Abstract
Abstract The "Spanish Bay" well was drilled from a production platform located offshore California in 1,075 ft of water. This record setting extended reach well overcame numerous technical and operational challenges and reached a total depth of 33,435-ft measured depth (MD) / 7,663-ft true vertical depth (TVD) with 29,720-ft displacement. This paper will highlight the rig package limitations and upgrades, describe key technical and operational challenges, discuss how the challenges were addressed, and describe key / unique operations. A case history is presented describing the technical and operational challenges successfully overcome including limited hydraulics, high torque, pipe racking constraints, mud handling capacity, offshore logistics, and platform space limitations. As predicted by detailed torque and drag modeling, the well's 86° tangent angle required that drillpipe and casing be rotated into the hole to overcome the effects of negative weight. The 22,131-ft 9⅝ × 10¾-in. intermediate liner was successfully floated and rotated to 29,831ft MD / 5,525 ft TVD. The well established a new North American extended reach drilling (ERD) record and a new global ERD record from an offshore location.
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