IPTC 10308

Underbalanced Coiled-Tubing Drilling Practices in a Deep, Low-Pressure Gas

Reservoir
T. Kavanagh, SPE, Schlumberger; R. Pruitt, SPE, M. Reynolds, and R. Ortiz, BP Sharjah; M. Shotenski, Schlumberger;
R. Coe, Baker Hughes Inteq; and P. Davis and R. Bergum, Halliburton
Copyright 2005, International Petroleum Technology Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology
Conference held in Doha, Qatar, 2123 November 2005.
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Abstract
The Sajaa field in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, is a deep,
low-pressure gas field that has been a prolific producer since
the first wells were drilled in the 1980s. Initial field
development was through a series of vertical wells drilled
overbalanced with conventional drilling rigs. As field pressure
and production declined, it became necessary to access
additional reserves not being drained efficiently by these older
wells. As a result of this need, a campaign to drill horizontal,
multilateral sidetracks from the existing wellbores was started
in March 2003 using coiled tubing. From a standpoint of
production, cost, health, safety, and environment, the results of
the program thus far have been excellent.
This paper examines the surface and downhole equipment
and operational best practices used in the Sajaa coiled tubing
(CT) underbalanced drilling (UBD) campaign. It also reviews
some of the key details that make a safer, more efficient dayto-day operation and created a highly successful project that
has drilled 27 wells, comprising more than 90 laterals and
more than 212,000 ft drilled.
Introduction
The Sajaa field was discovered in 1980 by Amoco Sharjah Oil
Company; since that time a total of 41 wells have been drilled
in the Sajaa field. Initial reservoir pressures were 7,500 psi or
greater; these pressures have since declined substantially, with
most wells now being drilled with equivalent circulating
densities of 1.5 to 2.0 lb/gal. Initial completions were polished
bore receptacle tubing completions, but with corrosion and
packer leaks, these were changed to packerless 5-in. tubing
completions with wells that have 7 -in. liners tied back and
cemented to surface in most cases. Production trees are, for the
most part, 5-1/8-in., 10,000-psi sour-service trees.
The initial drive to perform CT UBD in this field came
about because data on the Sajaa field showed that valuable

reserves were not being added or produced, and that additional

technology needed to be brought to this field to exploit these
reserves. A peer-assist team composed of personnel from
Alaskas North Slope, Houston Engineering Technical
Practices (ETP), Sunbury, UK ETP, and Sharjah worked
through the various options and found coiled tubing to be the
best option.
Downhole data transmission in underbalanced conditions
can be done with pulse telemetry (previous UBD campaigns in
Sharjah) or electromagnetic (EM) signals, but by 2003 the
bottomhole pressure would not support a fluid column and the
formations above the reservoir blocked EM transmission.
Wired CT was therefore chosen to continuously transmit
pressures and temperatures inside and outside the tool,
directional information, gamma ray, resistivity, and vibration.
As discussed by Pruitt et al.,1, a basis-of-design study
identified tender requirements, and then contractors were
selected based on their capability to perform in the conditions
present in the field and their performance meeting quality,
health, safety, and environment (QHSE) standards.
Surface Equipment Injection Side
The CT used for the project is 2-3/8in. outside diameter (OD)
tubing with 7/16in. wireline heptacable inside for data
transmission. The original CT string design on the first few
wells was a uniform 0.190-in. wall thickness HS-80 string.
HS-80 was chosen owing to concerns about hydrogen sulfide
(H2S) embrittlement; the uniform wall thickness was chosen
for its versatility and because it could be swapped end-for-end
when reaching the fatigue limit of its life on one end. Several
wells were drilled successfully using this type of CT; however,
concerns about high-pickup weights while drilling necessitated
a change in CT string design.
This string design has since evolved to tapered HS-90
strings, with a taper design that has been optimized for the
typical Sajaa well. Changing from HS-80 to HS-90 occurred
when it was determined that H2S embrittlement was not as
great a concern as first anticipated, and that the tapered strings
gave acceptable footage without being reversed. The tapered
strings have greatly increased the amount of overpull available
at the bottomhole assembly (BHA) in stuck pipe situations and
are also lighter on normal pickups. This minimizes the
everyday work load on the injector head.
One weakness of tapered strings is less weight on bit
(WOB) available for drilling compared to a straight wall string
because the tapered string is lighter at the tool end. This has
not been a serious handicap because bit optimization and the

