Design, Drilling, and Testing of a Deviated
HTHP Exploration Well in the North Sea
K.P. Seymour, SPE, Ranger Oil (U.K.) Ltd., and Robert MacAndrew, SPE, Consultant
Summary
Significant quantities of hydrocarbon reserves are contained in
North Sea high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) reservoirs. De-
velopment of these reserves will require deviated wells. This paper
outlines the planning, drilling, and testing of the first deviated
HTHP well in the U.K. sector of the North Sea.
Introduction
Within the oil industry, the general term “HTHP drilling” has slight-
ly varying definitions in different areas. In this paper, we use the def-
inition of the U.K. Health & Safety Executive, which has the statuto-
ry responsibility for safety in the U.K. This definition, contained in
Continental Shelf Operations Notice 59,1 states an HTHP well must
have an undisturbed bottomhole temperature u300°F and that the
pore-pressure gradient must exceed 0.8 psi/ft or require the use of
well-control equipment at u10,000-psi working pressure.
These wells may be characterized by (1) a rapidly rising pore-
pressure profile, (2) convergence of pore and fracture pressures, (3)
high gas levels from source rocks, (4) loss/gain phenomena, (5) po-
tentially long sections that lead to high overbalances, and (6) ele-
vated temperatures.
The high temperature requires mud systems, downhole equip-
ment, and tools designed to work at elevated temperatures. The con-
vergence of pore and fracture pressures (Fig. 1) leads to problems
owing to the narrow band of mud weight between inducing losses
and inducing a kick. This aspect of these wells probably causes the
most trouble. The high mud weights required for well control leads
to a situation where, owing to the large difference between forma-
tion-fluid and mud pressure gradients (Fig. 2), mud overbalance be-
comes so high at the bottom of long permeable hole sections that dif-
ferential sticking becomes likely. These problems are magnified
when drilling small-diameter directional holes. The most important
single factor in controlling these problems is the mud system design.
Well Background and Design
Well 22/22b-2 was a farm-in exploration well. The objective was to
test a Jurassic fault block by drilling to 16,000 ft. The well was
planned to penetrate the Jurassic in an updip location on the up-
thrown side of the large fault; therefore, the well had to be deviated
(Fig. 3).
Casing. The casing design was conventional by North Sea stan-
dards (Fig. 4 and Table 1). Krus and Prieur 2 have described the fac-
tors in HTHP well design in U.K. waters.
Despite its conventional appearance, two major points had to be
addressed. The first was placement of the 133/8-in. casing shoe. The
question was whether to place the shoe above or below the Paleo-
cene sands. Two schools of thought exist on this. One is that the shoe
should be placed above the Paleocene sand with the top of the deep
casing cement below the bottom of the sand. An argument for this
is that any overpressure in the annulus caused by thermal expansion
in the 133/8 95/8-in. annulus can be relieved into the permeable Pa-
leocene sands during testing with a semisubmersible rig. The alter-
native view is that the 133/8-in. shoe should be placed in a competent
formation below the Paleocene; this provides superior protection
from potential losses if the mud weight is raised when approaching
Copyright 1994 Society of Petroleum Engineers
Original SPE manuscript received for review May 3,1993. Paper accepted for publication July
1, 1994. Paper (SPE 26874) first presented at the 1993 Offshore Technology Conference
held in Houston, May 3–6.
SPE Drilling & Completion, December 1994
or entering the transition zone. After reviewing these options, we
placed the 133/8-in. shoe above the Paleocene sand.
The original intention was to place the 95/8-in. casing shoe in the
Lower Cretaceous Cromer Knoll group before entering the transi-
tion zone in the Upper Jurassic. However, examination of offset
leakoff data indicated that a casing shoe in the Cromer Knoll group
would probably not be strong enough to allow the transition zone to
be penetrated and the top target sands to be reached without a dril-
ling liner. With a long section (3,760 ft) below the 95/8-in. casing to
the predicted total depth (TD), we realized that early recourse to a
drilling liner would jeopardize the attainment of the planned TD be-
cause contingency hole sizes would be extremely small for this
depth of deviated hole (Fig. 5). While we recognized that the pore-
pressure transition zone at the top of the Jurassic could be extremely
short, we decided to attempt to place the 95/8-in. casing in the top of
the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge clay group.
