BIT RECORDS

Some 256 drill bit world record applications were submitted, a significant amount considering the bit records were updated in June 2001. Pages 72-83 include comprehensive listings of the three categories of drill bit records, with the new records in italics. Single runs must be in the same well with the same bit. Multiple laterals are allowed, but no bit repairs or changes to the bottomhole assembly are allowed. Cumulative footage records must be multiple runs greater than the single-run footage record. Minor bit repairs are allowed between runs. Rate of penetration (ROP) records must be a minimum of 5 hours or 1,000 ft (305 m). Odd sizes of bits are rounded up to the nearest 1/8 in., and footages are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Remarkable single runs
The longest single-bit run ever submitted was 22,930 ft (6,994 m), achieved with an 81/2-in. Hughes Christensen BD536 PDC bit. The bit drilled 10 successive fishbones in a single well at the Zuata field near San Diego, Venezuela, said Karla Smith, assistant wellsite supervisor for Schlumberger. The previous record was 22,221 ft (6,777 m), set by a 121/4-in. Diamond Products International PDC bit in 1998 in Argentina's Tierra Del Fuego field.
The second longest run submitted this year, which stands as the longest tricone bit run in history, was an 81/2-in. MFS04 insert bit from Smith Bits that drilled 20,514 ft (6,257 m) in two consecutive runs in the same well for Mærsk Oil Qatar at the Al Shaheen field.
Many runs, one bit
This year's highest cumulative footage drilled with a single bit was 70,180 ft (21,405 m), which stands as the fourth highest submission in history. A 63/4-in. Hughes Christensen STR554 PDC bit made 16 different runs in various fields on the North Slope of Alaska from 1997 to 2001. A Hughes Christensen 61/4-in. PDC bit set the all-time record of 180,417 ft (55,027 m) in 1998 in Sweetwater, Wyo.
The second longest cumulative footage submitted this year was 62,211 ft (18,974 m), achieved with a 61/8-in. Halliburton Security DBS PDC bit (FM2641) at Sincor's Faja del Orinoco field in Venezuela. Average ROP was 133.5 ft/hr while drilling "build" sections from vertical to 80° in 17 wells. The bit made 4,753,200 revolutions during its lifetime.
The faster, the better
This year's submission with the highest ROP was Smith Geodiamond's 97/8-in. M91P PDC bit, which drilled 664.7 ft/hr from the D Platform in Bohai Bay in 1999, said project manager Zhang Chun Yang. The second fastest bit run submitted this year was an 81/2-in. MX-C1 milled tooth bit from Hughes Christensen, which drilled 17,233 ft (5,256 m) at an average rate of 554.1 ft/hour at the Al Shaheen field for Mærsk Oil in Qatar.

COMPLETIONS

Longest horizontal gravel pack
Baker Oil Tools broke the record for the longest horizontal section gravel pack at Texaco's Captain field offshore Aberdeen, Scotland, May 29, 2001. The Baker team on board the Transocean Sedco Forex 704 rig completed a 7,324-ft (2,234-m) lateral section in well 13/22a-B2 using a 51/2-in., 230-micron Excluder screen. Baker's CS-300 openhole gravel-packing system was used to place 174,920 lb of 16/30 sand, or 104% of the calculated annular volume, in the 81/2-in. hole in 60 hours. Four BetaBreaker valves were run in the washpipe to maintain bottomhole pressure below the fracture pressure, and a fluid-loss-control valve was used on the high-permeability (1-12 Darcy) sand.

Longest offshore horizontal gravel pack
Halliburton set a new record for offshore gravel packing in a horizontal well in 369-ft (113-m) waters off the coast of Brazil. An openhole section of 2,730 ft (832 m) was filled with 75,000 lb of gravel, never reaching more than 10,000 lb of drag despite a 6,562-ft (2,000-m) slant section of 60°.

Longest slimhole perforating gun assembly
In April 1998, Schlumberger set a world record for the longest assembly of 21/2-in. perforating guns at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope. At injection well R32ai, 3,610 ft (1,101 m) of horizontal interval were perforated from inside a 31/2-in. liner using nine firing heads (one did not detonate).

