The Drilling and Testing of High-Pressure Gas Condensate Wells in the North Sea

Summary Data acquisition in extreme environments of high pressure and/or high temperature (HPHT) with pressures up to 30,000 psi and temperatures up to 500°F requires not only specialist technology capable of surviving these conditions but also many months of preparation and planning to ensure a successful operation. The aim of this publication is to provide an overview of what is involved in the planning, preparation, and execution of an extreme HPHT wireline data acquisition—from the customer setting the information objectives through to data delivery. This includes developing an agreed quality plan between the data provider and the customer covering testing and deployment of the latest extreme HPHT logging equipment. One must consider all aspects to minimize risks including detailed tailoring of the logging programs to manage time in hole, to ensure accurate depth control, and, by using a deployment risk-management process, to ensure that what goes in the hole comes out again. The implementation of these procedures is illustrated with a case history of a series of HPHT exploration wells drilled in the Central Graben of the North Sea (the "HPHT Heartland" of the North Sea). Bottomhole conditions were predicted to approach 400°F and 15,000 psi. These extreme conditions negated the use of conventional wireline tools, and so, from initial early planning discussions between client and service provider, new detailed programs were designed and implemented as a specific "Quality Plan" to use the advanced HPHT wireline-logging tools.

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Determining Liquid Carry Over in Gas Condensate Production Facilities and Assessing the Flow Regime in the Gas Sweetening Carbon Dioxide Amine Units Offshore on the Sleipner Platform in the North Sea

10.2118/59766-ms ◽

2000 ◽

Author(s):

Waleed J. Georgie ◽

Jan I. Nilsen ◽

Trygve Håland ◽

Erik Solheim ◽

Chris J. Lyth

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Flow Regime ◽

North Sea ◽

Gas Condensate ◽

The North ◽

Gas Sweetening ◽

The North Sea ◽

Carry Over ◽

Production Facilities

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Norwegian deep diving trials

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1984.0015 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 304 (1118) ◽

pp. 143-149 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Keyword(s):

High Pressure ◽

North Sea ◽

Thermal Protection ◽

Decompression Sickness ◽

The Other ◽

Deep Diving ◽

The North ◽

Before And After ◽

The North Sea

In 1983 NUTEC, together with two diving companies, completed two dives with 12 divers (6 in each dive) to pressures equivalent to 350 m s.w., one dive lasted for 17 d, and the other, 24 d. The purpose of the dives was to demonstrate that the diving companies were prepared for diving to 300 m depth in the North Sea. No major medical or physiological problems arose during the dives, although all divers had minor symptoms of high pressure nervous syndrome during compressions. During decompression three decompression sickness incidents occurred, which involved pain only, and all were successfully treated. All divers went through comprehensive medical physiological examinations before and after the dives. No significant changes from values measured before diving have been found in the six divers who have so far been examined after diving, except that five of them were considerably more sensitive to CO 2 after the dive than before. Several problems arose in connection with the divers’ breathing equipment, thermal protection and communication, which need to be improved.

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