Directional Program. The directional program was constrained by
several factors: (1) the need to deviate the wellbore deep enough to
come in under the major bounding fault, (2) the need to have all
planned directional work completed before downhole temperatures
approached the operating limits of measurement-while-drilling
(MWD) equipment, and (3) the desire to have a well profile with in-
clinations that would be relatively easy to maintain without being
too high.
The simplest directional well design is a “build-and-hold” design,
and this was selected with the kickoff placed in the Ekofisk chalk at
the base of the Paleocene sequence. Fig. 5 shows the well plan. This
plan resulted in a maximum 32° inclination. The build section was
therefore completed long before the temperature operating limit of
the MWD tools was reached.
Well Operations
The directional work in the 12¼-in. hole was carried out as pro-
grammed. The section was completed with angle-holding rotary
bottomhole assemblies (BHA’s), setting the combination
10¾ 95/8-in. casing 100 ft into the Kimmeridge clay formation. A
sharp rise in gas levels (from 20% to 65%) accompanied the penetra-
tion of the Kimmeridge clay. Attempts to raise the mud weight from
14.0 lbm/gal to suppress the gas levels resulted in losses, probably
to the open Paleocene sands, at 14.4-lbm/gal mud weight. This high-
lighted one of the problems of not casing the Paleocene sands; if
losses are induced, establishing where they are occurring is difficult.
The 10¾ 95/8-in. casing was drilled out with 16.5-lbm/gal mud.
A kick from a small sand stringer forced the mud weight up to 17.8
lbm/gal, which was higher than the predicted 17.6-lbm/gal maxi-
mum pore pressure. Further signs of well instability resulted in the
mud weight being steadily increased until it reached 18.2 lbm/gal.
A subsequent repeat-formation-tester reading indicated a pore pres-
sure of 18.0-lbm/gal equivalent mud weight in the Kimmeridge.
This unexpected high overpressure in the Kimmeridge placed the
well in jeopardy. The 8½-in. BHA became stuck, and a 7-in. drilling
liner was subsequently set after sidetracking because of further hole
problems. More than 2,500 ft of hole remained to be drilled. A
55/8-in. hole was drilled out from the 7-in. liner. Losses were induced
when the equivalent circulating density (ECD) was higher than ex-
pected despite a formation integrity test of 19.2-lbm/gal equivalent
mud weight.
Problems occurred with the mud system that resulted in severe
losses being sustained on circulating bottoms up after bit trips.
These problems ultimately led to the entire system being displaced
with new mud. A second sidetrack had to be carried out after the
drillstring became differentially stuck at the start of a bit trip because
244

Fig. 1—Pore and fracture pressures.
of a problem with the rig top drive. After this sidetrack, the hole was
successfully drilled to TD by use of 4¾-in. turbines.
Drilling the Slim Hole
This well was completed with an extensive 2,535-ft, 55/8-in. section.
The original well plan had not envisaged such a long section of this
sized hole. This is discussed in the Contingency Planning section.
Initially, the section was drilled by conventional rotary tech-
niques: a tapered drillstring of 5-in. drillpipe above the 7-in. drilling
liner and a 3½-in. drillpipe with a short section of heavyweight drill-
pipe, 4¾-in. drill collars, stabilizers, and bit below the liner. Hy-
draulic problems became apparent after drilling only 31 ft of hole;
losses started occurring although calculations indicated that the
ECD was 0.4 lbm/gal below the formation integrity of 19.2 lbm/gal
obtained from the 7-in.-liner-shoe integrity test.
Later, when the driller was preparing to go back on bottom, we
noted that an increase in rotary speed caused an increase in pump
pressure for the same flow rate. By controlling rotary speed and flow
rate, drilling without losses was established. At high mud weights
(in this case, u18.0 lbm/gal), cuttings transport is not a problem be-
cause the cuttings density is generally less than the mud density.
However, problems with severe losses were experienced after bit
trips; these are described in the Mud Weight section.
