New Directional Drilling With Liner Systems Allows Logging and Directional Control While Getting Casing Across Trouble Zones

Abstract

Abstract In deepwater and other challenging environments, operators often have to drill through ‘problem zones.’ These zones could be rubble zones, tar zones, or just unstable pressure zones. In the past, operators often had to drill through these areas, lose drillstrings, and drill a sidetrack, hoping that they might be able to avoid these areas the second time. But with the advancement of steerable drilling liner systems, we now have a solution in place to tackle the toughest drilling challenges. With much of the equipment coming from field-proven technologies, the next generation of steerable liner systems is increasingly proving to be the answer to reducing nonproductive time. This technology will allow operators to drill well sections directionally with the liner string as part of their normal drilling operations and case off that section all in one trip. This paper highlights these steerable liner systems and illustrates their ability to outperform conventional casing while drilling systems.