Case Study: Malaysia Deepwater Drilling Company drills an undrillable offshore well to TD with SLB's StethoScope FPWD and @balance MPD

Combined StethoScope FPWD and @balance Services MPD Drill Undrillable Well Offshore Malaysia

SLB worked with Malaysia Deepwater Drilling Company to address an exploratory offshore Malaysia well with no direct offset data, an uncertain pore pressure model, and a very narrow expected mud-weight window. The operator needed a way to penetrate deep gas targets that had previously been considered undrillable while safely managing abnormal pressure.

SLB combined StethoScope formation pressure-while-drilling (FPWD) with the @balance Services managed pressure drilling system, supported by Geoservices pore pressure updates, to obtain direct formation pressure measurements and control the wellbore within the safe window. The well was drilled to the planned 400 m TD in one run, revealed the deepest gas discovery in the field, held influxes to less than 4 bbl, and achieved a 97% seal success rate with zero NPT despite more than 430 hours below the rotary table.