occurrence of soft formations in the field has meant that a lot

of WOB isnt normally required to drill. Consequently, only a
small percentage of the laterals are limited in length by
running out of WOB to drill. Owing to the trajectories, the
depths of the kickoff points, and the low bottomhole pressure;
the laterals are almost always limited by one of two reasons:
either the pickup weights at total depth (TD) become
uncomfortably close to the coil working limit, or the length of
the lateral generates such an excessive amount of friction
pressure while drilling that the degree of overbalance at the bit
can no longer be tolerated.
The coiled tubing drilling (CTD) tower used to support the
injector head while drilling is a four-piece modular tower that
was custom built locally for use in the Sajaa field. The tower
provides support only for the injector; the string weight is
supported by the wellhead and blowout preventer (BOP) while
drilling. It was designed with close cooperation between the
BHA provider and the coiled tubing provider to meet the
spacing requirements of pressure deploying the BHA. The
various work decks were positioned to provide easy access to
the BOP deployment rams. It was also designed to withstand
maximum anticipated wind loading during sandstorms, yet
lightweight for ease of rig-up.

IPTC 10308

stripper failure or leaking deployment rams. The BOP design

has been a success in that all of the common contingency
situations that can occur during a CTD job have occurred and
have been handled safely using a strict two-barrier approach at
all times.
The fluid and nitrogen pumps used on the project are
standard well-servicing pumps. Because the pump rate while
drilling is much lower than during a standard well service, two
of these pumps have been modified with smaller plungers to
operate at very low rates, as low as 6 gal/min while drilling.
The fluid pumps also have a flowback line to the mixing tank
with a choke to allow pumping at any rate and still remain
within their operating parameters.
The standard coiled tubing operations cab was also
modified before the project started to increase its size, which
allowed the CT driller, directional driller, underbalanced
drilling engineer, and coiled tubing engineer to work in the
same space comfortably.
All of the important valves on location on both the
injection and return side, more than 90, are identified with
steel nameplates and tracked in the CT operations cab on a
large valve-layout schematic. When valves are operated there
is a call either to or from the CT operations cab; also at the
beginning of every tour (twice daily), each service company
completes a status sheet for their valves and passes it to the
control cab to update the board.
This valve board has been very valuable for both routine
and non-routine processes, keeping all the surface equipment
with varied pressure ratings running smoothly together, and
keeping high pressure and wellbore gas away from where it is
not expected or wanted.
Surface Equipment Returns Handling
Flow control and downhole pressure control during normal
drilling operations is achieved using a hydraulically operated
choke manifold on the return line. This manifold is fitted with
double isolation valves for each of the two chokes, which
allows constant flow if one side becomes plugged or
inoperable.
Upstream of the choke, a 5,000-psi maximum working
pressure, hydraulically operated, emergency shutdown (ESD)
valve is utilized for any emergency that occurs downstream of
this valve (see Fig. 2). The ESD valve is controlled by an
electric-over-pneumatic control panel and is programmed to
close automatically when the programmable logic control
(PLC) senses a process upset that is occurring above its preset
limits. The PLC will also give warning to the operators that a
process upset is occurring and often gives them time to
stabilize the system before a shut-in occurs. The ESD can also
be shut in manually at several ESD stations in various
locations around the rig site.

Fig. 1BOP stack.

The BOP stack is configured as shown in Fig. 1. The

primary concern when configuring the stack was to ensure
double-barrier isolation during routine activities such as
pressure deployment, and to provide two mechanical barriers
at all times for non-routine or contingency operations such as

IPTC 10308

Fig. 2Returns handling equipment and compressors.

In the event of an ESD owing to spurious electronic signal

or false alarm, a manual bypass system has been installed
downstream of the wellhead but upstream of the ESD. This
bypass consists of two manual valves and a manual adjustable
choke with a line to a cold-flare pit. It can be opened quickly
to allow limited flow from the well if it is deemed necessary to
avoid getting stuck.
Immediately downstream of the choke manifold is the
hazardous area geological sampler (HAGS). This allows the
operator to retrieve a sample within a closed system without
interruption to the flow from the well. Double isolation valves
from the flowline are present on the sampler to allow the
operator to safely remove a sample from the flow stream.
When the H2S level becomes >50 parts per million (ppm) the
operator is required to don breathing apparatus, with the
cascade system provided on location, to take the sample. This
cascade system provides constant breathing-quality air to the
operators, so that they can still perform their duties in a
hazardous environment. The operators are continuously
trained to be familiar with the cascade system and are required
to undergo a refresher course when coming back from field
break.
All drilling returns and gas from the well enter and are
separated in the first-stage primary vessel. The first-stage
separator is a pressurized four-phase system, separating gas,
condensate, drilling fluids, and solids. The first stage is
capable of handling 50 MMcf/D at 250 psi35,000 barrels
per day (B/D) of fluid and 1,800 B/D of solids (equivalent to
drilling an 8.5-in. hole at 200 ft/hr).
Gas from the first-stage separator is sent to the flare or gas
compressors, often both at once. The flare line has a failsafe
open pressure control valve (PCV) that is used on the flare
side to control gas pressure supplied to the compression
system. Any excess gas that can not be compressed is sent to
the flare.
The coned bottom of the first vessel collects the drilling
solids and slurry. The solids are sparged (agitated) by pumping
clean drilling fluid or water back into the cone through jetting
rings and flushing them out the drains to the land farm for
bioremediation. The frequency of sparging depends on the rate
of penetration (ROP) and the amount of cuttings returns.

