ÇAĞRILI KONUŞMALAR / KEYNOTES Invited Speeches ... - TPJD

Slim Hole Technology
Erem Arıkan
Merty Energy Sondaj, Ankara
In past years, because of the reduction of cost in oil E&P industry a new approach had been
occurred in aspect of exploration, drilling and well completion design. With this approach slim
hole drilling technology was started in 1910’s and developed as parallel to new developments
in E&P technology. Many famous oil companies used slim-hole technology for their field works.
Slim hole drilling is an operation that minimizes the well size which is fully equipped with 6
¼’’ and smaller. Despite the fact that there are some limitations and disadvantages, minimizing
well size reduce the all operational costs effectively. Moreover, with less cuttings, mud disposal,
smaller drilling site, smaller crew and smaller operational capacity it is an environmental and
safety way for drilling and well-completion. The most important limitations are the reliability of
small size equipment and smaller production capacity. Nowadays, these are not huge problems
because of the technological developments in drilling and well-completion areas. With a qualified
planning, slim hole technology is applicable way which has many cost cuttings for oil and natural
gas exploration and production.
Keywords: Drilling, Cost, Efficiency
189