SPE 123953

Application of Reelwell Drilling Method in Offshore Drilling to Address Many

Related Challenges
M. Mir Rajabi, SPE, and A.I. Nergaard, SPE, University of Stavanger, and O. Hole, SPE, and O.M. Vestavik, SPE,
Reelwell AS

Copyright 2009, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2009 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 4–6 August 2009.

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
In recent years, operators have been drilling wells in ever increasing water depths. Drilling wells in deepwaters is a
daunting task due to both downhole drilling hazards and excessive floating rig packages. Traditionally, these challenging wells
are drilled with a low-pressure 21” drilling riser stretching from mudline to surface. A high day-rate gigantic floating rigs with
high weight, space, and tensioning requirement is essential to handle this huge and long LP marine riser in deepwaters.
Today, the industry is contemplating drilling in water depths of 10,000 ft and beyond, while current equipment can hardly
(or even not) take the industry into such depths without changes. The 21” marine drilling riser cannot be pushed much further
by existing rigs, and even if the rig could support the riser length and weigh, the riser itself cannot withstand the stresses.
Furthermore, if all of these problems are tackled, many downhole drilling challenges are yet to be answered.
So, needs for change in current deepwater drilling technology seems to be necessary if the industry is to reach deep targets
successfully in deepwaters. Our approach to this problem is changing drilling method; we intend to introduce a newly born
drilling technology called Reelwell Drilling Method which is a riserless drilling method by nature and facilitates drilling at any
water depth by smaller and less expansive floating rigs, with fewer difficulties.
RDM is also promising in delivering closed circulation system which turns it into a competent tool for Managed Pressure
Drilling. This feature of RDM can make a big difference in drilling operations in environments with narrow pressure margin
which is the case in deepwaters, HPHT, and depleted reservoirs.

Introduction
It is more than 40 years that different projects and endeavors have been launched to come up with a solution to deal with
challenges of deepwater drilling, and recently those of ultra deepwater drilling, as demands for development of reservoirs in
such challenging environments has increased.
When drilling a well in deepwater, it is all about the pressure. In contrast with lands where rock is mainly responsible for
overburden stress, seawater predominantly contributes to overburden pressure in offshore environments resulting in reduction
in total overburden and consequently fracture gradient. This presents a narrow pore pressure/fracture pressure window
situation which is the provenance of numerous offshore drilling problems, including shallow water flows, kicks, circulation
losses, lost of well control, etc. which may prevent well objective from being reached. These problems are normally
encountered in certain sedimentary basins in deepwaters around the world such as the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa.
For the water depth of less than 3,000 ft or so, an additional casing point or two and replacing 13 5/8” wellhead and 18
5/8” riser by 18 ¾” wellhead and 21” riser respectively were a solution in 1970’s (Gault 1996). But, as the water depth
increases, such wellhead size and huge marine riser give rise a lot of problems; increasing the size of wellhead and riser in
deeper water depths substantially increases the weight and space requirement for floating drilling vessels. For example, the
weight attributed to the marine riser, mud volume, additional mud pumps, and solids separation for a rig drilling in 6,000 ft
water depths reportedly has been estimated at 4,000 – 5,000 tons (Gault 1996).
In cases where the riser is needed to be deployed in the long lengths, the riser and the mud that is contained in it become
quite heavy. The weight of the riser becomes such that it can not be tensioned with vessel mounted tensioning systems and
auxiliary buoyancy of one kind or another is required. Accordingly, these risers are becoming more expensive, and this
expense is not linear with depth.
From a stationkeeping standpoint, it must be noted that a gigantic vessel with an expensive mooring or dynamically
positioning system is required to handle this huge and heavy riser accuratly and keep the rig in an operational range.
2 SPE 123953