After a period of gravity separation, all fluids from the first

stage are sent through a piping and measurement skid to the
second-stage separation vessel that has a handling capacity of
14 MMcf/D at 100 psi35,000 B/D of fluids. At this stage,
any residual gas is removed and sent to the flare. The fluids
then have a longer retention time in the second-stage vessel in
which the drilling fluids and condensate are separated by
means of gravity. All fluid is measured a second time when
exiting the second-stage vessel; the drill fluids and produced
water is measured separately from the condensate. The drilling
fluids are tested for chlorides and oil in water and then sent
directly to the land farm. The condensate is stored in a closed
tank with an atmospheric vent and then pumped back into the
production line to the production plant. Condensate is only
pumped away while gas is being compressed, to prevent fluid
from settling in the production line for any period of time. The
second-stage separator is also equipped with a sparge system
to flush any residual solids carried through from the first stage,
out to the land farm.
Surface Equipment - Gas Compression
Produced gas and nitrogen coming from the surface returns
package is sent to the vertical flare stack or to the compression
system. Compression is required because if the produced gas
was sent directly to the flowline, the relatively high flowline
pressure would prohibit UBD conditions on most of the wells
in the Sajaa field. Sending gas to the Sajaa plant while drilling
also minimizes deferred production.
The compressors are equipped with a number of automatic
safety shutdowns to guard against overpressure and
overheating. When a compressor shutdown occurs, the PCV
valve will sense the overpressure on the suction side of the
compressor and open, sending all gas out to the flare stack.
The Sajaa gas plant ESD is tied into the compressor ESD,
so that the compressors can be shut down and the CT UBD
operation can be isolated from the plant if any problems occur
there. Drilling can still continue, with all gas returns going to
flare instead of to the plant.
Both flare stack and compressor specifications were
identified in the Basis of Design for this field. 2
Data Acquisition
The surface equipment data acquisition system (DAS) is the
central collection point for all data from sensors at the surface
and downhole. Prior to project initiation, work was done on
the electronic interfaces between all the service companies to
establish common protocols for data transmission; this proved
to be easier than first anticipated.
More than 80 signals from all surface and downhole
sensors are collected and processed within the DAS
laboratory. Once this information is collected in real time, it is
then sent out to a number of remote computer screens around
location. Every computer screen can be set up to suit the
preference of each users requirements for information, and
the information can be displayed graphically, numerically, or
in a combined format.
While drilling, viewing trends is more important than
values; therefore, the graphing feature (which can be scaled
for any time period) is particularly useful. The software

