BBL DrillShoe

May 2002 Version

TM

Information Pack
CONTENTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Overview of Drilling with Casing What is a DrillShoe? Facts and Figures about DrillShoes Applications & Case Histories Quality Cutting Structures Hydraulics DrillShoe Nose DrillShoe Body Running Procedures Technology Developments

This Information Pack has been produced as an Introduction to BBL DrillShoes. The technology incorporated in these tools is new and is developing quickly. If in any doubt, please contact the BBL staff listed below.
This version is accurate as of the date printed above. Further revisions will be made as and when required.

BBL Downhole Tools Ltd 293656 Suite 9, McNeil Business Centre Greenbank Cres., Aberdeen AB12 3BG Scotland Tel: +44 1224 293660 Fax: +44 1224 293669

Mike Wardley

+44

1224

mwardley@bbl.co.uk

Jim Bain Mitch Bavidge

+1 713 973 9014

jbain@bbldownhole.com

+44 1224 293663

mbavidge@bbl.co.uk

1.

Overview of Drilling with Casing

Drilling with Casing is a new technology where the casing string is used as the drill string instead of drill pipe. To date, the technology has had limited exposure in worldwide oilfield terms, with probably less than 200 applications. With the exception of a few experimental wells, casing has been used to drill specific sections of the wellbore, rather than the entire hole. Drilling with Casing comes in two flavours. In one arrangement, a hydraulic motor is latched into the lowermost casing joint along with a packer. The casing is advanced by pumping through the motor, in much the same way as slide drilling is accomplished conventionally on drill pipe. When TD is reached, a retrieval tool is run, which has to be latched into the BHA. Overpull is applied to recover the BHA. BBL have adopted a different approach. With the BBL system, the casing is simply rotated, in exactly the same way as drill pipe. A crossover to the top drive is used to transmit torque. The unique feature of the BBL system is that the drill bit (DrillShoe) is fully drillable this means that once the section is completed, there is no drill bit to recover through the casing. Cementing can begin immediately and then the next bit is run and drills-out the shoe track in exactly the same way as a conventional operation. The BBL system is currently targeted at soft to medium-soft, straight hole sections which are capable of being drilled with a single bit run. Ongoing and future developments are discussed in section 11.

2.

What is a DrillShoe?

A DrillShoe is BBLs term for a Drillable Casing Drill Bit. The DrillShoe is made up to the casing in the same way as a conventional drill bit would be made up to a drill string. The DrillShoe has a two part construction; A body, which has the casing connection and a gauge section made from steel, & A nose, which is made from aluminium alloy, upon which is mounted a drillable cutting structure. The two parts are threaded and locked together and the tool is supplied as a unit, as shown. In the applications to date, two cutting structures, composed of dense Tungsten Carbide or Thermally Stable Diamond have been used. The nose of the DrillShoe has flow ports or nozzles strategically positioned to clean and cool the cutting structure and flush away the cuttings up the annulus. 9-5/8 x 12-1/4 DrillShoe with Tungsten Carbide HVOF The entire unit is fully drillable with PDC or roller cone drill bits. Cutting Structure When the casing is rotated, the cutting structure cuts the rock with a shearing action, in the same way as PDC cutters on a conventional drill bit. When TD is reached cementing can begin immediately a non-return valve may be incorporated in the DrillShoe and / or float collars in the casing string. After waiting-on-cement the next drill bit is run and drills through the shoetrack and DrillShoe before entering virgin formation.

3.

Facts and Figures about BBL DrillShoes

Invented in Nov 1999 for drilling in surface casing in the Gulf of Thailand Designed in collaboration with Unocal Thailand First tool run in Jan 2000 Became the Standard Technique in the Gulf of Thailand by Apr 2000 Patents applied for in 1998/99/2000 Smallest Tool (to date) 5 x 6-3/4 Largest Tool (to date) 20 x 24 48 tools run to Nov 2000 with eight customers with a 100% success rate A total of 68 tools delivered (to Nov 2000)

The Original 1999 Design

This design (7-5/8 x 9-7/8) had HVOF cutting structure on high blades and a Cutrite reaming action.

