State-of-the-Art Summary

With UBD techniques, one strives to stay under-pressured at all times, while with MPD one may not always be under-pressured, but the pressure differential is always managed. The goal in either case is minimizing formation damage. Don Hannegan with Weatherford International, Ltd. showed conference participants the tools and different MPD techniques, discussing when to use them and illustrating the advantages with field examples.

Coiled tubing drilling (CTD) offers potential in selected environments where one must drill lots of wells quickly and efficiently. Common in Canada in selected environments, CTD is gaining traction in the U.S. Rosewood Resources has been using a rig developed by Advanced Drilling Technology, Inc. (Tom Gipson) to drill Niobrara wells in northwest Kansas. (see slides 6–9, presentation at recent DOE/PTTC Microhole

These 1,500 ft wells are being drilled in 20 hrs with cost savings versus conventional drilling estimated at 29% and there are far fewer environmental consequences. These results and exploding Canadian growth in CTD provide a compelling argument that CTD will be part of the U.S. solution. The referenced Rosewood/ Advanced Drilling Technology/GTI project is one of 16 co-funded projects within DOE's Microhole Technology Program (www.microtech.thepttc.org/).
Often re-development of reserves in mature fields will involve a variety of technologies. John Slade with Encana illustrated this point during the conference with a case study of the Jen Marie formation in British Columbia. Techniques employed include horizontal drilling, matting

presentation, Mike Konopcczynski with Well Dynamics noted how  "smart" operations can optimize production, reduce well intervention and operating costs, and even reduce capital expenses by enabling development with fewer wells. Along with examples from the North Sea and Saudi Arabia, he noted use in a domestic CO2 flood.

One can never know too much about the reservoir. Vertical seismic profile (VSP) surveys are quite useful for better defining them, but they can be costly. DOE firmly believes that the economies to be realized from microhole drilling will economically enable "designer seismic." As Roy Long with DOE described it, designer seismic is the ability to drill a low-cost, small diameter well anywhere the field geometry dictates (hence designer), place small geophones in the well and produce a low cost

Advanced Drilling Technology, Inc.'s rig on location in Kansas - Courtesy GTI

Looking Towards The Future
There are lots of exciting, complicated and expensive technologies emerging in the oilpatch. They might require modification, but they shouldn't be counted out for mature assets. Automation, Smart Wells and the Digital Oil Field are one example. Systems may need to be a bit more elementary for the economics to work in mature assets, but industry is finding there are opportunities in this realm. In his conference

Tom Davis, Colorado School of Mines, discussed using 4-D (3-D over time), multi-component seismic with other petrophysical measurements to characterize a reservoir (in this case a tight gas reservoir in the Piceance Basin) to optimize the development. Graphics were presented as well as the resulting drilling plan.