system is robust and needs only common network cables and

equipment to run.
Downhole Equipment
The BHA is a 3-in. OD wired assembly, powered from
surface. It has both upper and lower double ball valves with a
nonrotating connection between the two. This allows the tool
to be broken apart while maintaining double isolation from
both the wellbore pressure and the CT pressure. The upper
double ball valve eliminates the need to bleed off the CT each
time the tool is broken.
The BHAs data acquisition includes internal and external
pressure, external temperature, weight on bit, vibration, stick
slip, gamma, azimuth and inclination, and near-bit inclination.
Multiple propagation resistivity tools have also been utilized
on some of the wells.
Vibrations while drilling two-phase are severe; on the first
few wells, vibrations caused many low-hour tool failures.
Several things were done in order to minimize this:
The electronic components of the BHA were spaced out
from the motor with weight bars and flex joints as far as
reasonably possible. Moving the directional package to
the upper portion of the BHA caused more headaches for
the directional driller, but it increased the life of the tool.
Bicenter bits are no longer used. Gauge bits provide a
more balanced rotation and less wobbling of the motors.
Injection rates were reduced for the long wiper trips. Most
of the vibration-related failures occurred while off-bottom
The BHA included a vibration sensor that measured
lateral and axial vibration, so that the effect on the BHA
of changes in fluid and nitrogen pump rate could be seen
in real time.
The drilling team managed the wiper-trip strategy to
maximize on-bottom drilling time.
Recommendations from the field were incorporated into
the tool to make them more robust.
These measures have improved BHA reliability
considerably. Now BHA runs of several days are normal and a
week or more not uncommon.
The motors used are 2-7/8-in. air drill motors (ADMs) that
have given excellent performance, some lasting a week or
more on bottom drilling and the longest lasting more than 12
days and drilling 9,763 ft. Trips due to motor failure are now
rare. The rotor-stator clearance and material technology has
been optimized over the course of the project to extend motor
life in the harsh wellbore conditions that exist in the Sajaa
field. A bit shank nozzle is often used to avoid over speeding
the motor when higher gas and liquid rates are needed for
cleaning the well. The nozzle sizing is determined by
anticipated bottomhole pressure and flow rates.
Initially all drilling was carried out with 4-1/8-in. bicenter
PDC bits because the larger gauge hole was perceived to be
beneficial with respect to hole drag and production. In
addition, the early windows proved to be impassable with
conventional 3-in PDC bits. As the project has continued,
there have been improvements in window milling techniques
that have produced better windows which have allowed easy
passage of the 3-in gauge bits. Also, to assist in getting

IPTC 10308

through the window, a round, molded cap made of composite

resin is now used on the bit, which guides it through the
window and then disintegrates within the first few minutes of
drilling.
Gauge bits are now used exclusively on this project, it was
found that gauge bits gave better ROPs, less vibration, and the
slightly smaller hole size did not have much impact on
production.
Pressure Deployments
Pressure deployment of the BHA in live well conditions is
required because it is longer than the available height of the
BOP stack above the swab valves. The procedure for pressure
deployment has been changed 20 times since the start of the
project, and the result has been a 62% reduction in pressure
deployment and undeployment times.
Some of the key improvements made to the pressure
deployment procedure since the start of the project include:
Use of predrilled mouseholes. The original plan called for
assembling the BHA in three sections on the rig floor
while deploying. Now, 100-ft mouseholes are drilled prior
to the rig arriving on location, which allows the BHA to
be made up offline and deployed as a single piece.
Gas testing the lubricator. The first deployments called for
a hydro-test of the deployment lubricator, which was a
time-consuming process. Now a kill line below the swab
valves allows the leak test to be done with reservoir gas.
Bleeding off pressure during deployments. This was first
done with a -in. high-pressure hose run to the edge of
the location. Now it is done with a 2-in. hardline run to a
cold-flare pit far from the wellhead. This bleeds off
deployment lubricator pressure in a few seconds
compared to 5 min or longer using the high-pressure hose.
A toolbox talk to review hazards and assign crews
responsibilities is still done prior to every undeployment and
deployment, even though more than 300 have been done over
a 2-year period. This is mainly done to guard against
complacency during this operation, which is now quite routine
but still presents risks.
Rig Moves
Rig moves are now done in 2.5 days, as compared to the first
well-to-well move, which took almost 9 days. Training of
team members and detailed planning and preparation are the
biggest contributors to this improvement.
In the planning stages before the rig move, a dedicated
move team plans the layout of equipment for the next location.
Surveys are used to fix equipment location, within an inch,
following an established layout plan. This layout is then
marked with string lines on the ground to eliminate multiple
lifts of the equipment. The move team will then prepare the
location well in advance of the rig move.
Duplicate equipment such as offices, major pipe work, and
a security gate are installed and manned before the move to
save time. Critical-path equipment is identified and the move
is then planned during a pre rig move meeting with
representatives of all the service companies, rig-site
supervisors and the move team supervisor.

