by Linda Hsieh, assistant managing editor

For many petroleum engineers who end up building their careers on the drilling side of the business, one common theme often appears: Production is boring.

It is no different for David Payne, vice president – drilling & completions for Chevron, who spent approximately 18 months working as a production engineer for Getty Oil Company after getting his petroleum and natural gas engineering degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1981. “Production work bored me to tears,” he recalled.

David Payne, Chevron, visits the ultra-deepwater drillship Discoverer Clear Leader as it gets ready to begin operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig commenced its five-year contract with Chevron in August.

Maybe a part of it was that he had gotten to spend time on drilling rigs during a summer internship for Getty the year before, and knew there was a whole different world on the drilling side. “It just seemed like there was something new every day (on drilling rigs). Something’s always happening. … I like the go-go attitude, and I’m always looking for newer and better ways to do things,” he said.

He finally got the chance to switch gears from production to drilling when a drilling engineering position opened up in Santa Maria, Calif. And when Texaco acquired Getty, he moved offshore California. After six months filling the night shift, Mr Payne finally got to supervise his own rig on Platform Harvest. “Then it got really fun,” he said.

He described his biggest challenge at the time as “trying to get people to think beyond what they’ve done and do something different. We have an innovative group of people in this industry, then there’s this big core that’s very traditional. Getting those traditional folks to see that maybe there’s a better way to do things was a big challenge.”

Mr Payne left Texaco in 1988, opting to work for a small independent oil company that, unfortunately, ran out of funding in less than a year. Still, he noted that it was a worthy experience because it gave him a taste of a different side of the business – in fact, an entirely different way to run the business. “Basically I was the drilling department. I was the drilling department, the procurement department, the permit department. I’d design the wells, and then go sit the rigs when we were drilling them,” he said.

After nearly a year working as an independent drilling consultant for various oil companies, Mr Payne was recruited into Unocal in 1990 as a drilling engineer. He immediately began pushing the envelope with ambitious drilling programs, wanting to drill horizontal wells that people weren’t sure they could drill. “I said, ‘Let’s see what we can do,’” he recalled.

He eventually became involved in five of the first cased-hole multilateral horizontal wells in the world, offshore California. One milestone achieved was the development of a hydraulic top drive system for small rigs. “I knew we had to rotate pipe to get to bottom to drill the wells we wanted to drill… we started digging around and built this little top drive out of a power swivel we found in south Louisiana,” he said. Another milestone came when his project used several of the world’s first retrievable whipstocks, which Mr Payne called great successes. “We set them at a very high angles and got every one of them back out of the ground.”

Overseas, Mr Payne has spent time in Trinidad, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. He remembers arriving in Indonesia and working with the local team to push for new and better ways to drill. “We got in there and drilled the first horizontal wells in East Kalimantan. Everybody said we couldn’t do it, that we couldn’t stay in the sand.” But they did, and it brought about a mini-boom in horizontal drilling there. He also assisted in the development of monobore completions and surface BOP stacks that resulted in significant cost reductions in operations there.

Chevron acquired Unocal in 2005, and Mr Payne was promoted to his current position in May 2006. Now, more than anything else, he spends his time on people. “It’s about setting a tone for how we want to run our business, and making sure we have the right people with the right skill sets and the right attitude. And it’s the right thing to do. If I spend my time on equipment and technology, I will do the enterprise a disservice. I need to make sure we have the right people to do those things.”

For Chevron’s service partners, Mr Payne urges them to understand his company’s business and drivers: “Too often we have solutions brought to us for problems we may or may not have.” They also must focus on the long term, especially in this economic climate. “Believe it or not, the money’s made in the downturns. It’s what you do in the down cycles and how you prepare yourself for the next upturn that differentiates a company,” he said.

Transocean announced that Steven L Newman has been chosen to succeed Robert L Long as the company’s chief executive officer upon Mr Long’s retirement in Q1 2010.

Steven Newman

Mr Newman has served in his current position as president and chief operating officer since May 2008. He previously served in various senior management roles, including executive vice president of performance; executive vice president and chief operating officer; senior vice president of human resources, information process solutions, and treasury; and vice president of performance and technology. He also has served in international field and operations management positions, including project engineer, rig manager, division manager, region marketing manager, region operations manager and region manager.

“We thank Bob for his tremendous contributions to the company for over 30 years, including, as CEO, his role in creating a strong, world-class organization from the combination of Transocean and GlobalSantaFe,” said Robert E Rose, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Ihab Toma

Separately, Ihab Toma has been named senior vice president of marketing and planning for Transocean. Based in Geneva, Mr Toma will be responsible for marketing and planning for the company’s fleet of 133 mobile offshore drilling units worldwide. He will also oversee Transocean Solutions, offering packages for well construction and field development, and subsidiaries Applied Drilling Technology and Challenger Minerals. He previously served in different capacities at Schlumberger.

Further, David A Tonnel has been named Transocean’s senior vice president, Europe and Africa Unit (EAU). Mr Tonnel will be based in Paris and will succeed Ricardo H Rosa, who will become senior vice president and chief financial officer. Mr Tonnel currently serves as the company’s interim vice president of global supply chain, a position he has held since November 2008.

Pride International announced that Imran (Ron) Toufeeq, senior vice president, asset management and engineering, has been appointed to the role of senior vice president, operations, asset management and engineering. He will report to president and CEO Louis A Raspino. Mr Toufeeq joined Pride in 2004 as vice president, engineering. He has extensive experience in the design, procurement, construction and operation of ultra-deepwater drilling rigs. As senior vice president, international deepwater division for R&B Falcon Corp, he managed the construction of nine ultra-deepwater drillships.

W Gregory Looser, currently senior vice president, legal, information strategy and general counsel, has been appointed to the new role of senior vice president and chief administrative officer. He will be responsible for executive oversight of the global supply chain, QHSE, industry and governmental affairs, information technology and legal departments. He will continue to report to Mr Raspino.

Brady K Long, currently vice president, deputy general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary, has been appointed to the role of vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary, reporting to Mr Looser. Mr Long currently serves as chairman of the IADC Ethics & Corporate Compliance Committee.

Rodney W Eads, who served as executive vice president and chief operating officer, is no longer with the company.

Diamond Offshore Drilling has named Robert G Blair to the post of senior vice president, contracts and marketing. Most recently, Mr Blair served as vice president, contracts and marketing, the Americas. He has been with the company since 1979 and holds both BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Trampas Poldrack has joined Basic Energy Services as a corporate marketing representative in Houston. He will support and facilitate the development and implementation of the company’s business and marketing plans.Previously, he held the position of business development manager for Cudd Well Control. Mr Poldrack is an active member of IADC, SPE, AADE and IPAA, and has over 22 years of experience in the energy industry.

