these directions are well worth while, in view of the opportunities that CTD offers for enhancement of the drilling and production process. Introduction Despite intensive worldwide exploration efforts during the past decade, most petroleum basins are approaching or have reached maturity. More than three-quarters of current additions to the world's total hydrocarbons reserves are procured by optimizing recovery from existing fields. The challenge for the oil industry is, therefore, to identify strategies for maximizing the value of established reserves. Improved exploitation of hydrocarbon sources will increasingly rely on focused application of advanced technologies in a multidisciplinary fashion. CTD emerges as a promising technique in this context. ADVANTAGES AND POTENTIAL OF CTD The concept of using a continuous drillstring has been around in the oil industry for more than 30 years. Several drilling systems developed during this period have demonstrated the viability and advantages of a flexible drillstem [1, 2, 3]. Although none of these systems is in use nowadays recent advances in coiled tubing and drilling technology have renewed interest in this technique. Increased awareness of the adverse effect of formation damage (Fig. 1) on productivity, together with environmental concerns, provided the business justification for a number of pioneering trials [4, 5] in various oil and gas provinces. CTD has two basic advantages, which are discussed below. P. 359^

Coiled Tubing Drilling: A Means to Minimize Environmental Impact

“…Horizontal Sidetracking In the Netherlands [4] Shell International and NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij B.V.) recognized CTD as a technique that had the potential to meet both their business and environmental objectives.…”