SPE/IADC 57569

Successful Drilling of an Underbalanced, Dual-Lateral Horizontal Well in the Sajaa

Field, Sharjah, UAE
R.A. Mathes, SPE, Amoco Sharjah Oil Company and L.J. Jack, Northland Energy Corporation

Copyright 1999, SPE/IADC Middle East Drilling Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 1999 SPE/IADC Middle East Drilling Technology
Conference held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 810 November 1999.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE/IADC Program Committee following review of
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have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers or the International Association of
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Abstract
Amoco Sharjah Oil Company (ASOC) has drilled several duallateral horizontal wells in its Sajaa Field since 1996. Two of the
wells did not reach their geologic and leg length objectives due
to massive, incurable lost circulation and several of the wells
were hampered by differential sticking. A recently completed
well was drilled using underbalanced techniques in order to
mitigate or eliminate these occurrences. Dry sales gas from the
Sajaa Gas Plant re-injection system was used to achieve the
underbalanced condition. A 7 tieback casing string with
perforations in the bottom joint was installed prior to drilling
the horizontal legs and the gas was injected down the 7 x 9
5/8 annulus. Conventional mud motors and MWD tools were
used in the bottom hole assemblies with the addition of a back
pressure valve and a "restrictor" sub. Clean water with periodic
high viscosity pills was pumped down the drill string. Surface
equipment included a rotating blow out preventer (RBOP), a
choke manifold with two bladder type adjustable chokes,
sample catchers and a four-phase separator. The project was
completed ahead of schedule, under budget, and without an
accident or serious incident. The two main benefits were
achieved plus some additional ones such as increased
penetration rates and more efficient sidetracking. This paper
discusses the pre-planning and team building conducted prior
to beginning underbalanced operations, the surface and down
hole equipment involved, the general procedures followed,
plus the operating parameters and results experienced.

Introduction
Amoco discovered Sajaa field in 1980 and first production was
in June 1982 after completion of separation and export facilities.
Development drilling progressed in five phases, four of vertical
well drilling and the current horizontal drilling phase. The
vertical wells were all cased, perforated and acid fraced; the
horizontal wells have all been completed open hole. To date
there are 37 producers in Sajaa field, 13 of which are horizontal
wells.
The Lower Cretaceous Thamama Group Pay is divided into
four zones. The top two zones contain the most Gas-In-Place
and have been the target of the horizontal wells. The Thamama
is a relatively clean, but tight, carbonate. Average porosity is
7.3%, permeability ranges from <0.1 to 8.0 md, and average
bottom hole temperature (BHT) is 2850 F. Sajaa field is a
thrusted anticline, which is sealed by the overlying Nahr Umr
shale.
The Thamama is a retrograde condensate reservoir
producing below dew point. Original reservoir pressure was
7,900 psi and average pressure now is 2,800 psi. All the
horizontal wells have been drilled using an oil base mud (OBM)
with a minimum possible weight of 7.3 pounds per gallon (ppg).
In parts of the field the pore pressure of the reservoir has
decreased to 4.0 ppg equivalent mud weight (EMW) or less.
Severe and incurable lost circulation was encountered in
two of the 19 lateral sections completed prior to drilling
underbalanced. In the first instance several days were spent
attempting to heal the losses using LCM pills, cement, gunk
plugs, etc. Ultimately, the lateral was drilled blind for another
2,817 feet to total depth (TD) using water and diesel/OBM pills
for lubrication. This resulted in excessive fluid losses and
probable damage to the formation, along with extensive clean
up time. Due to the massive losses, the planned second lateral
in this well was canceled.
In the second case, a very limited attempt to cure the losses
was made; this was followed by drilling an additional 500 feet
blind, but the lateral was stopped 2,500 feet short of target TD.
In both wells the geologic targets were not met. These
"cracks" were not seismically predictable.

R.A. MATHES, L.J. JACK

In several of the wells differential sticking was also a

problem. A technique was used to lighten the hydrostatic head
by pumping nitrogen down the annulus, taking mud returns up
the drill pipe, then slowly bleeding off the nitrogen pressure to
lower the hydrostatic head and "pop" the drill string off the
formation face. This technique is expensive and somewhat
risky, and the likelihood of differential sticking occurrence was
increasing due to further depletion of the field and placing new
well locations in areas of better reservoir quality.
Pre-planning and Team Building
The first Sajaa field horizontal well that experienced massive
incurable lost circulation was drilled during the spring of 1997.
After the well was placed on production with disappointing
results ASOC began investigating underbalanced drilling
(UBD) techniques. Other Amoco drilling departments and the
Amoco research center were contacted to evaluate UBD
potential. A recognized UBD service company was contracted
to prepare a feasibility study which reviewed well and reservoir
characteristics, rig equipment and potential gas supplies.
Local service companies were contacted to determine
which ones might be qualified to provide UBD services in
Sharjah. After these discussions it became clear that although
some of the companies might have had some experience with
air drilling in other areas (Ref. 1), none of the local companies
could provide the specialized equipment and experienced
personnel required to safely drill in a true underbalanced mode.
ASOC personnel also visited an Amoco Canada UBD
operation. This trip proved invaluable in clarifying the
equipment hookup and operational procedures involved. The
UBD service company employed on that project was invited to
Sharjah and a plan was developed for mobilizing an UBD
package.
Detailed engineering of the drilling program was then
begun in earnest and several key issues resolved. Due to the
harsh drilling environment in the Sajaa field; i.e. 12,000 ft true
vertical depth (TVD) reservoir depth and approximately 300o F
BHT, tool reliability had been an issue throughout the
horizontal well drilling campaign. Measurement While Drilling
(MWD) tools and mud motors in particular had been modified
and improved until reaching an acceptable performance level.
There was general reluctance to switch tools and restart this
learning process. That meant that injecting gas or nitrogen
down the drill string was not the preferred option. Also, none
of the local service companies had electromagnetic MWD
tools in the area and the ones available elsewhere did not have
sufficient temperature rating for our conditions. Therefore the
decision was made to design the well bore for annulus
injection of the gas rather than drill string injection.
An economically viable gas source was also required.
Nitrogen, either in liquid form or via a N2 generation unit, was
quickly ruled out due to anticipated volumes required.
Discussions were held with the Sajaa Plant operations
personnel to evaluate the option of utilizing field fuel gas and

