ARCO Alaska Inc. said July 21 that it has put a third coiled tubing drilling rig to work at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope.
The company said coiled tubing drilling has expanded the drilling opportunities at Prudhoe Bay by substantially lowering the cost of reservoir penetrations. Fifty percent of 220 planned reservoir penetrations at Prudhoe Bay in 1998 and 1999 will be drilled with coiled tubing. The new coiled tubing drilling unit is capable of completing up to 22 reservoir penetrations a year.
ARCO said it has been using coiled tubing units to drill horizontal sidetracks in existing wells since 1993, but coiled tubing units used in the past were built for more traditional well work, and modified to allow drilling operations. The new coiled tubing drilling rig was designed specifically for drilling.
The new coiled tubing unit, CDR No. 1, is owned jointly by Nabors Alaska Drilling Inc. and Transocean Offshore Inc. ARCO employs another coiled tubing drilling rig in its Prudhoe Bay operations owned by Nabors Alaska Drilling Inc. and Schlumberger Dowell. BP (Exploration) Alaska Inc. also operates a coiled tubing rig at Prudhoe Bay.
