SPE 137088

Liner Drilling with a Multiset Hanger and Retrievable BHA

Michael Moffitt and Erik Eriksen, Tesco Corporation

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Deepwater Drilling and Completions Conference held in Galveston, Texas, USA, 5–6 October 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Drilling with liners has long been recognized as a potential solution to problems in oil and gas wells that are associated with
drilling conventionally and running a liner to cover the interval in two separate steps. The most prevalent problems are
covering time-sensitive formations with pipe prior to the hole sloughing in, and the detrimental effects of swab and surge
when running tools into and out of open hole, leading to potential well control and casing/liner installation problems.

Basic drilling with liners incorporating a bit made up to the end of the liner and then drilled to total depth helps solve these
issues, however, sacrifices the ability to run more sophisticated tools in the bottom hole assembly (BHA). Also, traditional
liner top equipment was neither designed to endure the rigors of drilling dynamics, nor the balance of minimizing the
equivalent circulating density (ECD) in the drilling mode while maximizing the performance characteristics related to the
mechanical properties of the liner top equipment.

The ability to reliably overcome the above problems has been accomplished through the careful design and construction of a
purpose-built liner drilling system. Specific consideration has been taken to balance the high bypass necessary for ECD
reduction during both drilling and tripping operations, yet provide high burst, collapse, and tensile capacities of the liner top
equipment while maintaining full drift through the tools. The system also allows for multiple BHA change-outs while leaving
the liner parked in tension anywhere in the parent casing.

This paper covers the drilling tests that have been performed with a liner system purpose-built for drilling applications with
sophisticated BHAs that require the ability to be returned to surface for change out due to worn or malfunctioning equipment
or once total depth is achieved.

Introduction
Casing while drilling technology is dependent upon using the casing as the drill string to rotate the bottom hole assembly,
simultaneously drilling the hole and casing it off. The two types of casing while drilling technologies are drill-in systems and
retrievable systems, whose classification is determined strictly by the composition of the bottom hole assembly. The simple
drill-in style of casing while drilling BHA includes either a drillable bit made up directly to the casing string or a bit attached
to the casing by either a crossover or bit release sub. The casing is drilled to total depth and can be cemented in place
immediately, or if properly equipped can allow logging of a production section prior to cementation. The more sophisticated
retrievable style of casing while drilling system incorporates a fully-retrievable BHA into the system, allowing the option of
drilling the casing in directionally, logging while drilling, or both. Retrievable systems provide the opportunity to remove and
replace the drilling assembly at any point as the well is drilled.1 In this type of system, the casing string acts as both the drill
string and the conductor through which the BHA is transported between the surface and the bottom of the wellbore. An added
benefit of the casing while drilling retrievable BHA is the use of an under reamer that typically opens the hole up to standard
hole sizes after the pilot bit drills the pilot hole. The retrievable BHA can be configured many different ways; from a standard
straight hole assembly to a rotary steerable system complete with MWD and LWD tools.

The benefits of casing while drilling and liner drilling have become apparent to the industry and more widely accepted. Some
of the benefits are:
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• Casing the hole as it is drilled provides a useable wellbore even if the casing gets stuck in a challenging formation.

• Wellbore strengthening while drilling with casing/liners allows casing points to be pushed deeper and reduces the total
number of strings required to complete a well. Mud losses and fluid influx into the wellbore have also been shown to be
less problematic due to this phenomenon.

• In the case of retrievable systems, the casing provides a conductor from surface to TD through which BHA retrieval is
possible, even when the hole sloughs in on the drill string causing it to stick.

These benefits are now more readily accepted across the industry and system reliability is becoming more predictable through
the use of computer modeling for hydraulics, torque & drag and fatigue analysis of the drill string. This level of pre-planning
analysis in conjunction with fit-for-purpose casing connections allow the operator to simultaneously drill and case zones that
were previously inaccessible using conventional drilling methods. By casing off the zones as they are drilled, many of the
problematic issues the operators face are more easily dealt with. According to Watts, et al2 the use of casing while drilling has
been proven to stop or significantly reduce lost circulation and improve wellbore strength.

