OBM MPD Solves Drilling Challenges

摘要

Managed pressure drilling (MPD) was used successfully to exploit the lower Cretaceous Buda, Georgetown, Edwards, and Glen Rose formations in Houston and Madison counties in South Texas, with the objective of economically stimulating and commingling all the drilled zones. A comprehensive solution was developed to combat the principal causes of cost overruns related to weak zones in the shallow formations above the productive intervals, wellbore stability issues caused by sensitive shale formations, and lost circulation related to natural fractures in the productive interval. The operator was faced with several shallow, low-fracture, gradient intervals above the Dexter Shale, an extremely thick and sensitive shale sequence overlying a 1,400-foot pay interval consisting of the multiple naturally fractured carbonate horizons.