Case Study: a large drill service provider achieves precise pressure profiling and reduced sticking risk with SLB StethoScope

StethoScope Service Delivers Precise Pressure Profile, Mitigates Sticking Risks in High-Uncertainty ERD Wel

SLB worked with a large drill service provider developing extended-reach wells offshore the Kara Sea in northwest Siberia. The customer needed to acquire a pressure profile in a highly depleted layer with a high risk of differential sticking, while also dealing with potential wellbore instability, mud losses, packoff, and a narrow mud-weight window.

SLB recommended and ran the StethoScope formation pressure-while-drilling service to obtain accurate real-time pressure and mobility measurements while drilling. SLB acquired pressure and mobility profiles across the target layer, built a formation fluid gradient, and helped calibrate the geomechanical model; the data showed depletion was 70 psi higher than expected and indicated strong hydrodynamic connectivity, while also mitigating stuck pipe risk.