IPTC 10308

Every item that is lifted has a lift plan associated with it.
Included in this is the risk assessment for that particular lift,
certifications for slings and shackles used, and a copy of the
layout diagram that shows where that equipment goes and its
orientation. A green-tag system is used with the tag signifying
that a piece of equipment is designated ready by the
appropriate supervisor and the lift plan has been given to the
lift supervisor. Once tagged, the equipment is handed over to
the lift supervisor for movement. This system eliminates the
problem with miscommunication and uncertainty whether
something is ready to be moved.
Once the rig move has been initiated, manpower is tripled.
Very strict job allocations and responsibilities are identified
and made. Risk assessments are all in place and discussed and
appropriate toolbox meetings are held while the rig move is
ongoing.
To ensure that the move is safe, one lift supervisor and
assistant lift supervisor are assigned at each site. One truck
boss at each site is also employed, and one overall supervisor
is also appointed to each location.
Immediately after the move, a lessons-learned meeting is
held to capture experience and action improvements. From
past lessons learned, some of the equipment has been modified
to become more modularised to reduce the amount of work
required to rig it up and down.
Milling Windows
Window milling and windows, in general, have been the most
challenging part of the project, and the one that has improved
the most. The pre-spud design called for milling the window
underbalanced with water and nitrogen, which had never been
done before. This was tried on the first well and briefly on the
second but abandoned after high attrition rates in the BHA
inventory. The BHA used on this project is meant for
openhole drilling and is not able to survive for long the severe
vibration encountered during two-phase window milling.
Therefore, the first windows were milled single phase with
water in a routine fashion and presented few difficulties. A
step change during this phase of the project was the use of a
choke sub above the motor to hold a fluid column in the CT
while milling. In this way, stalls could be detected at the
surface using pump pressure. This eliminated entirely the need
for any electronics in the BHA while milling and, as a result,
greatly improved the service life of the electronic components
in the toolstrings.
A serious drawback to this method was the huge amount of
water used, which was lost to the formation. The low BHP did
not allow any returns while window milling and, in fact, most
of the windows and subsequent 10 ft of rathole were milled
with the wells shut-in, always losing several thousand bbls of
water to the formation in the process. This presented some
problems when it was time to start drilling the sidetrack. With
the motherbore and surrounding area saturated with water, it
was often difficult to start the well flowing again.
To mitigate this, nitrogen was bullheaded down the kill
line of the well while milling the window to energize the fluid
lost to formation or at least push it far enough down or away
from the motherbore so it wouldnt be a problem. This
strategy was successful in allowing UBD to start in the nearwellbore area.

However, it was known that some of the wells in the field

would not tolerate such excessive amounts of water.
Therefore, when it was time to drill these wells, two-phase
window milling was again tried, with a couple of differences
from the first time: there were no electronics in the BHA and a
completely different mill design using PDC cutters was used.3
As of this writing, two 3.8 windows have been milled
successfully in underbalanced conditions using two-phase
fluid without downhole pressure sensors.
Drilling and Sidetrack Initiation
The outstanding feature of drilling in the Sajaa field is the
extremely low reservoir pressure. Underbalanced drilling has
been successful with bottomhole pressures equivalent to 1.2
lb/gal; the average generally is 1.5 to 2.5 lb/gal. Drilling is
done with nitrified drill water consisting of fresh water with
friction reducer and a raised pH. The friction reducer is easily
biodegradable and reduces pickup weights and pump pressure.
All additives have been tested to satisfy stringent
environmental requirements, so that the returned drill fluid
plus cuttings can be pumped directly to a bioremediation pit
without further processing. (The pit is later cleaned using
bioremediation techniques.) Additives were also tested for
motor stator and BHA compatibility in yard tests prior to
being used.
In most cases the well is shut in long before rigging up to
allow the near-wellbore pressure to build up. On very lowpressure wells it is essential to get a long shut-in period to
achieve underbalance conditions while drilling and to use the
choke to conserve what little pressure there is for as long as
possible while drilling.
As the lateral is extended, additional pressure due to
friction is added with every foot drilled. Therefore, to maintain
underbalanced conditions it is necessary to continuously find
pressure in the reservoir at a faster rate than friction pressure is
being added. In higher pressure reservoirs this is possible, and
Pwf (flowing bottomhole pressure while drilling) can be
manipulated using the choke to maintain the desired degree of
underbalance to satisfy hole-cleaning and hole-stability
criteria.
Unfortunately this is seldom possible in a depleted field,
Pwf will usually overtake reservoir pressure Pres at some point;
its only a question of at what depth it will occur and if drilling
can continue past this depth. Figure 3 illustrates this point
with an idealized plot of Pwf, the flowing bottomhole pressure
while drilling, and reservoir pressure Pres vs. distance r from
the well. Although Pwf is dependent on many factors, in a
horizontal well with constant surface flow rates and ROP, it is
seen that Pwf increases linearly, which is the effect of adding
only friction pressure.

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Pres

OB
Pwf

r
Fig. 3Idealized plot of pressure vs. distance drilled.
Overbalanced conditions (OB) are encountered at some point as
the leg is extended.