The most prevalent limitations of drilling deep wells with casing while drilling systems are the weight of the string or the
torque required to rotate it may reach or surpass the load capacity of either the casing couplings or the surface equipment. In
these cases where the effects of casing while drilling is desired by the operator but one of the aforementioned conditions exist,
liner drilling is likely an attractive alternative. Additionally, through thoughtful planning the liner drilling program can be
designed such that the liner pipe is never across the blowout preventer in the case a well control situation arises when drilling
new formation.

Liner Drilling System Concept

Traditional liner top equipment allows for bypass during the running and cementing operation, however the equipment is
neither designed to balance circulating rates required for drilling with ECD minimization, nor to endure the rigorous drilling
process. ECD management is critical for the successful drilling of these challenging wells3. The requirements for drilling
longer intervals dictates the need for reliable liner top tools that are simple yet rugged in their design, and must incorporate
significant bypass for ECD control during all operations while drilling the interval without sacrificing the mechanical
properties of the liner top equipment, see figure 1.

Liner drilling with a retrievable BHA and multi-set hanger delivers the ability for the operator to retrieve and replace the
bottom hole assembly at will, delivering the added flexibility to run multiple BHAs in a section. The addition of a multi-set
liner hanger incorporated into the liner top delivers three distinct advantages:

1) the liner can be hung in tension anywhere in the parent casing during the BHA change-out process,

2) the complete BHA can be changed out, and

3) both processes can be accomplished without the need to return the liner back to surface.

The retrievable BHA allows the ability to accurately reach the anticipated target using more sophisticated tools such as rotary
steerable systems, logging while drilling tools, or just about any combination of tools.

Cementation System Concept

Once the liner string is has been drilled to total depth, cementation is needed to complete the installation. The use of
retrievable BHAs in liner drilling systems requires a full-drift bore to return the tools back to surface, and thus does not allow
the incorporation of traditional equipment into the drill string, requiring a zonal isolation device to be installed into the liner
string once the BHA has been removed from the wellbore. After BHA removal, a liner top packer and seal stem assembly is
run into the wellbore in conjunction with either a cement retainer or a latching-type liner wiper plug located below the running
tool. Once the seal nipple is stung into the polished bore receptacle located at the liner top, circulation is established and a
traditional cement job is pumped.

Objectives of the Drilling Test

A system that incorporates a retrievable bottom hole assembly and multi-set liner hanger has been designed, function tested
and drill tested under real-world conditions. The objectives were to perform a drilling test under realistic conditions with the 7
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in. liner assembly to validate both its ability to drill and learn how well the tools will function in a drilling environment with
cuttings. Further, verification is required to ensure the resettable feature functions in a drilling environment with mud and
cuttings.

Drilling with the Liner

A land rig containing the equipment necessary to reliably and efficiently drill test the liner drilling system was selected,
Figure 2. The rig operations started with makeup of BHA components, flow test of under reamer and flow test of motor.
Approximately 1,200 ft of 7” liner was run in and hung off in the slips followed by running a simple BHA on an inner string
with drill pipe centralizers affixed to the inner string to minimize buckling.

Once the BHA was verified to be spaced out properly below the 7” shoe, the liner hanger assembly with running tool was
made up to the liner Figure 3. The liner drilling assembly was then run in the hole using 4-1/2-in drill pipe. After tagging
bottom with the bit, liner drilling commenced.

