Baker Hughes and Cepsa announced that they achieved an expandable liner extension run for a difficult well onshore Egypt, marking the first successful run of the Baker Hughes linEXX system.
Manuel Lapeira, drilling manager for the operator, Cepsa, believes the expandable liner system saved the well. “We would have needed to abandon the well otherwise,” he said.
Cepsa had already encountered severe losses and drilling breaks during the 17 ½-in. and 12 ¼-in. sections of this vertical exploratory well. The drilling breaks were associated with dynamic losses of up to 150 bbl/hr, which the operator fought with up to 130 lb/bbl of lost-circulation material.
The well had been planned to 4,600 m and needed to have a 9 5/8-in casing below 2,950 m to achieve exploration objectives. The 9 5/8-in casing stopped at 2,859 m. The monobore expandable liner was brought in. The first attempt failed, but the second attempt was successful.
The 8 ½-in open-hole section was drilled out of the expanded liner to 3,890 m. The well, planned to 4,600 m, needed to have a 9 5/8-in casing below 2,950 m in order to achieve exploration objectives. The 9 5/8-in casing did not make it to the bottom, stopping at 2,859 m.
This had been anticipated, and Cepsa had planned the Baker Hughes monobore expandable liner as a contingency.
