OFFSHORE DRILLING OVERVIEW

CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS

Presentation to the
National Commission on the
BP DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL AND OFFSHORE DRILLING

August 25, 2010

Joe Leimkuhler
Off h Well
Offshore W ll Delivery
D li M Manager
Shell Upstream Americas

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 Deepwater Drilling Rigs & Platforms

Drill ships
Semi – Submersibles
Deepwater Platforms –
Floating Drilling &
Production Systems

Common Capabilities
Station Keeping – Mooring System or Dynamic Positioning (DP) enables you to safely stay over the well….stay put.
BOP/Riser System – How the rig connects from the surface to the wellhead on the seafloor.
Wellhead System – Enables the well to safely withstand the pressure and tension from pipe loads.
Rig – Installs the wellhead, manages the riser, drills the hole, installs and cements the casing in place….what you see in the
pictures.
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 Deepwater Systems – Concept of Size

Deepwater Drilling Rigs – Tension Leg Platforms Production/Drilling Systems

Semi-Submersibles
Drill Ships
Deepwater Floating Platforms –
Drilling & Production
Challenges Associated with Deepwater Drilling Operations

Station Keeping** - Keeping the rig/platform on location

Riser/Tensioner Systems - Staying Connected to the well

BOP / Control Systems – Timely Response

Well Design – Wellhead & Casing Components

Rig**- Pipe Handling Loads, High Circulating Pressures, Materials & Equipment

ENTIRE SYSTEM MOVES – FLOATS – OPERATES OFFSHORE

** Will Cover if Time Allows
So how do you start drilling a Deep Water well?

1.Set up on location.
• Run Anchors
• Set Seafloor Beacons

2. Install Drive or Jet Pipe.

3. Drill Conductor or Surface Interval

• Install & Cement Surface Casing(s)

4. Run the Riser & BOPs

• Connect the well to the rig.

5. Test BOPs & DRILL AHEAD

Drilling a Deep Water well – Below Surface Casing.

1. Drill to the next Casing Point

• How strong is the rock at my casing shoe?
• Measure by pressure test. Rock Strength =
• Determine maximum mud weight rock can hold. hold 10.5 PPG
• Drill to depth mud pressure will stay > fluid pressure.
Max Mud
Wgt = 10.0 PPG

2. Remove Drill String & Run Casing

Pressure = 9.8 PPG
3. Cement Casing in place, Test BOPs & Casing

4. Repeat Drill & Case Process to Well Total Depth (TD) Pressure = 11.0 PPG
• Each Hole Size is typically a smaller diameter

What stops water, oil or gas from flowing

out of the well while I drill?

Primary Well Control

Mud Pressure > Oil Pressure
Final Product : The Well is Safely Drilled to TD

Depending on how fast Pressure

36”
Increases……or how slow rock strength
increases, it may take numerous casing strings 28”
to reach TD.
22”
18”
What started out as a hole 36”
across…..typically ends up ~7” in diameter. 16”
13 5/8”
11 3/4”

9 7/8”

7” – 8 5/8”
GOM Deepwater Drilling Challenges – Risers & BOP Systems

Challenges Industry Solutions

Weight / Buoyancy • Syntactic Foam Modules
Riser & Drilling
g Mud for total range of water depths.
• Light weight alloys

Subsea Access • ROV Technology –

Inspection Full range of operational capability.
function testing &
maint.