After successfully establishing drilling parameters that allowed
steady progress (100 ft/D was achieved on occasion), 1,350 ft of
55/8-in. hole (half the requirement) was drilled. The drillstring be-
came stuck one stand off bottom at the beginning of a bit trip. The
Fig. 3—Well bottom location.
245
Fig. 2—Differential pressure changes across a condensate res-
ervoir with 18.5-lbm/gal mud.
rig was following standard practice pumping out of the hole when
a problem with the top drive resulted in the string becoming station-
ary, without circulation, across permeable sands for [20 minutes.
This illustrates the potential detrimental consequences of surface
equipment failures while drilling a deviated well.
The hole was subsequently sidetracked by use of a turbine assem-
bly. The resultant sidetrack was 883 ft above the TD of the old hole.
This offered an ideal opportunity to compare turbine drilling with
rotary drilling over the same interval. A 4¾-in. turbine was there-
fore run in the hole. The turbine drilling proved significantly faster
than the rotary drilling, with penetration rates up to four times those
achieved by rotary drilling (Fig. 6).
The problem of losses on bit trips was solved at the time of the
sidetrack (discussed later), and the hole was completed by the tur-
bines. One bit drilled a total of 1,544 ft in 308 hours (5 ft/hr). To
monitor hole conditions, wiper trips were made after every 24 hours
of drilling. Generally, the hole stayed in good condition, although
the onset of differential sticking was reported near TD, probably be-
cause of the difference in hydrostatic gradient between the mud and
formation fluids (Fig. 2).
Mud Weight
In any wellbore with a narrow margin between pore and fracture
pressure, mud weight is a potential problem. Excess mud weight
that causes lost circulation, generally more difficult to deal with than
a kick, can lead to quite severe well-control problems.
High trip and connection gases were seen in the 8½-in. hole. This
was probably the result of the mud flushing the hydrocarbons out of
exposed sands because of good vertical permeability in the sand and
the great difference in pressure gradient between the mud and hy-
drocarbon. The difference in differential pressure between the top
and bottom of the sand sets up a system with the mud invading the
bottom of the sand and displacing hydrocarbon formation fluids at
the top, giving rise to the unexplained high gas peaks after circula-
tion had been stopped.
Sidetracking
The main directional work was carried out above the HTHP section
of the hole. However, two successful sidetracks were drilled, one
each in the 8½- and 55/8-in. sections. Assemblies used to sidetrack
were conventional in arrangement: a bit, motor, bent sub, universal
bottomhole orientation (UBHO) sub, crossover, collars, and jars.
Bent subs were 1.5 and 1° for the 8½ and 55/8-in. holes, respectively.
In place of the more-common positive-displacement motor used for
such purposes, a turbine was used in both cases. The turbine was se-
lected for two principal reasons: its inherent ability to withstand
higher temperatures than a positive-displacement motor (which re-
SPE Drilling & Completion, December 1994
 Fig. 4—Casing design for Well 22/22b-2. Fig. 5—Well plan.

lies on elastomers to function) and its ability to detect bottomhole
pressures (BHP) in a well-control situation. Because downhole tem-
peratures are at or beyond the operating limits of MWD tools at
325°F, hot-hole steering tools, run on wireline and landed in the
UBHO sub, were used to provide directional information for the
sidetrack. Directional survey information was obtained by hot-hole,
single-shot surveys and hot-hole, electronic-multishot surveys.
Contingency Planning
After the 7-in. drilling liner was committed in the Kimmeridge clays
and before the upper target sands were penetrated, we realized that
the 55/8-in. hole could not be considered the final contingency hole
size, as had been assumed in the original well plan. A 4½-in.,
15.1-lbm/ft contingency liner had been procured for running in the
55/8-in. hole. This 4½-in. liner now became a potential drilling liner
in addition to its original role as a contingency testing liner (Fig. 7).