When the riser is to be deployed in long lengths, it will become more sensitive to the environment. Long risers are more
prone to deflect and perhaps be over-stressed.
Another annoying matter regarding marine riser deployment in conventional drilling procedure is the time required to run
and pull. Apparently, the deeper the sea, the more time required to get the riser established.
There are a lot more problems associated with long riser which intensify as water depth increases, such as fatigue damage
due to Vortex Induced Vibration, large curvature of the riser that will lead to rapid riser wear by drill pipe, conductor pipe
fatigue damage due to subsea BOP stack at certain current speed, etc (Hariharan 2007). Any of these various problems caused
by an extended drilling riser require variations of very costly measures that must be taken for successful drilling.
Deepwater drilling challenges are not limited only to the drilling riser and numerous challenges associated with it; dealing
with the formations with narrow pore pressure/fracture pressure window in deepwater environments and subsequent problems,
as it has been mentioned earlier, are of more importance and very problematic. Even if one optimistically assumes that all the
problems pertinent to floating rigs and marine drilling riser is solved at a reasonable cost, still downhole hazards will be hurdle
for us to reach many deep targets. Therefore, a riserless drilling method with capability of handling downhole hazards would
be an attractive alternative for deepwater drilling.

Background
Since the need for a technology to overcome the aforementioned problems was felt, especially in the 60’s and 70’s, several
multi-company projects and sporadic efforts by individual companies have aimed at meeting deepwater challenges by
investigation of many alternatives. These alternatives offer possible means of avoiding big and expensive risers and their
associated large drilling vessels, and also tools to mitigate downhole drilling problems.
These efforts continued until in early 1996 (Smith 1999) when four main projects began in an attempt to end the scenario.
The four projects were: Shell’s Oil Company’s Project, the Deep Vision Project, Maurer Technology’s Hollow Glass Spheres
Project, and the Subsea Mudlift Joint Industry Project (Schubert 2003). Some of these projects intended to address both
equipment related and downhole related challenges by elimination of the marine drilling riser and creating a dual gradient
profile in the return path of drilling mud respectively, while others, like Hollow Glass Spheres Project or Nitrogen Injection,
tried to address just downhole problems (narrow pressure margins) by presenting a dual gradient pressure profile to the
annulus.
However, we know that none of these alternatives were widely accepted as a common drilling method for drilling whole
sections of a well yet. Therefore, some have found it a good solution to cut the expenditure in deepwater drilling by using a
surface BOP and reduced-bore high-pressure marine riser instead of 21” low-pressure riser and subsea BOP. In some relatively
benign environments and water depths of around 6,000 ft, such as Brazilian and Indonesian waters, deployment of a reduced-
bore riser resulted in a significant cost saving drilling operation just because of using 3rd generation rig in lieu of 5th generation
rig (Fischer 2008; Simondin 2005), much less the full elimination of the riser. Having found the idea of high-pressure riser so
cost effective, some rig designers have tried to propose floating rig concepts specifically for HP riser (slim riser) drilling
operations to operate in ultra deepwaters, as limited fleet of 5th and 6th generation rigs is suffering. For example, PRD12,000
sister ships (Bully I/II) ― which are designed by GustoMSC and currently (as of May 2009) under construction ― are
designed to perform drilling operations in water depth of 12,000 ft by deployment of HP riser and surface BOP, suitable for
regions such as West of Africa, GoM, Asia, and Brazil. Such concepts are aiming at cost reduction in drilling operations by
eliminating heavy subsea equipment, which enables the drilling contractor to use a lower day rate rig for ultra deepwaters.
Another new alternative, which has been developed by Ocean Riser Systems AS recently, is ORS MPD technology. This
technology is mostly developed to solve the fundamental problems of pressure management and well control along with
extending the capabilities of smaller rigs to drill in deeper waters. The first deployment for this new technology will be from
“Oribis One” drillship, according to ORS AS official website. The ship will be able to perform conventional drilling in water
depth from 650 ft to 6,500 ft using a conventional low-pressure 21” marine riser, while it can perform drilling in water depth
up to 11,800 ft using the ORS high-pressure riser system and MPD technology. The system consists of a conventional 21”
conventional marine riser interfacing the rig to the HP riser system below, a 13 5/8” 10,000 psi subsurface BOP, and 11 ¾”
10,000 psi inner diameter high-pressure riser. A “subsea drilling fluid booster pump interface Joint” is a part of the subsea
equipments in this system; this riser section is an important component when drilling under-balanced in order to separate gas
from liquids in the riser, thereby saving equipment topside and making under-balanced operations safer. A drill fluid booster
pump deployed to a depth between 300 ft and 2,000 ft below the sea surface. The pump can handle any type of fluid, drill
cuttings, and gas from the high-pressure riser. The high-pressure riser continues down to an 11” 15,000 psi BOP located at the
seabed. With an ORS MPD technology we are able to drill longer and deeper wells with smaller diameter casing strings.
In ultra deepwater area, the weight of even HP riser become to be more and more critical and, therefore, using composite
material has been also investigated by several JIPs as another alternative to reduce the weight of marine drilling riser (Zhang
2002).
Contemporary with all these technologies still under development, we are proposing RDM as a new alternative. The newly
born drilling method is promising to solve many deepwater challenges by changing the way we drill. Reelwell AS, Shell,
StatoilHydro, and Norwegian Research Council launched a JIP in 2005 to develop this technology. Many features of this
method have been proven throughout verifying tests and studies. The last test was successfully performed in March 2009 in
Ullrig in Stavanger, Norway.
SPE 123953 3