BOP
O Controls
C • Electro-Mux
Electro M Systems
S stems
Response time Fiber Optics – Elec – Hydraulic
2 min or less response time for full
disconnect sequence
GOM Deepwater Drilling Challenges – Well Designs

Challenges Industry Solutions

Narrow Margins between High Capability Well Heads & Casing
R k St
Rock Strength
th & Fl
Fluid
id P
Pressures P
Programs

Salt & Sub Salt Drilling Expandable Casing Systems

Wide Variety of Geologic Managed Pressure Drilling

Environments.
Dual Gradient Drilling
Temperature Changes
– Drilling Vs Production Non-Toxic Synthetic Based Drilling Fluids

Transition From Drilling to Prod. Real Time Operating Centers

All of the above require flexibility Rotary Steerable Drilling Systems

MWD – Measure While Drilling Systems

 Barriers & Controls
Prevention Recovery C
o
H Barriers Controls
n
A s
Z Loss of Primary e
A Well Control
q
R u
D e
Minimize Mitigate
g
Likelihood Consequences n
c
e

• Barriers are designed to stop the “Top

Event” . For well control they keep the wellbore
Event
fluids in place….until you want to produce the oil and
gas.
• Controls are used to mitigate impact if Outside
Barriers
the “Top Event” occurs (primary well control is
lost and the fluids start to flow before production is
desired.
• In terms of Primary Well Control BOPs
Inside
are a Control, not a Barrier.
Barriers
• Relative to a Blowout top event, BOPs are a
barrier to loss of Secondary Well Control.
• Best Practice – Design your well
with sufficient barriers to reduce the
use of controls.
 What “Tools” are common to Deepwater?

Logistics
Boats, Boats, & Boats
Helicopters
Marine Terminals (Ports) Underwater ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle)

Automated Pipe Handling

“Hands Free”
Pick-up, Make-Up &
Racking Systems

State of the Art Drilling

Systems
y
Pressure While Drilling
Full formation Evaluation
While Drilling
Directional Drilling Control

Subsea Intervention Capability ROVs

Real Time Operating Centers

RTOC – Real Time Operating Centers
24/7 Monitoring of Critical Operations, Real Time Offsite Data Storage, Well Planning
Is all offshore drilling like deepwater? NO

N
Normal
lPPress

Near Normal Press

High Press

Very High Press

Copyright of Royal Dutch Shell plc CONFIDENTIAL

Offshore Wellplans - Deepwater GOM Vs Alaska

Typical Deepwater
Conventional GOM
DW Well Well
Plan 30”

20”
36"

26"

20" 13 3/8”

16"

13-3/8"
Typical Offshore Alaska Well
11-3/4"
Shallower Water
9-5/8" • Lower Pressure Simpler
• Greater Margins wellplan
7"
Pore Press – Rock Strength
5-1/2”
TD >25,000’

Copyright of Royal Dutch Shell plc CONFIDENTIAL

Regardless of where you operate offshore you need to…
Put it all together……
g Operator
p + Drilling
g Contractor + Well Plan
WCID - API Task Force Proposal
(In Draft)
* — Well barriers (with much detail)
* API Task Force Document
Copyright of Royal Dutch Shell plc
Well Construction Interface Document
Well construction interface / Basis of design
— Location & environment issues
— Geologic and geophysical risks/issues
— Well designg
— Casing design
— Well execution plan (with detail)
— Critical Well Risk Assessments
— Operator’s
O t ’ Mgmt
M t Of Ch Change (MOC) process
Drilling contractor safety case and lease operator
Safety Management System Interface
— Mgmt structure / Roles & Resp’s / Acct
— Drillingg Contractor MOC
— Personnel management
— Well control procedures
— Rig Risk management processes
— Emergency response
— Monitoring,
M i i auditing
di i and d review
i
CONFIDENTIAL
Deepwater & Offshore Drilling

Starts & Ends with HSE – Health, Safety & Environment HSE is our “License to Operate”

Enabled by Technology & Operational Performance

Sustained by Production
 Q&A

Copyright of Royal Dutch Shell plc CONFIDENTIAL 17

GOM Deepwater Drilling Challenges – Station Keeping

Deepwater Mooring & Dynamic Positioning Systems

Challenges Industry Solution

Currents – Robust Mooring Systems – Up to 12-16 lines,

Surface Currents, suction piles & preset systems
Loop & Eddy Currents Operating Conditions Criteria Established
Deep Abyssal Currents Infrastructure Offset, Water Depth, Sea States
Emergency
e ge cy Disconnect
sco ec Sys
Systems
e s