Longest expandable liner distance
Weatherford International's Completion Systems division installed an alternative borehole liner (ABL) 876 ft (267 m) below the 95/8-in. casing shoe. The previous distance was 184 ft (56 m) below the casing shoe. A total of 95 ft (29 m) of ABL was installed at a 2,336-ft (712-m) TD and at an angle of 44° in the Fahud 335 well for Petroleum Development Oman.

COILED TUBING

Longest composite coiled tubing drilling
Halliburton drilled a well with a hydraulic workover (snubbing) unit for BP at the Chocolate Bayou field near Alvin, Texas. Composite coiled tubing and a 43/4-in bit were used to drill 2,710 ft (827 m) at a 78° inclination June 20, 2001. Measured depth of the GW Craig No. 1 well was 5,394 ft (1,645 m), and true vertical depth was 2,694 ft (822 m).

Drilling
Greatest horizontal displacement 8,300 ft (2,532 m), UK North Sea
Deepest well drilled with 15,600-ft (4,758-m) MD, Alaska
coiled tubing
Only exploration well 5,200-ft (1,586-m) vertical well, France
Largest hole size 13 in., Indonesia and Venezuela

Workovers
Longest measured depth 27,521 ft (8,394 m), Norway
Greatest lateral displacement 17,000 ft (5,185 m) at 80°
Longest bottomhole apparatus or 1,500 ft (458 m) North Sea
perforating guns
Highest wellhead pressure 10,100 psi, Saudi Arabia
Highest deployment pressure 4,500 psi
Hottest bottomhole temperature 780°, Japan geothermal well
Longest coiled tubing string 29,580 ft (9,022 m), Hibernia
Longest cable injected 27,000 ft (8,235 m) in 2-in.
coiled tubing by PTT

FIRSTS

First sonic packer activation
On Oct. 19, 2000, Halliburton Energy Services performed the first interventionless remote actuation of a gravel pack packer using acoustic telemetry. The team onboard the Ensco 69 rig at Conoco's Ewing Banks 305 platform set the packer in a well that reached to Mississippi Canyon Block 265. The Moccasin well packer was activated by sound at 16,150-ft (4,926-m) MD and 10,824-ft (3,301-m) TVD using the HalSonics system.

First remote-control intelligent well
Baker Oil Tools installed the first all-electronic, multizone Intelligent Well System for Petrobras. Dubbed InCharge, the system was deployed in an onshore well for testing. Monitoring of temperature, pressure and flow is done through a satellite link from the well site to the city of Natal 200 miles (322 km) away. A single control line that penetrates the packers and wellhead allows the operator to control up to 12 zones in a single well and up to 12 wells. The system has the world's first electrical downhole wet
disconnect anchor system for easy maintenance and repair.

First multilateral with expandable screen
Weatherford International deployed 4-in. expandable sand screen technology in BP's Harding PS2yx multilateral well in the North Sea. To prevent gas coning while producing 10,000 b/d of oil, the 900-ft (275-m) and 1,800-ft (549-m) lateral sections required sand screens due to the formation's unconsolidated nature.

First offshore truss spar
The world's first truss spar was installed in October 2001 at Kerr-McGee's Nansen field in the Gulf of Mexico. This technology replaces the lower cylindrical hull with an open structure to improve stability and reduce size.

First MOgPU
Conoco is using the world's first movable
offshore gas production unit (MOgPU), the Hang Tuah, to process gas from Block B in Indonesia's West Natuna Sea and deliver it to the West Natuna Transportation System.

MISCELLANEOUS

Largest nitrogen injection project
The Cantarell oil field offshore Mexico has been injecting high-purity nitrogen for enhanced oil recovery for 18 months, boosting production some 60%. According to operator Pemex, the nitrogen generation facility is the largest ever built, with four air separation units powered by a 520-mw integrated gas turbine cogeneration plant near Ciudad del Carmen in Campeche. The US $1 billion facility supplies 1.2 Bcf/d of nitrogen, pumping it 70 miles (113 km) out to sea for injection. Oil production hit 2 million b/d by the end of 2001, and associated gas rose to 800 MMcf/d.

