Underbalanced Drilling

One of the most often cited reasons for poor well performance is formation damage that occurs during drilling. The idea is to let the well “breathe” while drilling. Achieving that is difficult, but potentially worth billions of dollars in improved production. When safety and cost factors are added in, the technique becomes even more difficult. The following three articles can help operators get closer to this goal.

Underbalanced drilling: Innovative system allows underbalanced deployment of screens. Arguably, a well drilled underbalanced should be a prime candidate for installing sand control screens. But a problem occurs when trying to install screens in underbalanced wells, namely, there isn't enough lubricator height to maintain well control, except for the shortest screens. Authors from Baker Oil Tools present a detailed description of a new system that overcomes this limitation using inflatable technology to isolate the well and thus use it as a lubricator. The article describes running tools, inflatable tools, releasing tools and their operation. The authors review the implementation of this new technology by summarizing the application from the pre-job planning process through the installation of the equipment at the well-site.

How to torpedo an underbalanced drilling project. In a unique slant for a technical article, an author from Cudd Pressure control tells how NOT to successfully drill an underbalanced well. His 11-step recipe for failure comes from years of experience and tells of a not uncommon attitude toward acceptance of new ideas in drilling.

Underbalanced Drilling: A case history on Shell and Weatherford's world-record installation of the Downhole Deployment Valve into the deepest, hottest and highest inclination environment, ever, on an underbalanced well. Results to date include reduced round trip times by three days and potential cost savings of $1 million per well.

 Petroleum Technology Digest

World Oil's regular monthly feature is published in association with the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council . This month, authors from Marathon Oil tell how an optimized flow device eliminates CBM lift equipment, significantly reducing operating costs.

 Deepwater Production

This case history discusses how a major operator improved production-testing performance in deep water. As a result, the average nonproductive time per test was greatly reduced, and there was a 40% reduction in testing time.

 Artificial lift

Part 2 of our popular, annual wrap up on artificial lift systems by our long-standing contributors, Herald Winkler and Jim Lea of Texas Tech University . This part focuses on the latest developments in electrical submersible pumps (ESPs).

 Global Petroleum Show Preview

Held in conjunction with the Petroleum Society's 55th annual Canadian International Petroleum Conference, the Global Petroleum Show features the latest innovations and most advanced technologies. This article tells what to look for at this year's show.