Technology Focus: High-Pressure/High-Temperature Challenges

Abstract

As I begin my term as reviewer for the High-Pressure/High-Temperature (HP/HT) Challenges feature in JPT, I look forward to reading the best work produced by our skilled and dedicated members and to following in the footsteps of the late Mike Payne, whose excellent work I know our readers and members appreciated. In my first feature, I elected to focus on selecting papers that offered a somewhat different theme than is often seen in the majority of papers presented at HP/HT conferences. Instead of selecting papers that were dedicated to material selection, I considered works that concentrated upon best practices and recently developed technologies that make operations in these difficult environments more efficient and far safer for crews and for the environment itself. The three papers I have chosen draw from a variety of locations (Malaysia, Vietnam, and the UAE) and illustrate methods of ensuring optimal cost savings and enhanced safety in HP/HT projects.

The first of these papers focuses on identification of pore-pressure uncertainties especially detrimental in HP/HT scenarios, requiring the appropriate contingencies in well planning, and offers an integrated approach to predict and weather these uncertainties. The second paper reviews best practices in managed-pressure-drilling systems for HP/HT wells, with respect to cost savings and increased drilling performance in the current low-oil-price scenario. The final paper discusses completion with expandable liner hangers in HP/HT environments, allowing the essential rotation and reciprocation during cementing while establishing an instantaneous seal at the liner lap after setting.

I hope that you enjoy these important papers that reflect our members’ innovation, dedication, and technical expertise.