PRODUCTION

Petrobras daily, monthly records
Brazil's Petrobras set a new company daily production record Dec. 27, 2001, reaching 1.568 million b/d of oil. Most of the oil came from Brazilian fields, but 39,000 b/d came from fields the company operates in Colombia, Angola, Argentina, Bolivia and the United States. The company also set a new monthly production record in January 2002, reaching 46.159 million bbl for the month, an increase of 1.4% from the prior month and 11% from the year before. Three new Petrobras platforms came on stream in December 2001, including Marlim Sul in the Campos Basin, which reached 78,000 b/d on its 12th day of production.

Danish oil production
Denmark set a new record for oil production in December 2001, reaching 407,000 b/d, according to the Danish Underground Consortium, which operates 13 of the country's fields. The previous record production for the country was 398,000 b/d of oil, set in November.

OFFSHORE

Ultradeepwater record broken twice
The Transocean Sedco Forex dual-activity rig Discoverer Spirit holds the distinction of setting two world records for drilling in the deepest waters during 2001, both for Unocal's Trident prospect in Alaminos Canyon Block 903 in the Gulf of Mexico. The US $34 million No. 1 well was spudded May 1 in 9,687-ft (2,955-m) waters and reached a 20,500-ft (6,253-m) MD June 23. The $32 million No. 2 well was spudded Oct. 22 in 9,727-ft (2,967-m) waters. Halliburton's logging-while-drilling, directional tools, drilling fluid, data logging and foamed cementing services were used for both jobs.

Longest deepwater coiled tubing installation
Oceaneering International's multiservice vessel Ocean Intervention set new records for length and water depth for offshore coiled tubing installation on Mariner Energy's Pluto project in the Gulf of Mexico. More than 28.5 miles (46 km) of 2-in. coiled tubing were installed at water depths to 2,720 ft (830 m) for methanol injection lines for hydrate inhibition. The project began at South Pass Block 89 March 29, 2001, and finished at Mississippi Canyon Block 674 April 10.

Longest, deepest subsea gas tieback
In May 1997, Shell's Mensa gas project in the Gulf of Mexico set the record for the longest diverless subsea gas tieback at 68 miles (209 km). Mensa is in Mississippi Canyon blocks 686, 687, 730 and 731, where the waters are about 5,300 ft (1,617 m) deep. Kværner Oilfield Products supplied the umbilical to connect Mensa to the shallowwater platform West Delta 143. Oil States HydroTech provided the 12-in., 6,000-psi diverless pipeline collet connectors.

Longest subsea oil tieback
On Sept. 13, 2001, ATP Oil & Gas set a new record for the longest subsea oil tieback at the Ladybug Well No. 1 in Garden Banks Block 409 in the Gulf of Mexico. About 91,865 ft (28,019 m), or 17.4 miles (28 km), of 6-in. pipe were laid in 1,360-ft (415-m) waters to tie Ladybug back to ChevronTexaco's Garden Banks 189 "A" platform.

Deepest offshore pipeline
The Blue Stream pipeline from Russia to Turkey beneath the Black Sea holds the record for the deepest offshore gas pipeline ever constructed.
Gazprom and SNAM co-sponsored the Saipem 7000 to lay the deepest portion at a depth of 7,054 ft (2,150 m) in September 2001. Challenges included a steeply sloping shoreline and seismic activity along both coasts.

Deepest subsea horizontal well test
Shell Philippines Exploration broke the record for the world's deepest subsea well test at the Malampaya gas field Dec. 3, 2001.
The extended oil well test was conducted on the thin oil rim, which initially yielded 8,000 b/d, the highest rate of production in the country since the 1970s.
The Atwood Falcon drilling rig and the Stena Natalita floating storage unit conducted the test in a horizontal well in 2,789-ft (850-m) waters.

STIMULATION

First two-boat frac pack
Halliburton's dynamically positioned vessels Stim Star and Stim Star II worked in the Gulf of Mexico to perform a frac job in 4,400-ft (1,342-m) waters. Challenges included a 45-bbl/min rate and pressures up to 14,000 psi. Repeaters, or signal boosters, were used so both vessels could exchange data and roll it up into one real-time summary.

