The experiences garnered in drilling deep wells in the Nigeria Delta Basin of Nigeria are presented herein. The referenced wells were drilled to the deep target series of gas and gas condensate reservoirs at depth range of 4900m – 5530m. The total volumes of the targeted reservoirs are about 60mmstb of oil and 1400bscf of gas.

There were challenges of stuck pipes in phases through some depleted zones/reservoirs that were resolved through brainstorming with the production unit of the company. Other challenges encountered and highlighted are in hole stability, bit selection, Well control, HSE, rig efficiency and cost performance. Drilling the wells in sequence exploits the benefits of immediate application of gathered experiences from the previous wells.

This paper presents the key challenges associated with the drilling of deep wells as experienced in the referenced wells.

Keywords:
deep well, selection, Upstream Oil & Gas, Efficiency, drilling operation, POOH, well 5, hole section, storage, University
Subjects:
Drilling Operations, Pressure Management, Reservoir Characterization, Well control
Copyright 2017, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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