Case Study: a large water company achieves trouble-free extended-reach drilling in Colombia with SLB's HydraGlyde system

High-performance water-based drilling fluid system enables drilling difficult section in a single trip, onshore

SLB worked with a large water company in Colombia to drill an extended-reach well through a difficult shale environment while avoiding the use of oil- and synthetic-based fluids. The operator needed to eliminate BHA balling, stick/slip, torque, and packoff issues that had affected an offset well and made the wellbore challenging to drill and clean.

SLB, through M-I SWACO, deployed the HydraGlyde high-performance water-based drilling fluid system along with PRESSPRO RT real-time downhole performance software. The solution enabled the most challenging section to be drilled in a single run without BHA balling, achieved zero packoffs in the 12¼-in section, kept torque below simulated levels, and allowed casing to be run to TD without issues.