Michael Bullock

Solid Expandable Tubular Technology - A Year of Case Histories in the Drilling Environment

Maximizing hole conservation while optimizing well economics in both conventional and deepwater wells is a continual challenge. Addressing these challenges with new technology has provided some significant solutions, but the uncertainty when utilizing new technology with no proven track record must be risk-weighted. Solid Expandable Tubulars (SETs) have been installed in both openhole and cased-hole wellbores from November of 1999, in a variety of environments in wells on land, offshore and in deepwater to solve a range of drilling and completion challenges. This paper will discuss the drilling case histories in depth including : * Descriptions of drilling challenges surrounding the use of SETs and their next best alternatives ; * Risk analysis leading to the use of SETs ; * Discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of using SETs ; * Operational lessons learned during installations of SETs.