This paper will address the improvements in well placement and drilling efficiency seen during a start-up project where wired drillpipe was introduced as an enabling technology during the project. By using multiple strands of new technology, in a controlled, managed fashion, Eon Ruhrgas delivered rate of penetration (ROP) increases of 200% and, at the same time, increased net-to-gross by nearly 100%. The delivery of these new technologies will be reviewed along with the culture of learning and constant improvement fostered by the Eon Ruhrgas. The collaborative atmosphere led to an open environment where all the potential issues, risks, and hazards had been discussed and contingencies made to ensure that delivery would not be compromised. A case study on the drilling of the first three wells on the Babbage field, where significant new technology advances were introduced on the second and third development wells, will outline, in detail, the improvements in performance observed. In summary, the introduction of wired telemetry drillpipe and the use of a downhole-powered rotary steerable system (RSS) ensured optimum trajectory control, ensuring "sweet" spots were identified and delivered, while maintaining an optimum ROP. By using the increased data-carrying capability of the wired drillpipe, it was possible to provide high quality image data, allowing a better understanding of the downhole environment and ensuring that the stratigraphic control was optimized. The optimization was enhanced by 24-hour operations geological support, continuous dip-picking, and geosteering modelling support onshore but live-linked to the wellsite. By using this knowledge in conjunction with a mud motor power section attached to an RSS, it was possible to deliver a step change in drilling performance through the reservoir.
This paper will discuss the implementation of the Wired Drill Pipe telemetry on two wells of the Babbage development project in the Central North Sea and will present the quantified efficiency gains achieved across various drilling operations. Wired Drill Pipe (WDP) telemetry enables bi-directional, high speed data transmission to and from downhole tools at speeds up to 57,600 bps (Olberg et al. 2008). This enables real-time "recorded" quality MWD and LWD data to be transmitted instantaneously to surface, as well as near-instantaneous commands ("downlinks") to be sent to MWD, LWD and RSS tools while drilling. The contribution of WDP telemetry to well placement and Geosteering on the Babbage development project has been published previously (Hatch, et al. 2011). This paper however, will present the efficiency gains and corresponding time savings that WDP telemetry enabled through the instantaneous transmission of data up and down the drillstring. A detailed analysis of the two WDP wells drilled with WDP telemetry will show the quantified time savings when compared to three wells drilled with conventional mud pulse telemetry. The analysis will compare the time spent on several activities including the transmission of downhole data to surface and vice-versa, the frequency of unplanned bit or BHA trips and on-bottom drilling time. The analysis will account for the differences in BHA designs, well paths and controlled drilling practices. Compared to the Babbage wells, drilled with mud pulse telemetry, a reduction of multiple days per well can be inferred through the increased efficiency of these operations and activities.
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