The 4½-in. liner had Atlas Bradford ST-L integral-joint connec-
tions, which provided a drift diameter large enough to allow a
3¾-in. hole to be drilled below. New float equipment that could be
drilled by polycrystalline-diamond-compact (PDC) bits was or-
dered and manufactured to ensure that a 3¾-in. bit could pass
through. We expected that a 3¾-in. hole would be necessary below
14,500 ft. Rotary drilling with a tapered string (5, 3½, and 23/8 in.)
was not considered practical, and the contingency was to use slim-
hole motors and PDC bits. Turbines are not available in sizes smaller
than 4¾ in., so 27/8-in. hot-hole, positive-displacement motors were
found. As it transpired, the 3¾-in. hole was not required; however,
experience gained in drilling the 55/8-in. hole indicated that a 3¾-in.
hole could have been drilled successfully with careful planning.
darts were pumped ahead and behind the cement. The darts were
caught in the sump of the cementing stinger below the perforations.
The darts used were standard 5-in. drillpipe wiper darts modified on
the rig. The modifications to the darts were (1) turning down the alu-
minium nose so that it would pass through the smallest ID in the ce-
menting string, the 3½-in. tool joints, and (2) trimming back all fins
except the top ones so the plug would pass through the 3½-in. drill-
pipe. The modifications were checked on the rig to ensure that the
plugs would go through the 3½-in. drillpipe.
In small-diameter holes, the volumes of slurries required for quite
large plugs are small (10 bbl equates to 325 ft of plug in a 55/8-in.
hole). Also, pulling a stinger out of the plug after it has been laid will
almost always result in such severe contamination that the plug will
not be successful.
The openhole plugs were laid on the run. When the cement
reached the stinger, the drillstring was pumped out of the hole, dis-
placing the cement under the stinger. The rate the pipe was pulled
was calculated to match the displacing pump rate to prevent over-
or underdisplacement of cement. The wiper darts helped with this
because they could be seen entering the 3½-in. pipe from the 5-in.
pipe (pressure increase) and clearing the perforations in the stinger
(pressure decrease). These indications helped to give a measure of
control over the cement placement, and the final pressure drop con-
firmed the position of the top of cement.
Cementing Through the Bit. This had to be done once on this well
in the 8½-in. hole to allow the drillstring to be pulled and the 7-in.
liner run. All bits were run without nozzles to allow the pumping of
lost-circulation material (LCM) and cement if required. The cement

Openhole Cementing
Stinger Technique. Laying cement plugs in small, angled holes is
a problem. The method used on this well was a cement stinger made
on the rig from 3½-in. drillpipe (Fig. 8). To prevent contamination
of the cement while it was being pumped down the drillpipe, wiper

TABLE 1—CASING
Size Weight
(in.) (lbm/ft) Grade Connection Comments
30 310 X-52 ST2 —
20 133 X-56 VLS-2 —
133/8 72 P-110 New Vam —
103/4 101 C-95 NK-HWSL For sour service
95/8 53.5 P-110 New Vam —
7 41 Q-125 New Vam Liner/tieback
7 46 C-95 New Vam Sour service top,
8,000 ft of tieback
41/2 15.1 P-110 ST-L Contingency liner Fig. 6—Turbine/rotary rates of penetration.

SPE Drilling & Completion, December 1994 246


Fig. 7—Hole-size contingencies.
plug was laid on the run with the annular preventer closed to prevent
U-tubing of cement when the pipe was stationary as stands were be-
ing racked. While this plug was not very competent, it stopped loss/
gain situations on the well and allowed the bit to be pulled without
trouble.
Logging
The 8½-in. hole section was logged with a supercombination log-
ging string [118.7 ft long with induction, sonic density, compen-
sated-neutron, and gamma ray logging tools. This logging run was
made without significant incident.
Owing to the combination of the hole angle (32°), high mud
weight, and small clearance between the wellbore and tools, logging
the 55/8-in. hole on wireline proved impossible. The logs were ob-
tained successfully by running the logging tools on drillpipe, pump-
ing the cable down the drillpipe by means of a side-entry drillpipe
sub, and latching onto a special wet connector at the top of the drill-
pipe-to-toolstring crossover when the logging tools were at the
deepest casing shoe (Fig. 9).
