Managed Pressure Drilling and Managed Pressure Cementing: Adapted Set of Equipment to Improve Well Construction Efficiency in Complex Geological Conditions

Abstract

With the increasing scope of drilling at explored oil fields and new fields, field operators face more geological challenges while drilling new wells. Such complications not only extend the well construction time and increase the cost of drilling, but also may cause harm to health of personnel. Oilfield service companies offer a variety of modern solutions, and one of those is the Managed Pressure Drilling and Cementing technologies (MPD and MPC). The MPD and MPC technology has long been used successfully in the industry, but the number of candidate wells is limited, specifically due to the large amount of auxiliary equipment. The excessive amount of equipment reduces the cost efficiency of the technology. Therefore, to make the technology replicable, it is vital to adapt the MPD equipment to the current economic reality. This paper describes the experience of drilling and cementing of a 178 mm liner section using an adapted set of MPD equipment at an oilfield in Russian Federation. The well was drilled in narrow operation window conditions, i.e., the difference between the formation pressure, wellbore stability and the drilling fluid loss pressure, was not sufficient for conventional drilling. Complications occurring in conventional drilling led to increased rig time, additional expenses and, therefore, higher cost of well drilling for the Customer. To solve these challenges, we used an adapted set of equipment comprising the following: one rotating control device (RCD) to seal the wellhead, one compact automatic choke to maintain backpressure in the annulus, and a precision Coriolis flow meter to measure the drilling fluid flow rate. Such a set of equipment provides all necessary functionality. In addition, it reduces amount of required equipment and has other advantages during mobilization process, rig up, maintenance and spare parts.