M-I SWACO expertise helps set ERD world records
The extensive and leading-edge expertise of M-I SWACO in engineering extended reach wells achieved new heights this year with the drilling of two world record-breaking ERD wells.
Record number one was established in the Exxon Neftegas Limited Chayvo field offshore Sakhalin Island, north of Japan. In a field holding 17 of the world’s 30 longest ERD wells, a 12,012-ft 8 1⁄2 -in. horizontal section of Chayvo Well Z-12 was drilled to a 38,320 ft measured depth (MD) while maintaining a true vertical depth (TVD) at 8,530 ft, breaking the previous world record set on Well Z-11 by 1,306 ft. The revolutionary Warp* Fluids Technology was employed on the record setter.
The Chayvo Z-12 record had been held for only four months when Maersk Oil Qatar in May drilled Well BD-04 on the Al Shaheen field offshore Qatar to a world record length of 40,320 ft (12.3 km) with a horizontal section of 35,770 ft (10.9 km), besting the Chayvo Z-12 measured depth by exactly 2,000 ft. That record well was drilled with a low solids, non-dispersed Duovis/Polysal* HT system.
A Versaclean-Warp system, which had a proven track record drilling long reach reservoir sections on Exxon-Mobil’s Hibernia platform offshore Newfoundland, was used in the Chayvo campaign. The entire horizontal section of the record-breaking Al Shaheen field well was placed within a reservoir target only 20 ft (6 m) thick using a low solids, non-reservoir damaging, water-based drilling system.
“The (BD-04) well was drilled in 36 days and was incident-free. In addition to the longest reach well, Well BD-04 broke world records for the longest horizontal departure (35,956 ft); the longest 8 1⁄2-in. section (35,449 ft); the highest ERD ratio of horizontal departure/total vertical depth of (10/485); the longest reservoir contact (35,449 ft); and the longest open hole,” said Product Manager Doug Oakley.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, the first of many extended reach wells on the Manifa project was recently drilled with Schlumberger IPM in Saudi Arabia. The 12,997-ft 8 1⁄2 -in. interval was successfully drilled trouble-free to a 24,688-ft MD (8,350-ft TVD).
Fluid systems incorporating the Warp* Fluids Technology have been used successfully on a host of high-profile ERD wells worldwide, including the Xijiang field in the South China Sea, the deepwater Petronius field in the Gulf of Mexico and the Hibernia platform, among others. The system also is the system of choice on the StatoilHydro Late Life Project that prolongs the productive life of maturing reservoirs in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
“M-I SWACO leads the field in providing engineered drilling solutions for extended reach and horizontal drilling worldwide. The key to all these successful wells is the quality of M-I SWACO personnel who rigorously plan each extended reach well using proven design processes aided by engineering tools such as the Virtual Hydraulics* software and who apply lessons learned from other extended reach drilling operations worldwide,” Oakley said.
