Magazine - Weatherford International
Magazine - Weatherford International
Magazine - Weatherford International
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MPD Opens New Doors in AsiaRapidly advancing technology and the capability to drill the undrillable, while reducing costs andimproving safety, are making MPD a key facilitator in the world’s toughest plays—in Asia and beyond.The transition of managed pressure drilling (MPD)from reactive to proactive happened fast.From humble beginnings as an after-the-factcontingency, MPD has evolved into a suiteof hazard-prevention methodologies that arefast becoming the doorway to drilling a newgeneration of wells around the world thatpreviously were nearly impossible to drill.Nowhere is this development more apparent thanAsia, where MPD’s mitigation of total fluid lossesin the region’s notorious carbonate geology hasbeen the enabler for entire fields.Proactive success here has spurred the useof other MPD methods to solve differentdrilling problems in Asia and elsewhere. Andit has contributed greatly to the creationand refinement of a simple, but increasinglysophisticated technology.Asian RootsMPD in Asia began in 2005 for a major operatoron a production platform in Indonesia wheretotal losses and kicks were encountered in thefractured limestone. These kick-loss scenarios madedevelopment drilling on the platform near impossible.Wells were exceeding time and budgets, and this fact hada direct impact on the field development program.“Using an early pressurized mud-cap variant of MPDprovided a solution for the platform development drillingand helped to set the scene for the growth of MPD inAsia,” explains Steve Nas, <strong>Weatherford</strong>’s ControlledPressure Drilling Engineering Manager, Asia Pacific.At about the same time, Shell was fighting simultaneouskicks and losses in their limestone reef wells in east Malaysia.They brought their experience with pressurized mud-capdrilling (PMCD) in Venezuela (described in SPE 52828*) as asolution for their east Malaysia carbonate wells.Between 2005 and 2008, the <strong>International</strong> Associationof Drilling Contractors (IADC) formalized the definition ofMPD. This step along with the success of early PMCDapplications and the availability of the high-pressurerotating control devices (RCDs), opened the door to thequick adoption of MPD operations in Asia.One of the early adopters was Santos, an Australian oil andgas company. Drilling in Indonesia, Santos had experiencedsignificant kick-loss issues in the carbonates on their Jerukexploration well.The Secure Drilling system enables quick and accurate identification and controlof influxes, reducing the size of the influx and saving time compared withconventional operations.To drill the second appraisal well using the Sedco 601semisubmersible, <strong>Weatherford</strong> provided a solution using aRiserCap ® PMCD system. This project became one of thefirst successful MPD operations from a semisubmersible rig.With the successful drilling of these carbonate wells,more operators began using MPD as a best practice forreducing nonproductive time (NPT), and during the pastfour years, PMCD has become standard practice.“Today virtually all operators in Asia that are drillingthe commonly known ‘Kujung’ or ‘Baturaja’ limestoneformations call <strong>Weatherford</strong> for our MPD tools andtechniques,” says Nas. “Several field developmentscurrently ongoing in Asia would not have been possiblewithout the use of MPD techniques.”Fractured reservoirs throughout Southeast Asia are nowroutinely drilled with MPD techniques. Success in thesedifficult reservoirs is leading to more closed wellboredrilling techniques. In these applications, MPD is beingused to drill tight-gas reservoirs, high-pressure/hightemperature(HP/HT) reservoirs, and to reduce reservoirdamage and drill more effectively.The recent acquisition of the Secure Drilling systemfurther extends the application and acceptance of MPDmethods. Operators are now considering using MPD fromfloating rigs in HP/HT reservoirs.1Urselmann, R.; Cummins, J.; Worrall, R.N.; and House, G. Pressured Mud Cap Drilling: Efficient Drilling of High-Pressure Fractured Reservoirs. Paper SPE/IADC 52828 presented at the 1999 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference. 9–11 March 1999.october 2009 11