Steerable-Drilling-Liner Technology in Unstable Shale

摘要

Challenging environments such as unstable clay formations represent high operational risk when running tubulars after drilling is completed. Use of steerable-drilling-liner (SDL) systems combines drilling and casing of the hole, thereby mitigating the risk of not being able to run the liner because of time-dependent formation collapse. This case study presents the difficulties encountered with conventional approaches with a semisubmersible rig in the North Sea during 7-in.-liner-running operations in an unstable clay formation and details a subsequent SDL operation.