Storm Conditions Winter Storms – Suspend Operations

Winter Storms Hurricane Evacuation Plans & Protocol
Secure Well & Rig – Fully Evacuate
Hurricanes
GOM Deepwater Drilling Challenges – Rig Systems

Rig / Industry
Platform Challenges
g Solutions
Hoisting System – High Capability to • Derrick &
manage heavy drill string & casing loads. Hoist
Capacities
up to 2.5 mln
• Automated Pipe Handling Systems
Circulating
g System
y - High
g fluid capacities
p
are required for wellbore & riser fluid volumes. • 7500 PSI Hi
High
hVVolume
l S
Systems
t
• Up to 8000 Bbls of fluid storage

Space
p / Deck Load – Limited,, must be • Always
y monitored,, shared resource
monitored in 3 dimensions. with other operations on the
Fixed & Variable Loads.
rig/platform.
Vessel Stability – Constantly monitored, Production
Construction

ENTIRE SYSTEM MOVES – FLOATS – FUNCTIONS OFFSHORE

 Back-Up
Back Up
Slides

Copyright of Royal Dutch Shell plc CONFIDENTIAL 20

Purpose of Presentation

Provide an overview of Deepwater Drilling

Review Basic Offshore Deepwater Drilling Structures &

the Offshore Deepwater Drilling Process & Well Design

Review Deepwater Challenges & Solutions

Contrast Deepwater with Offshore Alaska

Presentation does not specifically address “Macondo” issues……that will have to wait until investigations are complete.

Tremendous amount of material in a short time period.

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 Brief Perspective on Deepwater – Gulf of Mexico
Oil and gas exploration and production at water depths greater than 11,000
000 ft
Ultra-deep water is defined as water depths greater than 5,000 ft

Growing in importance as more supply is needed to fuel transportation & industry

Global deepwater production capacity has tripled since 2000

Gulf of Mexico accounts for 30% of US oil production, a 33% increase since 2008

80% of Gulf of Mexico oil production is due to deepwater oil fields

Loss of Deepwater Production has significant national economic & energy security impact.

Source - MMS
About Myself

Offshore Well Delivery Manager for Shell Upstream Americas

Over 23 years experience working in deepwater well engineering and drilling operations

Previous President of the American Association of Drilling Engineers (2007 – 2009)

Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers

2010 Chair – Gulf of Mexico - Deepwater Technical Symposium

Currently serving on Petroleum Engineering advisory boards for University of Wyoming & Montana Tech.

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To put this into perspective…

Auger TLP A16 Wellpath

31 634 Feet (6 miles)
31,634
 Deepwater Well Barriers– Typical Well Using Production Liner
Well At TD, Production Tieback Installed, Riser Displaced to Seawater

Typical
yp
Drill String to set Cmt Plug
Prod Liner
BOPs 
Kill
Mud or  Seal Assembly 
36” Sea Wtr

28”
Locked in Pace*

22”
22 Kill
Mud
18” L
Surf. Cmt Plug / Packer Set 
16” L

C
Cement Barrier in Casing ID
t B i i C i ID
13 5/8”
Cement Barrier in Csg‐Csg Annulus

11 3/4” L Liner Top Packer
k

Tieback Cement Plugs 
7” x 9 5/8
7 x 9 5/8” 
Prod LINER Open Hole Cement

Copyright of Royal Dutch Shell plc CONFIDENTIAL

TD = 18,000 – 32,000’ MD
How do Blow Out Preventers
(BOPs) work?
Pressure is applied to a piston which
forces a “Ram” to close on pipe or the
hole.

“Annulars” or Bag type Preventers, close

on any size pipe or an open hole.

Pipe RAMs – Close on Pipe.

Shear Rams – Cut the pipe & seal on

the open hole.

Casing/Pipe Rams – Close on pipe or

casing

Goal = Effective Barriers maintain the BOPS as a Secondary control

Fully Constructed,
Deepwater Well