Well Drilling

The scope of the paper is to explain, at first, the modification done to the conductor deck of a jack up rig in order to drill two exploration wells from one open water location, offshore of east coast of India. Further the paper explains the process of batch drilling used in the campaign and how the combination of the two resulted in substantial cost saving.

For the modification in conductor deck, feasibilities were checked for each rig during the tender evaluation stage to create an additional slot in the conductor deck while maintaining the conductor tensioning requirement on both slots. The conductor deck of the finalized rig was fabricated accordingly. The wells were planned, with one being vertical and the other deviated, to two different targets. The conductors on both wells were batch set. Similarly, the surface hole sections on both the wells were batch drilled & cased. Then drilling of the production holes, logging & abandonment were carried out batchwise.

As a result of batch drilling, the time in installation & removal of wellhead was completely saved as it was carried out offline. Similarly the time in installation & removal of BOP was reduced to half as it was done only once. There were other instances as well, described in detail in the paper, which led to a cumulative savings of 29.86 days against total planned time of 96.51 days during the complete drilling campaign, apart from saving days & associated weather risk by eliminating one complete rig move. Much of the time saved above was due to the batch drilling which was a result of the conductor deck modification and also due to the well design changes based on actual well conditions, which are also explained briefly in the paper.

As industry is recovering from a steep decline in drilling activity, it is only incremental innovations & even more so, a combination of existing innovations like the one showcased in this paper, which can lead to a positive economics for E&P companies, especially for exploration drilling projects.

Hydrocarbons are trapped at great depths with pressure and temperature higher than surface conditions which would vary depending on reservoir properties. When the well is set on production, these hydrocarbons travel through the wellbore over reducing geothermal and formation pressure gradients. Hence, at shallower depths the temperature drops below the cloud point and sometimes, below pour point of crude thus creating an ambient temperature for the formation of wax and deposition of paraffin on the inner side of production tubing.

It has been observed that when hot fluid passes through a pipe which is covered by a continuously circulating hot water bath, the temperature difference of the fluid at surface outlet and sub-surface reservoir is reduced to a minimal value. This paper therefore proposes a practical application of such heat transfer within a wellbore for passively solving major industrial issues of paraffin depositions. The idea lies in minimizing the heat losses, which can be effectively done by insulating the inner side of the casing so that the annulus and fluid flowing within the tubing is isolated from exterior losses. According to the First law of Thermodynamics the fluid flowing within the tubing will experience reduction in thermal gradient. These loses can be compensated by injecting hotter brine through a pipe at the bottom of the annulus, which is isolated, using production packer. Further, circulating hot fluid in the annulus would result in isothermal heating of the fluid flowing through the tube which would minimize the heat loss across tubing, causing an increase in temperature of fluid at the surface above pour point. Several researchers have put forth heat transfer equations across the tubing's, annulus, insulator, casing, cement and the formation which can be used to calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient and thus, the amount of heat losses. Quartz sensors placed at the bottom of a wellbore would detect bottom borehole temperature based on which the injection temperature of fluid can be manipulated. The entire process can be automated by applying an artificial intelligent system which would monitor, control and respond. This method would increase the capex but would decrease the operating cost thus leading to an increase in the life of the well.

In offshore platforms, with high well density, slot recovery technique is an efficient way to target new / un-swept avenues to boost the production levels in a mature field. This leads to utilization of an appreciable length of parent bore which is an advantage to the operators globally in terms of surface facility retention and associated rig time saved. This paper discusses an actual case-study wherein dual casing exit was achieved in an offshore platform well resulting in significant time and cost savings.

For the subject well the subsurface targets were quite far from the mother-bore, resulting in a plan to side-track the well at a shallow depth where double casing existed, i.e. 9-5/8″ × 13-3/8″. The options available were pilot milling and dual exit using whipstock. Unlike multi-casing exits, pilot milling is a time consuming method which requires multiple trips and involves large volume of metal swarf handling at surface. The CBL-VDL verified the presence of cement outside 9 5/8″ casing that further supported the case of dual casing exit operation. Consequently, associated risks were discussed and plans to mitigate the same were put in place.