Over 500ft of new formation was control-drilled with a rate of penetration (ROP) that varied from 24 ft/hr to 50 ft/hr
throughout the interval with weight on bit (WOB) being closely managed. Following the initial drilling period, the liner
drilling assembly was pulled back to surface for inspection per the test program. As expected, some nominal markings were
found on the liner hanger body and determined to be from rotating the liner in the parent casing with cuttings circulated
between the two strings of pipe Figure 4, none of which was deemed detrimental to the equipment or process. Surprisingly,
only minute amounts of cuttings were found above the hanger, exemplifying that the drilling circulation rates to drive the
motor and keep the bit from balling were sufficient to provide adequate cleaning above the liner top while drilling.
Incidentally, a small piece of aluminum was found inside the polished bore receptacle (PBR) in the circulation path Figure 5;
it was far from the functioning portion of the hanger and did not have a detrimental effect to the equipment. The aluminum
was later determined to be junk left down hole after drilling out the shoe track of the parent casing.

The assembly was returned to bottom after completion of the surface inspection and drilling continued for another 200ft. The
assembly was then pulled back to intermediately hang liner completely inside the 9-5/8” parent casing section. A test pump
was connected to the stand pipe, followed by a short circulation period. The setting ball was dropped and pressure was
increased in multiple increments while slacking off to set the hanger. The hanger was set at a pressure of approximately
600psi, and began to take weight. The complete liner, inner string and drillpipe weight was slacked off on the hanger. At this
time procedures were taken to release the running tool assembly from the liner, which occurred as expected, as indicated
through the regaining of the circulation path. The drilling tool released with a slightly higher amount of overpull over than
expected while attempting to separate the drilling tools from the liner, however, hook load weight clearly indicated the liner
was disconnected from the string and the retrievable portion of the string was free to move uphole.

Following the setting of the hanger and release of the liner, it was desired to verify the liner was still set at its original setting
depth. The drilling tool was lowered to tag the liner top and it was found the liner was still in place as anticipated. The
drilling tool was then returned to surface to change-out in preparations to re-engage the liner and return it to the surface for
completion of the test.

Once the drilling tool reached surface, per the test plan the next liner drilling tool was picked up and run in the hole. A drilling
jar was run immediately above the liner drilling tool in the event of issues when disengaging and retrieving the liner back to
surface. The tools were landed at the liner top, and the liner was subsequently re-engaged. The string was then picked up,
weight was seen to increase on the indicator, and a slight overpull was noted. Weight then decreased to the total system
weight, indicating liner was re-engaged to the running tool and slips reset into their pockets without the need for the drilling
jars. The system was then pulled to surface for inspection.

Summary
Overall the system drilled the interval as expected; the liner hanger functioned in both the hanging and drilling mode
successfully. No significant amount of wear, or erosion was found throughout the system, and only a minor issue was found
during the disassembly of the liner top tools relating to the overpull observed during the release. This was due to a material
hardness mismatch between two interacting parts and has been corrected. No issues were found when disassembling the liner
string, inner string, or the BHA. Specifically:

• The system drilled satisfactory despite a relatively low flow rate dictated by the selection of the mud motor.

• The liner hanger set and released as intended in the drilling environment.
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• Cuttings build up above the tools in the annulus above did not occur to a degree that negatively affected the
operations.

• The premium connections on the liner did not show any signs of back off or over-torque from exposure to the drilling
environment. The inner string connections were also found to break-out within the expected torque range.

References

1. Tessari, R. et al: “Retrievable Tools Provide Flexibility for Casing Drilling,” WOCD-0306-1, presented at the World Oil 2004 Casing
Drilling Technical Conference, Houston, Texas 6-7 March 2003.

2. Watts, R. et al: “Particle Size Distribution Improves Casing-While-Drilling Wellbore Strengthening Results,” paper IADC/SPE
128913, presented at IADC/SPE Drilling Conference & Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2-4 February 2010.

3. Mota, J., et al: “Rotary Liner Drilling Application in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico,” paper IADC/SPE 99065 prepared for presentation at
IADC/SPE Drilling Conference in Miami, Florida 21-23 February 2006.
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Figure 1. Liner Drilling System with

Multiset Hanger and Retrievable BHA
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Figure 2. Test Rig

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Figure 3. Initial make-up of inner string to drilling tool

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Figure 4. Radial scoring on hanger body

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Figure 5. Aluminum found in bypass area