4.

Applications & Case Histories

Applications to date have been extended to drilling-in surface casing from jack-ups and platforms, second strings after setting conductor pipe or drilling with liners. In the Gulf of Thailand, the Standard Procedure for drilling and setting surface casing is to use a DrillShoe.

- Gulf of Thailand Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled On-Bottom Time Average ROP Running Parameters WOB RPM Torque Flow

Jan 2000
Yala 6 9-5/8 Surface Casing Buttress 690 ft 2.3 hrs 300 ft/hr

Case History No.1

0-10 klbs 60-150 2 - 7 kftlb 790 gpm

Comments Coal stringers caused torque spikes and reduced overall ROP. Drilled-out with BB452 in 15 mins Pulled-back and Reamed DrillShoe Bit Damaged

- Gulf of Thailand Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled Total / On-Bottom Time Average ROP Running Parameters WOB RPM Torque Flow

Feb 2000
Arthit 15-3X 9-5/8 Surface Casing Buttress 780 ft 6.0 / 1.3 hrs 607 ft/hr

Case History No.2

2-12 klbs 50 90 1 - 2 kftlb 870 gpm

Comments Very fast run. Drilled-out with BB452 in 10 mins - No Damage to Bit.

- Chevron Thailand -

May 2000

Case History No.3

Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled IADC Time IADC ROP Running Parameters WOB RPM Torque Flow

Kung 2 9-5/8 Surface Casing Buttress 693 ft 2.9 hrs 239 ft/hr

2-10 klbs 50 90 1 2.5 kftlb 870 gpm

Comments Overall ROP reduced, slow progress through rotary with straked casing. Drilled-out with PDC bit - No Damage to Bit.

- Vietnam Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled Total / On-Bottom Time Average ROP Running Parameters

Jun 2000

Case History No.4

48/95-TDD-1X 9-5/8 Surface Casing Buttress 732 ft ? / 2.5 hrs 287 ft/hr

WOB RPM Torque Flow

4-16 klbs 110 0.5 2.0 kftlb 850 gpm

Comments First 550 ft, drilled at 460 ft/hr Slowed down over last 180ft Firmer Formation

- Unocal Indonesia Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled On-Bottom Time Average ROP Running Parameters WOB RPM Torque Flow

Jul 2000
YN-23HZ 13-3/8 Surface Casing Buttress 493 ft 1.3 hrs 372 ft/hr

Case History No.5

First Run with Diamond (TSP) Cutting Structure

24-13 klbs 40 100 1 3.5 kftlb 400-800 gpm

Comments Drilled thru three sand stringers at about 30 ft/hr Drilled-out with PDC bit - No Damage to Bit.

- Chevron USA Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled ROP Running Parameters

Nov 2000

Case History No.6

Viosca Knoll 70 #1 WB1 13-3/8 Second String Buttress 729 ft Variable (>400 ft/hr in sand / < 50 ft/hr in Gumbo)

WOB RPM Torque Flow

2 - 15klbs 50 - 60 2 3 kftlb 930 gpm

First Gulf of Mexico Run

Comments Drilled out with Roller Cone Bit Design has been improved to cope with Gumbo

- Phillips Australia Well No. Casing String Connection Distance Drilled

Nov 2000
Coleraine ZOCA 96-16 7 Liner New Vam 179 m

Case History No.7

First Drilling Liner Run Running Parameters Torque Flow <8 kftlb 100-150 gpm

Comments Drilled cement plugs and reamed unstable hole to get liner down to 3090m Drilled-out with PDC bit - No Damage to Bit.

In the Far East, the DrillShoe technique has been adopted by: Unocal Thailand PTTEP Chevron Unocal Vietnam Unocal Indonesia YPF Maxus Other recent Customers include: Chevron USA BP Norway Phillips Australia

5.