Opening the choke fully is usually necessary as the end of

the lateral is neared to reduce the degree of overbalance.
However, in almost every leg there is a point at which opening
the choke further will not reduce Pwf. At this point, the length
of CT in the hole is providing the choke, and additional
surface choke manipulation has no effect.
Past this point, underbalance conditions can be maintained
for as long as possible if steps are taken to minimize Pwf.
These steps include reducing injection rates, limiting ROP
(cuttings load has a significant effect on Pwf in low-pressure
wells), and further reducing surface pressure by dropping the
first-stage separation vessel pressure.
If drilling is continued, at some point, Pwf will exceed
reservoir pressure, and drilling will be overbalanced from this
point forward. Determining at what point overbalance is
reached while drilling is not obvious because underbalance
conditions still exist further back up the hole; therefore fluid
and gas returns are not an indicator. Also, the motherbore is
still open and still producing low-chloride water that may have
been lost while window milling. Pre-job pressure plots are also
of little use at this point because drilling the lateral has made
these obsolete.
The most reliable indicators of overbalance are the drilling
conditions. Differential sticking effects are usually first seen
while drilling ahead as the lack of smooth weight transfer to
bit. This often shows on the internal BHA pressure gauge as
pressure surges when the BHA slides forward unevenly and
produces variable motor work. This uneven weight transfer is
often evident from the vibration sensor also.
Overbalance conditions also change the pattern of cuttings
returns observed at the surface. Drilling in steady UB
conditions generally produces a steady rate of cuttings;
whereas, during overbalance drilling, the cuttings are mainly
transported during wiper trips only. As a result, the person
taking samples may observe big slugs of sediment in some
samples and none in others.

Drilling can continue under these conditions if the

reservoir rock is tight enough to tolerate some degree of
overbalance, which holds true in the Sajaa field. While drilling
overbalanced, the ROP is limited, wiper trip intervals are
shortened, injection rates are minimized, and foam sweeps are
reduced or eliminated entirely. These last two measures of
reducing pump rates and eliminating sweeps seem counterintuitive when hole cleaning problems are faced, but the root
cause of the poor hole cleaning is the overbalance.
Drilling can continue then until the degree of overbalance
is too much, pickups get too heavy, or no forward progress is
made, and TD is called on the leg.
Pre-job and real-time 2-phase flow modeling is done with
a compositional, steady-state flow modeling software. This
software can model the effect of pump rate changes and choke
changes on downhole pressure and cuttings transport, and
model the effect of multilateral production. It is a steady-state
model, not a transient one; therefore, it only offers a
snapshot view of the wellbore. This is not a great handicap
because steady-state conditions are desirable while drilling
and every effort is made to acheive this.
The key parameters (pressures and rates) are tracked
hourly on a spreadsheet for day-to-day and leg-to-leg
comparison. After several legs have been drilled, this
parameter data is combined with the modeling to give some
idea of the degree of drilling underbalance (if any) and the
relative contribution of each leg. Hourly data tracking is also
useful to estimate at what depth and in which formation the
current leg being drilled actually starts producing. This occurs
when the slope of the flowing bottomhole pressure vs depth
curve deviates from the linear trend that is associated with
solely adding friction pressure.
Foam sweeps are used sparingly while drilling when
additional cuttings transport help is needed. The foaming
agent has proven to be competent in a dry gas environment
with some free condensate present, in temperatures up to
300 F. The foam sweeps are pumped while drilling ahead and
are usually seen on both the internal and external pressure
gauges on the BHA when they come around. The size of foam
sweeps is maintained at to 1 bbl to limit the degree of
overbalance they cause; if too large, a sweep can (and has) kill
the well briefly, risking cuttings drop-out below the sweep.
Maintaining good quality control (QC) on foam mixing is
important, because too thick of a foam mixture will have the
same effect. Viscous sweeps were not found to be as effective
in sweeping the hole as foam sweeps.
It has been seen that the pressure surge caused by the foam
sweep coming around the bit is often a reliable qualitative
indicator of the permeability of the rock that is being drilled. A
foam sweep in tight rock produces a noticeably sharper
pressure spike on the downhole external pressure gauge than
in porous rock.
Wiper trip schedules have been extended considerably
since the start of the project, as more confidence was gained
with the hole cleaning that was being achieved. Also it was
noticed that vibration and consequent BHA damage was
highest while off bottom doing wiper trips, even with reduced
injection rates. Therefore, it is advantageous for the BHA and
from a coil fatigue standpoint to extend (within reason) the
conventional wisdom of wiper trip schedules for a CTD job.