Ensco International senior vice president – operations Phillip (Jeff) Saile has retired after 22 years of service. Senior vice president Carey Lowe will assume responsibility for the company’s deepwater business unit. Executive vice president – chief operating officer Bill Chadwick will assume responsibility for the North and South America Business Unit.

D.E. “Don” Jacobsen has been named as Noble Corp’s senior vice president – operations while Roger B Hunt has been named as the company’s senior vice president – marketing and contracts. Immediately prior to joining Noble, Mr Jacobsen served as vice president, global drilling and completions with Hess Corp, where he was responsible for increasing organizational capability, promoting a culture of safety and health and ensuring operational excellence. Mr Hunt most recently served as senior vice president – marketing at GlobalSantaFe, a position he held from 1997 to 2007.

Weatherford International has completed its purchase of Secure Drilling, which offers the patented Micro-Flux technology. This follows the 1 January 2009 announcement that it had entered a joint venture agreement with Impact Solutions Group for a 50% interest in Secure Drilling.

James Cox has joined Proserv Offshore as regional sales manager and Rene Bergeron joined as estimating proposal manager. Mr Cox will be responsible for leading and developing US sales and marketing strategy. Mr Bergeron will be responsible for estimating duration, equipment and techniques for abandonment services projects.

Fraser Louden has been appointed as the new CEO of READ Group. He previously served as the group’s vice president and replaces acting CEO Alexander Shaw, who resumes his role as READ Group CFO.

Alcoa has reached an agreement to acquire Noble Corp’s intellectual property pertaining to welded aluminum risers used in offshore oil and gas exploration and development. Noble designs and deploys welded aluminum riser systems using Alcoa’s advanced extrusions and forgings. This acquisition enables Alcoa to partner with oil and gas manufacturers to develop lightweight welded aluminum risers for deepwater applications. Alcoa also has signed a development agreement with Cameron to commercialize aluminum drilling riser systems for offshore oil and gas exploration and development.

Baker Hughes Incorporated has expanded its clear brine fluids infrastructure with the completion of full-service completion fluids plants in Fourchon, La., and Galveston, Texas. With an operational capacity of over 89,000 barrels, these plants will service operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Both facilities include significant storage for clear brine fluids, brine recycling processes and equipment, field brine laboratory capabilities, and specialty product tanks to deliver pre-mixed additives.

PRODUCTS

GT-80 integrated into NOV CTES Cerberus

Global Tubing’s GT-80 (80,000-psi minimum specified yield strength) coiled-tubing products have been integrated into National Oilwell Varco CTES’ Cerberus 9.0 coiled-tubing modeling and management software program, which helps operators to monitor and model the fatigue life and consumption of individual coiled tubing strings. “Coiled tubing operators and their clients can now readily quantify some of the advantages of GT-80 products, such as longer fatigue life, over other products currently available,” said C Robert Bunch, Global Tubing chairman and CEO.

IPD is introducing engine overhaul products for the Detroit Diesel 60 series engine with two-piece articulated steel crown/aluminum skirt pistons. This release utilizes the IPD-patented cylinder liner with a parabolic cooling groove. “We feel this liner design utilizing our patented groove allows for the cooling necessary while maintaining the flange integrity that is needed in today’s high-horsepower applications,” Bob Straw, IPD vice president of sales and marketing said.

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is launching its XploR range of explosive decompression-resistant materials. Fully compliant with NORSOK M710, the range includes Isolast XploR J9513, the first perfluoroelastomer on the market to meet the requirements of this stringent RGD test. This suite of advanced elastomers includes compounds in HNBR, FKM and Isolast Perfluoroelastomer (FFKM). In independent tests, materials within the XploR range were able to satisfy both the NORSOK M-710 sour service and Rapid Gas Decompression (RGD) test conditions.

Pride International’s commitment to training runs deep, a company culture in a land where learning runs back through the centuries. In the land where the Marquis de Lafayette reportedly trained, Pride International tore down its decades-old training center and there, like the proverbial Phoenix, arose a new and better facility.

A rig on top of a test well at Pride’s Lescar training facility allows students to practice rig floor operations in a teamwork setting while under the watch of experienced instructors.

The new training center in Lescar, France, represents a 2 million euro investment, with 300,000 euros contributed by three local government agencies. The light, airy structure more than doubles the size of the original, with 1,295 sq m vs 609 sq m in the old, and five large classrooms and several small ones. The new facility also includes two dedicated spaces for well control and another for the full-size simulator, whereas the original facility had only a single combined well-control/simulator chamber.

For practical instruction, the center features an IDECO H35 rig atop a 928-m test well. Students can practice rig-floor and monkeyboard operations, as well as well control situations.

“Training has become so critical across our industry and this facility will be one of the best assets we have to better prepare employees for real-life drilling operations,” said Pride president and chief executive officer Louis A Raspino, speaking at the dedication ceremony. Mr Raspino serves as the 2009 vice chairman of IADC.

Several speakers representing regional, departmental and local government branches, including Lescar Mayor Christian Laine, also made addresses.

The new facility more than doubles the size of the original. It now includes two dedicated spaces for well control and another for a full-size simulator.

“Furthermore,” Mr Raspino continued, “Pride is proud of the partnerships we have established with the local and regional governments that contributed to this center. We know that, in addition to training a highly skilled workforce, we also play a positive role in the local economy. We have always felt very welcome in Lescar and look forward to building on our positive relationships.”

Pride’s commitment to training extends beyond Lescar as well.  The company will soon break ground on a new training center in Brazil, and plans are under way to expand training space in its Houston headquarters to meet ongoing needs.

The Lescar facility has seven permanent instructors, two with 35 years of experience with the company, and two former drillers with more than a decade of experience each. For example, René Robin boasts 35 years with Pride. He has instructed on drilling operations and equipment at Lescar for 2 ½ years and has previously served as a rig superintendent.

Mr Robin is also the chief custodian of what the school calls, tongue in cheek, the “museum.” This is the school’s varied collection of drilling equipment, including a BOP, for students to dissect and repair, tinkering that builds skills for the rig.

Various drilling equipment are on hand for students to dissect and repair at Pride’s training center in Lescar, France.

The other senior instructor is Bruno Geoffroy, who’s similarly been with the company for 35 years and a former rig superintendent. Mr Geoffroy teaches safety and safety leadership, along with drilling courses for floorman to assistant driller. He has served as an instructor for six years.

Further, Dominique Dupuis, a well-respected drilling engineer and longtime member of the programme committees for IADC World Drilling and the IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, teaches occasional high-level courses, including drilling, deep subsea and well design.