Reelwell Drilling Method

The idea for a new drilling method was born at Rogaland Research, now the International Research Institute of Stavanger
(IRIS) in Stavanger, Norway. The idea was motivated by challenges of solving hole cleaning and weigh-on bit control for
coiled tubing drilling applications. After a feasibility study, the method was refined and found applicable to solve several
challenges for jointed pipe drilling as well (Vestavik 2008).
RDM method is a new drilling method which is based on concentric drill string (Fig. 1). The concentric drill string consists
of outer pipe joints which shall be the conventional 5” or 6 5/8” API drill pipe, and an inner string of aluminum pipes specially
designed for RDM. The aluminum drill pipe is designed to be hung off inside the conventional drill pipe from the internal
shoulder of the outer pipe tool joints. A specially designed hanger ring facilitates the suspension of the inner pipe inside the
outer pipe, placing the weight of the inner pipe on the outer pipe, as shown in Fig. 2. The hanger also provides the electrical
isolation between the inner pipe and the outer pipe, facilitating data transmission via the aluminum inner string, of course if it
is selected to transmit data via the inner string.
The size of the inner pipe can be optimized with respect to minimum “total” pressure loss for the concentric drill string.
Depending on the total depth of the well to be drilled and the pressure window of the formation to be penetrated, we can also
select to determine the size of the inner pipe with respect to minimum “return” pressure loss. However, the size of inner pipe
will be different depending on the size (ID) of outer pipe which can be either 5” or 6 5/8”, if minum pressure loss criteria is
incorporated; currently 2” inner pipe is manufactured and used for both 5” and 6 5/8” drill pipe for pilot tests.
Rotating Control Device is another essential tool for RDM to operate safely and effectively. An RCD installed atop the
conventional BOP stack (or subsea BOP stack in case of subsea wells) caps the annulus and seals against drill string, making it
possible to hold the pressure in the annulus of drill string/well bore. It is neccessary to have the RCD installed for the whole
drilling operation.
In this system, mud is pumped down into the annulus of concentric drill string via the Top Drive Adaptor (Fig. 1). Top
Drive Adaptor shall facilitate the followings;
• Rotation of drill string,
• Guiding return mud flow to top drive.

The mud that is pumped into the annulus of the concentric drill string passes through the bit nozzles, enters the well and
comes up the annulus of ordinary Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA)/well until it reaches a tool called Flow Cross Over which
facilitates diversion of fluid flow into the inner pipe.
Flow Cross Over is an integrated tool with another tool called Dual Float Valve. The DFV is one of the key elements of
RDM and operates much similar to float valves in conventional drill strings with one thing different; conventional float valves
prevent back flow into the drill pipe when the circulation is stopped, but DFV blocks both inflow and back flow when
circulation is stopped. This causes the downhole pressure to get trapped while downhole circulation is not available. This is
possible if Sliding Piston (Fig. 1) works properly as well and seal effectively against the last casing, as it is designed to do. If
Sliding Piston is selected not to be in the system, RCD will do its job and avoid pressure bleed off. Since we are using mud
density less than pore pressure while using RDM, we will always have pressure under RCD. This is much like shutting the
annulus under an annular back pressure in the conventional drilling method.
DFV makes it also possible for us to circulate internally from immediately above this tool. Internal circulation is declared
as pumping to the annulus of concentric drilling string and getting the return back on the surface from inner pipe without
letting DFV open. This is possible until the pressure at the bottom of the inner string is less than downhole pressure. The
internal circulation will be useful for mud conditioning or cleaning inner pipe from cuttings to avoid DFV clogging. It is also
possible to pump down the string to the well via both the annulus of the concentric string and the inner pipe in case required.
The mud which has flowed through the channels of Flow Cross Over enters the inner pipe and finally comes to the surface
via this aluminum pipe. There is a choke manifold on the surface which is lined up with the return path. The choke manifold is
equipped with a computer system to make it possible for us to have a precise control over the return pressure, in another word,
to adjust the ECD.
Many features of this technology have been realized to be very attractive, and of course, have been already proven by a
number of tests and broad studies. Here we discuss briefly these features to see how this method will work when it is moved to
floating rigs.

