ew places better illustrate the

need for technology adapted to special

conditions than the Wytch Farm oil field
in the southern U.K.
Set in an ecologically sensitive area near
popular beach resorts, Wytch Farm is
Europes largest onshore oil field. Current
production is around 100,000 barrels per
day (b/d), with about half coming from
portions of the field that extend offshore.
Helping to preserve the areas scenic
value, extended reach drilling taps the
substantial oil deposits offshore from wells
that start onshore. At present, some 80
percent of Wytch Farms production come
from extended reach wells. The fields
operator, BP Exploration Operating Co.,
originally planned to drill offshore oil
from an artificial island, but found that
extended reach drilling was both more
economical and environmentally friendly.
In existing wells at Wytch Farm,
production is also being further
enhanced via multilateral drilling, which
enables access to different pockets of
hydrocarbons with new laterals that
reach out from the original wellbore.
In this carefully protected area along
the English Channel, Weatherford
delivered two technologies during 1998
that helped spur more production from
Wytch Farm. When BP decided to drill
the worlds longest extended reach well
(ERW) on Wytch Farms M sitea well
reaching more than six miles (10.1
km)Weatherford was called upon to
provide liner hanger technology capable
of overcoming friction at this great
distance. In another part of the field,
Weatherford designed the selective
re-entry system (SRS) for Wytch Farms
first trilateral well.
We were proud to have been a major
contributor to the success of this project,
said Randy Stilley, Weatherfords Senior
Vice President and President of Completion
and Oilfield Services. But the true thanks
goes to the project team, which was
selected as one of the recipients for the
prestigious BP Exploration
Award for Technical
Achievement in 1998.
Worlds Longest
Extended Reach Well
Reliable, durable
components are particularly
important when drilling long
distances, such as the situation
encountered with Wytch
Farms M-11 well. After
reviewing various options,
BP selected Weatherfords
Nodeco liner hanger because
of its proven track record for
ruggedness and reliability in
challenging environments.
The trick to overcoming the
frictional forces in getting a liner
to depth in such an extreme
extended reach well is the
ability to reliably rotate
the liner while
lowering it into the
hole. The Nodeco
liner hanger
incorporates a
high strength
running tool,
which connects
the drill pipe
used to run the
liner and the
liner hanger
assembly.
The Nodeco
running
tool allows
operators to
get rough
with the liner
by rotating
The hookup for the Wytch
Farm project consisted of a
Nodeco 15-foot polished bore
receptacle, an integral liner top
packer, a hydraulic rotating
liner hanger and a single wiper
plug with integral ball seat.
Extended Reach &
ADAPTABLE TECHNOLOGY
AT WYTCH FARM
Polished
Bore
Receptacle
Integral
Liner
Top
Packer
Rotating
Liner
Hanger
F
16
10866ArtLiftIntro 8/20/99 1:03 PM Page 2
The Wytch Farm Field is located along the shores of Poole Harbour, Great Britain,
and has recoverable reserves of 300 million barrels from two reservoirs.
Weatherford operated from the F well site
on Goathorn Peninsula.
Multilateral Systems
3
10866ArtLiftIntro 8/20/99 1:05 PM Page 3
and reciprocating it to get to the
bottom without the fear of premature
release. Once the liner has reached
setting depth, it can be released
from the running tool very easily.
Another important feature of the
Nodeco liner hanger system is the
patented debris exclusion system,
which completely seals the liner top
and prevents the entry of drill cuttings,
mud solids and cement into the
liner. Especially in extended reach
wells, the entry of debris into the
liner top can potentially prevent the
release of the running tools, which
leads to expensive remedial actions.
The successful deployment of the
liner in the M-11 and other Wytch
Farm extended reach wells has
caught the attention of other
operators drilling similar wells.
Selective Re-entry
Multilateral System
Weatherfords selective re-entry
multilateral system (SRS) provides
another example of technology well-
suited to the challenges of Wytch Farm.
BP needed to improve production
from the maturing oil field and
avoid drilling completely new wells
in the sensitive area. The answer:
Employing a single, existing wellbore
to reach three new hydrocarbon
targets via a trilateral well.
Weatherfords selective re-entry
system, or SRS (see diagram), was
used to accomplish the extensions.
Simplicity, reliability and cost-
effectiveness are key features of
Weatherfords SRS system, which
enables easy re-entry into any of the
laterals for initial stimulation at
completion, or for future remedial
work. Without this ability, more money
can be spent getting back into laterals
than on the stimulation itself.
In the past, other methods involved
drilling multilaterals off the
conventional open-hole cement plug.
However, such junctions are susceptible
to erosion from drilling and
stimulation fluids. As a result, re-entry
for completions were often expensive
or, in some cases, never accomplished.
Weatherfords SRS solved this
problem cost-effectively by
applying existing technology in a
new way. Primary components of
the Weatherford SRS include a
retrievable whipstock and
permanent large bore packer.
The process begins by setting a
large bore permanent packer below
the lowest window to be milled,
in order to create a downhole
reference point. Aretrievable
whipstock is latched into the
packer, giving customers precise
depth and the desired azimuth.
After milling, the window
assembly is used to drill the curve
and lateral.
Upon completing drilling of the
lateral, the Weatherford retrieval
hook is run to retrieve the
whipstock assembly. The next
whipstock is then anchored into the
original packer, using rigid
extension below the whipstock to
space out the kick-off point for the
next laterals.
The SRS system considerably
reduces the amount of time, risk
and cost required to locate each
lateral, and it significantly improves
the likelihood of locating the same
lateral at a later date.
18
Weatherfords team of liner hanger engineers and drafters includes drafter Kjirsti Oline
Alnes (front left) and engineers Olav Bekvik (front right); Trevor Hall (back left); and
Sturle Kjllevik (back right).
Diagram of Weatherfords
selective re-entry system used
in the Wytch Farm project.
10866ArtLiftIntro 8/20/99 1:06 PM Page 4