Single-trip 8-1/2″ whipstock-milling system was used to cut a window suitable for running drilling BHAs, liner, and completion equipment. The 9-5/8″ × 13-3/8″ annulus was monitored during milling and FIT test to check for any pressure communications. For well control scenario, arrangements were made for connecting the annulus to the choke manifold to ensure a closed system and thereby have provision of circulating through choke in case of gas migration in the 9-5/8″ × 13-3/8″ annulus. The window milling operation was done using sea water & intermittent Hi-vis sweeps. The window was milled successfully in a "single trip", thereby saving considerable rig time. No excess drag or held-up was observed and gauge loss on mills when pulled out of the hole was negligible. Well integrity was intact with no pressure communication in the annulus. The job was a successful one that led to finishing the well within the planned time and thereby, led to timely release of the jack up rig before the onset of adverse weather conditions.

Multi-casing exit technology in two or three casing strings opens the multi-level advantages to well intervention techniques especially in situations where the wells are old with limited access due to presence of fish or other restrictions that makes the deeper section of the well non-usable. Such sections can be avoided by sidetracking at a shallow depth and also provides an opportunity to access targets that are quite far from the original mother-bore.

Wellbore instability is caused by the radical change in the mechanical strength as well as chemical and physical alterations when exposed to drilling fluids. A set of unexpected events associated with wellbore instability in shales account for more than 10% of drilling cost, which is estimated to one billion dollars per annum. Understanding shale-drilling fluid interaction plays a key role in minimizing drilling problems in unconventional resources. The need for efficient inhibitive drilling fluid system for drilling operations in unconventional resources is growing. This study analyzes different drilling fluid systems and their compatibility in unconventional drilling to improve wellbore stability.

A set of inhibitive drilling muds including cesium formate, potassium formate, and diesel-based mud were tested on shale samples with drilling concerns due to high-clay content. An innovative high-pressure high temperature (HPHT) drilling simulator set-up was used to test the mud systems. The results from the test provides reliable data that will be used to capture more effective drilling fluid systems for treating reactive shales and optimizing unconventional drilling.

This paper describes the use of an innovative drilling simulator for testing inhibitive mud systems for reactive shale. The effectiveness of inhibitive muds in high-clay shale was investigated. Their impact on a combination of problems, such high torque and drag, high friction factor, and lubricity was also assessed. Finally, the paper evaluates the sealing ability of some designed lost circulation material (LCM) muds in a high pressure high temperature environment.

Lost circulation is a complicated problem to be predicted with conventional statistical tools. As the drilling environment is getting more complicated nowadays, more advanced techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) are required to help to estimate mud losses prior to drilling. The aim of this work is to estimate mud losses for induced fractures formations prior to drilling to assist the drilling personnel in preparing remedies for this problem prior to entering the losses zone. Once the severity of losses is known, the key drilling parameters can be adjusted to avoid or at least mitigate losses as a proactive approach.

Lost circulation data were extracted from over 1500 wells drilled worldwide. The data were divided into three sets; training, validation, and testing datasets. 60% of the data are used for training, 20% for validation, and 20% for testing. Any ANN consists of the following layers, the input layer, hidden layer(s), and the output layer. A determination of the optimum number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each hidden layer is required to have the best estimation, this is done using the mean square of error (MSE). A supervised ANNs was created for induced fractures formations. A decision was made to have one hidden layer in the network with ten neurons in the hidden layer. Since there are many training algorithms to choose from, it was necessary to choose the best algorithm for this specific data set. Ten different training algorithms were tested, the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm was chosen since it gave the lowest MSE and it had the highest R-squared. The final results showed that the supervised ANN has the ability to predict lost circulation with an overall R-squared of 0.925 for induced fractures formations. This is a very good estimation that will help the drilling personnel prepare remedies before entering the losses zone as well as adjusting the key drilling parameters to avoid or at least mitigate losses as a proactive approach. This ANN can be used globally for any induced fractures formations that are suffering from the lost circulation problem to estimate mud losses.