Reelwell Drilling Method Features

Riserless Drilling
As it can be figured out from discussion above, RDM is a system in which drill pipe is everted such that the returns come
up a second pipe inside the drill pipe; the huge and big marine drilling riser is replaced by a small pipe. Elimination of marine
drilling riser in this system results in significant cost savings by exclusion of riser related costs and enables us to use smaller
rigs with much lower day rate for ultra deepwater drilling operations. There would also be a considerable mud cost reduction
and rig space saving, as there is no riser to be filled up with drilling mud. Relaxation of station keeping is another benefit of
riserless operation.
Riserless operation also leads to a less complicated and faster emergency disconnection. In emergency, we need to just hang
4 SPE 123953

off drill string in the subsea BOP and cut it from above the pipe ram by shear ram, and there is nothing to do with marine riser
as it is not in the system.
Less volume of polluting mud may enter the sea in case of emergency disconnection. Time and cost pertinent to BOP
installing and retrieving is to be saved in riserless operations.

Closed Circulation System

RDM also provides us with a closed circulation system which is an essential tool for application of MPD in deepwaters. In
the increasingly narrow pressure windows presented by deepwater reservoirs, the ability of MPD to precisely control the return
pressure profile is proving to be a considerable advantage in terms of reducing non productive time, mitigating well control
issues, and reaching total depth objectives that would have been otherwise impossible.
Due to having precise control over the return flow rate and pressure, any small amount of influx or loss of fluid will be
detected immediately. In deepwater drilling where kick tolerance are very small and even zero in very narrow pressure
windows, this feature of RDM will be extremely beneficial with respect to safety and saving the well.
RDM also has the capability to shut the well in from downhole while the string circulation is stopped, resulting in
unchanged Bottom Hole Pressure during making connections, or whenever the circulation is to be cut out. This helps us to
avoid connection gas as well in wells which are suffering from this issue.

Fig. 1—Reelwell Drilling Method outline.

SPE 123953 5

Inner Pipe

Drill Pipe Tool

Inner Pipe Joint, PIN
Connector, Female

Hanger

Inner Pipe
Connector, Male Drill Pipe Tool
Joint, BOX

Inner Pipe

Fig. 2—Schematic of concentric drill string and inner pipe connector.

Hole Cleaning
Hole cleaning is performed more efficiently than conventional since the cuttings are to be transported via the inner pipe.
Cheaper and lighter mud may be pumped with low rates that lead to less power consumption and cost savings. However, we
should not for get that selection of a drilling fluid and pump rate must balance many factors.
High pump rates are required in conventional drilling due to large annulus to achieve appropriate annular velocity. Typical
pump rates for 17 ½”, 12 ¼”, and 8 ½” holes are respectively 1,100, 750-1,100, and 500 gpm. In deviated holes even higher
rates of pump is needed to achieve higher annular velocities in order for cutting transportation; for 30o holes 20% higher
annular velocity and for 50 – 60o holes twice the annular velocity is required, according to a rule of thumb. However, in RDM,
hole cleaning can be done efficiently by a pump rate less than 200 gpm regardless of hole size. This feature is very useful in
horizontal and Extended Reach Wells (ERW). In these types of wells, cutting settlement on the lower side of the well has
always been challenging.

