Drilling a World Record ERW in the South China Sea

摘要

In 1996, Phillips China, Inc. (PCI) based in Shekou, People's Republic of China, was faced with the decision to either submit a development plan for the Xijiang 24-1 Field in the 15/11 Contract Area of the South China Sea or to relinquish their rights to the field. The remote location of the field and the relative small size of the reservoir made this decision difficult. Several studies conducted over a number of years on various development scenarios indicated that any type of stand alone development, such as a small platform or subsea wells, would be uneconomical. It was, therefore, concluded that the only way of developing the 24-1 was to drill an extended reach well (ERW) from PCI's Xijiang 24-3 Platform, over 8-km away. Such a well would have a world record horizontal reach.