Pride and its legacy company Forasol Foramer has operated the Lescar facility since the late 1970s. Training center manager Alain Jost credits Pride management for its vision and support in re-inventing the Lescar center.

According to Mr Jost, “The training center is fully equipped to deliver all the courses needed to operate the rig. We have everything here to run safety courses, drilling courses, and, of course, well control courses.”

But not only the facility has improved. Pride Lescar recently achieved accreditation under the IADC Competence Assurance Accreditation (CAA) Program for seven job positions – assistant driller, derrickman, driller, floorman, night toolpusher, roustabout and toolpusher.

CAA is designed to assure that company training programs meet accepted practices for training personnel in specific skills. More information about this program can be found online at www.iadc.org/competence/index.html.

Pride’s training center is also accredited under IADC’s WellCAP and IWCF.

Mr Jost said that some 500 students attended courses at the center during 2007 and 2008, for a total of 8,000 training days each year.

In addition to “standard” coursework, Pride designed two special programs to accelerate development of new personnel, one geared toward the management track and the second toward rig operations.

“This is a program that was started by Pride three years ago as a result of market demands for trained people,” Mr Jost said.

Technical know-how is vital, but so is teamwork. To develop that invaluable intangible, Pride Lescar has designed a 2½-day stripping course. The exercise, in which a gas kick is controlled while tripping with the bit off bottom, is operated by the facility’s driller, derrickman and floormen, but the trainees give all the instructions and control the choke, trip and stripping tanks.

To set up the exercise, compressed nitrogen is injected at the TD of the 1,000-m well, the gas-injection rate and pressure adjusted as desired.

“Our policy is to let the trainees lead the crew and manage the problem by themselves and learn from their mistakes during a post-exercise debriefing,” Mr Jost said. “They understand quickly that preparation, organisation and team work is the key for these exercises.

Normally, he added, the first exercise is difficult and nearly fails. But results improve significantly on the second run. By the third time, the team has the process down nearly perfectly. This despite a tricky additional challenge of also running an annular-to-ram procedure.

“This training course is the best we can offer, as it improves  knowledge in a well control situation while tripping, forces the team to communicate, foresee operations and put a very good organisation in place,” explained Mr Jost.

Pride is also ready to help others in the industry, as well. Said Mr Jost, “We are ready to open our doors to external companies for their training needs.”   DC

Weatherford International and ENI have entered an agreement to develop a subsea drilling-with-casing system. It will enable a 20-in. casing string and its high-pressure wellhead housing to be drilled to a pre-determined depth, cemented in place and released in one run. The system will be capable of working with any high-pressure wellhead housing on the market.

The aim is to take the benefits of drilling with casing, like mitigating shallow hazards, to the previously non-applicable and costly subsea environment. In doing so, this system will minimize risk while allowing maximum flow area to be maintained. Ultimately, Weatherford believes that the system – called SeaLance – will allow the remaining casing seats to be pushed deeper into the wellbore. They also anticipate that the technology will further enable applications in subsalt plays.

Drillmec to supply 100th HH rig

Drillmec has signed the contract for its 100th HH rig, an automated hydraulic rig introduced to the land drilling market in 1996. The 100th HH will be supplied at the beginning of next year to ENEL, the national Italian electricity company. It will operate in the Larderello area of Tuscany for geothermal projects. The rig is a fully automatic HH-300.

Key features of the Drillmec design are: a trailer that can move on small and narrow roads; a substructure that can pass over the top of existing wellheads; and a vertical pipe storage and loading system that can accommodate a minimum of 3,500 m of 5-in. drill pipe.

RTCI system monitors sand screen deformations, casing shape

A Real-Time Compaction Imaging (RTCI) system has been unveiled that can lead to significant savings in well completions by using fiber optics to monitor sand screen deformations and casing shape in real time. The system, jointly developed by Shell and Baker Hughes Incorporated, was previewed on 9 July at the Baker Hughes Center for Technology Innovation in Houston.

The RTCI system uses Bragg grating sensors incorporated within a sand screen instrumented with optical fibers to monitor strain and acquire a three-dimensional high-resolution deformation image of the screen. Tens of thousands of the sensors are spaced helically as close as 1 cm apart, each capable of measuring sub-micrometer deformations. They provide continuous and real-time monitoring of well deformation, reservoir compaction and well integrity, all without intervention. They are also sensitive to all tubular strains, including axial, bending, crushing, pressure and temperature.

Vianney Koelman, Shell manager of in-well monitoring technology, noted that the operator decided to invest in this technology because there are many potential applications related to well integrity, production optimization and recovery optimization. One of the most important was measuring compaction and geomechanically induced well deformations, he said, which will provide early warnings for well failures – “an important reason we started all this back in 2002.”

Bragg grating sensors, spaced as close as 1 cm apart, are incorporated within a sand screen instrumented with fiber optics and used in Shell and Baker Hughes’ Real-Time Compaction Imaging system. It can acquire a 3D high-resolution deformation image of the screen, providing continuous monitoring in real time.

“This is not a technology that is just an improvement over an existing technology. This is providing completely new measurements (that we weren’t capable of measuring before)… it will open up a whole new playground that will lead to further understanding what is going on downhole.”

Current deployment options for the RTCI are casing and 9 5/8-in. gravel pack systems. The first successful trial of the RTCI on casing took place at Shell’s Pinedale, Wyo., operations in 2008. The system was applied on two joints of 7-in. casing at different wrap angles – the wrap angle dictates sensitivity to a particular deformation mode. Key events during casing cementing (pumping cement, bumping the plug and cure) were clearly visible in the data.

A successful test of a sand control completion integrated with the fiber-optic RTCI system was completed in January 2009 at the Baker Hughes BETA test rig in Oklahoma. During the test, the wet connect successfully mated eight fibers with excellent optical connectivity (approximately 0.5 dB loss).

Additional field testing is planned for Q4 this year, when the system is expected to become available on the market.

To see a video of the RTCI horizontal gravel pack strain test, conducted in May 2009, click here.

Drill bit SWD system promises to truly ‘see’ ahead of the bit

Technology International has developed a borehole imaging system based on drill bit seismic-while-drilling (SWD) technologies that use a downhole acoustic source and receivers at the surface to create real-time images. The result, they say, is that operators will be able to “see” ahead of the drill bit.

According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), which sponsored the project, all possible borehole pulsed sources produce high frequencies by their nature. This is counter to the need for low frequencies that transmit long distances through rock. The new tool has a unique sparker control system that can be adjusted from the surface to meet the demands of depth, rock properties and other geological variances.