Hydraulic Weigh on Bit

In wells with high drag, the drill string can not be lowered smoothly and continuously, which prevents the motor from
operating at optimal conditions. This problem in combination with inefficient cuttings removal results in lower penetration
rate. For ERWs, not only does penetration suffers, but there is a point at which slide drilling is no longer possible (Allen
1997). This problem has been experienced many times before; for example in the world record breaking well M16 in Wytch
Farm, drilling 8 ½” hole section beyond 8,500 ft by sliding came to be impossible due to extensive axial drag (Meader 2000).
However, RDM is able to provide us with an auxiliary Weight on Bit. Owing to efficient sealing of Sliding Piston and
RCD, a created and adjusted hydraulic pressure above the Sliding Piston and below the RCD may exert a force to the piston.
Since the the piston is made up to the string, the force will be translated to the drill sting and over come the axial drag. This
feature makes it possible for us to slide drill string in high axial drag situations such as Extended Reach Wells.

Liner While Drilling

Liner While Drilling is advantageous in reducing rig days by solving some downhole problems such as those associated
with loss circulation and sloughing shale (Bourassa 2008). Optionally we are able to run liner while doing drilling job with
RDM. For this purpose, the additional tool Liner Coupling is needed to be made up to the drill string right above the DFV.
Liner will be attached to the drill string by this tool (Fig. 3). Top of the liner will be attached to the Sliding Piston facilitating
6 SPE 123953

transmission of resultant hydraulic force to the bit. The hydraulic force results from pressurizing the fluid placed in the annulus
of drill string and casing above the piston and below the RCD.
This feature comes to be of high importance in ERW where running liner or casing becomes increasing difficult due to
high drag. As an example we may refer again to M16 RRW in Wytch Farm; it was found practically impossible to run the
9,583 ft 7” liner and set it at depth 33,497 ft by sliding the liner. Therefore, floatation and rotation techniques were used to
overcome this problem and run the liner to the setting depth. Each of these techniques has their own disadvantages; the
downsides to floating casing include the inability to circulate while running casing, increased collapse load, and limitations on
running speed due to surge pressures. And those of rotation technique include the need for high torque connections. However,
with this test proven feature of RDM, such problems may be mitigated.

Fig. 3—Liner While Drilling (Courtesy of Reelwell)

In the course of efforts to achieve slimhole drilling and to reach reservoir targets in pay zone with sufficient hole size, RDM
has the ability to run expandable tubular as well. While liner in the system, RDM is capable of performing directional drilling;
all directional drilling tools such as MWD and motors are included in the ordinary BHA below the Liner Coupling and DFV.

Reelwell Drilling Method and Downsized Semi-submersibles or Drillships

Weight & Space Savings
As we have already discussed above, RDM is essentially a riserless drilling method which its deployment will lead to a
significant rig weight and space savings and consequently cost savings in deepwater and ultra deepwater drilling operations. It
is not just all about time & cost savings; however, elimination of huge 21” conventional marine drilling riser paves the way to
drill in ultra deepwaters with minimum technical limitations and hurdles.
A drilling rig’s capability of drilling in deepwater today is governed largely by the weight and space taken up by the
marine riser. Marine drilling risers together with its accessories including flanges, choke and kill lines, booster lines and
control hoses can be 50” or more in diameter and weigh as much as 500 lbs/ft (Leach 2002).
It is simply not possible to put sufficient conventional riser joints onto a 3rd generation semi-submersible for drilling in
water depth of 8,000 ft and deeper, as deck space and deck loadings are inadequate (Leach 2002). Therefore, a later generation
of floating rig must be utilized to drill conventionally at such water depths. But, if a riserless drilling method was to be
deployed for such deep environments, a small rig would be enough, as the weight and space requirement decreases
dramatically due to elimination of riser joints from the system.

Mud Pit Volume

Since in riserless operations, 21” (19.5” ID) marine riser is not in the system, we do not need to incorporate the huge
volume of mud required to fill up the riser in our rig design. This volume is a considerable order and for the depth of 12,000 ft
will be about 4,400 bbls of mud which is equivalent to 1,000 tonnes, in case of 12.0 ppg mud density. The higher the volume
of active mud, the bigger mud tanks with higher capacities are required, and as the result of that, space requirement of the rig
should be bigger.
If less volume of mud is required for drilling operation, lesser amounts of chemicals and mud material will be stored on the
deck. It also has its own logistic advantages.
SPE 123953 7

In addition to mud related weight and space saving, the high cost associated with such a volume of mud will be saved as
well, which varies depending on the type of the mud and water depth.