IPTC 10308

Currently it is standard practice (if well conditions allow) to

perform short wiper trips every 100 to 150 ft, and to perform a
single long wiper trip back to the window midway through the
lateral.
The multilateral wells are typically drilled with 3 or 4 legs
of approximately 3,000 ft, producing through a single window.
Sidetrack initiation in the open hole is achieved by troughing
the hole section with a lowside toolface or simply time drilling
off the parent leg if the dogleg severity at the sidetrack point is
high enough. After a bit of trial and error it was found that the
keys for a successful openhole sidetrack are (in order)
patience, dogleg severity at the sidetrack point, and formation
characteristics at the sidetrack point. Other factors affecting
the success of the sidetrack such as bit type, hole size,
inclination at the sidetrack point, and motor bend were found
to be of secondary importance.
After finishing the previous leg and while sidetracking for
the new one, the choke is closed as much as possible to
pressure up the motherbore and the area of the sidetrack
junction. This uses the pressure that was hopefully uncovered
in the last leg to help achieve underbalance conditions in the
new one. If the motherbore and sidetrack junction is
maintained at a higher pressure, losses will be minimized if a
higher pressure zone is later drilled into.
The order of the sidetracks and the sidetrack initiation
points are determined by geometric and hydraulic
considerations. It is not desirable to drill the anticipated
strongest leg first, because a weaker (lower pressure) leg
drilled after that will have a hard time flowing against the
stronger leg; consequently, poor hole cleaning may be
experienced while drilling the weaker leg.4 Almost all
sidetracks are performed with the standard 0.8-degree motor
bend drilling BHA that is used to drill the horizontal sections;
this eliminates tripping just to start a sidetrack.
Due to extensive faulting in the field and an overlying
shale zone that is prone to sticking problems, a stratigraphic
control leg several hundred feet below the main leg is often
drilled first. This has sometimes detected faults that extend
upward that would have been problematic if drilled through on
the upper leg.
Keys to the Project Success
The overall success of the project is attributed to many factors,
but a few key points stand out:
HSE performance has been excellent. In the 2 yr that this
project has been in operation there have been more than
900,000 man-hours worked without a Days-Away-FromWork Case (DAFWC). Empowerment of everyone on
location is mainly responsible for this. Initially, the
culture of the area made it difficult for a junior team
member to stop or even remark on a given task. With
encouragement and by example, this attitude was changed
so that every member of the team did not hesitate to stop a
job and discuss the risks, then resume it safely. One of the
major drivers of this performance was the HSE incentive
bonus. The bonus could only be earned after the rig team
had achieved certain HSE goals, which included numbers
of safety observations, drills, and first aid cases. Making it
a team goal made everyone more aware of keeping each
other out of harms way. In addition, the high visibility

and active on-location HSE recognition by senior

management from BP and the service companies helped
to promote safety.
BP and partners were committed to the project and to
getting through the early learning curve. The early phase
of the project had equipment and rig-up problems that
resulted in 79 days spent on the first well, as compared to
20 to 30 days currently. Everyone recognized that there
would be a learning curve, and that it would take a
positive, problem-solving approach to get through the
early days, and this is what happened.
Continuous improvement was achieved through lessons
learned. Knowledge sharing well-to-well used a Lessons
Learned database, which captured all learnings from
each contractor. This included everything to do with
drilling, milling windows, rig moves, and rigging up.
Extensive knowledge sharing occurred also with other
CTD locations in the startup phase, and drew on BP and
contractor CTD expertise in other areas.
An extensive pre-spud design and review of all operations
was done. More than eight months were spent planning
and reviewing all surface and downhole equipment and
processes. The core team of operator and service company
personnel was in place several months prior to the spud
date to resolve equipment interfaces and establish the
QHSE interface between the various contractors.
Procedures for all processes, more than 30 normal
operating procedures and 20 emergency procedures, were
in place with enough time to be extensively reviewed by
everyone. Despite the fact that all these procedures have
changed extensively since the pre-spud (in fact none of
them survived unchanged), the establishment of the
interface and review was one of the keys to the projects
success.
A Basis of Design exhaustively modeled the feasibility
and underbalanced operability of the first well and set
some limits and guidelines for candidate selection as the
drilling program continued.2 This document provided an
accurate idea of the UBD parameters to expect when
drilling started.
Turnover was minimized, keeping the learning curve
intact. Every effort was made to keep the crews consistent
as the project progressed.
The BP management team have taken a positive approach
to manage difficulties with all the equipment on location
but primarily the downhole tools. Instead of demanding
100% functionality at all times, if a downhole sensor
failed, the rig drilling team was empowered to evaluate
whether drilling could continue safely and effectively or
not.
BHA reliability has improved considerably. Since the
start of the project, recommendations from the field and
improvements from the manufacturing facility have been
incorporated into the tool. Currently, BHA runs of several
days are normal and a week or more, not uncommon.
The project was started sooner rather than later. It was
recognized that pressure decline throughout the field
would put an end limit on when the project could start. If
the project had been delayed even a year or two, the