Standard logging tool upper temperature operating limits are in
the 300 to 350°F range. Logging suites therefore must be selected
from the tools available for high-temperature work. Generally, the
main services all can be covered by tools with maximum tempera-
ture ratings of 500°F and BHP ratings of 25,000 psi. Exceptions at
present are induction/resistivity, sampling, and dipmeter tools that
are limited to 400 or 450°F and 20,000 psi. The major difficulty with
the high-temperature tools is that they may be in short supply.
Fig. 8—Cement-stinger and wiper-dart launching arrangement.
247
Testing
The testing program was successful and trouble-free. The test string
design philosophy was to use the minimum number of downhole
tools. Tubing-conveyed perforating guns were used for perforating.
A “flex” run was made with the tubing. This was done by running
in the hole with only the tubing and a tester valve to perform a pres-
sure test on the test string and to clear the tubing before running the
test string into the hole with the guns, gauges, and tools.
Testing is the one phase where a semisubmersible rig is at a dis-
tinct disadvantage to a jackup rig. The reasons are the use of elasto-
mers in the subsea test tree and blowout preventer stack and their
temperature limitations. Generally, presence of elastomers restricts
the allowable maximum temperature at the subsea wellhead to
230°F. Low and Seymour3 and Ross et al.4 reported that installation
of a flowhead system with all metal-to-metal seals is possible with
a jackup, which can enhance the temperature rating to 350 to 400°F.
Drilling Fluids
The selection and maintenance of the fluids to be used for drilling,
packing, and perforating are very important.
This hole was drilled with low-toxicity oil-based mud from the
17½-in. hole to TD. Oil-based muds originally were developed for
this type of well because of their stability at elevated temperatures.
They are generally straightforward to run in the field and perform
better than water-based muds. However, persistent losses after trips
in the 55/8-in. hole eventually led to close examination of what was
coming out of the hole on the first circulation after returning to bot-
tom. Every time losses had been experienced, light mud had been
observed in the returns just before the losses started. Laboratory
work revealed that barite sag probably was taking place. Neither a
laboratory nor a field solution to the problem could be found with
the existing mud; therefore, the entire system was changed out. The
difference in performance was dramatic. Trips could be made with-
out spending days curing losses before resuming drilling. Losses
were induced when the first turbine was run in the hole after the mud
changeout. These losses were from high shrinkage that the new mud
exhibited when cooling at the top of the hole during trips that re-
sulted in a 0.1- to 0.2-lbm/gal density increase. (The losses resulted
in LCM being pumped through the turbine before it had started dril-
ling). The problem was overcome by stopping on the way in on trips
at 8,000 ft and displacing the hole to correct-density mud at ambient
temperature; no further losses were experienced after trips.
Packer Fluid. The oil-based mud was used as the packer fluid for
the drillstem testing. Its performance was trouble-free in this func-
tion. Pilot tests and a treatment to improve suspension properties
without excessive gelation were carried out.
Fig. 9—Drillpipe logging schematic.
SPE Drilling & Completion, December 1994
Perforating Fluid. When perforating through oil-based muds, one
problem is that the gases generated by the explosive charges destroy
the mud. This can result in considerable damage to the perforation
tunnels by mud solids. Because the oil-based mud was being used
as the packer fluid, we sought a suitable clean perforation fluid . We
found a clean fluid that was compatible with the mud system. This
was a densified, clean, oil-based salt fluid stable to 425°F. The fluid
could not be densified above 15.2 lbm/gal, but this did not create a
problem because it was used only across the zone to be perforated
and therefore did not reduce the hydrostatic balance significantly.
Conclusions
Well 22/22b-2 achieved its objectives and showed that directional
wells can be drilled and tested successfully in HTHP reservoirs of
the Central graben of the North Sea.
Mud weight and the mud system are the most important factors
to be considered and maintained. Every effort should be made to
keep the mud weight as low as possible.
HTHP wellbore conditions severely restrict the directional dril-
ling techniques available. The well trajectory design should there-
fore be as simple as possible (i.e., build and hold where possible),
with the main directional work completed before entering the HTHP
section of the well. While successful directional work is possible,
the techniques have to be those of the 1970’s (single-shot surveys,
wireline steering tools, etc.).
