State-of-the-Art Summary

  • CTES (Friction Reduction for Microhole CT Drilling, Ed Smalley): The first phase of building the test stand and vibrator and bench testing is complete. Unfortunately, the measured friction reduction was only a fraction of what is needed. This project has been stopped.

  • Technology International, Inc. (High Power Turbodrill and Bit for Coiled Tubing, Bob Radtke and David Conroy of Sil Neyfor): The 2 7/8-inch prototype has been tested at 1100 and 2200 rpm with both TSP cutter and PDC bits. Phase II will produce a prototype with more power and shorter length.

  • Confluent Filtration Systems (Advanced Monobore Concept CFEX Self-Expanding Tubular Technology, Self-Expanding Sand Screen Technology, Jeff Spray): The Phase I proof of concept of self-expansion is nearing completion. Early designs of corrugated construction have given way to a new split tube that will be able to self expand 135% to 200%. It is scalable to indefinite thickness, indefinite pressures and unlimited materials properties. The sandscreen design is cellular, like the early self-expanding tubulars. It is expandable 125% to 150%, with less than a 50 micron retention and a 4,000 psi collapse rating—four times greater than today's standard.

A key element in the program and in all the meetings was the interaction between the project principal investigators and a number of industry and other research individuals engaged in coiled tubing drilling and related projects. These included:

  • Joe Melvan, Vice-President of Engineering for Orbis Engineering and consultant to BP, discussed well designed for the Alaska re-entry program, where BP is drilling out of 3 1/2-inch liners to set 2 3/8-inch liners and the (then) planned extension of that technology to a depleted gas field in the Texas Panhandle.

  • Curtis Blount of ConocoPhillips has been engaged in coiled tubing re-entry work in Alaska for over 10 years and presented a perspective on the technology and the economics as compared to using jointed pipe. There have been over 500 coiled tubing re-entry wells drilled in the North Slope.

  • David Wennerstrom of Technicoil Corp., a Canadian coiled tubing drilling company, discussed the early acceptance and recent explosive growth of CTD and the reasons behind that popularity in Western Canada.

  • John Pursell of IPS discussed the difficulties encountered and overcome in the BP Texas Panhandle project. IPS provided the CT drilling services for this 10-well project. This included problems in obtaining the equipment, tools, and people and the learning curve for the wells.

  • Tom Wood, Chairman of Xtreme Coil Drilling, a newly formed Alberta CTD, discussed Xtreme's view of the U.S. market and how his company intends to enter it with 10 new rigs in the next year.

  • Ernie Majer, Geophysicist with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, presented preliminary results from his program in the use of shallow microholes for vertical seismic profiling, showing that smaller can indeed be faster and cheaper without sacrificing quality of information.

  • Arnis Judzis, Sr. VP with Terra Tek, briefed the attendees on their DOE co- funded project testing high speed motors and bits at speeds up to 40,000 RPM. The bits are less than an inch in diameter and the bench tests are on the order of 1–2 seconds duration. The next phase will test larger bits (3 inches) at somewhat lower speeds.

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  • Robert Odenthal, Sr. Drilling Engineer for BP, disclosed the plans and results of BP's 10 well re-entry program in the Cleveland formation of Lipscomb County, Texas in the fall of 2005. This was BP's first try to export the coiled tubing re-entry technology currently applied in Alaska and Sharjah to the lower 48. The target was the Cleveland formation in Lipscomb County, Texas where BP operates hundreds of wells in a field discovered in the 1950s. The plan was to drill out of the 4 ½-inch casing with a 3 ¾-inch bit on 2 3/8-in coiled tubing, turn in a short radius and drill 1,500 feet horizontal. Ultimately, only 3 wells were completed due primarily to hole stability issues from a shale zone just above the pay zone. But the program showed a pattern of continuous improvement in time spent drilling and moving. The three completed wells came in at 40%, 55% and 130% of baseline results from grass-roots vertical wells. The results were sufficiently encouraging for BP to expand from the pilot to an ongoing program of re-entries in the area.

  • Don Francis, Drilling Editor for Hart's E&P, gave his view of the industry acceptance of coiled tubing drilling (CTD) in general and microhole in particular. Francis reviewed the explosive growth of CTD activity, primarily in Canada and how it is driven primarily by coalbed methane development. Several emerging CTD technologies were discussed, such as the combination with casing drilling proposed by ConocoPhillips. Francis closed with a news release from API indicating plans to use CTD on the planet Mars at some time in the future.

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All presentations, minutes and attendees of the four meetings are posted on the PTTC Microhole website www.
microtech.thepttc.org/past_
meetings.htm

  • .In addition to the meeting information, there is a wealth of information on the projects themselves: fact sheets, reports, articles and more, as well as technology references, market studies and technology handbooks.

Literally and figuratively, at the end of the day, Roy Long, DOE Technology Manager for the National Energy Technology Laboratory, discussed the status of the FY07 Oil and Gas program budget and that the DOE will no longer be able to fund the quarterly MHT integration meetings. For the most part, ongoing projects will have funds for completion and PTTC, for the near term, will continue to keep the MHT website current and post project results as they become available.

So, three years ago it was very quiet. Today we have CT drilling rigs working, building, and moving south. Smaller, less expensive bottomhole assemblies previously available only in Alaska for a steep price are testing and going commercial. New high speed motors show promise for faster drilling. Most of the technology described above will be commercial by next year and promises to reshape the drilling industry.

Network News
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PTTC

4th Quarter 2006