Coiled-Tubing High-Pressure Jet Drilling System

by

Dr. William C. Maurer ([email protected], 713-683-8227, ext. 216)

Curtis E. Leitko ([email protected], 713-683-8227)
Mel Hightower ([email protected], 713-683-8227)
MAURER ENGINEERING INC.
2916 West TC Jester
Houston, Texas 77018-7098

INTRODUCTION
High drilling costs are a major constraint on the development of marginal oil and gas reserves
in the USA. New drilling technology is needed to significantly reduce drilling costs and increase oil
and gas recovery.
In a typical well, approximately 50 percent of the expenditures go toward making the hole and
50 percent toward completing the well (i.e., casing, cementing, logging, artificial lift, etc.).
Therefore, techniques that will double the drilling rate have the potential to reduce overall well costs
by up to 25 percent.
Developing a technique to significantly increase drilling rate therefore is of paramount
importance, because no other development, except slimhole drilling, has the potential to make such
a significant reduction in drilling cost.
This development is being sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy
Technology Center under contract DE-FC26-97FT33063 with Maurer Engineering Inc., 2916 West
TC Jester, Houston, Texas; fax: 713-683-6418; email: [email protected].

OBJECTIVE
Coiled-tubing (CT) rigs utilize continuous tubing to rapidly reel bits, motors, and other tools
in and out of wells. They significantly reduce drilling, completion and workover costs in many areas
and are ideal for underbalanced drilling since they can be reeled in and out of the well under
pressure. CT has reduced squeeze cementing and workover costs by as much as 70 percent at
Prudhoe Bay and other areas.
A major limitation of CT drilling is the relatively low power output of the slimhole motors due
to their small diameters. For example, a 6¾-inch PDM motor delivers 130 to 170 horsepower
compared to only 20 to 30 horsepower for a 2
-inch motor.
On another recent DOE project, Maurer Engineering developed high-power PDM motors that
deliver twice as much power as conventional motors and drill twice as fast. The goal of this CT
project is to further increase the drilling rate of these high-power motors to significantly reduce
slimhole drilling costs.

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APPROACH
In the 1970s and 1980s, Exxon, Shell, Gulf Oil and FlowDril demonstrated that high-pressure
jet bits operating at 10,000 to 15,000 psi can drill many formations 2 to 3 times faster than
conventional bits (Figures 1 and 2). These systems were not commercialized because of difficulties
in pumping the high-pressure fluids to the hole bottom through conventional threaded drillpipe.
In the 1980s, Maurer Engineer developed a high-pressure motor on a DOE project that operated
reliably at pressures up to 10,000 psi (Figure 3). The jets on the high-pressure bits drilled grooves
in the rock which were easily removed by the PDC bit cutters (Figures 4 and 5).
These high-pressure motors drilled Berea sandstone at rates in excess of 1,000 ft/hr compared
to 230 ft/hr for conventional motors and 100 ft/hr for rotary bits (Figure 6).
The approach being taken on this project is to develop a high-pressure slimhole motor for use
on CT to overcome the drillpipe tooljoint leakage problems encountered with the earlier jet drilling
systems.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Three types of downhole motors were evaluated for use with this system. PDM motors were
selected over turbine and vane motors because they can be readily adopted for high pressure, they
are widely used worldwide, and there are PDM motor maintenance facilities available worldwide.
Two basic high-pressure CT systems were evaluated on this project. With the single-flow
system (Figure 7), high-pressure (HP) fluid (10,000 psi) is pumped down a single CT string to
power the motor and deliver HP fluid to the bit nozzles. This system is preferred for smaller
diameter holes (5" and smaller) due to its simplicity, higher reliability, and compatibility with
existing equipment.
With the dual-flow system (Figure 8), two concentric strings of CT are used to deliver both
low-pressure (LP) (2,000 psi) and HP fluid (10,000 psi) to the hole bottom. High-pressure fluid is
pumped down the inner tube to the jet nozzles and LP fluid is pumped down the annulus between
the concentric tubes to power the downhole motor (Figure 9).
Concentric CT, currently used with insulated steam injector CT (Figure 10) and other
applications, is preferred with larger diameter wells (over 5") where additional flow rate is needed
to effectively clean the hole.
With the single-flow system, a conventional PDM motor was modified for HP operation by
increasing the outer housing wall thickness to increase burst pressure, and increasing the thrust
bearing capacity to handle high hydraulic downthrust loads (Figure 11).
With the dual-flow system, two hollow titanium flexshafts and a hollow motor rotor are
required to transfer the HP fluid from the inner CT to the HP bit nozzles (Figure 12).
A modified dual-flow system bypasses LP fluid to the wellbore annulus above a single-flow HP
motor to improve hole cleaning.

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 The Phase I Advisory Committee recommended that the single-flow system be developed
during Phase II for use in smaller diameter holes (5" and smaller) due to its simplicity, lower cost
and higher reliability. The more complicated dual-flow system shown in Figure 8 will be developed
later, once the single-flow system is commercialized.

PROJECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The high-pressure (HP) motor and HP CT rig components have been designed and the HP CT
motor is now being assembled (Figure 13).
The HP motor (10,000 psi) utilizes several advanced features including special PDM rotors and
stators that operate at high pressure, high-capacity titanium driveshafts and flexshafts, PDC thrust
bearings (Figures 14 and 15), and labyrinth seals that control leakage at pressures up to 10,000 psi
(Figures 16 and 17).
The prototype motor is being tested on HP drilling and dynamometer test stands at the Drilling
Research Center (DRC) in Houston. These test stands were previously used to test DOE high-power
motors.
Conventional CT is available with burst strengths in excess of 10,000 psi and can be used with
this CT drilling system (Figure 18). Two-inch diameter CT (0.203" wall), which has a burst strength
of 19,800 psi, was selected for use with the single-flow system. This size CT is a good compromise
because it allows adequate flow rates to power the motor and provide good hole cleaning without
producing excessive pressure drop inside the CT (Figures 19 and 20).
Fatigue failures are a problem when CT is cycled with high internal pressure (Figure 21). For
example, with 12,000 psi internal pressure, 2 inch QT-1000 CT will fail after 16 cycles.
This is adequate for initial field testing, but longer CT life will be needed when this system is
commercialized.
QUALITY TUBING is testing Incoloy-625 CT that increases the fatigue life from 16 to 72
cycles and FIBERSPAR SPOOLABLE PRODUCTS is testing carbon fiber composite tubing with
a fatigue life in excess of 2,000 cycles (Figure 22). The burst strengths of these new materials are
considerably higher than conventional steel CT (Figure 23).
High-pressure drill bits were designed for use with these systems. The single-flow system
utilizes bits with only HP nozzles whereas the dual-flow system utilizes bits with both LP and HP
nozzles (Figure 24).
The HP bits will utilize PDC and roller cutters to mechanically remove the rock weakened by
the HP jets. This allows these bits to conventionally drill through hard formations that cannot be
eroded by HP jets, and eliminates the need to pull the HP bits when hard streaks are encountered.
Exxon utilized HP bits with diamond, drag and roller cutters so the bits could be optimized for
all types of rocks ranging from soft shales to hard dolomites (Figure 25).
The HP roller and PDC bits shown in Figures 26 and 27 were designed during this project.
PDC bits have the advantage that they allow the HP jets to be distributed across the entire hole
bottom to cut multiple grooves in the rock.

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 With roller bits, the HP nozzles must be placed on the edge of the bit (due to space constraints)
to cut large grooves at the gauge of the hole. Exxon field tests showed that both types of bits are
effective, but that PDC bits are preferred in small-diameter holes (3 to 5 inch).
HP bits designed by Exxon, Shell, Gulf and FlowDril performed well in the field and were very
reliable, so developing reliable HP bits for use as with this HP CT drilling system will not a major
technical problem.
Stewart and Stevenson developed a HP swivel (15,000 psi) for use with the system
(Figure 28). The single-flow system utilizes a HP swivel on one end of the reel shaft to transmit HP
fluid to the inside of the CT (Figure 29).
With the dual-flow system, a conventional low-pressure (LP) swivel will be used on the
opposite end of the reel shaft to transmit LP fluid to the annulus between the concentric CT strings.
A dual-pressure swivel (LP and HP) could also be used on one end of the reel shaft with the dual-
flow system.

APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS

The high-pressure CT drilling system should drill 2 to 4 times faster than conventional drills
and reduce hole-making costs by up to 50 percent and overall well costs by 25 percent. This CT
drilling system will find application in slim hole and underbalanced drilling and operations.

FUTURE ACTIVITIES
Following Phase II laboratory tests, the HP CT system will be tested including the HP motor,
the HP swivel developed by Stewart and Stevenson and the HP CT developed by Quality Tubing.
The system will then be commercialized following full-scale field testing.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors appreciate the contributions of the FETC Contracting Officer’s Representative,
Mr. William J. Gwilliam. The period of performance for this development project is September 30,
1997, through September 30, 2002. Stewart and Stevenson (Mike Dearing) and Quality Tubing
(John Martin) are both participating in the effort as subcontractors.

We also gratefully acknowledge the significant contributions of the members of the

Advisory Committee including Gary Collins of Marathon Oil, Mel Hightower of ARCO, and John
Misselbrook of BJ Services.

REFERENCES
Deily, F.H. et al., 1977: “Five Wells Test High-Pressure Drilling,” Oil & Gas Journal, July 4.
(Exxon)
Kolle, J.J., Otta, R. and Stang, D.L., 1991: “Laboratory and Field Testing of an Ultra High-
Pressure, Jet-Assisted Drilling System,” SPE/IADC 22000, presented at the 1991 SPE/IADC Drilling
Conference, held in Amsterdam, March 11-14. (FlowDril)

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 Maurer, W.C. et al., 1986: “Laboratory Testing of High-Pressure, High-Speed PDC Bits,”
SPE 15615, 61st Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers,
held in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 5-8. (Maurer Engineering)
Maurer, W.C., Heilhecker, J.K., and Love, W.W., 1973: “High-Pressure Drilling,” Journal of
Petroleum Technology, July 4. (Exxon)
Maurer, W.C. and Leitko, C.E., 1998: “Advanced High-Pressure Coiled-Tubing Drilling
Systems, Phase I — Final Report,” TR98-22, October. (Maurer Engineering)
Ostrovskii, N.P., 1960: “Deep-Hole Drilling with Explosives, Gostroptekhia `dat Moscow,”
translated by Consultants Bureau Enterprises, Inc., New York. (Russian)
Pols, A.C., 1977: “Hard-Rock Jetting — Conclusion: Rock-Type Decided Jetting Economics,”
Oil & Gas Journal, February 7. (Shell)
Pols, A.C., 1977: “Hard-Rock Jetting — 1: Tests Show Jet-Drilling Hard-Rock Potential,” Oil
& Gas Journal, January 31. (Shell)
Weber, 1971: “New Gulf Method of Jetted Particle Drilling Promises Speed and Economy,”
Oil & Gas Journal, June 21. (Gulf)
Weber, 1971A: “Gulf’s New Abrasive Drill: Is It The Breakthrough?,” Oil & Gas Journal,
July 26. (Gulf)

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