M-I Swaco: Innovative Drilling Services Unveiled at SPE Conference

December 5, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

Meerkat PT
The Meerkat PT dual-motion shale shaker is designed for drilling rigs and separation operations where space is at a premium. The technology can also be customized to meet tight-space requirements and high performance criteria.

The unit is engineered to adapt to changing drilling rates and conditions during well construction.

In linear motion, the shaker is designed to manage the high volume of drill cuttings generated in the surface hole sections and can be changed on the fly to balance elliptical motion for longer cuttings retention as the well progresses.

Additionally, the shaker can handle the cuttings load produced by high rates of penetration (ROP), resulting in reduced rig time, said SPE.

In the balanced elliptical motion, the shaker recovers significant volumes of usable drilling fluid while reducing disposal requirements by producing drier cuttings that require less treatment, according to M-I Swaco.

First Deepwater Application for Warp Fluid Technology
The Warp Fluid Technology was employed successfully with 150 micron screens, the smallest ever used for the uniquely weighted fluid system, said M-I Swaco. The patented technology was used in conjunction with a Versapro reservoir drill-in fluid on two completions in 4,285 feet of water offshore Malaysia.

The fluid technology utilizes specially treated barite or other weighting agents that are ground to one-fiftieth of their original size. The technology has been shown to eliminate sag and many other technical and high-speed excavator problems encountered with conventionally weighted drilling and completion fluids, the company said.

For the Malaysian application, the operator needed a fluid that could accommodate 150-micron screens and achieve optimum production while controlling formation solids. A conventional reservoir drill-in fluid weighted with American Petroleum Institute (API) grade barite would plug the screens, while a water-base system would cause emulsification problems with produced hydrocarbons.

The two eight-and-one-half-inch sections were drilled to touchdown, the hole was in gauge and the 150-micron expandable screens were run and expanded without problems. No indications of formation damage or plugging of the screens downhole were observed. According to M-I Swaco, the production flowback was as good or better than expected in both wells.

Source: Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).