Built into or attached onto the drillstring, the system emits broadband low-frequency sounds that, based on seismic calculations, can be transmitted to surface receivers from depths beyond 30,000 ft. It will provide accurate drill bit location relative to pre-drill reservoir models and real-time images roughly 1,000 ft ahead of the drill bit – without interfering with normal drilling operations, according to project managers.

They add that the system can improve safety and reduce costs by detecting unexpected pore pressures ahead of the bit. It also will allow operators to visualize and steer toward more optimal targets when drilling deep formations.

Called the SeismicPULSER, the new system was developed for harsh high-pressure, high-temperature environments found in deep onshore and offshore deepwater wells. It is nearing commercialization. Field testing has been performed at the University of Texas’ Devine seismic test site and the DOE’s Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center near Casper, Wyo.

Click here for a Q&A with Technology International president Robert Radtke on the development of this technology, from the July/August 2008 issue of DC.

Hughes Christensen two-cone bit designated as historical landmark

The two-cone bit replaced the traditional fishtail bit in the early 1900s.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has designated the Hughes Christensen two-cone drill bit as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

The designation was presented during a ceremony at the Baker Hughes drill bit technology facility in The Woodlands, Texas, on 10 August – the 100th anniversary of the two-cone drill bit patent.

An early production two-cone drill bit will be permanently displayed in the lobby at this facility.

“The Hughes two-cone drill bit launched Hughes Tool Company. Perhaps more important, many experts view it as a key technology that ushered in a new era of abundant, inexpensive fuel,” said Scott Schmidt, president of the Hughes Christensen product line.

Prior to 1909, the traditional fishtail bit scraped the rock and quickly dulled in service. The two-cone bit’s rolling action crushed hard-rock formations, allowing drillers to tap vast oil reservoirs deep below the surface.

The ASME History and Heritage Landmarks Program began in 1971 and has designated nearly 250 landmarks as historic mechanical engineering landmarks, heritage collections or heritage sites. Each represents a progressive step in the evolution of mechanical engineering and its significance to society.

Longest horizontal well built in Abu Dhabi field

An operator in Abu Dhabi has successfully drilled, logged and completed the longest horizontal well in the ASAB Field in Abu Dhabi. After the 7-in. shoe was landed at 9,250 ft (2,820 m), the 6-in. hole was drilled to 14,343 ft (4067 m), the well was logged, then an open-hole isolation completion was installed.

Baker Hughes deployed the INTEQ 4 ¾-in. StarTrak LWD and reservoir navigation tools along with AutoTrak/LithoTrak systems to drill the well. A Hughes Christensen bit was used, achieving an average ROP of 50.5 ft/hr (15.4 m/hr). The well completed with the installation of five Baker Oil Tools REPackers to compartmentalize 5,000 ft (1,524 m) of 6-in. open-hole section of the well.

Separately, an European operator has drilled the longest casing-while-drilling run in the Eastern Hemisphere using the Hughes Christensen EZCase bit. It was run on an onshore exploration well drilled with a new rig. The objectives were to drill and case-off the loose tertiary sand and reactive shale and to use the run to gradually introduce the drilling crew to an unfamiliar automated rig system.

The bit drilled from surface to 780 m (2,559 ft) MD in 71 hours with an on-bottom ROP of 11 m/hr (36 ft/hr) using controlled drilling. The casing was successfully cemented through the EZCase shoe, and the bit was drilled out in 1.5 hours with a Genesis 8 ½-in. “drill-out” PDC bit. The bit went on to drill to section TD at 2,075 m (6,808 ft).

Anadarko Petroleum announced in late July a discovery at the Vito exploration well in Mississippi Canyon block 984. The well encountered more than 250 net feet of oil pay in subsalt Miocene sands. The company said it expects to drill two additional prospects that are targeting similar subsalt Miocene objective sections along this trend at its Silverado and Haleakala prospects in Mississippi Canyon in 2010.

The Vito well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 32,000 ft in 4,038 ft of water, using the Noble Amos Runner rig. Once operations are completed at Vito, the company plans to move the rig to continue drilling operations at the operated Caesar/Tonga development in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico. Co-owners in the discovery include Shell Offshore and StatoilHydro USA. Shell will assume operatorship of Vito after rig release on the current well.

The Discoverer Clear Leader is an enhanced version of the Enterprise-class drillships. Capable of drilling in water depths up to 12,000 ft, it is the first of five enhanced Enterprise-class drillships scheduled to commence operations in 2009 and 2010.

Transocean’s newbuilds Discoverer Clear Leader and Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 ultra-deepwater drillships have both commenced operations, the company announced in early August. The Discoverer Clear Leader is working for Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico under a five-year contract. It features dual-activity technology, an enhanced top drive system, an expanded high-pressure mud pump system and expanded completions capabilities – all designed to target the drilling of wells up to 40,000 ft.

The Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1, equipped to construct wells up to 35,000 ft deep, is working offshore India under a five-year drilling contract with Reliance Industries. Transocean said it expects Reliance to sublet the rig to India’s ONGC for the first four years. The rig is one of two newbuilds owned by a joint venture company with Pacific Drilling. The second, Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2, is scheduled to commence operations in 2010.

Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) announced it has made a significant discovery of oil and gas reserves in Kern County, Calif. The company believes there are between 150 million and 250 million gross barrels of oil equivalent reserves within the outlined area, where Oxy has drilled six wells to date to delineate the discovery.

The multi-pay zone discovery area, whose areal geological extent is still being defined, has both conventional and unconventional pay zones. The bulk of the discovery’s producing zones are conventional oil- and gas-bearing formations. Approximately two-thirds of the discovery is believed to be natural gas.

“We believe this to be the largest new oil and gas discovery made in California in more than 35 years,” said Ray R Irani, Oxy chairman and CEO. “It is probable that there are additional reserves outside the defined area, and it is possible that structures of this type exist elsewhere in Oxy’s 1.1 million net acre position in California. We plan to drill wells to exploit these opportunities over the next 5 to 10 years.”

Seadrill’s ultra-deepwater semi-submersible West Eminence has commenced drilling operations for Petrobras in Brazil. It was delivered from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea in March this year, arrived offshore Brazil in June, and has since been preparing for start-up. The West Eminence is chartered to Petrobras under a six-year contract for operations in the Santos Basin, nearly 350 km offshore Rio de Janeiro. This contract commencement completes the delivery of the original eight deepwater newbuilds that the company originally contracted in 2005 and 2006.

Rowan Companies announced that it will recommence construction of the third 240C class jackup, the Joe Douglas, at its Vicksburg, Miss., shipyard, with delivery expected in Q3 2011.

“Earlier this year, we halted construction on this rig due to concerns over the turmoil in the credit markets and the downturn in jackup drilling markets,” said Matt Ralls, Rowan president and CEO. “Based on improvements in the credit markets and our confidence in our liquidity outlook through 2010, we have elected to resume construction.”

