SPE 94377
Abandonment of Seabed Deposition of Drill Cuttings During Offshore Drilling
J.E. Paulsen, SPE, Statoil ASA; Å. Dysvik, SPE, KMC Oiltools; D. Nilsen, NOFI Tromsø; and
T. Rørhuus, SPE, Statoil ASA
Copyright 2005, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE/EPA/DOE Exploration and
Production Environmental Conference held in Galveston, Texas, U.S.A., 7 – 9 March 2005.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
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Abstract
A new concept, which combines existing fieldproven
technology with new innovative features, has been evaluated
as an attractive technique for collection and retrieval of top-
hole drill cuttings, excavated during offshore drilling.
Simplified, the presented technique is based on using a collar
that is thread on the drill string prior to the spudding in
commences. The collar is fitted with a connecting hose and a
pump that help suck the fluid and the excavated drill cuttings
into settling and filtration bags. After collection of solids the
bags are easily displaced. By its simplicity and efficiency the
technology appears as an attractive solution for drilling wells
in sensitive areas where a zero discharge regime of drill
cuttings prevail.
Introduction
Prior to installation of a riser general operating procedure in
offshore drilling is to leave the excavated drill cuttings on the
seabed. This is acknowledged as a safe and sound
environmental practice due to the benign properties of the
material that is deposited, and the overall Health Safety and
Environmental benefits connected to it. Once a riser is
installed, drill cuttings and drilling fluid is returned to the rig
for further handling. However, in some cases even benign
material from the excavation, i.e the solids per se, may have
detrimental impacts on the near well bore area. Such cases
may be where a smothering effect of a sludge blanket causes
damage to spawning grounds and where the dispersion of
small particles in the water column impairs sensitive marine
organisms like corals and other filter feeders.
In many countries restrictions to drilling activity in
environmentally sensitive areas are enforced. Seabed
deposition of top hole drill cuttings is often denied in such
cases. Moreover, the precautionary principle is frequently
applied to justify a rejection of a seabed drill cuttings disposal
option. It is on the backdrop of these facts the interest and the
technology development presented in this paper can be
recognised. The presented technique has gone through
different stages of trial and error, following improvements, to
prepare for a field trial. This paper presents the entire concept,
the benefits of using it, and the experience and results acquired
so far.
Challenges and success criteria
Collection of tophole drill cuttings and following removal to
the surface is controversial both from an environmental point
of view and from the perspective that several risk factors are
introduced when the well return is lifted to the surface. Large
circulation volumes are generated at a high rate during drilling
of top hole sections. The water content of the well return is
high and accordingly unpractical to handle and separate from
the solids at the surface. A rig based handling system would
require extensive equipment installation, along with
intermittent storage capacity and logistic challenges.
Recognising that the most widely used fluid in top hole
drilling is basically seawater added some bentonite high
viscosity pills, it is arguably justified to waste this fluid, both
from a cost and environmental perspective. In typical cases
this reasoning appears valid. The real challenge, as we
perceive it, really is to collect and confine the excavated solids
not allowing them to disperse and impair the ambient
environment. Moreover, a technique to collect the solids
should preferably not introduce new and/or increase risks of
jeopardizing the drilling progress. Concerns related to shallow
gas during top hole drilling should also be adequately dealt
with. Usually drilling installation rental cost is a major
concern and care should be taken to prevent extension of the
rental period.
Description and application of the technique
The concept. The principle of the technique may be perceived
as a subsea analogy to vacuum cleaning. It is referred to as a
Dynamic Cuttings Collection (DCC) system. When spudding
in commences the excavated solids are displaced from the near
well bore area by the suction capacity generated by a pump
downstream the suction line. The well return stream is
dynamically removed as it appears in the suction chamber
area, the confined collar area, picked up by the movment of
2 SPE 94377
the ambient seawater. The suction line ends in a settling,
collection and filtration unit; the DCC bag (DCCB). This unit
is basically an inflatable, multipurpose separator with a
sausage-shape when inflated. Once the material enters the
DCCB the water velocity drops dramatically as the positive
pressure dissipates in the ambient large water body and the
solids are allowed to settle over a relatively large distance.
