Drilling & Completing of the wells faster, safer and at lower costs has always been the primary target for the operating companies worldwide. While it has been achieved by several means through Technology, Innovation, Operational Optimization, Cost Reduction Techniques, Application of Best Practices etc; the operating company still has to deal with multiple contractors, vendors, suppliers and service providers, with each of them having different drivers for success that may or may not align with the primary goal. The concept of Integrated Operations / Services brings in this required polarization of drivers for success to deliver the projects under budgeted AFE & planned times. In one of such Integrated Drilling Operations Campaign, at an Artificial Island located in Offshore United Arab Emirates, with single focal point for various drilling well services, the learning curve of the project has been very steep with numerous optimization measures taken at the early phase of the project under the continuous improvement process to enhance the drilling efficiency in order to speed up the well delivery. The step change achieved in the drilling efficiency for delivering the 16″ section will be detailed in this paper. The same concept has been applied in other sections with similar success. The drilling optimization has never been so thorough and need of the hour with the current prolonged challenging market conditions. This paper revisits the drilling optimization by integrating all the associated well drilling services to improve and pursue higher drilling efficiencies. It details in steps, starting with identifying the opportunities of improvement, how the traditional methods & practices were challenged and the revised practices were adopted in design & operational execution to better the performance and deliver the section faster consistently with every well. The drilling performance of this section after integrated drilling optimization currently holds several records (best footage/day, best footage/24 hours, best onbottom ROP, best average ROP including connections, best connection times, days/1000 ft, faster casing running speeds) in the subject field and also stands out when compared to the other nearby offshore fields in the country. These drilling performance records are combined with good hole quality which have contributed to delivering the fastest 16″ section when one includes casing running and other flat time activities. With the planned changes alongside the detailed engineering planning & constantly monitored execution, the section has been delivered well after well with improved times. Overall, the drilling phase of this section has been delivered 3 days earlier than the offset wells and contributing to potential savings of up to 18 million USD to the project drilling campaign cost.
Because environmental regulations are rapidly evolving towards stringent requirements, oil and gasoperators are confronted with a great challenge of disposing drilling waste, especially when operating on an artificial island located 120-km offshore and under a Zero Discharge Policy. The paper describes an innovative engineering solution that significantly reduces the time, cost and the associated safety hazards with disposing of the cement waste generated from primary cementing operations and drilled cement cuttings. The earlier disposal process implemented on the island included collecting, storing, and shipping the cement waste to an onshore treatment facility. This process was proven to be cumbersome, time-consuming and extremely expensive. Additionally, external factors such as logistics constraints, weatherconditions, and storage skips availability had a direct negative impact on the process, resulting in a massive accumulation of waste on the island. On the other hand, the newly developed disposal process utilizes existing resources, with minor modification, within the artificial island. A step-by-step procedure was developed to dispose all excess cement and drilled cement cuttings generated without any negative HSE impact. A pilot trial was performed successfully by injecting the cement waste into the shallow loss zone through the annulus, and therefore, the process was generalized to both island and found to be safe and efficient operationally and economically. The new innovative method simplifies the disposal process to a one-stage operation that is performed along with the primary cementing operation. By implementing the process, no cement handling on surface is needed, resulting in a 90-percent drop in the cost.. The number of people involved is reduced as well. Consequently, a reduction in the hazard exposure and the potential lost time incident (LTI) is achieved.
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