Delivering Deep, HP/HT Wells in the Mediterranean

Cowper, David; Wild, Lorraine
Exploration, BP Exploration Egypt, Sunbury on Thames, United Kingdom.

Planning an HPHT well is a complicated process that takes more than a year to complete. It requires complete integration of the Subsurface and Drilling to safely execute.

This paper will touch upon the key technologies involved in both.

For the Subsurface side we need to be able to predict reasonably accurate lithologies from the shallowest overburden to TD along the well track. Significant sand bodies have to be mapped kilometers away from the prospect. This in turn allows us to build a basin model which helps in the prediction of fluid migration and pressure regressions. Huge efforts are made to accurately predict Pore pressure and Fracture gradient. Knowledge of the location of pressure ramps drives the depths of casing points.

From the Drilling side, key technologies like Managed Pressure Drilling have been major enablers to BP's track record for the deepest Mediterranean wells. However, almost all aspects of the traditional drilling operation have had to be reviewed from mud chemistry to logging tool survivability.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90155©2012 AAPG International Conference & Exhibition, Singapore, 16-19 September 2012