Drilling gear scaling up to pursue deepwater targets

Heavier equipment for draw works, drill floor, cabin, and riser
Jerry Greenberg
Contributing Editor
Oil and gas producers and drilling contractors have been planning for exploration and
production in deepwater since the mid-1980s when the industry bid on Gulf of Mexico acreage
in water depths up to 10,000 ft. They were clearly looking toward the future. There were no
mobile rigs or equipment at that time that would allow the industry to drill in anywhere near that
water depth.
That future is now here. The industry is prepared to drill in nearly 8,000 ft. of water this year,
with the capability to drill in 10,000 ft. and deeper in the foreseeable future. Offshore rigs have
been designed, built, or modified for the deeper waters, while equipment manufacturers have
kept their R&D departments working overtime to meet the industry's demands for deepwater
equipment. And in light of today's record high day rates for floating rigs, any technology has to
result in more efficient, time saving, and cost saving operations.
Mobile rig equipment designed or enhanced, includes larger diameter marine risers with better
connections for deepwater, larger rotary tables to accommodate larger diameter risers, high
capacity mud pumps, and high horsepower draw works to handle heavier loads in deepwater.
The latest state-of-the-art electronic technology has entered the driller's cabin, replacing the
conventional equipment and information with LCD readouts, monitors and joysticks. But stateof-the-art electronics may be a tough sell.
While the driller's cabin on the Glomar Celtic Sea semi submersible contains the latest state-ofthe-art technology, the drillers were still more comfortable with an analog weight-on-bit indicator
rather than an LCD readout. Another contractor that is modifying several of its rigs for
deepwater remained with the dependable and proven driller's controls. The contractor did not
like the computer interface, saying it did not think it was reliable technology.
Pipe handling equipment also has been designed into the rigs, enabling drilling operation to be
performed with only 2-3 people on the rig floor. Pipe handling systems also can deliver riser to
the rig floor with only two people in a cabin separate from the driller. Automatic pipe handling
systems have been designed into some of the latest rigs that feature dual derricks or dual

activity derricks, allowing the contractor to put together triple stands of pipe, or connect casing
while drilling ahead.
Varco also has designs for a pipe racking system that can handle quadruples instead of triples,
eliminating one more connection. And the company has a pipe handling system that can
retrieve pipe from the rack on the rig floor, transport it to the derrick where it can be connected
in triples and set back in a rack, all virtually untouched by human hands.
One area of deepwater drilling that is garnering much attention is deepwater subsea BOP
controls, marine riser designs, and technology for drilling in 10,000 ft of water and greater.
Taking this one step further, drilling in ultra deep waters without a marine riser is being studied
by a group of companies that is hoping to field test a prototype in the next three years.

Rigfloor equipment
A couple of equipment manufacturers have recently introduced high capacity drawworks to
handle the extra length of drill pipe in deepwater. Continental Emsco has a 5,000 HP drawworks
with a 2 million pound capacity. National-Oilwell also has a drawworks rated for 2 million
pounds. Each company has sold several units the past year, with orders for additional units for
delivery during 1998.
Both Continental Emsco and National-Oilwell offer 60-1/2-in. rotary tables to accommodate
larger diameter riser for deeper waters. The larger diameter table allows pulling the riser through
the table rather than having to remove rotary table to run or retrieve riser. Continental Emsco
says its 60-1/2 in. rotary table is the only drilling rotary on the market.
Another piece of equipment, although technically not new, is a 2,200 HP mud pump. This size
mud pump actually is a few years old but the soft drilling market until recently resulted in only a
very few of the units being sold and installed on rigs. Again, deepwater drilling has made this
larger pump more popular now. Continental Emsco says it sold only seven of its 2,200 HP mud
pumps in 1992 but sold 27 units in 1997.

Subsea controls
An API guideline says that a driller should be able to secure a well within 60 seconds. That
would not normally present a problem in shallower waters utilizing a typical hydraulic subsea
system. However, the efficiency of a purely hydraulic system decreases in deepwater. A water
depth of 4,000 ft is said to be the effective water depth to achieve securing a well in under a
minute. Securing a well beyond that water depth takes longer than the time allotted in the API
guideline.
Electro hydraulic BOP control systems reduces signal transfer time in deepwater. Utilizing
multiplex subsea controls, a driller can close the BOP and secure the well in about 45 seconds,
or less. The hydraulics of the system are not eliminated, but the signal to activate the valves is
transmitted instantly through the electronics to the hydraulic valve to perform the various
functions of the BOP.
The first electro hydraulic controls were manufactured and installed by Cameron in the early
1970s on the Ben Ocean Lancer drillship, according to the company. At that time in the
industry's history, it was more the case of wanting to utilize the latest technology. There was no
real need for the electro hydraulic units, because of the shallow water depth capacities of mobile
rigs. Drilling contractors are moving more toward multiplex systems because deeper water
requires the higher speed of electronics, and because day rates are at levels where drilling
contractors can modernise a rig with the latest technology.
Fiber optics could be used in the subsea control systems, but the drawback presently is that
connectors are not as reliable as the industry requires. Fiber optics also are fragile. However,
fiber optics could be an advantage in the drilling environment since they do not suffer from
electronic interference generated by cables. Some contractors ask control manufacturers to
supply both electrical connections and fiber optics, again with an eye toward the future.

Riser technology
Cameron is developing a free standing drilling riser (FDR) that is aimed at reducing the time
consuming operation of drilling riser deployment and retrieval. Some deepwater riser concerns
include:

Greater rig loading from riser tensioners and riser storage

Additional riser weight that could change the vessel centroid

Storm preparation requires a larger time window for full riser retrieval

Most drilling rigs have limited riser storage.

