Drilling Presalt Carbonates Offshore Brazil with Center-Placed Conical Diamond Element Technology | SLB

Drilling Presalt Carbonates Offshore Brazil with Center-Placed Conical Diamond Element Technology

Published: 08/16/2016

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Schlumberger Oilfield Services

After findings were made in the presalt province that represented a major discovery for the oil industry, drilling activity in Brazil has been focused primarily on economically viable ways to develop these reserves. Each day, new wells are drilled in deep water throughout thick sediment layers and homogeneous or heterogeneous salt formations to access this reservoir. Located in the Brazilian continental shelf deep under thick layers of salt, the presalt cluster is a geological formation that consists of organic microbial carbonates and other sediments. The reservoir poses innumerous drilling challenges, including hard silicate nodules and low-porosity layers, which make the formation strength vary within centimeters. The development and use of new technologies to drill the reservoir section with high efficiency and low cost is essential. To offer a technical solution, the service provider applied an innovative bit design, modelled for cutting structure resistance, stability, and aggressiveness delivering higher rate of penetration (ROP). This article reviews the working arrangements covering this new cutting element technology, the development of this new bit technology designed for the presalt cluster, and some field results in which rig days were saved, nonproductive time (NPT) was reduced and better overall drilling performance was delivered.

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