RECORD EXTENDED REACH WELL IN ALASKA USING CORVA REAL-TIME ANALYTICS

Corva, the leader in real-time drilling and completion analytics, announces that its drilling optimization technology was used by an undisclosed international oil & gas producer to drill a record-breaking extended reach well in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska’s North Slope. Extended reach wells increase production and minimize the impact of oil & gas extraction on the environment, however, extreme torque and pressure conditions create complex challenges to drilling long lateral wellbores. The operator leveraged real-time insights from Corva to rapidly respond to hazardous conditions while drilling and tripping pipe, the critical process of removing and replacing the entire drill string.
“From unconventional factory drilling in the Permian to extended reach conventional wells in the North Slope, Corva is driving drilling optimization across North America,” said Ryan Dawson, Corva’s founder and CEO.
In July, a supermajor and user of Corva’s drilling optimization platform set the onshore North American drilling record for the longest lateral well with the completion of a 32,468 ft. well in the Alaskan National Petroleum Reserve. The operator wanted to avoid the time-consuming process of manually plotting torque and drag conditions by leveraging Corva’s T&D mobile application, which automates data collection and analysis while drilling. By monitoring hole conditions in real-time, the drilling team could rapidly adjust weight on bit and torque transfer as needed to prevent stuck pipe and twist offs. The app also provided higher torque and drag data frequency (one point per stand of pipe) while tripping-in casing, enabling the crew to rapidly identify trends and spot deteriorating hole conditions.
In addition, the operator wanted to prevent dangerous pressure conditions when tripping bottom hole assemblies (BHA), the process of replacing drill bits and other drilling equipment. Corva’s Surge and Swab app was used to continuously analyze downhole pressure and prevent reservoir fluid from being pulled into the wellbore (also known as a kick) while tripping-out BHAs. What’s more, the app provided valuable real-time insight into high pressure conditions while tripping-in BHAs, enabling the operator to optimize trip time and avoid damage to equipment, wellbore, and reservoir.
Note: In November 2017, Russia’s Rosneft completed drilling of the world’s longest well from Orlan platform at Chaivo field in the Sea of Okhotsk. The length of the well with horizontal completion was 15000 m with a 14,129 m stepout.
(Source: Corva)