Rotary Liner Drilling Application in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico

Mota, Jose Francisco; Campo, Donald B.; Menezes, Joseph; Smith, Peter E.; Jackson, Alan Tancel

doi:10.2118/99065-ms

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…reservoir section with a lower MW. An expandable liner hanger offered the capability to provide a highly effective seal, and it had proven itself in many other areas with difficult wellbore scenarios (Mota et al 2006, Wardak et al, 2008, Walvekar et al 2006, Cantu et al 2004, Lohoefer et al 2000.…”

Section: Figure 7 ─ Torque Simulations For Dwlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expandable Liner Hanger Drill-in Capability Provides Reliable Solution for North Sea Case History

Montanez

Jensen

Clute-Melancon

2009

SPE Offshore Europe Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The combination of unstable, highly pressured formations overlaying depleted reservoirs or low-pressure formations continues to challenge the drilling of oil and gas wells. A primary concern is the possible collapse of the formation due to the lack of mud weight window resulting in stuck pipe and incapability to run casing to depth, significantly impacting operational cost.One identified and proven solution for this challenge is the implementation of a "Drilling with Liner technique" (DwL). If the formation collapses during this operation, the casing is already in place, and thus, the weak formation is cased off.Due to the challenges intrinsic to DwL, the need for specialized drilling tools with sufficient mechanical capabilities such that the formation becomes the only limit has been identified.This paper will discuss one of these specialized drilling tools ─ an Expandable Liner Hanger (ELH) that has elastomeric elements bonded on to the hanger body. As the hanger body is expanded, the elastomeric elements are compressed and sealed against the casing. This provides gas tight liner-top pressure integrity as well as delivering impressive tensile and compressive load capacity on setting. The system can be set up for liner drilling, which enables the liner to be drilled into the low pressure reservoir, cemented, and the liner top to be isolated upon setting.Recently, an operator in Denmark used an ELH in combination with a liner to successfully drill into a formation that had caused problems in previous attempts. Advances made to an ELH system to address the various contingency activities, job planning methodology, activities that took place, and lessons learned from the job will be presented.

show abstract

Section: Figure 7 ─ Torque Simulations For Dwlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expandable Liner Hanger Drill-in Capability Provides Reliable Solution for North Sea Case History

Montanez

Jensen

Clute-Melancon

2009

SPE Offshore Europe Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Liner Drilling with Multiset Hanger and Retrievable BHA

Moffitt¹,

Eriksen²

2010

All Days

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drilling with liners has long been recognized as a potential solution to problems in oil and gas wells that are associated with drilling conventionally and running a liner to cover the interval in two separate steps. The most prevalent problems are covering time-sensitive formations with pipe prior to the hole sloughing in, and the detrimental effects of swab and surge when running tools into and out of open hole, leading to potential well control and casing/liner installation problems. Basic drilling with liners incorporating a bit made up to the end of the liner and then drilled to total depth helps solve these issues, however, sacrifices the ability to run more sophisticated tools in the bottom hole assembly (BHA). Also, traditional liner top equipment was neither designed to endure the rigors of drilling dynamics, nor the balance of minimizing the equivalent circulating density (ECD) in the drilling mode while maximizing the performance characteristics related to the mechanical properties of the liner top equipment. The ability to reliably overcome the above problems has been accomplished through the careful design and construction of a purpose-built liner drilling system. Specific consideration has been taken to balance the high bypass necessary for ECD reduction during both drilling and tripping operations, yet provide high burst, collapse, and tensile capacities of the liner top equipment while maintaining full drift through the tools. The system also allows for multiple BHA change-outs while leaving the liner parked in tension anywhere in the parent casing. This paper covers the drilling tests that have been performed with a liner system purpose-built for drilling applications with sophisticated BHAs that require the ability to be returned to surface for change out due to worn or malfunctioning equipment or once total depth is achieved.

show abstract

Cementing Production Liners Terminating in Depleted Reservoirs: A Case Study on Deepwater Wells off the East Coast of India

Yadav

Kumar

Iyer

et al. 2018

SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A lightweight cement solution was successfully applied in deepwater wells at depths greater than 1000 m and in production liners terminating in depleted reservoirs. These wells were drilled off the east coast of India. The fracture gradient prognosis for the depleted zones ranged from 11.0 to 11.28 lbm/gal. The measured depth (MD) of these wells was more than 4500 m (MDRT). Mud weights ranged from 10.9 to 11 lbm/gal in the well while drilling the zone. The length of the liner normally ranged from 1400 to 2300 m. The cement slurry was finalized after conducting numerous tests in the laboratory. A lead and tail combination was used for the job to maintain the required equivalent circulating density (ECD). In openhole completions, the casing or liner before the gravel pack should be landed in sand to establish having reached the reservoir top and to help ensure that no shale is present. Challenges for a successful liner job in these wells include landing in a depleted reservoir, which would enable a very low margin between the mud weight and fracture gradient. This margin is further reduced by the minimum horizontal stress mud weight requirement to help ensure that no hole collapse occurs while drilling and before cementing begins. In addition to the depleted zone, to maximize reservoir tapping, the well profiles are highly deviated, often reaching a well deviation of 80+ degrees, resulting in a high ECD during cementing. A long section of the cement column can create problems of cement channeling past the mud and mixing in the annulus. The correct prediction of pore pressure and fracture pressure for different sections is very important. Accurate knowledge of these values is recommended for a correct job design. Some of the lessons learned during the process to help ensure good zonal isolation include the following: An 11-lbm/gal lightweight lead slurry was formulated, keeping ECD and fluid rheology vs. strength development in mind. Solids loading was controlled to help ensure low friction factors (considering rheology) and to achieve a final compressive strength of 2,000 psi because it was a production casing.The length of the tail slurry column was maintained to a minimum to create minimal effect on the ECD, even though the hydrostatic pressure developed was marginal in a highly deviated section.A low-rheology/low-density synthetic oil-based mud (SOBM) (10 lbm/gal) was pumped ahead to reduce the ECD and to maintain the equivalent static density (ESD) above the pore pressure. In addition, the displacement rate was staggered to help maintain the ECDs.A high-viscosity pill was spotted at the 12 1/4-in. section total depth (TD) before the final pullout to act as a base for the cement slurry. This paper highlights the concerns and best practices developed when cementing production liners across depleted formations in deepwater wells.

show abstract

Rotary Liner Drilling Application in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

Expandable Liner Hanger Drill-in Capability Provides Reliable Solution for North Sea Case History

Expandable Liner Hanger Drill-in Capability Provides Reliable Solution for North Sea Case History

Liner Drilling with Multiset Hanger and Retrievable BHA

Cementing Production Liners Terminating in Depleted Reservoirs: A Case Study on Deepwater Wells off the East Coast of India

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About