Calling all Oilfield Vets

[themack89]

I wanted to pick your brains on where the future of drilling seems to be going and which companies in particular could be setting up to be leaders in drilling technology.

Just starting to scratch the surface on Hybrid Coil rigs and what not, just want to hear some opinions of those who have been around long enough to know the difference between something worthwhile and not worthwhile.

Xtreme Coil Drilling Corp. in particular caught my eye. It seems they are churning already a 15% net profit.

2009 Operational Successes * In April in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado, an XTC 400 achieved a field record by drilling a well to TD of 7,480 feet in 2.7 days rig release to rig release. * World record depth achieved with coil in México in April 2009 o reached 3,034 meters (9,954 ft) with 3-1/2” coiled tubing o “S” curve (37 degrees) established with conventional drill pipe o transitioned to coil to drill vertically below “S” at 2,737 meters (8,979 ft) o completed logging on coil in 7” hole diameter o XTC 300 COTD® drilling rig o coil rate of penetration more than double historical conventional drilling rate o demonstrated value of coil’s constant circulation in overpressured formation

Call me big eyed (I've only been around rigs for a year-ish with no formal education), but if underbalanced technologies can be improved (cost, effectiveness, etc) in combination with hybrid rigs with capabilities that they describe on the website.. Isn't this cash money bank?? Both in terms of career and investment.

Thoughts?

Also wondering in general how much is underbalanced focused on in the field?

[SKR]

I hate coil rigs so much. Like almost everywhere else, nobody pays any attention to hole cleaning if it means lower ROP. At least with a conventional rig they have to stop to make connections. With coil, nobody pays attention until they get stuck or the hole bridges off when they're logging and then everybody blames the mud man.

And it's anybody's guess where the bit will end up. From what experience I have with coil, deviation is a problem. Then when casing doesn't go to bottom, guess who's fault it is again.

Coil rigs drill fast, but they drill shit holes. They've got their place but I don't think they're the answer.

As far as underbalanced drilling, I've never been underbalanced intentionally. I have been accidentally underbalanced, and that's no good.

[broken_legs]

Originally posted by SKR
I hate coil rigs so much. Like almost everywhere else, nobody pays any attention to hole cleaning if it means lower ROP. At least with a conventional rig they have to stop to make connections. With coil, nobody pays attention until they get stuck or the hole bridges off when they're logging and then everybody blames the mud man.

And it's anybody's guess where the bit will end up. From what experience I have with coil, deviation is a problem. Then when casing doesn't go to bottom, guess who's fault it is again.

Coil rigs drill fast, but they drill shit holes. They've got their place but I don't think they're the answer.

As far as underbalanced drilling, I've never been underbalanced intentionally. I have been accidentally underbalanced, and that's no good.

Wheres my mud report??????? F!!!!!

^^ Agree with all this on the coil tubing rig, except its the directional hand that gets blamed, not the mud man

"Hybrid" coil tubing rigs are nothing new. There's lots of them roaming around Southern/Eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

If they've discovered a system to switch from coil to top drive in a matter of minutes - They might have an edge - However, every "hybrid" rig I've seen takes forever.

Coil Tubing rigs have their place. With a proper designed BHA, things like hole deviation can be mitigated - But the only real place where coil tubing shines is in FAST drilling. By eliminating the 10-15 minutes for a connection you save lots of time while tripping and drilling.

[themack89]

So again I beg the question, if Coil drilling is more of a niche simply for fast drilling w/ shitty holes then do you guys know of anything up and coming that will be the future of drilling? Or as it stands are conventional methods really the only thing available right now.

[PD77]

Originally posted by broken_legs


Wheres my mud report??????? F!!!!!

^^ Agree with all this on the coil tubing rig, except its the directional hand that gets blamed, not the mud man

"Hybrid" coil tubing rigs are nothing new. There's lots of them roaming around Southern/Eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

If they've discovered a system to switch from coil to top drive in a matter of minutes - They might have an edge - However, every "hybrid" rig I've seen takes forever.

Coil Tubing rigs have their place. With a proper designed BHA, things like hole deviation can be mitigated - But the only real place where coil tubing shines is in FAST drilling. By eliminating the 10-15 minutes for a connection you save lots of time while tripping and drilling.

The Nabors CT rigs that we built can switch from TD to Injector in a few minutes.

We have a 5000m CT rig drilling in Alaska right now and they love it...I definitely think that once the kinks are worked out that coil will be the way to go.

[SKR]

Originally posted by broken_legs


Wheres my mud report??????? F!!!!!

^^ Agree with all this on the coil tubing rig, except its the directional hand that gets blamed, not the mud man

I'll trade you a mud report for a copy of the surveys. Then we'll both go to town and sell them to scouts. Deal?

Also, I'd love to live in a world where the DD gets blamed for something evetry once in a while.

Originally posted by themack89
So again I beg the question, if Coil drilling is more of a niche simply for fast drilling w/ shitty holes then do you guys know of anything up and coming that will be the future of drilling? Or as it stands are conventional methods really the only thing available right now.

I don't know that CT is so much a niche as it is that they just haven't got it figured out yet. It might not be the answer anyway, but we're not to the point yet where we can say one way or another.

CT rigs are fast drillers and trippers, and they're safer than conventional rigs because there's no connections to make. Imperial Oil at Cold Lake is using triples on holes that they could use doubles or even singles because of the safety aspect; fewer connections means fewer opportunities to get hurt. So that alone might be enough for some operators.

The problems with CT rigs (with the exception of Nabors and Xtreme) is that they're not built for deeper holes. They don't have a lot of tank space for exotic pills and mud systems. They usually only have one pump, and it's not big enough to get the annular velocity needed to clean say a 159mm hole with 2-7/8" coil. When you can't rotate the pipe, it's tough to clean cutting beds (hard to do MRMC when there's no R to M)They don't come with the solids control equipment required for a mud system that needs to be maintained for longer than a couple days. And you probably won't see one with anything bigger than a 3000 pound stack. That's probably all fine for shallow vertical gas wells, but it's not enough for everywhere else. And if they're going to be switching from coil to pipe for directional holes, then they lose a lot of the advantages given to them by not using the coil.

When CT rigs start carrying the equipment to do more complex jobs, like the Xtreme and Nabors rigs, you'll see them getting more business. Until then, you won't.

I can see CT replacing conventional singles, because they've got nothing going for them either. They'll probably take some work from telescopic doubles too. But they won't take over everything. You're still going to need the PD 290's, Akita 44's, Jomax 1's and Nabors 69's of the oilfield to do the big jobs.

What I'd really like to know is how Stoneham's telescopic triples are working out.