This feature assist trapping of the solids in the unit while the
benign carrier fluid escapes through the bag wall and
dissipates into the surrounding seawater.
Figure 1. Schematic view of the DCC concept solution.
Several DCCBs may be needed to collect the lot of the
excavated material, dependent on the well design. The
prototype unit, with skid mounted bags, carries a total of three
bags. Additional bag skids are easily lowered from a surface
vessel, or may be placed on the seabed prior to spudding in, to
allow necessary capacity and save rig-time. Once loaded the
bags can easily be collected and retrieved for further
displacement. The subsea technique is dependent on use of a
remote operated vehicle (ROV) during installation, operation,
dismantling and retrieval of the loaded bags. Application of
this technique requires the preinstallation of existing
technology used to transport drill cuttings away from the well
bore area. The DCC system is adaptable to several of existing
systems, i.e. the CTS sytem1.
Operation procedure. The DCC system may be installed
from the drilling installation or a service vessel. The DCC
Figure 2. 3D drawing of the DCC skid design.
system is submersed and installed at the seabed as an add-on
system to a preinstalled cuttings transfer system (CTS). The
exhaust hose from the CTS is connected to the DCC skid, ref.
Figure 2, aided by a ROV. The figure indicates only one
DCCB, while a prototype typically holds three DCCBs for
each skid.
Prior to spudding in the DCCBs are relieved from the skid and
the respective inlet valve is opened. The DCCBs are unfolded
and inflated by a positive pressure produced by the up front
pumping system. This allows and prepares the DCCBs to
receive the well return. The large interior volume of the
DCCB facilitates sedimentation of solids carried by the well
return stream. Each DCCB is loaded with solids successively
and according to requirement.
When top hole section drilling is completed the DCCBs
are disconnected from the skid frame. So is the exhaust hose
from the CTS. The loaded DCCBs are left on the seabed for
later retrieval while the skid frame is lifted to the surface and
stored for later use.
The DCCBs are designed to be collected by a surface
vessel. The vessel may be a service vessel or a large fishing
trawler. Suggestivley the DCCBs are collected when practical
convenient for the drilling operation.
A remote operated vessel assists the hook up of the
DCCBs to a lifting device. When a DCCB is elevated and
lifted off the sea, excessive water is drained off via
purposemade relief valves.
The DCCB is designed for reuse. After each application
the DCCBs are cleaned and inspected before reuse approval.
Technical details
The DCC bag. The DCCB design capacity is 50 metric tons
of solids. Typically 1000m³ of well return fluid passes
through the DCCB before it is loaded to its capacity. Fines in
the well return fluid will readily clog filters; consequently a
modified two stage process is introduced. The first stage
being a sedimentation chamber where the majority of the
larger particles settle, and secondly a final filter where smaller
particles are removed.
Settling chamber. Settling or sedimentation efficiency is
dependent on vertical height, fluid velocity and settling time.
The 20m long bag with a diameter of 2.5m ensures an average
sedimentation height of 1250mm while maintaining a laminar
flow. The total settling volume is 100m³ which is expected
sufficient to allow for settling in most operations. Depending
on the solids density and inflow temperature 10 – 30 minutes
settling time will in most cases be sufficient to sediment
particles down to 50 micron size.
Final filtration. At the rear end of the sedimentation chamber
a multilayer filter system ensures that remaining particles are
removed according to operator’s requirement. Typically the
filters start at mean flow pore (MFP ASTM E 1294) of 50
microns and end with filters of 20 microns.
Retrival of bag. After a bag is filled a ROV closes the bag
flowvalve and disconnects the hose. Also a mooring line from
the skid to the bag used to position the bag correctly relatively
to the skid is disconnected by the ROV. The skid may then be
retrieved to the surface vessel and reloaded with new bags.
SPE 94377 3

Since the bag fabrics have a higher density than water the bag
will slowly collapse the first few hours after deployment and
will appear flat on the sea bottom. The only thing floating up
is the bag retrieval loop which is located around 2m above
seabed. In principle all solids are confined in the bag and
depending on governing regulations it may take days or
months before the bags are retrieved to the surface and
shipped elsewhere by an anchor handler, large fish trawler or
similar available vessel.