Tensioning System
The marine drilling riser is analogous to a horizontal steel beam that is supported at both ends and loaded between the
supports. It will sag, but the sag will be less if we pull on both ends of the beam. A drilling riser is similar, but it is nearly
vertical and the loading consists of forces resulting from waves, current, riser weight and weight of mud in the riser.
Therefore, adequate tension must be held on the riser to insure riser integrity and to keep the riser system (including the
ball joint) straight enough to drill without rubbing and damaging the riser and wellhead equipment. An important property of
steel is that it can withstand tension but is easily bent.
As water depth increases, weight of riser including its accessories and contents increases, and apparently higher tension on
the riser is required, which means a rig with higher tensioning capacity is required. Currently, for riser drilling method in
10,000 ft of water depth, a tensioning capacity in an order of 3,200 kips is required. Obviously, with no riser in the system, as
is the case in RDM, no riser tensioning system is required, resulting in even cheaper and smaller floating rig.
Apart from elimination of tensioning requirement, the other change that we need to do is upgrading station keeping
equipment of smaller rigs, 2nd or 3rd generation rigs, to maintain station in ultra deepwater environments − the environments
where it would have been impossible to operate with 21” marine drilling riser in the system.

Station Keeping
Having no riser in the system, relaxation of mooring system will be achieved. Relaxation of the station keeping will reduce
wait-on-weather time while a less expensive mooring system could be deployed, and in the case of a dynamically positioned
rig, this would reduce the incidents of drive off and provide for fewer/smaller thrusters. Decrease in fuel cost also might be
expected.
The criteria considered for mooring design in conventional operations with 21” LP riser in the system are as follows (Sheffield
1982);
• Operational: offset less than 5 to 6% of water depth which is close enough for drilling operation
• Non-operational: offset from 5 to 10%, drilling is stopped, but the riser is still connected
• Disconnected: beyond 10%, the riser is disconnected from the BOP and the vessel can be headed into the seas.

As we can see, a large diameter riser requires tight station keeping while drilling. A usual rule of thumb is 5 to 6% of water
depth for the operating radius. However, operations without the riser are not as severely restricted and can maintain an
operating radius of 15 to 20% of water depth (Hariharan 2007), while in conventional drilling operation the riser is
disconnected from the BOP at less than this radius. This relaxation of station keeping will bring about significant reduction in
wait-on-weather time, and apparently, cost.
The overall conclusion for rig design and equipment for RDM is that it is possible to utilize a 3rd generation semi-
submersible plus pre-laid mooring, or a (smaller) dynamically positioned mobile rig. In both cases, the use of a 5th generation
semi-submersible or the latest generation DP drillship is not required for drilling in ultra deepwaters. For the GOM where
there is a solid base of anchor handling boats, it is very possible to install pre-laid taut wire/rope moorings, to which a 3rd
generation rig can tie up to. For the rest of the world, where the infrastructure just does not exist, it is expensive to set pre-laid
moorings and dynamic positioning may become attractive. In addition, for the GOM there is typically little distance between
wells and in many cases rigs spend a significant period of time at each well before moving a short distance to the next well. A
semi-submersible is suited to this type of activity. However, for the rest of the world, wells will take less drilling days, with a
larger distance between wells. This characteristic suggests a more mobile rig, with, perhaps, the use of dynamic positioning
(Leach 2002).

Fuel Consumption
From a fuel consumption standpoint, a smaller vessel design has another beneficial effect for us in that the total investment
costs are reduced due to decreased power generation and thruster size requirements for sailing and maintaining position.
As an overall conclusion we may say that apart from minor changes, the entire drilling requirement is satisfied by the
equipment typically found upon a 3rd generation semi-submersible. The resulting rig could therefore be a new-build or a
conversion. Note that for an existing 3rd generation rig, it would be necessary to provide a pre-installed mooring in deepwater.
We must not forget, however, that there are some wells (combination of water depth and depth/pressured formations)
where the larger equipment provided by a 5th generation rig and a full subsea BOP is still required. Certain wells in the GOM
and some other area, which usually require more number of casing strings once the BOP has been set, come into this category.
All we have discussed so far was all about downsizing floating rig and extension of operational capacity of smaller rigs to
ultra deepwaters. Drilling well in ultra deepwater is not just about the rig, drilling riser, and their associated cost and technical
limitations; there are many downhole drilling hazards that must be addressed as well to reach deep targets in deepwaters.
Narrow pore/fracture pressure window in deepwater is a common problem in many area such as GOM and West Africa. This
8 SPE 123953

is also the case in HPHT and depleted reservoirs. It has been proven that many of these drilling hazards can be addressed by
MPD. Here we will find out how RDM would be a good tool for MPD.