Overpressured sands in the Kimmeridge may require the early
commitment of a drilling liner and limit the potential TD of a well.
A key variable in HTHP well design is the length of HTHP section
to be drilled. In assessing the length of this section that can be drilled
before the likely onset of differential sticking, several factors have
to be accounted for: potential differential pressures, anticipated
lengths of permeable sections, hole size and inclination, and BHA
geometry.
If long sections of high-pressure hole are required, increasing
hole sizes in the upper, non-high-pressure section of the well may
be necessary to allow sufficient contingency hole sizes to get the
well to the desired TD. Alternatively, the planned TD may have to
be adjusted to meet the available hole sizes.
Well designs that set 133/8-in. casing shoe above the Paleocene
sands create problems if high mud weights are required in the
12¼-in. section. Because of the additional difficulties associated
with directional drilling, deviated HTHP wells should set the
133/8-in. casing shoe below the Paleocene sands.
Logging on drillpipe provides a practical means of logging de-
viated HTHP in hole sizes t6 in.
The use of turbines should be considered for drilling small-diam-
eter HTHP sections.
Acknowledgments
The material presented here was developed from work by Ranger
Oil (U.K.) Ltd. as operator of Well 22/22b-2. We thank our col-
leagues for their help, comments, and suggestions in the preparation
of this paper and the Well 22/22b-2 partners, Esso E&P U.K. Ltd.,
SPE Drilling & Completion, December 1994
Shell U.K. E&P Ltd., Oryx U.K. Energy Co., and Brasoil U.K. Ltd.,
for extensive and open cooperation during the planning and drilling
of the well. We also thank the chairman and management committee
of Ranger Oil for permission to publish this paper.
References
1. “Continental Shelf Operations Notice No. 59,” Health & Safety Execu-
tive, Offshore Safety Div., London (May 1992) 1.
2. Krus, H. and Prieur, I.M.: “High-Pressure Well Design,” SPEDE (Dec.
1991) 240.
3. Low, E. and Seymour K.P.: “The Drilling and Testing of High-Pressure
Gas-Condensate Wells in the North Sea,” paper SPE 17224 presented at
the 1988 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Dallas, Feb. 28–March 2.
4. Ross, I., Seymour, K.P., and Whyte, B.: “The Role of Jack-Ups and Perma-
nent Completions in Central Graben Exploration Drilling,” Proc. PSTI
Seminar on the Central Graben, Edinburgh (1990) 1.
SI Metric Conversion Factors
bbl 1.589 873 E*01 + m3
ft 3.048* E*01 + m
°F (°F–32)/1.8 + °C
gal 3.785 412 E*03 + m3
in. 2.54* E)00 + cm
lbm 4.535 924 E*01 + kg
psi 6.894 757 E)00 + kPa
*Conversion factor is exact. SPEDC
Ken Seymour is general manager of U.K. operations for Ranger
Oil (U.K.) Ltd. in Guildford responsible for drilling, development,
and production operations. His previous assignments with
Ranger were managing drilling operations in Aberdeen and
Great Yarmouth and of the company's first well in Pakistan. In
1990, he became drilling manager, responsible for all U.K. drilling
activity. Before joining Ranger, he worked as a drilling engineer
for British Petroleum in Aberdeen, Shanghai, and Great
Yar mouth and for Danbury Drilling. Seymour holds a BS degree
in mining engineering and a PhD degree in rock mechanics,
both from the U. of Leeds, and an MBA degree from Aberdeen
U. Robert MacAndrew is currently working as a consultant in the
Far East. Before that, he was drilling superintendent in the CenĆ
tral Graben Drilling Group for Ranger Oil. He previously worked
for Chevron, Marathon Oil, Lithgows Ltd., Yarrow (Shipbuilders)
Ltd., and Kingstone Marine Technology Ltd. He holds a BS deĆ
gree in naval architecture from the U. of Strathclyde and a postĆ
graduate diploma in offshore engineering from Robert GorĆ
don's Inst. of Technology.
248