As the demand for energy increases, the drilling process is becoming more challenging. Thus, more advanced tools such as ANNs are required to better tackle these problems. The ANN built in this paper can be adapted to commercial software that predicts lost circulation for any induced fractures formations globally.

In 2015, while coring in the carbonate reservoir in the second appraisal well on an oil and gas discovery in the Barents Sea (386 m water depth), the drill string fell 2 meters and a total mud loss was experienced leading to a well control incident. As a result, since 2016, the operator has introduced and used the Controlled Mud Level (CML) system. To date this system has been used on seven wells including two further appraisal wells on the same field and five exploration wells in the area.

In 2017 it was decided to drill a horizontal well in the same carbonate reservoir and to perform an extended production test in close proximity to the original loss well. Since it is not possible to predict where large voids (karsts) and natural fractures could be encountered, contingency to handle high losses, had to be implemented for the horizontal well. During the well planning, further risk reducing measures were implemented, including the use of wired drill pipe to improve the management of the wellbore pressure profile. This paper describes the planning processes leading up to the operation and the highlights of the operation itself together with the lessons learned. It elaborates on how wired pipe, used in combination with the CML system, added value to the operation. It shows how it was possible to drill the reservoir section with a low overbalance while managing severe losses associated with open karsts and natural fractures and still maintaining the fluid barrier. Despite the severe losses encountered it was possible to safely drill and complete the well without any well control event by use of the CML system.

This paper presents design, testing, installation, and lessons learned with the world's first completely integrated managed pressure drilling (MPD) control system on a deepwater drilling rig. While previous MPD installations have included driller-operated systems, they all include additional human machine interfaces (HMI) and standalone control network components with limited use of rig data and limited to no interfaces to other critical drilling machines on the drilling rig. For the installation described in this paper, all MPD control functions were permanently installed on the main drilling control network of the drilling unit, providing direct access to high speed data from other drilling machines that influence the wellbore pressure. This includes the rig's mud pumps, top drive, and drawworks. Moreover, the MPD control system has the ability to actively control the drilling machines, thereby optimizing performance through coordinated control of mud pump, top drive, and MPD chokes during drilling and connections.

Cement sheath is a critical barrier for maintaining well integrity. Formation of micro-annulus due to volume shrinkage and/or pressure/temperature changes is the major challenge in achieving good hydraulic seal. Expansion of cement after the placement is a promising solution to this problem. Expanding cement can potentially close micro-annulus and further achieve pre-stress condition because of the confinement. Primary aim of this paper is to investigate mechanical integrity of different pre-stressed cement system under loading condition.

To achieve the objectives, finite element modelling approach was employed. Three dimensional computer models consisting of liner, cement sheath, and casing were developed. Pre-stress condition was generated by modelling contact interference at the cement-casing interface. Three cement (ductile, moderately ductile, and brittle) were considered for simulation cases. Wellbore and annulus pressure were applied. Resultant, radial, hoop, and maximum shear stresses were investigated at the cement-pipe interface to assess mechanical integrity. For comparison purpose, similar simulations were conducted using cement sheath without pre-stress and cement system representing uniform volume shrinkage and presence micro-annulus.

For constant wellbore pressure, the radial stresses observed in all three types of cement system were practically similar and decreased as pre-stress was increased. Hoop stress also reduced with increase in compressive pre-load. However, their absolute values were distinct for different cement types. These results indicate that cement system with compressive pre-load can notably reduce the risk of radial crack failure by providing compensatory compressive stress. However, on the contrary, the maximum shear stress developed at cement-pipe interface, increased because of pre-load. This can compromise the mechanical integrity by reducing the safety margin on shear failure. Thus, the selection of expansive cement should be made after carefully weighing reduced risk of radial failure/debonding against the increased risks of shear failure.