Quality and BBL

BBL has ISO9001 accreditation covering Design and Manufacture of Drill Bits and Downhole Tools. BBL gained accreditation in 1993. BBL is accredited by Det Norske Veritas (DNV). DNV is one of the worlds leading quality assurance organisations.

All BBL DrillShoes are manufactured to set procedures and a Certificate of Conformance is issued with all tools. Where the thread is cut before despatch from BBL, we will include a copy of the third party licensees thread certificate. All tools are drifted to API 5CT Specifications or to special drift requirements if specified in the order.

6.

Cutting Structures

Two cutting structures are available and field proven; tungsten carbide and thermally stable diamond. Both cutting structures have been designed to be fully drillable with any type of oilfield drill bit, without damage to the drill bit cutters. 1st Generation tools utilise a hard and dense layer of tungsten carbide (TC) as the cutting structure. The layer can be between 0.006 and 0.120 thick depending on application. The TC is applied using a proprietary process known as High-Velocity-Oxy-Fuel (HVOF), the photograph below shows the TC being applied to a 1 subsea gate valve. HVOF tools are designed for the very softest of oilfield formations.

The HVOF process involves firing minute particles of TC at the workpiece at supersonic speeds. Upon impact the particles weld themselves to the workpiece. The result is a hard, non-porous coating which has a very high bond strength to the underlying material. BBLs 2nd Generation tools utilise thermally stable diamond (TSP) where the formations are too firm for HVOF. TSP has about 10x the hardness of TC and is able to drill formations effectively where TC would wear out. Pre-formed monolithic pieces of TSP are attached to the aluminium nose by a proprietary process. Applications of these cutting structures to drillable tools have been patented by BBL.

7.

Hydraulics

Originally, all DrillShoes were run with open ports. This was because interchangeable drill bit nozzles are constructed from tungsten carbide and are simply not drillable. Typically the TFA with open ports has been about 5 sqin, to avoid eroding the soft aluminium nose of the DrillShoe. The DrillShoe pressure drop is about 40 psi and the HSI is <0.1. In July 2000, the first DrillShoe with Drillable Nozzles was run. The nozzles are constructed from copper. Through an extensive testing process it was determined that copper was a suitable nozzle material when the drilling fluid is seawater. Where seawater is the drilling fluid, copper nozzles are fully field proven. BBL is developing an erosion resistant, yet drillable nozzle for weighted muds.

8.

DrillShoe Nose

The leading end of the DrillShoe is termed the Nose. The nose of the shoe is fully drillable with any standard oilfield bit. An Aluminium material has been specifically chosen to allow the bit to drill through the nose easily. In addition, BBL DrillShoes incorporate chipbreakers into the tool nose to ensure that the aluminium cuttings do not birds-nest the drill bit.

Chipbreaker Holes

Small Chips during Drill-Out

(Note: The material and internal design of the Nose are identical to the Award Winning BBL Reamer Shoe. Over 1250 of these tools have been run worldwide with not a single instance of bit damage when drilling-out).

9.

DrillShoe Body

All DrillShoes are box-up. The tool has a single-piece integral box connection, BBL does not use a coupling, and the casing pin can be stabbed straight into the tool. DrillShoe bodies are made from AISI 4145 steel, unless otherwise specified. This is the same grade of steel as used for the manufacture of drill collars. In terms of casing grades, 4145 is superior to P110. So for a casing string of P110 or lesser grade, the tool is inherently stronger than the casing. Even if the casing grade is higher, say Q125, the DrillShoe is never the weak link in the chain, since wall sections are always thicker than the corresponding casing. If required, BBL can supply minimum burst and collapse pressures for DrillShoes. Stabiliser blades are a feature of all DrillShoes. BBL DrillShoes incorporate ground Tungsten Carbide stabiliser blades as standard. The blades stabilise the DrillShoe in the same way as the Gauge Pads on a Drill Bit. At the uphole end of the stabiliser blades, a backreaming facility is included as standard. These Cutrite carbide blades ensure that the tool can be used to back-ream if necessary. This feature is particularly useful in swelling shale formations, where the formation may be continuously moving. The hard faced stabiliser blades provide good stand off at the shoe for an improved cement job.