The free standing drilling riser has been designed for 7,500 ft water depths. Cameron is also
developing a free standing drilling riser for 10,000 ft water depths.
Air tanks installed on the upper joints of the riser hold the free standing drilling riser (FDR) in
tension. The FDR consists of conventional drilling riser equipment from the air tanks down. At
the top of the riser will be several riser joints (the number depends upon water depth) with air
tanks configured around modified Cameron RF drilling 21-in. riser joints to provide buoyancy.
The air tanks are open bottomed containers to trap air in place. While the riser joints will be 75
ft, the overall length of the air tank is 70 ft, with an outside diameter of 90 in. Each air tank will
provide a buoyant lift of 120,000 pounds. Approximately 20 air tanks will be required to support
a disconnected free standing riser supporting 17 lb/gal mud and the drillstring.
Four modified Cameron RF drilling riser joints are utilised in the retrievable portion of the riser
string to position the top of the free standing riser section at 300 ft below the surface. The only
modification to these riser joints will be the addition of two air lines for the air tank buoyancy.
Foam will not be used on the upper four riser joints. An upper marine riser package (UMRP)
comprises the interface component connecting the upper retrievable section with the free
standing section of the riser.
Air is supplied to the air tanks after the FDR is deployed and locked to the seabed, with the air
displacing the trapped water in each air tank. When the water has been displaced with air in the
required number of tanks, the riser will be free standing.
Air buoyancy is equivalent to the tension already on the riser. The load from the riser tensioners
can be reduced to support only the upper riser retrievable section components after the FDR is
free standing.
The primary advantage of the free standing drilling riser is the decreased time required to
secure a rig for storm evacuation, thus increasing or maximising drilling time potential. The FDR

can be disconnected in a few hours, compared to an estimated 3-5 days for conventional riser
retrieval in 7,500 ft water depths.
Additionally, the FDR could be "parked" during a planned disconnect that could be utilized to
augment well completion or field development operations. Parking is disconnecting the system
and leaving the FDR connected to the seafloor freestanding while other operations are
performed with the rig. A dummy wellhead could be built into a template with the FDR being
moved to and connected to the dummy wellhead, saving the time that would otherwise be
required to retrieve the riser.
While the concept for a marine drilling riser is recent, the use of a free standing production riser
(FPR) was used in the Gulf of Mexico in the 1980s. A floating production system incorporating a
free standing production riser was developed and installed by Cameron Offshore Engineering
for Placid Oil on the Green Canyon 29 project in 1,525 ft of water. The FPR was completely free
standing in February of 1988. The system was on production for 2-1/2 years before the field was
abandoned and the FPR recovered.
The FPR was later incorporated into the floating production system developed for Enserch
Exploration's Garden Banks 388 project in the Gulf of Mexico in 2,100 ft of water. The Enserch
FPR was completely free standing in July 1995 and on production the following September.
Cameron could see its first order for a free standing drilling riser this summer.

Marine riserless drilling

Marine riserless drilling technology is being developed by a joint industry project (JIP) headed
by Conoco and Hydril. Separately, Shell Oil is developing a riserless drilling system of its own
design, according to Allen Gault of Conoco.
The Conoco-Hydril JIP is examining the issues and challenges facing deepwater drilling,
including two major focal points: inability to reach geologic objectives; inability to drill an
adequate sized hole for economic field development. Both of these issues relate to the fact that
geologic structures tend to be further below the mudline as water depth increases.
Floating drilling operations in deepwater necessitates the use of a 21-in. marine riser with a
capacity of about 400 bbl for every 1,000 ft of length. This long, weighted mud column
introduces hydrostatic pressures that require numerous casing points in areas with high pore
pressure and low fracture gradients.
These conditions typically are found in areas of rapid deposition such as the Gulf of Mexico.
Using conventional casing arrangements and a conventional riser, drillers will run out of usable
casing size before reaching their objective, if they are in 7,500 ft water depths. Deep formations,
at 15,000 ft measured depth, would be unattainable.
The aggressive JIP will last approximately three years. During Phase II the project will design,
build, and test prototype mudlift equipment and establish critical operation and well control
procedures. Phase I recently concluded. Phase III of the project, scheduled to begin in mid1999, will include integration of equipment and procedures and Phase IV will include the field
testing of a prototype system on an offshore rig. (For a more detailed discussion of riserless
drilling, see the December 1997 Offshore.)
The two major components of the proposed riserless drilling system are a submersible mud
pump with a rating of 3,000-4,000 HP at the seafloor to lift the mud through the return line to the
surface, and a return line to conduct mud and cutting to the surface. The 20-26 in. diameter
return line is held by a buoy 300-500 ft below the surface to minimize the effects of ocean
currents.
Gault says that riserless drilling will open up access to virtually every sedimentary basin in the
world. While some rigs under construction today are designed and rated for drilling in 10,000 ft
water depths, they will most likely drill in 8,000 ft or less, constrained by the effects of currents
and hydrostatic load on conventional risers.
Conceivably, riserless drilling will enable the industry to drill in virtually any water depth. If the
industry can drill in 12,000 ft of water, the entire Gulf of Mexico can be explored. And, Gault

says, if the industry can drill in 14,000-16,000 ft water depths, any sedimentary basin in the
world can be explored.
Additional advantages of riserless drilling include potentially extending the water depth limit of
second and third generation rigs by eliminating large riser tensioner requirements and reducing
deckload, offering rapid disconnect and reconnect features, and reducing weight and space
requirements during rig mobilization.
Gault says the industry has developed oil mainly in the northern hemisphere where there is
more land mass. He says that the southern hemisphere, which is primarily ocean, is virtually
unexplored and can be opened up for exploration with the development of riserless drilling.
Gault adds that with the riserless drilling system, ultra deepwater exploration will be economical
at today's oil prices and probably even at $15/bbl
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