Horizontal underbalanced drilling of gas wells with coiled tubing
Coiled tubing drilling technology is gaining popularity and momentum as a significant and reliable method of drilling horizontal underbalanced wells. It is quickly moving into new frontiers. To this point, most efforts in the Western Canadian Basin have been focused towards sweet oil reservoirs in the 900--1300 m true vertical depth (TVD) range, however there is an ever-increasing interest in deeper and gas-producing formations. Significant design challenges on both conventional and coiled tubing drilling operations are imposed when attempting to drill these formations underbalanced. Coiled tubing is an ideal technology for underbalanced drilling due to its absence of drillstring connections resulting in continuous underbalanced capabilities. This also makes it suitable for sour well drilling and live well intervention without the risk of surface releases of reservoir gas. Through the use of pressure deployment procedures it is possible to complete the drilling operation without need to kill the well, thereby maintaining underbalanced conditions right through to the production phase. The use of coiled tubing also provides a means for continuous wireline communication with downhole steering, logging and pressure recording devices.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 350274
- Journal Information:
- SPE Drilling and Completion, Journal Name: SPE Drilling and Completion Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 14; ISSN 1064-6671; ISSN SDCOE5
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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