This paper provides novel information on expanding cement from the perspective of mechanical stresses and integrity. Modelling approach discussed in this work, can be used to estimate amount of pre-stress required for a selected cement system under anticipated wellbore loads.

Foaming in absorber column for sour gas treatment using amine is a common problem which adversely affects column performance leading to reduction in sales and fuel-gas production and solvent loss. Mostly antifoam injection has been a common method to counter the foaming, large dosage and frequent dosing of antifoam many a times aggravates the problem. This study details an alternative technique based on pressure pulse mechanism to control foaming in one of ONGC's gas sweetening plants.

One of ONGC's amine based sour gas sweetening plants faced severe foaming problem frequently. The feed rate is 200 kscm/hr and absorber column operating pressure is 51 kg/cm2. The experiment utilizes the property of surface tension which fluctuates with change in pressure of the system leading to foam collapse. The experimental procedure involved varying the sour gas feed rate, thereby creating pressure pulse inside the absorber column. Differential pressure across the column which is an indicator of foaming tendency is then monitored and controlled within 1.0 kg/cm2 and recorded for establishing effectiveness of the method.

It is observed that by providing a number of cycles of pressure pulse in the absorber, the differential pressure stabilizes gradually which indicates collapse of foam. It shows that whenever there is increase in feed, expansion of bubble takes place which provides high interfacial liquid-vapour contact. On the other hand whenever there is decrease in feed rate, compression of bubble takes place which provides low interfacial liquid-vapour contact. Surface layer surrounding the bubbles in a foam acts as a membrane or skin that can stretch or relax in response to change in pressure and gives a mechanical shock which breaks the bubble. The increase of size ultimately leads to instability and break-up of the upper surface and releases the liquid holdup. Hence by using feed rate spikes, the pressure of the bubble is pulsed to higher levels and returned to substantially the original level. This cycle continues for a selected number of times so that this pressure pulse travels through the liquid and bubbles and affects its surface tension. This results into a transition phase which in very high energy level breaks the bubble and releases the gas and decreases the liquid hold up and controls the foaming phenomenon.

This paper will gives an insight into a novel methodology of mitigating foaming problem in a sour gas treating absorber just by varying the feed rates in a controlled manner. This technique eliminates the need for injecting antifoam agents which in turn will reduce the operating expenditure of the plant. Adverse impact on environment due to excessive use of antifoam agent is also minimized.

Drilling operations are faced with conditions of subsurface uncertainty with unexpected drilling hazard potential. Operation is done in 24 hours a day continuously, until drilling is declared complete. The consequence of this work environment is the potential for high work accident, one of which is caused by situational conditions in the field that allow the communication limitations in clear and detailed.

Such conditions may include high-noise working conditions, limited visibility due to weather hazards (rain, fog, dark / night), and sour gas exposure. In this condition, often verbal communication is followed by non verbal communication, either in the form of the use of horns (morse), flag raising (semaphore) and limb movements. Non-verbal communication will be more urgent if the drilling operation conditions in emergency conditions, such as the occurrence of kick, blowout and exposure to sour gases. Non-verbal communication occasionally used in any drilling site does not have standardization, thus increasing the potential for communication errors.

Methods Non-verbal instructions intended in this paper is a sign language that serves as a medium for delivering work orders (instructions). This non verbal instruction uses one limb, represented by at least 2 limb movements in at least 2 stages of movement, to interpret a command or work instruction. If less than 2 movements or less than 1 stage of movement, then the movement of the body may have meaning, but can not be implemented because the instructions are not complete

With the invention, paper and efforts of this standardization, the communication process and the delivery of orders in both normal and emergency conditions at the drilling sites can be carried out in a structured, standardized, clear, detailed and widely applicable manner. The instruction method in the form of non-verbal codes is named: NS Blind Code Drilling, which has been registered since December 2014 to the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights and is in process related to the patent application.