Surface BOP: Testing and Completing Deepwater Wells Drilled With aSurface BOP Rig

摘要

Many deepwater development projects in Operators’ portfoliosrequire lower costs to meet internal economic thresholds.Shell has therefore looked at extending Surface BOP activitiesto include well testing and completion techniques fordeepwater wells in conjunction with Surface BOP drilling.The cost advantages of Surface BOP drilled wells have beendemonstrated (notably in the Far East), but the recent SurfaceBOP drilled Brazil well is a milestone in terms of extendingthe applicability to deeper water and harsher environments.The enabling technology has been the Subsea DisconnectSystem (SDS). Testing and completion techniques havetherefore been developed to be compatible with Surface BOPwells drilled with an SDS.The paper will focus on the following aspects:? Well testing using Surface BOPs from a moored rig? Well Completions using Surface BOPs from amoored rigShell has developed a testing configuration to carry out a DSTessentially using standard equipment. The well testingequipment configuration is currently ready for use, waiting forthe opportunity to be run.In completion operations, the availability of a high pressureriser does not add significant complexity and even actuallysimplifies some of the completion activities. Conceptualstudies and early hazard/risk assessments have shown there areno obvious showstoppers and the duration of a Surface BOPrig completion is expected to be very similar to a subsea BOPrig completion.The paper describes the results of the conceptual studies, earlyhazard assessment exercises used to define the basic designparameters and more detailed hazop studies.