10. Running Procedures (typical)

General Information and Recommendations The tool is set with high density, HVOF tungsten carbide or Thermally Stable Diamond (TSP) cutting structure on the front and tops of the blades. The nose of the tool is constructed from aluminium alloy, which is fully drillable with any type of oilfield drill bit. This tool is very aggressive and will drill very quickly with low WOB. Aggressive Drilling Tools can generate high torque for low weight. It is recommended that WOB be kept to a minimum until the torque response of the DrillShoe is known. This may take a few joints. Applying high weight, too early, may over-torque the casing connections. On no account should the tool be set on bottom unless full pump rate and rotation have been achieved. Preparation Prior to Running Unpack the tool and make the following checks: Check and record the serial number, tool size and type Confirm no damage to aluminium nose or cutting structure Check that the ports are clear Remove thread protector and check for damage Confirm that there is no debris inside the tool Making-Up to the Casing Drilling String Stand the DrillShoe box-up on a rubber mat or wooden board Stab in the casing joint and make-up to normal torque Pick-up and run casing as per normal procedure until one joint from tagging bottom. Make-up casing joint with water bushing Initiating the Drilling Process Pump at high flow rate rotate as per the product recommendations Zero the weight indicator, record pump pressure and rotary torque Run down slowly to the mudline, carefully monitoring WOB, torque and pressure It is recommended that the first joint is drilled down with minimum weight to establish the hole and give lateral stability to the casing string. Drilling Ahead Always kick in the pumps and rotate before going to bottom Increase weight gradually to achieve desired ROP Remember that excessive WOB will reduce tool life Monitor pump pressure carefully, an increase may indicate bit balling. Pick up off bottom, rotate at max rpm, and stop and start the pumps several times to try to wash the DrillShoe clean of cuttings Drilling Out with a Bit The aluminium nose is best drilled with med WOB, low RPM and maximum flow rate (if run on a PDM, reduce flow rate to give a maximum of 150rpm total) Expect to take 5 20 minutes to drill through the nose Once into the rathole proceed as per the drill bit manufacturers recommendations Do NOT rotate when pulling BHA up thru the shoe unless absolutely necessary

Drilling Out with a DrillShoe The aluminium nose is best drilled with very low WOB, low RPM and max. flow rate. Expect to take 10 30 minutes to drill through the nose Once into the rathole proceed as per the product recommendations above Do NOT rotate when pulling BHA up thru the shoe unless absolutely necessary

11. Summary of Ongoing & Future Developments

Displaceable / Retractable Cutting Structures It is expected that formations harder than medium-soft may require an even more competent cutting structure than Drillable Diamond. For these applications BBL are developing a DrillShoe with a PDC cutting structure that is displaced into the annulus after reaching TD. The next drill bit simply has to drill through an aluminium nose of the DrillShoe and does not encounter any hard obstructions. Steerability BBL is looking beyond applications to straight hole drilling and are developing steerable versions of the DrillShoe. These tools will be run on an orientable BHA suspended below the casing shoe. Steering is done by orienting the casing and pumping through the motor. To drill straight ahead, both the casing and the motor are rotated. At TD the BHA is pulled back to surface, leaving the DrillShoe latched to the casing shoe. Since the DrillShoe incorporates a non-return valve, cementing can proceed immediately. Retrievable/Replaceable DrillShoe The current ranges of DrillShoes are required to drill the entire section to TD. A failure to succeed may involve pulling the casing string. BBL is actively engaged in a development process to enable recovery and replaceability of the DrillShoe. This range of tools will allow the possibility of casing-drilling multi-bit wellbore sections, combined with the advantage of DrillShoe drilllability.