The Joe Douglas will have 2.5 million lbs of hookload, an 80-ft cantilever reach and 491 ft of leg length.

The Deep Ocean Ascension is contracted to BP and expected to be delivered in ’10.

Voyaging into deeper waters, Pride International is offering four new drillships that will be outfitted in several configurations depending on client requirements. The first delivery is scheduled for early 2010.

The company has named the new vessels after major subsea features: Deep Ocean Ascension (formerly the PS1), scheduled for completion Q1 2010; Deep Ocean Clarion (formerly PS2), scheduled for completion Q3 2010; Deep Ocean Mendocino (formerly PS3), scheduled for completion Q1 2011; and Deep Ocean Molokai (formerly PS4), scheduled for completion Q4 2011. Ascension, Clarion, Mendocino and Molokai are undersea fracture zones that occur in some of the deepest areas of the oceans.

“These new drillships are a key element of Pride’s transformation to a premier floating rig company,” said Louis A Raspino, Pride president and CEO. “Once operational, they will offer leading-edge capabilities required for accessing an increasing number of deepwater geologic structures.”

The drillships are designed to operate in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, West Africa and Southeast Asia. The first three ships have already been contracted by BP (Deep Ocean Ascension and Deep Ocean Clarion) and Petrobras (Deep Ocean Mendocino).

Separately, Pride announced that it has been awarded a one-year contract by Noble Energy for the Pride South Pacific to drill offshore West Africa. That is expected to begin in Q1 2010.

Chevron Australia has announced two natural gas discoveries in the Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia. The Clio-2 well is situated in 3,200 ft (990 m) of water and was drilled to a TD of 14,400 ft (4,405 m). The well discovered 375 ft (115 m) of net gas pay. It lies in the WA-205-P permit area, located near the Clio-1 discovery made by Chevron in 2006.

The company also made a discovery with the Kentish Knock-1 well. Drilled in approximately 4,000 ft (1,200 m) of water to a TD of approximately 8,300 ft (2,500 m), the well encountered approximately 110 ft (34 m) of net gas pay. The discovery is located approximately 185 miles (300 km) from the Western Australian coastline, in the WA-365-P permit area in the Exmouth Plateau.

Separately, Chevron affiliate Cabinda Gulf Oil Co (CABGOC) and its partners have made a successful discovery in Block 0, located adjacent to the Cabinda coastline, in Angola.

The 79-3XST1 discovery well, drilled in March 2009 in 397 ft (120 m) of water to a total vertical depth of 13,000 ft (3,965 m), encountered over 225 ft of net hydrocarbon pay in the Upper Pinda formation. The well was tested from a single 150-ft perforated interval and flowed at a rate of 11.6 million cu ft/day of natural gas and 2,550 bbl/day of liquid hydrocarbons.

The discovery extends a trend of undeveloped natural gas condensate and crude oil discoveries in the Greater Vanza Longui Area that are undergoing appraisal.

PetroVietnam has signed a project management consulting services contract with Forum Trading and Services Corp for the construction of a jackup drilling rig that can drill in up to 60 m of water. It will be constructed at the PetroVietnam Marine Shipyard in Vung Tau, making it the first jackup to be built in Vietnam. Construction is expected to be completed in 32 months.

CNOOC Ltd has made a discovery, Qinhuangdao (QHD) 35-4, in the Shijiutuo Uplift of north-central Bohai Bay. It is located approximately 38 km west of the QHD 32-6 oilfield. The discovery well, QHD 35-4-3, was drilled to a total depth of 2,215 m in water depths of about 26 m and penetrated oil pay zones with a total thickness of 21.4 m. The well was tested to flow at an average rate of 1,700 bbl/day of oil and 400,000 cu ft/day of natural gas via an 11.11-mm choke.

Maersk Oil UK has produced first oil from its Affleck development in the UK sector of the North Sea. The field has been developed with two subsea horizontal production wells tied back via a new production flow line to the Janice Floating Production Unit. Development involved the installation of a 28-km flow line to Janice and the construction of a new gas export spurline to the Clyde platform, operated by Maersk’s partner Talisman.

Japan Drilling Co (JDC) has signed a contract with ACS Cobra Castor UTE for its HAKURYU-10 jackup to drill offshore Spain. The contract is for a firm 12 wells and one re-entry, plus two optional wells. Drilling operations are scheduled to start in summer 2010.

Signs are increasingly positive for the overall economy, but the energy outlook is a case of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

First, the good. At the time of this writing in mid-August, oil prices have risen above $70, But why, when oil demand has fallen off a cliff, are we seeing solid oil-price numbers?

THE GOOD, THE BAD…
First, the Chinese economy stubbornly chugs along, with GDP growth at some 8% per annum. While that’s dizzying relative to Western economies, it represents a major retrenchment from China’s recent double-digit growth.

Now for a bit of the bad: Beijing’s stimulus program (yep, they have one, too) will phase out in the spring, if the Chinese economy hasn’t built up a head of steam by then, oil demand and prices could drop precipitously.

Currency exchange rates also factor into the Good-Bad scenario. Ironically, the US dollar surged last winter when the recession hit home. Despite US woes, the dollar remains a great port in an economic storm.

But today the dollar is in the tank. And since oil trades in dollars, it rises when the dollar falls. That’s where we are now.

…AND THE UGLY
Unfortunately, he who earns dollars may not pay bills in them. If you are a Middle Eastern producer paying out in rials, euros, etc. That can be quite a squeeze on the old margin. If the trend continues, will producers finally make the long-discussed switch from dollar-based oil to, say euro-based? That has some critical implications for oil markets, and our financial structure alike.

And how ugly is $20 oil? Industry analyst Philip Verleger, founder of PKVerleger LLC, predicts oil prices will plummet to $20-$30/bbl by December, driven by low demand and a dearth of storage space. Dr Verleger made his remarks in the Bloomberg on the Economy podcast with Tom Keene. Other voices are less bleak, including Adam Siemenski, chief energy economist for Deutsche Bank. Mr Siemenski, speaking on a separate Bloomberg podcast, believes that storage pressure is lessening, such that Dr Verleger’s dire prediction is unlikely.

UGLY GAS & GREEN
The ugliest of all is probably North American natural gas. Gas drillers suffer not only from choked demand, but a looming oversupply, a result of very efficient drilling. Depletion is apparently less a factor in some of the new, unconventional plays than in the past.

The going quip is that the industry has drilled itself out of a job. Another apt expression is no good deed goes unpunished.

Deutsche Bank’s Mr Siemenski doesn’t see much relief for gas drilling until late summer 2010. But even with gas prices returning to, say, $6-$7, the next big threat is LNG. A world of global gas markets will be upon us soon.