Most zones fractured in 12 hours
Halliburton Energy Services performed 19 individual frac treatments in two separate wells within 12 hours, pumping 235 tonnes of proppant at the Medicine Hat field in Alberta. The job for Direct Energy Resources involved use of coiled tubing, a blender, high-pressure pumping units and a coiled tubing fracturing bottomhole assembly.

SEISMIC

First two-boat frac pack
Halliburton's dynamically positioned vessels Stim Star and Stim Star II worked in the Gulf of Mexico to perform a frac job in 4,400-ft (1,342-m) waters. Challenges included a 45-bbl/min rate and pressures up to 14,000 psi. Repeaters, or signal boosters, were used so both vessels could exchange data and roll it up into one real-time summary.

Most zones fractured in 12 hours
Halliburton Energy Services performed 19 individual frac treatments in two separate wells within 12 hours, pumping 235 tonnes of proppant at the Medicine Hat field in Alberta. The job for Direct Energy Resources involved use of coiled tubing, a blender, high-pressure pumping units and a coiled tubing fracturing bottomhole assembly.

HORIZONTAL

Most horizontal footage in a day
Petrozuata broke its own record May 29, 2001, at the Zuata field in Venezuela, drilling 6,214 ft (1,895 m) of horizontal hole in 20.5 hours in well FG25-4. An 81/2-in. Hughes Christensen BD536 bit beat the previous record of 5,678 ft (1,732 m). Robert Ardoin of the Precision Drilling 732 rig drilled 4,465 ft (1,362 m) of the record-breaking well in only 12 hours.

Fastest dual lateral, slotted liner
On Feb. 5, 2001, the crew of Precision Drilling's 736 rig drilled and completed two laterals with slotted liners in 159 hours - just under 1 week. Well DE20-10 had 95/8-in. casing from the surface to 2,754 ft (840 m). The first leg of 7-in. liner was run to 7,016 ft (2,140 m). The second liner was run to 7,316 ft (2,231 m).

Highest inclination
Again at Petrozuata's Zuata field, the crew of Precision Drilling's 736 rig broke the record of 139° deviation with Lateral A, Fishbone 2 of well DE24-8, reaching 153.18° inclination and 269.11° azimuth at a 4,197-ft (1,280-m) MD and a 1,705 ft (520-m) TVD. An 81/2-in. Security DBS FM2663 bit and a 6 3/4-in. Power Pac PDM assembly were used to make such a curve Aug. 18, 2001.

Most windows in single run, horizontal footage in single well
The Smith Services Red Baron Group milled seven windows and retrieved seven hydraulically set pack-stocks in a single run with its Trackmaster technology, averaging 1 hour, 5 minutes per window and saving Petroleum Development Oman US $420,000 in well construction costs. The Mussallim 7 well also ended up with 33,374 ft (10,172 m) of horizontal wellbore, a new record for a single well.

Most rotary steerable footage
In July 2001, Statoil Denmark and Schlumberger drilled 13,800 ft (4,206 m) of 121/2-in. hole in 169 hours with rotary steerable technology.

Deepest offshore extended-reach well
M-I's Novaplus synthetic drilling fluid played a key role in combating barite sag, enabling Shell to drill an extended-reach well from its Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico to a record true vertical depth. The well was completed in 2,945-ft (898-m) waters to a 27,565-ft (8,407-m) MD and a 19,800 ft (6,039-m) TVD, with a horizontal displacement of 14,200 ft (4,331 m).

DRILLING

Five-Mile Club
Global Marine has joined the Five-Mile Club, admission contingent on reaching 26,400-ft (8,046-m) TD onshore or offshore. The company drilled a 28,665-ft (8,737-m) well for BHP in Atwater Block 18 in the Gulf of Mexico.

Biggest land rig
The Greywolf 558 is the largest land drilling rig ever built, capable of drilling 40,000-ft (12,200-m) wells. It has a 4,000-hp Dreco 400-E drawworks and 5,100-hp mud pumps.


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