Churchill Drilling Tools, a leading oilfield service company specializing in drilling innovation, has revealed that its flagship tool, the DAV MX™ CircSub, made a major contribution to a recent successful Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) run in the North Sea.
Run in hundreds of wells every year and recognized for its reliability, resilience and versatility the dart activated DAV MX™ is the ultimate downhole bypass tool. In April 2018, for example, the DAV MX™ was activated on a challenging MPD completions run with multiple complex technical requirements.
The client, a leading North Sea operator, required a tool with: the resilience to withstand significant differential pressure and acid breakers; the contingency capability to combat losses; and the versatility to boost displacements and drain the pipe while pulling out of hole (POOH) to cut operating time. The operator chose to run the DAV MX™.
Demonstrating the tool’s resilience, the operator ran 200bbls of acid breaker fluid through the DAV MX™ to break the filter cake. Designed to withstand differential pressures of 10,000psi, the DAV MX™ comfortably withstood the 5,000psi required to set the completions hanger.
The operator anticipated a high risk of losses during this campaign and therefore required a tool that was flexible enough to provide 100% bypass to pump Lost Circulation Material (LCM) to cure losses at depths of 13,000feet. Without the DAV MX™ in its string, the operator would have pumped LCM down the annulus from surface, a more time-consuming and expensive process.
At the end of the completions run, the operator used the DAV MX™ to boost circulation rates, cutting operating time when displacing from OBM to CaBr brine fluid. Finally, enabling the DAV MX™’s uniquely robust Lock Open Feature the operator was able to drain the pipe while pulling out, saving further time.
The DAV MX™’s Emergency Shut off Dart (ESD) was not deployed but formed part of the operator’s decision-making process. In the unlikely event that the tool incurred acid damage, for example, deploying the ESD would have enabled the operator to complete the run, and save an extra trip to replace the tool.
The operator completed the run as planned and cited the performance of the DAV MX™ as a contributing factor to the success.
Stewart Macindoe, Sales Director at Churchill Drilling Tools, said: “We’re pleased our award-winning DAV MX™ CircSub continues to help operators drill faster, more efficiently and at low risk. This recent North Sea Completions run adds to our strong track record and growing operator demand for the DAV MX™ across a wide range of applications including: coring; deviated, tapered and extended reach drilling; well bore clean up; completions and plug & abandon.”
He continued: “That operators have activated the DAV MX™ CircSub on more than 700 occasions reflects their confidence in its resilience, reliability and versatility to cut operating time and improve campaigns.”
Churchill’s smart dart activated DAV MX™ is a multi-functioning, multi-cycling circulation sub that delivers significantly improved performance and is simple to use. Fast, versatile and reliable, it can be run in most environments and in a wide range of applications.