We are entering a brave new world of environmental complexity, too. New government initiatives to promote fuel conservation and sundry green technologies are unlikely to spur oil demand. Further, the Obama Administration is revealing itself less than friendly to the oil and gas industry, to put it mildly. This can only serve to further shift E&P activity toward the international arena. This trend is already pronounced, but politics will exacerbate it.

WILD RIDE
Still, signs of buoying confidence are emerging. Some rig construction has restarted, and new contracts are being struck. Shale plays are profitable. Just as we knew that a downturn would eventually overtake us, another upturn is coming.

My advice: Hang onto your hats. It will be a wild ride.

You can reach Mike Killalea at mike.killalea@iadc.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Additional links of interest:

www.bentekenergy.com/bentek/index.aspx
www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/podcast/ontheeconomy.html
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html
www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65226/edward-l-morse/low-and-behold.

IADC president Dr Lee Hunt presented the IADC Exemplary Service Award to Steven J Gangelhoff, senior vice president, Northern Offshore Drilling, at the IADC World Drilling 2009 Conference & Exhibition, 17-18 June in Dublin. He cited Mr Gangelhoff’s work spanning four decades on behalf of the drilling industry.

“Steve’s contribution to the advancement of technology and communications in the drilling industry is superlative,” Dr Hunt remarked. “The reason that IADC has been so successful in its multinational initiatives is due to the efforts of people like Steve giving generously of their time and talents.”

A 34-year contract-drilling veteran, Mr Gangelhoff’s career has encompassed both operations management and marketing. Prior to his current position, he served as vice president of sales & contracts for deepwater and vice president of business for GlobalSantaFe Corp until that company’s merger with Transocean Inc.

He previously served as vice president of operations for GlobalSantaFe in Asia and South America. He’s also spent years working around the world in operations management positions. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science degree in public relations from Boston University.

The following is a decade-by-decade highlight of his activities with IADC:

1970s:

• IADC Safety and Training Committee.
• IADC Well Control Committee, provided support and liaison between IADC and MMS in development of early MMS rules on well control training.

1980s:

• Organizing Committee member – IADC/National Ocean Industries Conference.
• Safety & Training and Well Control Committees.
• Chairman and vice chairman, IADC South Louisiana Chapter.

1990s:

• Chairman and vice chairman, IADC Southeast Asia Chapter.
• Co-chairman, IADC Asia Pacific Well Control Conference (Jakarta).
• Organizing Committee member, IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Technology Conferences (Kuala Lumpur & Jakarta).

2000s:

• Organizing Committee member, IADC World Drilling.
• Currently member of IADC Executive Committee and member of the Finance, Compensation and Well Control Accreditation Subcommittees.

he North Sea Chapter of the IADC has made two £2,500 donations, one each to Cancer Link Aberdeen North (CLAN) and the Oil Chaplaincy Trust. The funds were raised at the chapter’s Safety Awards Dinner in May through contributions made by members and their guests.

CLAN is an independent cancer charity based in Aberdeen. IADC’s donation was made in support of that group’s 1-2-3 Campaign – 1 charity has 2 years to raise £3 million. Since kick-off in March 2008, the group has received donations and pledges of £1.6 million. The goal is to build a new facility that will allow CLAN  to continue its work with anyone touched by cancer. They provide a wide range of support, information and complementary therapy services. The group’s Haven facility also provides accommodations for anyone traveling to Aberdeen for treatment or visiting a loved one in a hospital.

IADC North Sea Chapter chairman Steve Rae said, “We are pleased to be able to make this donation to CLAN to help support their excellent work with so many whose lives have been affected by cancer. We wish CLAN continuing success with their 1-2-3 Campaign for their new facility here in Aberdeen.”

As in past years, a donation was also made to the Oil Chaplaincy Trust. “We are very pleased to be able to continue to support the Oil Chaplaincy Trust in their excellent work with families of those who have worked in our industry and find themselves experiencing difficult times,” Mr Rae commented.

The Trust’s Rev. Andrew Jolly said, “Once more we are indebted to the IADC North Sea Chapter for their generosity. The Oil Chaplaincy Trust provides financial support to individuals and their families who have worked in the UK oil and gas sector and who, through illness or injury, find themselves with pressing financial problems. Through contributions from organisations such as the IADC North Sea Chapter, we can continue to provide this support to those in need.”

Several workgroup meetings to discuss IADC and EU initiatives have been scheduled prior to or following the 2009 IADC Drilling HSE Europe Conference & Exhibition, scheduled for 23-24 September in Amsterdam.

The Environmental Policy Advisory Panel (EPAP) working group and executive group will meet from 9-11:30 a.m. on 22 September at the NH Barbizon Hotel.

Following the EPAP meeting, the IADC European Operations Forum (EOF) will meet from noon to 4 p.m. at the same location. Regulatory authority representatives will be present. Then on 25 September, the IADC HSE Case Users Group will meet at the Movenpick Hotel from 9 a.m. to noon.

Organized labor, environmental groups and “consumer advocates” have been agitating to join the industry committees, but Mr Petty pointed out that industry committees were created to give unvarnished advice on US trade policies. Their presence could chill free and frank discussion, as well as become a disincentive to recruiting new members and retaining existing members. Organized labor and the environmentalists also already have their own trade advisory committees.

INDIA SETS NEW BUDGET
In its budget for the tax year ending 31 March 2010, the Indian government is giving tax incentives to natural gas production in new fields where oil production is now favored under the existing tax regime. There was no change in the service tax under litigation by IADC except to keep the tax at a 10% rate. But the definition of “India” was changed, extending the service tax jurisdiction to the 200-mile offshore limit.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes also will be empowered to establish “safe harbor” rules to reduce transfer pricing disputes. The board will establish a dispute resolution mechanism to expedite settlements outside the judicial system. Industry welcomes both changes.

SPCC IMPLEMENTATION
On 19 June, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued the Final Rule on Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plans establishing 10 November 2010 as the date by which all facilities must prepare or amend their SPCC Plans. The owner or operator of an existing mobile onshore or offshore facility will be required to maintain an SPCC Plan and must make any necessary amendments and implement them on or before the set date. For operations that begin after 10 November 2010, a plan must be in place prior to beginning operations.

SEMS REQUIREMENTS
The MMS issued a proposed rule on 17 June 2009 requiring operators to develop and implement a safety and environmental management system (SEMS) to address oil and gas operations on the OCS. It will consist of four parts: hazards analysis, management of change, operating procedures and mechanical integrity. Though not directly addressed in this rulemaking, MODUs will likely feel its effect via the operator’s accountability for contractors and subcontractors.

