Kick off from cement plug, whipstock, and drilling sections

Statoil ASA planned to drill multiple reentry wells in one of the largest fields in the North Sea. The environment is known to have high magnetic interference, which makes accurate wellbore positioning a challenge. The operator needed to maintain high directional and trajectory control, as many of the reentry wells would be in close proximity to producing wells. Statoil also wanted to avoid shutting down these producers while the new wells were being drilled.

Increase operating envelope with inertial steering mode

An inertial steering mode was developed for the point-the-bit PowerDrive Xcel RSS to expand its operating envelope for precision well placement in the Statfjord field. After successful laboratory tests, the technology was deployed for four successful field runs. The tool performed as expected in all three sections (17 1/2-in, 12 1/4-in, and 8 1/2-in sections). In three out of the four runs, the inertial steering mode performed successful whipstock window exits with accurate toolface control despite the environment's high magnetic interference.

Drilled four wells and saved 5 days drilling time

The new inertial steering mode of the PowerDrive Xcel RSS helped operators to save time and cost by keeping producers on production while kicking off and drilling close to these wells. Four wells were drilled and completed successfully with no collisions with producing wells, even in tight windows. In addition, an estimated 5 days of rig time was saved during drilling.

Based on these successful runs, it was proven that the new inertial steering mode has increased the operation envelope of the point-the-bit RSS.