Dual-Gradient Drilling

in Ultradeepwater Gulf of Mexico

previous attempt to drill an

exploration well in ultradeep water
in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) did not
reach its objective because of an inability
to maintain a water-based-mud system
light enough to maintain circulation. For
the next round of exploration drilling,
a controlled-annular-mud-level-type
dual-gradient-drilling (DGD) system
was applied successfully on this well
in 2260-m water depth. This method
compensates for the annular friction
pressure by reducing the riser level
according to the circulation pump rate.

Introduction

A specially designed drilling system

was built for PC Gulf in 2011. This DGD
system was to be used on Saipems
Scarabeo-9 semisubmersible drilling rig.
On the basis of experience gained with
the previous offset well, Y-1, the system
was considered a key tool to reach the
planned total depth of Well C-1 by maintaining full mud returns should a narrow margin and a low-pressure scenario
beencountered.
Given the challenging metocean
conditions in the area of operation, another major advantage of this deepwater
managed-pressure-drilling (MPD) system is that the surface components of
the riser system are not modified, so
the weather capability of the rig is not
changed, which often is a problem with
rotating-control-device (RCD) -based
systems. Also, because of the fluid level
in the riser remaining unaltered by rig

movements, there is no masking of influxes or losses by heave.

Delivery of the DGD system to the
Scarabeo-9 occurred in October of 2011,
and installation and site-based commissioning took place while the Scarabeo-9
transited from Singapore to the GOM
over a 2-month period. The system was
first used on the J-1 well for another operator from mid-February to mid-May of
2012. Modifications as a result of lessons
learned were implemented before spudding of Well C-1.

DGD System

This DGD system is designed for drilling

post-blowout-preventer (BOP) sections.
The system uses a subsea pump installed
on a modified riser joint (MRJ) to manipulate the height of the drilling fluid in the
riser annulus. By manipulating the fluid
level in the riser, it is possible to alter the
hydrostatic pressure seen by the wellbore, thus controlling the bottomhole
pressure (BHP) while drilling.
The DGD systems effect is best
compared to that of a conventional,
RCD (backpressure) -based MPD system: While the RCD system virtually extends the height of a light fluid column
by applying backpressure, leading to a
steep mud-pressure gradient, the DGD
system reduces the actual height of a
heavier fluid column, which allows for a
significantly flatter mud-pressure gradient much closer to nature. This leads to
a significantly lower pressure exerted on
the often weak casing shoe while maintaining the required pressure to control

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper SPE 166272, First Successful Commercial Application of Dual-Gradient
Drilling in Ultradeepwater Gulf of Mexico, by Robert Ziegler, Mohd Saiful Anuar
Sabri, and M Ramdan B Idris, Petronas, and Roar Malt and Roger Stave, AGR
Enhanced Drilling Solutions, prepared for the 2013 SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, New Orleans, 30 September2 October. The paper has not been
peerreviewed.

Sea Level

Riser Joint
Drillpipe

BOP

Sea Floor
Fig. 1Overview of DGD system.

moveable formation content deeper in

the drilled interval.
For this specific operation, a threestage subsea pump module (SPM) was
installed on an MRJ to pump the mud returns back to the surface from a depth of
400 m. Fig. 1 presents a system overview.
The MRJ was run as a single joint
(50ft) through the rotary table (the other
joints were run as 100-ft doubles) without assistance from the DGD-system
crew. After preparations were made in
the moonpool (creating space among line
cables and sheaves), operations to make
up the SPM to the MRJ took place. Fig. 2
illustrates the MRJ being interface tested
with the SPM onboard the Scarabeo-9
during transit.
The project had a fast-track approach. The system had to be taken from
concept phase through design, fabrication, assembly, and testing within a period of 6 months. Design and delivery

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
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Pressure, psi

ECD, lbm/gal

Fig. 2MRJ test onboard the drilling rig during transit.

of the MPD system was challenging because of the short time frame and the location of the various key components.
The DGD pump module was fabricated
in Norway, the riser joint was fabricated
in Singapore, and the BOP-trolley-insertdeployment system was fabricated at the
Keppel shipyard.

C1 Well

The C1 well was spudded on 25 May 2012

in 2260-m water depth. The DGD system was run together with the BOP and
riser after the 20-in. casing and highpressure wellhead had been installed and
cemented. The DGD SPM was connected
to the drilling riser in the moonpool. This
operation took approximately 3 hours,
including 1 hour of online time to pick
up and connect the SPM and to perform functional testing. The SPM was
lowered approximately 10 m below the
splash zone before activation of the system. Once the SPM was started, it was
flow tested successfully with seawater.