It might seem hard to believe now, but once upon a time, well blowouts were seen as a cause for celebration. In fact, oil gushers used to be a symbol of newfound wealth – a sign that someone had hit the jackpot.

Dr Lee Hunt

But not anymore. This industry knows that gushers are dangerous and can quickly become disasters. They kill, they destroy and they waste valuable reservoir resources. Recall the famous Spindletop blowout in 1901. It took nine days and lost a half-million barrels of oil before a shut-off valve could be attached to the casing to stop the flow.

Fortunately, we’ve learned over the years how to understand what’s really going on downhole. By monitoring kicks and lost circulation, we can detect the early warning signs that alert us to pending disasters. More recently, sophisticated data transmission and analysis technologies are helping us to manipulate reservoir pressure regimes, providing precise control so we can stay within extremely narrow drilling windows. Just as importantly, we’ve prioritized planning and prevention procedures that put safety as our number one goal.

Blowouts are now a rare occurrence. Rig workers can go their whole careers and never witness a blowout. Look at the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, for example, where the Minerals Management Service (MMS) recorded only 39 blowouts from 1992 through 2006, resulting in one fatality and two injuries. Compare that with 87 blowouts during the previous 20 years, with 25 fatalities and 61 injuries. That is truly a great achievement for the industry.

To get to where we are, however, numerous brave people have risked or even sacrificed their lives to put out well fires and save the lives of others – ultimately helping the entire industry to improve its well control capabilities.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Modern drilling technology continues to evolve. Today’s blowout preventers can withstand pressures up to 15,000 psi – with cutting-edge 20,000-psi models unveiled at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). Compared with the rudimentary well control equipment of the past, today’s technologies can handle the high pressures, high temperatures and harsh conditions of extreme wells and enable achievements in extended-reach, multilaterals and multi-stage fracturing. BOPs can be placed more than 12,000 ft under the sea, control wells that are 30,000 ft deep – and all remotely operated from the toolpusher’s panel on the surface.

In recent years, environmental protection has come into greater focus. The industry knows that blowouts have the potential to pollute, and we’ve worked incredibly hard to implement higher and higher standards in areas like spill prevention, waste management and carbon emissions. Yet, the general public continues to have misconceptions about how we drill.

To address that, IADC recently formed the Environmental Policy Advisory Panel (EPAP) to help our industry raise its environmental profile. Through promotional and educational efforts, we want to help the public recognize our commitment to environmental protection.

EPAP is also working to develop a benchmark template for annual offshore contractor reporting of air emissions, loss of containment and waste control. As the first step, a survey will be developed and distributed to ascertain current methods used for data collection and reporting. IADC urges its drilling contractor members to actively participate in this important survey.

WELLCAP, COMMITTEE EFFORTS
IADC established the IADC Well Control Committee in 1993 and launched the WellCAP program in 1995. By focusing on training rather than testing, WellCAP has become the industry’s most widely recognized form of well control training accreditation. It is accepted by regulatory agencies around the world, including the MMS. It has also been adopted as the internal well control training standard for international oil companies like Chevron and Oxy, national oil companies such as Petrobras and PEMEX, and international drilling contractors like Transocean and Diamond Offshore.

As of mid-July 2009, 103 training providers were accredited under WellCAP. More than 221,000 WellCAP certificates have been issued to date, with courses being provided at 454 locations in 52 countries and conducted in 14 languages.

In the last few years, IADC has gone a step further and developed WellCAP Plus as an advanced level of well control instruction focusing on critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

The Well Control Committee was also responsible for drafting the Deepwater Well Control Guidelines, published in 1998. That effort was so timely and so beneficial for the entire industry that OTC awarded IADC and the Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) a special citation in 2004.

Moe Plaisance (left), Diamond Offshore, and Jim Metcalf (right),
Newfield Exploration, accept a special citation on
behalf of IADC and OOC from OTC chairman Rod Allen in
recognition of the Deepwater Well Control Guidelines.

IADC also has a history of organizing well control roundtables. In 1990, we took a step forward with a full-fledged Well Control Conference in Esbjerg, Denmark. Since then, we have held 30 such conferences, covering nearly every drilling market – Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia.

Next year is IADC’s 70th anniversary. We will continue to expand our operations worldwide, as we did with the opening of an office in Asia Pacific earlier this year. We will continue to improve our accreditation programs to offer the highest standards for the next generation of workers and for the wells of tomorrow.

The Gullfaks field is located in the central part of the East Shetland Basin in the Northern North Sea and was discovered in 1979. The StatoilHydro-operated field has been developed with three Condeep gravity-based concrete structures and started production in December 1986. The field was the first major development by an all-Norwegian consortium. Peak production of over 600,000 bbl/day of oil was achieved in 1994, with the recovery factor currently approaching 60%.

Figure 1: The B-12 AT3 well plan indicates the difficulties encountered after a relatively uneventful drilling of the 12 ¼-in. build section.

More than 200 wellbores have been drilled in the field to date. It is estimated that out of a total recoverable oil of 2.265 billion barrels, some 126.4 million barrels remain, with current production averaging 91,000 bbl/day (figures from 31 December 2008), although the aim is to further improve the recovery factor in the field.

To achieve the highest recovery from the field, drilling continues today, targeting unexploited zones identified from advanced reservoir modeling and 4D seismic processing. As all drilling slots have been used, drilling consists mainly of re-entry work, typically sidetracking from windows milled in the casing and drilling laterals to tap unexploited zones. Geometric steering is mainly used, and many wellbores attempt to penetrate multiple zones, not only as production targets but also to obtain information to enhance the reservoir model.

Drilling is very challenging due to several factors:

• Possibility of encountering depleted zones or virgin zones in the same borehole.
• Considerable faulting.
• Sedimentary structures weakened by years of production.
• Potential for severe drilling fluid loss.
• Reservoir model uncertainties due to the complex structure.

On the majority of wells, StatoilHydro drilling parameters are adjusted to follow the LEDO (low energy drilling operations) principles presented by Blaasmo, et al.

Primarily, with these procedures, changes in drilling parameters are implemented one at a time so the results can be evaluated before further changes are made.

This methodical approach is designed to facilitate root-cause analysis if any unexpected events occur. Additionally, strict adherence to the operational mud weight window is essential, through careful monitoring and control of the ECD, including reduction of ROP if required to ensure good hole-cleaning and reduce cuttings load.

On wells where the operational mud weight window (defined as being between the minimum fracture and maximum pore pressure) is particularly restricted or absent, a managed pressure drilling (MPD) technique is employed, using a rotating control device to control overbalance, enabling the use of as light mud weights as possible while not inducing reservoir formations to flow.

