Implementing Drill with Casing Technology: Reducing Drill time

Client background

In 2016 our client was awarded an exploration licence to drill this well with a commitment to drill and test by April 2020. When the decision was made to drill the well, our client's internal Well Delivery Process and limited international resource meant the well couldn’t be planned and executed in time.

Failure to commit to drilling the well would have resulted in them losing their licence. Our streamlined Well Delivery Process was implemented which allowed the well to be delivered within the required time-frame.

How we helped

We provided a fully integrated project management solution to design, plan, execute and abandon the well. The offset wells review highlighted numerous hole problems and incidents which had occurred in 70% of wells in the surface hole section:

• Early refusal when driving conductor, requiring time consuming clean out trips and related NPT.
• Total / high losses where LCM / cement plug treatment had been ineffective.
• Unstable / tight hole resulting in wiper trips, stuck pipe and the inability to run casing to planned depth.

To mitigate the risks, we identified two new well design concepts for the Danish sector:

• The use of DwC™ technology for drilling the conductor and surface casing strings in place of conventional drilling methods.
• A slimmed down well design, based on a conductor strength and fatigue study to demonstrate this could be safely implemented.

Technology

Weatherford's proven Drilling with Casing™ (DwC™) technology allows the user to drill, ream, run, set, and cement casing strings or liners in a single trip, saving both time and money.

• We liaised closely with Weatherford and the client's sub-surface team, to conduct formation strength analysis before selecting the appropriate casing connections, bit designs and hydraulics.
• We incorporated lessons learnt from previous DwC™ implementation on global operations we had previously managed in South East Asia, optimising surface set-up to help maximise performance.

Powerful results

From the contract award date, we were on a compressed timeframe of nine months to design and plan the well in an area where this was the first exploration well to be drilled for five -years and under the new EU regulations.

• We provided in-depth expertise to deliver the project and DwC™ to plan, with an inexperienced drill crew, using the technology for the first time.
• Proved DwC™ technology was applicable to the Danish sector.
• Together with Weatherford, we managed to deliver all required long-lead items on time.
• Helped reduce operational risk and optimise overall performance compared with conventional methods - reducing the combined drilling time by 18% with comparable offsets.

This project was carried out by Lloyd’s Register (LR) Energy, prior to the strategic carve out of the LR Energy business in 2020, which is now Vysus Group.