OFFSHORE REPORT

DEEPWATER DRILLING: Dampening drillstring vibrations. A recent well drilled in Green Canyon in GOM deepwater required drilling through more than 15,000 ft of salt formations. Offset wells experienced drillstring twist-offs from excessive vibrations. Authors from Baker Hughes Inteq describe how they engineered a BHA with downhole measurement to distribute and transfer weight to the bit to improve drilling performance and avoid damaging vibration.

DEEPWATER PRODUCTION: First FPSO in the Gulf of Mexico. Petrobras is building a detachable FPSO for use in the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico at Cascade and Chinook fields (about 8,500 ft WD), with first oil expected in 2009. MMS has given Petrobras permission to operate the FPSO. SBM Offshore is constructing the vessel. The FPSO will be disconnectable from a turret buoy, with free-standing hybrid risers. Other developments discussed include an FPU being constructed by Helix for operation at Phoenix (formerly Typhoon) field, and a Pemex FPSO producing this year at KuMaZa field.

OFFSHORE PRODUCTION: Using dual ESPs and a subsea multiphase pump. Offshore Western Australia the Mutineer and Exeter fields of the Canarvon basin were developed using subsea production wells with dual ESPs in each of the four wells and a mudline multiphase pump in each field. Authors from Santos and Baker Hughes Centrilift describe the installation process and how ESP motor horsepower requirements were reduced through a phased production approach.

OFFSHORE COMPLETION: Combining expandable sand screens with intelligent controls. Offshore Nigeria, a complex field development project was undertaken by operator Addax Petroleum with Weatherford as the service provider. A series of multiple-zone completions with expandable screen installations made the plan ambitious. Unfortunately, a critical downhole component failed upon installation, causing a re-thinking of the whole project. The solution to the problem worked, and all four wells were brought onstream according to the original schedule.

OFFSHORE SEISMIC: New seafloor systems can get multi-component data at less cost. But do we yet know how to put it to best use?

 OIL COUNTRY TUBULAR GOODS

What’s new in expandable technology? Now in its fifth successful year, World Oil provides a report from all the major, and even some small, expandable service providers. This technology has not seen the usual slow uptake that others have. Service providers and operators have been very busy in developing and using this technology. The report includes all manner of expandable technology: casing, patches, screens, etc.

The latest advancements on the dream of the single-diameter well. This technology, if achieved, would mean a step-change in drilling, by eliminating telescoping casing strings. Each year, technical advances are made to achieving this in a one trip, cost-effective approach. Not only will vertical wells benefit, but it may be the only way to drill some ultra-long extended-reach wells. What the problems are, and how they are being resolved, are discussed (Enventure and Baker Hughes are the principles working on this technology).

 DRILLING

Drilling the limit. An author from Shell highlights how technical-limit thinking was taken to the next level. Ultimately, it culminated in the landmark drilling of the first well ever drilled in less than 60 days in this field. Most wells drilled in the field have an AFE time average of 75 days. The methodology was leveraged as a tool for furthering team work, knowledge management, bit optimization and “Drilling the Limit” to progressively reduce well construction time in Saih Rawl gas field in Oman.

Myriad uses for RFID. There are more ways to use RFIDs than you might think. Besides the department store method of tagging and identifying downhole and well site items, RFID can have downhole uses for logging (depth control) and as a substitute for radioactive markers. Marathon is very interested in the technology.

 COMPLETION/SIMULATION

Well stimulation restores dead well. Kuwait Oil Company had a dead well. It should not have been dead, but it was, and the reasons for its demise seemed related to formation damage. Engineers decided to stimulate the well with acid and fracturing. Schlumberger tried a new fracture technology over six zones in the well. The resulting production was three times greater than the previous record producing well in the field.

Dry-coating wellsite systems for proppants and gravel pack installation. Gas production operations in the Adriatic Sea have been limited by failed sand-control completions. Authors from Halliburton and ENI share how they increased accessible gas reserves by using two different dry-coating systems to coat proppants and install gravel packs during workovers. The workover well presented numerous challenges in its own right. The approach offers new completion designs for better control fines and increase gas production in the Adriatic.

 RESERVES

Iraqi oil reserves-the real story. According to most literature, Iraq contains between 110 and 115 billion barrels of oil and 112 trillion cubic feet of gas. A consultant from Entrac Petroleum Ltd reviews Iraqi oil reserves based on data collected from published data and from personal communications with Iraqi oil experts. The article also includes some research carried out by the author based on unpublished data.

 RMOTC

The Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC) provides a real-world environment for testing and demonstration of new oilfield technology. Although Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 (NPR-3) is located many miles inland, RMOTC has the capability to simulate a seafloor environment of up to 3,000 ft of water depth and conduct various tests of technology. It also is using a specially developed downhole video camera so that certain downhole functions (drilling, sidetrack milling, etc.) can be observed and verified. This article describes the system.