RDM and Managed Pressure Drilling

Current Managed Pressure Drilling Status
Drilling challenges addressed with MPD are typically related to maintaining the ECD within the drilling window between
formation pore pressure and the fracture pressure of the section being drilled. This balancing act occurs in narrow and
relatively unknown downhole pressure environments, and frequently results in loss/kick well control scenarios, differential
sticking, risk of twist-offs, and slow penetration rates (Hannegan 2009).
A risk assessment study recently done in conjunction with the Drilling Engineering Association determined that, properly
applied, MPD has a high probability of mitigating most, if not all, drilling-related risks (Hannegan 2009).
“Managed pressure drilling continues to demonstrate its bright future,” the DEA study observes, noting that there has not
been any recorded incident of a kick while applying the techniques of managed pressure drilling. “This is not to say that there
have been no problems” the report states. “Sometimes pipe gets stuck, and lost-circulation problems still exist, but not the
same magnitude as in conventional drilling” (Hannegan 2009).
An October 2008 readership survey conducted on www.DrillingContractor.org ranked MPD second as being the
technology most influential to drilling/completion over the next 20 years (Hannegan 2009). MPD has been proven to be a
perfect tool in terms of NPT reduction in well drilling operations in land and offshore. Application of MPD for subsea wells
become of even more importance as NPT is significantly more costly offshore. MPD has much more to offer offshore drilling
programs than the land drilling programs that pioneered the technique. However, moving the technology to floating rigs is not
that easy, and becomes to be associated with a lot of difficulties.
The basic configuration for MPD is to have an RCD and a choke. The RCD diverts the pressurized mud returns from the
annulus to the choke manifold. A seal assembly inside the RCD enables the mud returns system to remain closed and
pressurized and enables the rig to drill ahead. The choke with the pressurized mud return system allows the driller to apply
backpressure to the wellbore. Yet, we know that in conventional deepwater drilling with 21” marine drilling riser the mud and
cuttings are pushed up the annulus of the wellbore/riser to the surface to an open-to atmosphere mud returns system. To apply
backpressure on the surface we need to include an RCD in riser system. The RCD should be always combined with a choke
installed close to it on the retune line. The RCD could not be installed on the top of subsea BOP; that is because the operation
of subsea choke system will be very difficult due to relatively high flow rate and rigid conduit line required to actuate and
operate the choke as fast as possible, and this problem gets worse as water depth increases. The bottom hole pressure during
drilling operations conducted in tight pressure window need to be controlled as fast as possible, and that would be impossible
if we could not operate the choke system so quickly. The very long choke line itself also will be a problem in deepwaters if we
decide to install a subsea RCD for MPD. Moreover, RCDs are exposed to high wear and should be positioned for easy
maintance and repair.
Therefore, in order for having choke valves operated easily, we need to install RCD dry on a very long and heavy high
pressure riser that is some sort of impossible task in ultra deepwaters; the conventional low weight 21” riser, which is not
designed to contain pressure, will not be used except for Pressured Mud Cap Drilling (PMCD) technique for which annular
pressure of more than 500 psi is avoided.
In shallow or moderate water depth, the concept of having a high pressure riser and a surface BOP placed dry in the moon
pool area has been proven to be economically attractive solution for moored rigs. However, as water depth increases, in
harsher environmental settings and in a conventional sensitive area, several new issues need to be addressed if the surface BOP
and high pressure riser concept is to be adopted for MPD (Fossli 2004).
Handling of a high pressure riser for deepwater environment will be troublesome as its weight will dramatically increases
and large submersible rigs, even larger than current rigs, are required as we move deeper in water.
However, RDM removes the 21” LP riser from drilling system and provides us with a closed circulation system with a
good control over the ECD, as the results of the latest pilot test in March 2009 approves.

