AS SEEN IN

SEPTEMBER 2012

DEEPWATER
OPERATIONS

New casing bit debuts

in GoM subsalt drilling
Reaming-with-liner gains new ground with high-drillability PDC casing bit.
Steve Rosenberg, Weatherford

eventy-five feet of fish in the hole made

drilling precarious in an unstable subsalt
rubble zone in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).
The 22 m (72 ft) of bottomhole assembly
(BHA) MWD tools lost in the exploration well
decisively blocked the drilling progress.
Rather than incurring the time, cost, and risk
of sidetracking, the operator proposed to
wash and ream a 978-in. liner around the fish.
In addition to inclusions and tar associated
with the rubble zone, planning for the reaming-with-liner (RWL) application had to consider the possibility that the bit could come in
contact with the fish while drilling.
The casing bit had to be tough enough to
drill in the rubble and survive possible contact
with the fish while still allowing easy drill-out
after the liner was set. To achieve this balance,
a recently developed bit design with PDC cutting elements mounted on aluminum nose
and blade supports was applied for the first
time in the GoM.

Reaming through difficult conditions

Multiple trips were made to condition and
ream the wells 1214-in. open hole below an
1134-in. liner. Lost mud returns and difficult
reaming and pack-offs were experienced
while washing and reaming to reach bottom.
The Defyer drillable casing bits cutting structure design facilitates easy drillOnce the hole was conditioned, the 978-in.
out without causing bit damage, enabling the operator to maintain ROP in the
liner was prepared, and the RWL system was
rigged up. The RWL assembly was fitted with a next hole section. (Images courtesy of Weatherford)
958-in. x 1058-in. Weatherford Defyer DPA 4413
drillable casing bit with PDC cutting structure.
The system was run in the hole, washed, and reamed
Installation of the 978-in. liner went smoothly, especially
7
considering that the wellbore instability required extento the 9 8-in. liner setting depth. While reaming, torque
sive reaming. Interchangeable nozzles on the bit allowed
as high as 40,000 ft-lb (54,232Nm) and weight on bit
for hydraulics optimization, abetting bit face cleaning.
(WOB) up to 100,000 lb (45,359 kg) were recorded. The
Lost circulation conditions experienced at several points
higher WOB seen was thought to result from the large
were quickly mitigated.
amount of drag from wellbore contact.
September 2012 | EPmag.com

DEEPWATER
OPERATIONS

The liner was successfully washed and reamed

through the rubble zone to reach the setting point at
6,992 m (22,940 ft) measured depth. Once the liner
was set and cemented, the 183-m (600-ft) cemented
shoe track and the 4413 bit were drilled out with an
812-in. tricone bit to formation integrity test depth and
pulled out of hole in good condition.
The operation eliminated the potential of multiple
wiper trips and potential sidetrack, enabling running
and cementing the liner in a single trip.
In anticipation of future deepwater applications, the
operator is exploring the design of several custom drillable casing bits to fit tight tolerance well geometries.

drilling forces yet easily drillable once cemented in the

hole. Two basic designs evolved. One is a steel-bodied
variation of a standard bit that is durable but tough to
drill out. The single-piece bodies are easy to manufacture but leave a significant amount of steel in the drillout path, which makes for a slower drilling and milling
process.
Style two is a relatively complex aluminum design.
Once drilling is completed, the casing bit is converted to
drillable form by dropping and pressuring up on a ball,
causing the center aluminum piston to protrude and
displace the cutting structure into the wellbore annulus
and out of the drill path. The design is easy to drill out
but limited to medium formations.

Global applications
This first use in the GoM follows successful applications
of the bit in Malaysia, Australia, Oman, Russia, Colombia, and Argentina. Off the coast of Australia, nonproductive time was a problem due to reactive shales, lost
circulation, and borehole instability over a 795-m (2,600ft) interval below the 20-in. conductor. The casing bit
was deployed in a drilling-with-casing (DWC) application to reach total depth at a high ROP.
The system mitigated all top-hole-formation-related
issues at an average ROP of 86.9 m/hr (285.1 ft/hr).
The deployment was a record setter for interval length
using DWC methods and saved the operator approximately 24 hours of rig time, or about US $600,000.
Field trials of the bit were conducted in Malaysia with
an operator with extensive DWC experience using steel
alloy casing bits. In these applications, the PDC drill-out
bits had exhibited severe wear after drilling through the
steel casing bit and the following interval of medium
soft formations embedded with hard stringers.
The bit was rotated 6.56 hours for an average onbottom ROP of 48.4 m/hr (160 ft/hr) for the entire
interval, including the hard stringers. The high ROP
indicates the PDC cutting structure remained sharp,
even after drilling out the 20-in. shoe track and a previously cemented 20-in. casing bit. In two subsequent
wells, ROP improved further and averaged 52% higher
than earlier steel alloy casing bits.
The Asia Pacific region was an early adopter of the casing drilling technology. The areas softer rock strength
and high rig rates continue to make it a cost-effective
technology. But in areas with harder rock, casing bit utilizations were limited by design constraints.
Casing bits have to be durable enough to withstand

A harder design
The drillable bit technology helps extend casing drilling
to harder formations over longer intervals with much less
drill-out, milling, and cleanout requirements. It is a simpler design, that is not displaced and has no moving
parts. A ball drop is not required. Instead, the aluminum
nose and blade supports remain in place to be drilled out
with the next bit (casing or standard). The result is a
stronger, durable casing bit that is still highly drillable.
The design features a full PDC cutting structure
brazed to steel rails (one rail for each blade of the bit).
The rails retain the PDC cutters during drilling while
minimizing the amount of steel required. By mechanically locking the steel rails and PDC cutters to aluminum blades, the design achieves the rigid support
structure needed for drilling in hard formations without
hindering the drill-out process. The bit is able to drill in
formations with up to 25,000 psi unconfined compressive strengths.
The cutting structure is comparable with conventional
PDC bits but reduces steel in the drill-out path by up to
80%. This steel reduction allows the casing bit to be
drilled out with conventional PDC or roller cone bits,
eliminating a dedicated drill-out trip and without reducing ROP in the next hole section. The technology has
an average drill-out time of less than 20 minutes compared to steel alloy drill-out times of 125 minutes.
Incorporating the new bit into casing drilling operations helps extend the interval length and enables the
operator to drill out with the planned BHA for the subsequent hole section. In addition, reducing the number
of trips lowers pipehanding requirements to make the
rig floor a safer working environment.

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