In the well that is the subject of this article, the B-12 AT3 well, there were two drilling objectives: the Tarbert D4B and D5 reservoir segments. The D4B was believed to be the reservoir formation, and the D5 was an unexplored block with a low probability of producible hydrocarbon.

A CHALLENGING PLAN
The plan was to mill out of the 13 3/8-in. casing in the motherbore, then drill a long 12 ¼-in. step-out and land the wellbore in the Tarbert. Once in the target formation, the objective was to drill at least 1,000 ft (300 m) in the D4B block, then penetrate the D5 block (Figure 1). The well trajectory was intended to stay as close to the reservoir top as possible – within 7 ft (2 m) – to maximize access to attic oil while avoiding drilling up into the sometimes unstable Shetland shale overburden.

This plan would also minimize the chance of drilling into the oil/water contact (OWC) lying below the planned well path. Under ordinary circumstances, the well could be landed and the lateral section drilled using geometric steering. However, experience in the area had shown that drilling may be extremely challenging.

Unexpected fluid losses while drilling were a constant possibility, demanding frequent use of lost-circulation material to minimize mud losses.

Figure 2: PeriScope inversion through the D4B reservoir section of the Tarbert formation illustrates the drilling challenges. The well plan (solid green) line is contrasted with the as-drilled line (solid red). The BCU is shown as a dashed green line above the well track. A dotted green line and solid blue line show the base of a silty layer of poorer quality reservoir and the OWC respectively. Red boxes indicate steering decisions.

The 12 ¼-in. section was drilled without incident. However, from that point, things proved not so simple. After drilling only 650 ft (200 m) out of the 9 5/8-in. casing shoe with an 8 ½-in. bit, severe fluid losses were encountered. None of the usual cures were successful, and the well had to be sidetracked. The same problem occurred twice more within a few hundred feet, requiring the drilling of two more sidetracks. Finally, a protective casing was set and the decision was made to run a 7-in. liner and drill out with a 6-in. bit. Geomechanical modeling and log analysis indicated that the losses were associated with the proximity of major faults in the reservoir and the juxtaposition of the depleted Tarbert reservoir and a downthrown block of the Shetland group. The problems encountered in only a short interval had set the project schedule back around 40 days behind the target time.

EYES ON THE PROBLEM
Having experienced so many problems just getting to the target reservoir, the risk of drilling out of zone into the unstable Shetland shale overburden became unacceptable – the potential of further fluid losses and major drilling delays was clear.

Additionally, information obtained from the geology encountered so far increased the uncertainty of the reservoir structural model. The decision was made to shift the geometric target for the well trajectory down about 52 ft (16 m), although even this did not guarantee that the well would not penetrate the potentially troublesome Shetland shale. This also meant that significant attic oil could have been bypassed.

Because of the risks involved, geometric steering was ruled out, and StatoilHydro elected to geosteer using real-time information from the Schlumberger PeriScope boundary-mapping tool. This logging-while-drilling (LWD) tool provides a very deep-reading, azimuthal electromagnetic propagation resistivity measurement. With its ability to detect bed boundaries and other drilling hazards as much as 21 ft (6.4 m) radially from the tool in any direction, the tool appeared to offer the best chance to meet the drilling objectives. Most importantly, early warning of approaching hazards allows sufficient time to make a toolface adjustment to avoid the hazard altogether, thus eliminating the need to pull back and sidetrack, a risky and time-consuming solution. This factor alone justified the added cost of the geosteering well-placement tools and services, and their cost was determined to be far less than the potential rig time drilling sidetracks estimated from prior experience.

Prior to drilling, members of the Gullfaks drilling team and Schlumberger well placement experts met to model and plan the geosteering operation. Deepening the well profile was expected to allow the lateral section to get off to a good start within the heart of the Tarbert; then the geosteering tool could make the fine adjustments necessary to maintain minimum distance from the reservoir top. A real-time operations support center was set up. A collaborative web viewer was used so each member of the team could have 24/7 access to drilling progress, including real-time visualization of the wellbore profile and direction with respect to the formation boundaries.

The objective was to drill at least 1,000 ft (300 m) in the Tarbert D4B oil zone. The boundary-mapping tool and other LWD tool response could ensure that the wellbore tracked with high-quality reservoir “sweet spots” encountered along the way. Besides the boundary-mapping measurement, the bottomhole assembly included arcVISION array resistivity measurements, near-bit azimuthal gamma ray and the adnVISION azimuthal lithodensity/neutron tool. The all logging tools were 4 ¾-in. diameter.

As drilling progressed, observers were presented with a mosaic of quantifiable data and images. By inverting the data in real time, a sectional profile of the wellbore trajectory emerged that clearly indicated the well track with respect to the formation top. The Base Cretaceous Unconformity (BCU) was to be avoided as it marked the line of demarcation of the Shetland shale. It was possible to geosteer the bit to maintain the well’s trajectory within 2 m of the BCU. Profile shadings indicated the highest-quality reservoir sections and polar plots could be taken at any time to indicate the proximity and dip of both the overlying and underlying bed boundaries. The wellbore successfully traversed the D4B block and entered the water-saturated D5 block. As the bit approached the OWC, the boundary-mapping tool detected it and profiled it clearly (Figure 2).

RESULTS EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS
The B-12 AT3 well was successfully geosteered for 1,748 ft (533 m) in the Tarbert D4B sweet spot. The troublesome overlying shale was not penetrated, and no sidetracks were required as the well trajectory was placed entirely within the reservoir. The well achieved in excess of 70% more sand exposure than expected. The entire reservoir section was drilled with a single bit run. Excellent hole quality and good wellbore cleaning enabled the production liner and completion strings to be run to successfully tap the Tarbert D4B block.

Most importantly, the well was tested and flowed 10,648 bbl/day (1,700 standard cu m/day) – a 250% increase over the reservoir’s mid-case estimated production. The well is producing at 6,285 bbl/day (1,000 standard cu m/day) with no water cut.

From the point of view of the combined drilling team, the availability of definitive information and the clarity of the real-time presentations enabled informed decisions to be made with confidence. A total of 14 steering decisions were made along the course of drilling the lateral. Where delicate steering is needed for accurate well placement and hazard avoidance, high technology solutions can be valuable. Well productivity can be maximized and the added cost offset by reduced sidetracking and time spent curing drilling and circulation problems.

This article is based on a presentation at the IADC World Drilling 2009 Conference & Exhibition, 17-18 June, Dublin.

Reference: Blaasmo M, et al, 2007, “Detailed Post-Event Analysis of Drilling Problems Significantly Alters the Root Cause Reality for Technical Sidetracks,” SPE/ IADC 105566, SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 20-22 February.