Drilling a new well to shut down the Gulf of Mexico oil blowout.
OK, I've read that they're trying to drill "relief wells."
It looks like they plan to drill down and "intersect the wellbore" on the leaking well 13,000 feet below the ocean bottom.
What I want to know is how do they manage to hit such a small target that far down? Do they really know the position of the well bore and bit closely enough to make a pipe a few feet wide hit another pipe 13,000 feet below? Is there some sort of "sniffer" on the end of the relief well bit that can detect the bore of the other well?
It looks like they plan to drill down and "intersect the wellbore" on the leaking well 13,000 feet below the ocean bottom.
What I want to know is how do they manage to hit such a small target that far down? Do they really know the position of the well bore and bit closely enough to make a pipe a few feet wide hit another pipe 13,000 feet below? Is there some sort of "sniffer" on the end of the relief well bit that can detect the bore of the other well?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by king john on
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i have no technical fact to support my opinion, however, i am under the impression that it would be within the technical abilities to accomplish that feat. i am not sure but i think the rigs use a sophisticated GPS to pin point targets. much like a ship uses GPS and ballasts to maintain a position.
what i dont understand is if they think they can do it at 13k why cant they do it on the floor of the gulf and at least substantially reduce the flow. i would think it would be easier to do because you could actually see what you were doing while making the connection.
kj
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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on -
KJ, the concept is to be in very close proximity of the original well where it penetrates the producing formation and pump the kill fluid (mud) into the formation in that small area rather than trying to intersect the wellbore.
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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on
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Thanks, but the description I saw shows the relief well intersecting the the original wellbore above the reservoir. Wouldn't there be some sort of casing there? Of course, maybe the diagram I'm looking at is wrong or simply not clear. Are they drilling down to some point where there is no casing? http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/556131
GPS won't work underground. The 1 GHz frequencies used don't penetrate water or soil more than an inch or so. You can use GPS to precisely locate the drilling rig. It doesn't help you locate the drill bit or the well bore below the ground (or water.) It seems you can precisely locate the top of the well bore. I'm puzzled over how you precisely locate the bottom of the drill string once it gets some distance from the drilling rig.
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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on
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Mac, thanks for the clarification. I realize they are targetting the wellbore where there is only one 7" casing string. Further uphole there would be multiple casing strings. I assume today's technology allows for them to target the wellbore in lieu of the formation.
The instruments utilized allow a precise tracking of the drillbit location.
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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on
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It is my understanding that they can attach tools that can actually detect the metal in the casing to help guide into the wellbore.
Also, the tracking technology is not unlike the technology used to locate the wellll bore in the wells here in the HA.
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Permalink Reply by Henry on
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How would GPS work 10,000 feet underground? I don't think the satellite signal would get there.
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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on
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Mac, see my response below as it clarifies the "kill" well only has to be very close to the original well.
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Permalink Reply by king john on
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les, my impression is that the "kill" well and the "relief" well are seperate projects?
kj
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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on
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KJ, in most cases they are one and the same. Typically after the kill operation the new well can be side-tracked and converted to a producing well.
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Permalink Reply by Catfish on
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I spoke to man that just got off one of the rigs drilling. They are drilling directionally from two different rigs.He said they are drilling into the same pool this will reduce the pressure on the blown well allowing it to be capped. He is not and expert but that is what they were told. makes since to me.
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Permalink Reply by oil guy on
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I've acutually have experience with this sort of kill. There's a company called Vector Magnetics that has a tool run on wireline. You drill a relief/kill well directionally towards the casing or drill pipe above the reservior. Once you're close, easily calculatable if you have direction information from the well you want to intercept, you begin to run this Vector tool. It tells you what direction to turn the bit towards and after many runs and hundreds of thousands of dollars you can actually make contact with the pipe, mill a hole in it and pump cement in it.
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