Drilling the 17-in.-Hole

Section

The 17-in. section was started with a

mud weight (MW) of 9.2 lbm/gal. After
letting drilling parameters stabilize, the
riser level was taken down in steps until
it was at 150 m, corresponding to an
equivalent circulation density (ECD) of
9.0 lbm/gal. Total flow from rig pumps
was 1,300 gal/min when reducing level,
and it was increased to 1,500 gal/min
after the level was as desired. After drilling for a few hours, the level was reduced
further to 8.9-lbm/gal ECD, corresponding to 183 m on the DGD-system sen-

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DP166272.indd 114

Fig. 3ECD reduction (from PWD readings) when riser

level is reduced.

sors. This level was kept until reaching

3213-m true vertical depth (TVD) when
potential severe-weather conditions necessitated a temporary stop in operation. Drilling was resumed, and the riser
level was taken down first to 150 m, then
to 200 m. ECD measurements from the
pressure-while-drilling (PWD) tool were
used to verify that ECD was at the desired
level (8.9 lbm/gal). Fig. 3 shows (from a
different well) ECD reduction (from PWD
readings) when the riser level is reduced.
Some issues with cooling capacity on
the DGD system caused by an insufficient
rig water supply necessitated 1,500 gal/
min as the maximum flow rate with
200-m riser level. This was well above the
specified 1,200 gal/min, and the DGD system pump ran at ony 70% power output.
On several occasions, troubleshooting on suction problems on the rig mud
pumps required a stop in drilling. On
these occasions, the riser was filled and
the SPM isolated. Reducing the level
again took between 6 and 12 minutes.
The booster and top-fill pump ran
during the connection. The ECD drops
a bit less because of loss of annular friction, but in this part of the well, that
is allowable. Connection time was thus
minimized as much as possible. The
proportional-integral-derivative controller was able to keep the riser pressure
within a window of 12 psi when stopping and starting pumps on connection.
When approaching 3450-m TVD, the
riser level was increased to 160 m to yield
9.2-lbm/gal ECD. The ECD was then increased to 9.4 lbm/gal to balance a potential increase in pore pressure. This
ECD was maintained until 3800-m TVD.

Because of the ability to keep the ECD

at the desired level, the total circulation
rate during drilling was maintained at
1,650 gal/min (1,200 gal/min on string
and 450 gal/min on riser boost pump),
ensuring good hole cleaning. After passing 3800-m TVD without any signs of a
pressure ramp, the riser level was again
dropped to 200m to increase the rate of
penetration (ROP). This level was maintained until 3863-m TVD, where it was
increased because of an imbalance in
flow-in/flow-out readings. The active pit
remained stable. At 3866 m, section total
depth was called.
For a discussion of the process of cementing the 13-in. casing, please see
the complete paper.

Drilling the 12-in.-Hole

Section

The 12-in. section was drilled with

9.7lbm/gal mud. The riser level was initially drawn down to achieve 9.5-lbm/gal
ECD (150-m level reduction), but was increased when approaching 4200-m TVD
because of an anticipated pore-pressure
rise. In the upper part of the section, the
level was kept constant on connections,
but as drilling approached the reservoir
section, the riser was filled for each connection to keep constant BHP. To minimize time consumption, the riser was
filled rapidly while the driller staged down
the rig pumps. The same effect as in the
17-in. section was seenwhen lowering
the level in riser, the ROP increased. The
high flow rate achieved resulted in good
hole cleaning in the smaller hole size.
During drilling, the top-fill pump
was running all the time. This constant-

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flow monopump delivers approximately

1 bbl/min and serves to remove the effect
of gas buildup in the riser. It was left to
run on connections and was shut down
only during flow checks.
Flow checks were performed by
stopping all pumps and closing the DGDsystem riser valve. No anti-U-tube valve
was used, and there was therefore a small
U-tube flow from the string that was
fingerprinted. This would stabilize completely within 5 minutes. A continuouscirculation system is seen as a very valuable complement to the DGD system in
the future, when the SPM is set much
deeper and the U-tube effect becomes severe. This would alleviate the need for potentially troublesome anti-U-tube valves.

tion was made. Then, it was turned off

to speed up the process of reducing riser
level. Lowering the riser level was performed while drilling. This way, the total
time for connections ranged between 18
and 25 minutes, no longer than a connection made during conventionaldrilling.

Tripping

For each trip in the 17- and the 12-in.

section, the riser was filled before trip-

ping commenced. The trip was then performed conventionally on the trip tank
with the DGD system isolated. The contingency plan was to trip the drillipipe/
bottomhole assembly with the riser level
below surface. In this case, the riser itself acts as the trip tank. The pressure
sensors on the SPM are accurate enough
to measure a 0.05-bbl variation in the
riser level, which is more than adequate
fortripping. JPT

Well-Control Considerations

Well C-1 was drilled with conventional methods of influx detection. The return flow was into the starboard flowline,
gravity fall through the flowmeter, and
then to the shale shakers. Because the
DGD-system pump is below the slip joint,
the return flow is not affected by vessel motion. In addition, the power consumption of the SPMs centrifugal (disk)
pumps was monitored because it is related directly to the volume (not pressure)
of the mud pumped. Therefore, variations of the power consumption are an
excellent kick-/loss-detection instrument
with steady-state flow in.
During drilling of the 17- and
12-in. section, the effective ECD was
measured with the PWD tool and was at
all times kept above the pore pressure.
There were no incidents relating to influxes into the wellbore while the DGD
system was in use.
The static flow-check method used
was to close the riser isolation valve and
isolate the DGD-system pump, then close
down the rig pumps and stop top fill. The
string volume would now partially Utube back to the riser, but with an identifiable reduction in flow to a static level
that was fingerprinted with an on-screen
real-time plot on the control panel used
by the operators.
In the 12-in. section, the theoretical drilling window was narrower than
it had been previously, so on connections, the riser was filled before stopping
the pump and making connection. The
booster pump was running until connecMore_Core_4.4375x7.5_4C.indd 1

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