Drilling
A report commissioned by Havtil, the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority, calls for better dialogue regarding pore-pressure uncertainty and higher-end drilling techniques like managed pressure drilling as methods to reduce the risk of well-control events.
Output is rising fast in the South American shale play and putting Argentina on a course to soon reach 1 million B/D.
This guest editorial addresses the need for high-temperature directional drilling technologies as the number of rigs used to develop next-generation geothermal wells is set to rise in the coming years.
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The standard for progress in shale development has been the drastic reduction in the number of days needed to drill a well, from more than 20 to less than 5 in some unconventional plays. But some question whether it has become a misleading metric for an industry needing more productive wells. -
The only wells that are straight or follow a smooth curve are in the pictures in well plans. Real wellbores are shaped by the mechanics of directional drilling tools, the skills and attention of drillers, the force of gravity, and the path followed by hydrocarbon-rich seams of rock.
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With the innovation of extended-reach and directional drilling, running casing and liner strings has become increasingly difficult.
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While rotary-steerable systems (RSSs) dominate the offshore directional-drilling markets, the land-based markets are still dominated by conventional directional-drilling tools. This paper presents a new RSS that is being designed and tested specifically for the onshore markets.
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The understanding and proper application of rotary-steerable systems will continue to provide a step change in the way fields are developed. Technology developed and implemented during the boom will receive closer scrutiny and evaluation during the bust.
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Drilling the Severnaya Truba field in Aktobe, Kazakhstan, has been costly and time consuming.
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Vimlesh Bavadiya is leading a team of engineering students at the University of Oklahoma (OU) to repeat its victory in SPE’s Drillbotics competition next year.
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As part of a project that involves the use of four artificial islands to drill and complete more than 300 extended-reach-drilling (ERD) wells in a giant offshore oil field, several completion designs have been piloted for brownfield development.
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Despite hostile wellbore conditions, an operations team overcame challenges of drilling-fluid design and management to drill the first ultrahigh-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT), deep-gas well offshore Malay Peninsula.
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While there is talk about automation killing jobs, the reverse appears more likely as rigs have evolved to drill more difficult wells. Drilling automation will require more and better training programs to take full advantage of the technology.
