MANAGED PRESSURE DRILLING
conventional four-string design. “Looking
at the pore pressure, we knew for certain
that if we had drilled this well with the
standard four-string design or without an
MPD system, it was not going to work. We
would not have been able to drill to total
depth.” The 6 1/8-in. section for Well H was
drilled from 2,359 m to 3,306 m with mud
weights ranging from 1.40 to 1.45 SG. The
pore pressure value recorded during the
static pore pressure test (1.46 SG) was at the
limit of the three-string design planned for
the well. However, the well was success-
fully drilled to total depth, again because
of the MPD system.

Compared with the four-string design,
the new three-string design with MPD
ended up saving the operator approximate-
ly $500,000 per well, Ms Kaur said. DC
For more information, please refer to IADC/
SPE 209911, “Gulf of Thailand 4-String Well
Design Transformation Using MPD System
– Cost Saving, Operational Challenges and
Learnings.” A three-casing string well design combined with an MPD system helped Weather-
ford and PTTEP to handle pore pressure uncertainties for a pair of wells in the Gulf
of Thailand, said Harpreet Kaur Dalgit Singh of Weatherford. Ms Singh spoke at the
2022 SPE/IADC Managed Pressure Drilling and Underbalanced Operations Confer-
ence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 28 September.

INCIDENT STATISTICS
RIG RECOGNITION
The IADC Incident Statistics Program provides for the
recognition of drilling rigs that achieve a one-year period without
a lost-time incident or illness. The Incident Statistics Program
also provides for recognition of drilling rigs that achieve the
accomplishment of operation for a one-year period without a
recordable incident or illness.

Order an IADC Safety Plaque today!
www.iadc.org • 1-713-292-1945
www.iadc.org/health-safety-environment/ incident-statistics-program
D R I LLI N G CO N T R ACTO R • JAN UARY/FEB RUARY 2023
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