Successful Milestones Achieved Towards High-Power Laser Drilling

Abstract

This paper presents the critical successes towards developing high-power laser (HPL) drilling applications. The accomplishment of the recent field trial in a live well demonstrated that it is possible to mobilize a high-power laser system from the lab to the field and perform the first high-power laser operations. HPLs can penetrate different rock types regardless of their compressive strength in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective manner, providing a long-term solution and alternatives to several conventional operations. Our work developed a comprehensive and stage-gated roadmap to deploy the technology for several upstream applications, including descaling, perforation, and drilling. This strategy is broken into sequential milestones, where each success enables progress to the next level. High-power laser technology has been tested and proven to effectively penetrate all types of rocks, regardless of their strength and composition, such as carbonate, shale, and sandstones. The field-ready HPL system builds on two decades of intense research providing a unique tool that enables safe and environmentally friendly operations. The portable system comprises a laser generator, a nitrogen tank, coiled tubing, energy conveyance cables, and the optical Bottom Hole Assembly (oBHA). A successful milestone has been accomplished by integrating high-power laser components in the field, including splicing the energy conveyance cable to the oBHA and the laser generator in an open space. The tool was deployed using coiled tubing, which carried the energy and telemetry conveyance cable. The test demonstrated that the tool could effectively penetrate casing, cement, and formation in a live well. This achievement is the second successful milestone after HPL surface descaling towards enabling high-power laser drilling. The technology offers unique features to drilling, such as precise control and orientation of the HPL to drill in any direction and through any formation. HPL drilling is independent of the reservoir's stress orientation and magnitude. An HPL system for drilling would be compact, environmentally friendly, and could drill and case simultaneously.