Reelwell Managed Pressure Drilling From Floaters

RDM is providing us with a closed circulation system which is the essential tool for Controlled Pressure Drilling (CPD)
technology. In RDM, mud along with cuttings enters a choke manifold system on the surface which controls return pressure
precisely, dynamically, and automatically by a computer system. Like a pressurized system, RDM hydraulic system is a
closed-loop circulating fluid system. In this system, ECD is the mud’s hydrostatic head plus circulating return friction pressure
and the surface backpressure. If the pressure starts to climb above the fracture pressure of the formation, a computerized
control system open the choke to reduce backpressure and bring the pressure down. If the pressure throughout the well needs
to be increased, closing the choke will increase backpressure.
This technique is mainly used during connections when the fluid is not circulated inside the well and the concentric drill
string. When the flow is switched not to flow into the string, the choke is closed to apply backpressure to replace the lost
Return Friction Pressure (RFP). As the switch is actuated to divert gradually the flow of mud to the annulus of concentric drill
string (to the well), RFP increases, so the choke becomes accordingly open to decrease backpressure. This helps keep pressure
profile to remain inside the pressure window throughout the well. By adjusting the mud weight and using backpressure, a
SPE 123953 9

driller would be able to keep the pressure inside the pressure window. Mud weight can be decreased so that the pressure stays
below the fracture pressure while circulating. Applying back pressure while not circulating could keep the pressure above the
pore pressure of the formation. By adjusting the drilling plan, a driller would be able to successfully drill a well that has tight
pressure margins.
Like the conventional MPD, RDM needs an RCD as well, but the functionality of RCD is different from that of
conventional one. In conventional MPD system, RCD is deployed to cap the annulus and divert the flow to the choke manifold
for application of desired backpressure to the annulus, but in RDM, RCD is used just to seal around the drill string and contain
the pressure inside the wellbore; it has nothing to do with the flow diversion – except in some certain operations – as normally
mud returns to the surface via the inner pipe of concentric drill string system.
Upon cessation of string circulation, DFV blocks and seals both inflow and outflow paths resulting in dwonhole pressure
containment. The pressure containment is impossible only otherwise the other important tool, Sliding Piston (or subsea RCD
in case Sliding Piston is not in the system), works properly and seal tightly against the string. In this way, downhole pressure
remains to be almost the same as downhole circulating pressure; the change in pressure will be around +/- 15 psi.
This feature of RDM may bring about many crucial advantages for drilling in formations with narrow pressure windows in
terms of mitigating many related risks including loss, kick, and stuck pipe to the point of negating them entirely. Connection
gas also will be avoided in this system as very low fluctuation of downhole pressure is experienced during making connection.
As an overall conclusion to this discussion we can say that RDM is an ability to more precisely manage the wellbore
pressure profile by adjusting the equivalent weight of the mud in the hole, according to the pilot tests in Ullrig in Stavanger.
With RDM technology, narrow drilling windows can be navigated to a greater depth with little or no interruption to drilling
progress to overcome hazards. And by drilling with a lighter fluid, ROP is increased, usually with a reduced mud cost. Very
small amounts of formation fluids influx and mud losses are detected, allowing the actual, not predicted, drilling window to be
revealed and responded to safely, efficiently and typically with less non productive drilling time. By ascertaining the actual
pore pressure and fracture pressure margins as drilling continues, RDM enables adjustment of mud density while drilling-in
the current stand of pipe. Managing EMW with MPD can also conserve casing points, offer early kick detection while drilling
and ensure a large enough hole at the total depth objective for the well to be economically viable.

Conclusion
RDM is an enabling technology for deepwater drilling by addressing many challenges pertinent to both below the mudline
and above the mudline; RDM extends the capacity of 3rd generation and even smaller floating rigs for drilling in ultra
deepwaters by replacing huge 21” marine drilling riser by an aluminum pipe system that every single joint of it is hung off
inside the conventional drill pipe joints.

Being a closed hydraulic circulation system by nature, RDM enables operators to do MPD that would have been impossible
with current LP marine drilling riser in the system.
Other traits of RDM such as better hole cleaning, auxiliary hydraulic push of liner and drill string, and liner while drilling
may also facilitate smoother drilling operation and pave the way for easier drilling of different types of well including ERW
and horizontal wells.

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