Drilling Long Salt Sections Along the U.S. Gulf Coast

Abstract

Summary As the petroleum industry has matured along the U.S. gulf coast, the need to drill long salt sections to reach hydrocarbons has increased. This paper summarizes the special techniques that have been developed to drill long salt sections and reviews case histories where long salt sections have been successfully drilled. A new analytical equation to predict the rate of salt creep into a wellbore is also presented.