June 1999 Vol. 220 No. 6  Drilling

Robert E. Snyder,  Editor

Industry/DOE well in Wyoming, other drilling advances

Union Pacific Resources Group Inc. (UPR) recently announced completion of the Rock Island 4-H well, drilled under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Technical Center (FETC), in Wyoming’s Greater Green River basin, just north of Table Rock field in Sweetwater County.

The horizontal well was drilled to a TVD of nearly 15,000 ft, with a measured depth of almost 17,000 ft, and a horizontal lateral of more than 1,600 ft. Initial flow was more than 12 MMcfd gas at a FTP of 3,150 psi. The well was to be on production in mid-May and an offset is scheduled for the third quarter.

The well was designed to explore technologies for unlocking large gas reserves in "very" tight sands of the Frontier formation. It is the culmination of a 5-yr research effort under Contract No. DE-AC21-95MC31063, by UPR and FETC called the DOE Greater Green River Basin Production Improvement Project. The basin lies within the 7.5-MM acre area known as the Land Grant, in which UPR owns the mineral rights on every other section. UPR also owns 50% WI in the subject well and is the operator.

UPR says it has opened a vast new gas resource with this well, but such deep wells will be out of reach, expense-wise, for most private companies. With the proven success of the Rock Island 4-H, UPR is making plans to organize operators and leaseholders to develop the new play.

First-quarter stats not so good. The American Petroleum Institute (API) says completions of U.S. oil/gas wells and dry holes declined by 34% in the first quarter, compared with the same period of 1998. Oil well completions dropped 59%, and gas completions 9%, compared to the same period last year. According to the 1999 Quarterly well completion report: First quarter, 4,630 oil/gas wells and dry holes were completed in the first quarter, vs. 6,975 in 1998. Gas completions were down 9% to 2,582; oil completions declined 59% to 1,129, and dry holes were down 33% to 919.

Total exploratory completions were down 40%, and development completions were down 33%. API also reported a 28% decrease in total footage drilled in the first quarter, for a total of 29.8 million feet.

And further depressing news is reported by The Oilfield Appraiser equipment newsletter of March / April. The report says rig attrition is expected to hit a record high this year. Its various surveys taken for recent appraisals identified more than 125 rigs scheduled to be "broken up" this year. An even greater total number is suspected, along with some 200 well service rigs.

Contractors are planning to keep the good components for their other rigs and scrap the balance. Idle rigs are being cannibalized, as most of the drilling / service rigs recently stacked are in need of repairs, rebuild or update, but the owners can’t afford the cost right now. Now that work is slower, many idle rigs are being used "as a supply store for active rigs," i.e., contractors are retiring older rigs to get a few good, or rebuildable, components.

With the U.S. rig count running below 500, the lowest level since 1944, this doesn’t bode well for the industry when the turnaround comes. Operators better enjoy the rock-bottom dayrates while they can — the rebuilding isn’t going to be cheap.

Automated hoisting system. At the Offshore Technology Conference in early May, Varco International, Inc. showed its new AHS-10 Automated Hoisting System, which offers equal or greater power in a package that is about half the size and weight of other available systems. The new AHS system is available in three models: 1) the 10S, with 1,400 hp, single AC motor, 2) the 10D, with 2,800 hp, two AC motors, and 3) the 10T, with 4,200 hp, three AC motors.

The AC motors offer greater performance, and help account for the reduced space / weight. A sophisticated braking system with both disc brakes and "regenerative" braking offers precise proportional control for drilling and tripping. When braking is operated back through the AC motor system, it can operate the motors as generators to increase braking efficiency and reduce brake wear.

The system comes packaged with the company’s Electronic Driller system that takes advantage of precise AC power / braking controls. Through the simple touch-screen interface, the driller can input hoisting parameters that are used to monitor / adjust block travel velocity and other drilling factors. Varco plans to have the first AHS-10 in operation "by the end of summer."

Extended-reach world record. Schlumberger played a major role as contractor for directional drilling, MWD and LWD services in the Tierra del Fuego extended-reach drilling project of Total Austral, on behalf of partners Deminex and Pan American Energy, in which the world’s longest stepout has been drilled in Ara field’s CN-1 well.

The well is the first stepout of more than 10 km (6.2 mi) to be drilled in 6-1/8-in. hole. The CN-1, which took 128 days to drill and case, reached a TD of 36,693 ft MD, a world record in itself for slim holes; TVD was 5,436 ft.

Schlumberger provided Anadrill downhole tools / service, including steerable motors, dual resistivity tools, density neutron tools and MWD telemetry systems. In the final run, the directional and LWD string also set a record for the deepest MWD triple-combo transmission. All recorded data was successfully retrieved, breaking the record for recorded LWD data by more than 1,750 ft.

Oops! This column in last month’s issue reported on a discovery by Vastar on a deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico. The item overviewed the use by Baroid of a new mud system that helped drill a shallow water flow section. The problem is that the above-named editor failed to clear preliminary information, and the final published item, with either the mud company or the operator. Thus, the information that Baroid had made an "announcement" of its participation, and the wording of one or two other technical points are either premature or incorrect. This is an interesting development, and the details will be coming out in a couple of technical articles before long.

Copyright © 1999 World Oil
Copyright © 1999 Gulf Publishing Company