IPTC 10308

extremely low bottomhole pressure would have excluded

many of the candidates that have been successfully drilled
in the past two years.
There is previous UBD experience in this field. In the
1990s some of the wells were sidetracked UB from rigs,
and that experience was one of the drivers for the CT
UBD campaign.
A streamlined Management of Change (MOC) process
was in place once operations started. As stated above,
none of the procedures in use now are the same as when
the project began; it is not realistic to expect pre-spud
procedures to survive very long once operations start.
What has been an important for the success of this project
then is to have an MOC process that satisfies three
criteria:
1.
2.
3.

The changes to be made are thoroughly risk assessed

by all affected persons.
All deviations from procedure are approved and
implemented at the wellsite, which makes it a very
efficient process.
New procedures are signed off, documented, and
communicated to people returning from days off,
with the new procedure getting distributed by paper
copy with all changes from the old procedure noted.

Low reservoir pressures, although creating more difficult

drilling conditions, have had a beneficial effect on coiled
tubing life by reducing coil pressure while drilling. The
average pump pressure observed while drilling is far less
than the 4,000 psi that is typical of an overbalanced CTD
job. This has resulted in a much greater lifespan for the
reels, and this positive impact on project economics has
contributed to project success.
Packerless completions allow some indication of pressure
at the window by taking surface readings between the
casing and production tubing. This is especially valuable
when drilling close to TD when the BHA is 3,000 ft or
more from the window or when the BHA pressure sensor
isnt working. In the latter case, the casing pressure gauge
plus the hydrostatic pressure of the static gas column is
the only indication of downhole pressure.
A custom CTD Tower, built specifically for this project,
has also been a key to its success. The work levels were
designed for the average tree heights found in the Sajaa
field and to provide access to the BOP stack used in the
field. The top work deck is much larger and all the work
decks safer and more user friendly than the typical generic
CTD tower (see Fig. 4). The work window and ram stroke
lengths for raising and lowering the injector table were
built to match the points of the BHA that needed to be
accessedthe upper and lower double ball valves.
Uniformity of tree height in the field is necessary and
adding or subtracting swab valves prior to the rig move
achieves this.
An important lesson learned since the start of the project
was the value of having available backup equipment, and
to perform maintenance and pressure testing of this
equipment off-line.

Fig. 4Reel and tower.

Sajaa CT UBD Project to Date

As of this writing there have been 27 re-entries, with a
combined 90 sidetracks drilled for a total footage of
212,000 ft. The longest single lateral drilled has been 3,885 ft,
and the most footage drilled on a single re-entry has been
14,204 ft with 8 laterals.
What all of this footage has done for the Sajaa field is to
flatten a production decline that had averaged 20% per year
prior to the CT UBD campaign. This has greatly extended the
life of the field and accessed new reserves not being drained
by the existing wells.
Most importantly, this has been done without a single
Days-Away-From-Work Case in over 2 years of drilling,
encompassing more than 900,000 man-hours of work.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Sharjah Petroleum Council and BP
Sharjah Oil Company for permission to publish this work. The
authors are also grateful to the crews from British Petroleum,
Schlumberger, Blade Energy, Halliburton, Weatherford GSI,
Baker Hughes INTEQ, Baker Oil Tools, Al-Faris, Marine
Industrial Services, Robertson Research, and Seal
International for making it happen on location.
References
1.

Pruitt, R. et al.: Sajaa Underbalance Coiled Tubing

Drilling, Putting It All Together, paper SPE 89644
presented at the 2004 SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing

IPTC 10308

2.

3.
4.

Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.,

2324 March.
Suryanarayana, P.V. et al.: Basis of Design for
Coiled Tubing Underbalanced Through-Tubing
Drilling in the Sajaa Field, paper SPE/IADC 87146
presented at the 2004 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference,
Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., 24 March.
McNicol, J. et al.: First true, CT underbalanced
casing exit performed, World Oil (March 2005) Vol.
226 No. 3
Rennox, J. et al.: Problems and Solutions for the
Underbalance Coil Tubing Drilling of Multilateral
Wells in a Mature Field, IADC paper presented at the
2004
SPE/IADC
Underbalanced
Technology
Conference and Exhibition, Dubai, U.A.E., 78
December.