Fabrics of the bag. Deck space on drilling installation is
often limited. In order to make the DCC skid small a lot of
effort and thought was spent in making the bags as small as
possible when compressed. A special offshore oil boom
material in combination with Dyneema SK75 fibers was used.
The Dyneema SK75 fibers offer a tenacity of 3.4GPa (Steel:
1.77GPa) which makes it the world’s strongest fiber. The
volume of a bag in compressed state is only about 2m³, and
dry weight is approximately 700kg.
Initial trials and test results
Along with the technical tests several meetings were held
where experienced personnel from different diciplines were
invited to criticize the concept and point at practical
constrains. This excersize led to several improvements. Many
interfaces are involved in the deployment and operation of a
DCC system; rig personnel, drill manager, ROV- and service
vessel personnel. A complete crew training will be carried out
prior to the planned field testing. The ROV Company
(Oceaneering) has developed a simulator with an IT-based
tutorial programme. This simulator allows training to be
performed as close to actual conditions as possible.
Conclusions
A general and important conclusion from the initial tests is
that overall the concept worked as expected. Minor technical
adjustments are required to improve the performance.
According to all the experts that have critized the concept, the
concept appears viable and attractive; fit for purpose.

Initial studies showed that high volume gravity separation A field trial is needed to decide if the system effectively will
technology from the recognized NOFI Current Buster oil spill sediment and trap both fines and larger particles.
collection system, made of soft materials, could be modified
and become an enclosed sub sea version for drill cuttings Acknowledgement
removal. Several lab tests and trials were carried out to
determine a practical design, ref. Figure 3 and 4 for a close The authors like to thank Statoil for allowing the
look of the final prototype. Series of scale sedimentation tests dissemination of this paper. We also like to thank KMC
were undertaken. Likewise different versions of scale DCC Oiltools for project management, Poseidon for design work
Bag systems were built and tested with respect to basic with the skid, Onsite Treatment-Technology (OTT) for
performance. In particular the inflation and handling issues providing the technique (DCC is patent pending), and NOFI
were studied. Scaled models of bag skids were also tested for for their expertise in suitable fabrics and collector geometry
optimized deployment method. for the DCCB. In particular we are indebted all for the
Finally a “yard test”; an in-house full scale prototype support with graphical material and technical information.
subsea test was carried out in Northern Norway October 2004.
At 8m depth and an inflow of 5000 liters/min of water mixed References
with sand, the bag unfolded and inflated smoothly. These tests 1. P. Contarini, A. Zanchetta, P. Jeannet, M. Choquet, D.
were monitored with submersed videocamera, operated by Sauteron, J.L. Puyaubran, T.Duhen: Pride Africa -
divers, to capture critical events and detect potential for Successful BOP and Riser Recovery Offshore Angola.
improvement. The restriction at the outlet of the DCCB Technical paper SPE/IADC 67808, Conference held in
Amsterdam Netherlands, 27 February - 1 March 2001.
created an internal overpressure in the range of tens of
millibars. Despite this low overpressure the bag acted like an
effective and robust separator where e.g. divers could walk on
top of it. The outflow was laminar and without larger
particles.
As expected the yard test revealed a need for modification.
Small air drainage holes fitted with 20µm filters were needed
to avoid positive displacement of the bag when lowered down
to the seafloor. The bag skid needed new types of valves and
hoses feeding the bag. Consequently the skid frame needed to
be modified. The retrieval of the DCCB was demonstrated to
work without any problem. One more in-house prototype test
is planned prior to an offshore rig test in 2005.
The DCCB’s efficiency in trapping and confining fines in
the well return stream remains to be demonstrated. Only a
field trial can really demonstrate the performance in this
respect. Accordingly, the safety issue associated with shallow
gas occurrences is expected to be of minor importance with
this technology. However, only a field trial can verify this.
4 SPE 94377

Appendix

Figure 3. The DCC skid with one DCCB compressed, ready for Figure 4. The DCCB inflated, real size.
launching.