Equinor, operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the North Sea, consulted with SLB engineers after four wells of a major initiative in late-life fields underperformed. The wells did not meet Equinor’s expectations due to steering adjustments with multiple downlinks and microdoglegs that resulted in ROP falling below 50 m/h. For a single-run bottomhole assembly (BHA), SLB engineers recommended the PowerDrive Xcel RSS deployed with the auto-curve component of the autonomous downhole control system. Auto-curve mode adjusts the steering ratio automatically based on required dogleg severity (DLS) and the toolface. This capability would help increase ROP and production in the mature wells.
With auto-curve mode, PowerDrive Xcel RSS successfully placed the 2,500-m liner smoothly to TD, reducing downlink commands by 42% and increasing ROP to 83 m/h. This saved 26 h of rig time for greater drilling efficiency, achieving 15-m/h higher ROP than steering sections in offset wells.
