Abstract
There is an increasing need to drill difficult reservoirs
in a cost effective way. Over the past few years
Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) has made it
possible to drill reservoirs which have a narrow
window between pore and fracture pressure
gradients. Before the introduction of MPD
techniques, safely drilling and completing these
formations was very costly and not always
successful. Cycling the mud pumps off and on for
connections affects the pressure and is a major
problem for MPD. Techniques and equipment have
been developed to make a connection while
continuing to circulate the drilling mud to maintain
constant pressure. Since 2005, the Continuous
Circulation System (CCS) has allowed continuous
circulation during connections with traditional jointed
drill pipe, by using a chamber around the
connection. Several companies have developed
continuous circulation subs which are threaded
between tool joints to achieve continuous circulation
without a pressure chamber. These have had
varying degrees of success from both an operational
and safety standpoint. This paper describes the
current MPD market and describes the philosophy
adopted for a new side-entry sub.
Introduction
History was made in July of 2003, when the first
continuous circulation chamber was tested in
prototype form on a land rig. Jointed drill pipe was
separated inside a sealed chamber, which was filled
with drilling fluids provided by the mud pumps. The
drill string was separated, another joint added, and
drilling continued without ever shutting down the
mud pumps. After its introduction in 2005, many
The Concept
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Initial Testing
Certain elements of the design have been
developed based on the results of testing. The
replaceable barrier has been tested using a flow
fixture with various arrangments of valves to
simulate the rigs stand pipe manifold. The flow
fixture was transparent where the ball enters the sub
and seals. Water is flowed through the setup to
simulate very thin drilling mud.
The timing of the valves opening and closing plays a
role in how efficiently the ball is shifted into the
circulation sub. It was a challenge to reduce the
number of valves to a minimum, but also provide
double-valve-protection at all times. Figure 1 shows
the typical valve schematic for the new continuous
circulation sub. During testing it was found that the
ball can be shifted with very little pressure
differential and that velocity appears to be the
largest influence on the operation. Once seated the
pressure differential required to generate a seal is
also negligible. Another development was the
position and shape of the internal geometry, such
that the ball is encouraged to travel up into the sub,
even at very low transition speeds. A pressure gage
on the downstream side of the sub registered almost
no pressure changes during shifting of the ball. This
is primarily due to the flow area never being
restricted throughout the shifting sequence. The ball
material was also experiemented with, and the initial
testing was done with a rubber coated steel core.
The significant weight of the ball posed no issue with
being transferred using almost no pressure
differential. Another area of interest was the
clearance between the internals of the continuous
circulation sub and the associated plumbing with
Conclusion
The new continuous circulation sub is a solution for
continuous circulation in todays Managed Pressure
Drilling market. The new system addresses safety,
reliability and performance by using a replaceable
barrier and testing the barrier at each connection.
Initial testing has verified both the simplicity of the
system and its intuitive operation.
References
1. Calderoni A, et al. The Continuous
Circulation System from Prototype to
Commercial Tool paper SPE 102851,
presented at SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio,
Texas, Sept 2006.
2. Jacobs S and Donnelly J, Crossing the
Technology Chasm: Managed Pressure
Drilling, online article featured on Journal Of
Petroleum Technologys website,
www.JPTonline.org, 2011
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