Weatherford Achieves Industry-first in Gulf of Mexico

Weatherford International Plc recently announced its Shallow Angle QuickCut system successfully achieved what the company says is the industry’s first 12 ¼-in. casing sidetrack, delivering a 22-ft window in a single trip for an ultra-deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The operator contacted Weatherford to perform a Gulf of Mexico ultra-deepwater exit in a 12 ¼-in. heavy wall casing,” said Chip Miller, vice president of North America geozone for Weatherford. “This successful 12 ¼-in. sidetrack casing became an industry first, made even more complicated by the need to achieve a dogleg low enough for production packers to safely pass through the resulting window.”

Leveraging its history of successful exits in heavy-walled casing, Weatherford and the operator deployed the Shallow Angle QuickCut with MultiCatch Anchor and milled the 22-ft casing window and 15-ft rat hole in a single trip.

“This industry-first serves as a best practice for successfully exiting heavy wall casing, opening up a contingency scenario that was previously not feasible while at the same time, allowing operators to tap into bypassed reservoir sections safely and efficiently,” Miller said.