SPE 57569

renting compression equipment to boost the pressure. This

evaluation led to the idea of using gas from an already existing
gas re-injection system.
This system was installed in 1994 and was designed to reinject gas into the reservoir during periods of low demand.
One of the three injection wells was located only a few
hundred feet away from the proposed UBD well location. The
valves and piping for this system were arranged so that it
would be possible to deliver up to 35 million cubic feet per day
(MMCFD) of dry gas with a maximum pressure of 4,000 psi.
The decision was made to lay piping from the injection well to
the drill site and to utilize this gas source.
The last major issue to be resolved was whether to use
diesel or water as the liquid phase while drilling. The
advantages with diesel were lower hydrostatic head and better
lubricity but because the Sajaa productive formation is a
naturally water wet limestone it was felt that diesel might
potentially be more damaging than water to the reservoir rock.
A second concern was that condensate and gas from the
reservoir would become entrained in the circulating system
with continuously increasing concentrations resulting in a
potentially explosive mixture. Computer simulation indicated
that it was possible to get the hydrostatic column below the
reservoir pressure with water but not by much. Mainly due to
the safety concerns the decision was made to use water.
The next subject addressed was the cooperation, training
and team building for all ASOC and service company
personnel involved in the project. Except for the UBD service
company, there was a general lack of any direct UBD
experience by the drilling contractor or any of the other service
providers. As the drilling program was developed, service
companies were consulted on each step where their tools or
personnel were involved. Contrary to experience in other areas
(Ref. 2), all participants seemed enthusiastic about trying the
underbalanced technique but there was an understandable
unanimous concern about safety.
In order to address the safety, training and team building
issues, a series of TRUE (Training to Reduce Unscheduled
Events) classes were held for all drilling contractor personnel
from assistant driller and up, plus all rig based service
company and associated ASOC personnel. TRUE courses can
be designed for any drilling project and during the duration of
the class the proposed well is "drilled" section by section with
emphasis placed on anticipating problems and developing
specific action plans for likely situations (Ref. 3). Our course
was structured to concentrate on the underbalanced drilling
phase.
Each piece of UBD equipment was described during the
class. Drilling and tripping procedures were then reviewed step
by step in minute detail. Several what if scenarios were
played out with the class to determine what actions should be
taken in each case. The class was challenged to come up with
corrective actions for problems or emergency situations rather
than just reviewing a previously prepared HAZOP document.

SPE 57569 SUCCESSFUL DRILLING OF AN UNDERBALANCED, DUAL-LATERAL HORIZONTAL WELL IN THE SAJAA FIELD, SHARJAH, UAE

TRUE training was extremely beneficial in raising the overall

awareness of all members and it generated a lot of good team
building.
Surface Equipment - Injection Side
The injection line from the Sajaa plants re-injection system
was constructed of 2 welded pipe up to the rig site. As shown
in Fig. 1 the next components of the injection system were a 2
manual ball valve and a 2" pneumatically operated Emergency
Shut Down (ESD) valve. The ESD valve was operated using
nitrogen from a portable bank of pre-charged nitrogen bottles.
Control valves for shutting the ESD were located at the valve,
at the nitrogen bottle bank, at the edge of the location
approximately 250 ft away from the injection line and at the
corner of the rig floor overlooking the injection line.
Downstream of the ESD valve was a tee and two 2 low
torq valves. One valve was in the direction of the wellhead and
the other one was tied into the flare line to enable a quick bleed
off in case of a leak. Gas rate and volume was measured using
an orifice meter with a solar powered remote terminal unit
(RTU). Rates were controlled using a 2 manually operated
globe valve installed downstream of the meter.
The injection line terminated at the casing head with a tee
and a check valve. The tee had a low torq valve and blind cap
installed on it and was only used for pressure testing or final
bleed off of the injection system. The check valve was installed
to prevent bleeding off the entire 7 x 9-5/8 annulus volume in
the event of a leak between the wellhead and the ESD valve.
Surface Equipment - Return Side
The rig used for drilling the subject well was equipped with a
13-5/8, 10,000 psi BOP stack and a 13-5/8, 5000 psi annular
preventer configured as shown in Fig. 1. For the UBD phase of
the well a 13 5/8" x 6" flow tee and the rotating BOP (RBOP)
was installed on top of the annular preventer.
The RBOP used was rated for 2,000 psi static working
pressure, 1,500 psi while rotating and 1,000 psi while stripping.
Maximum allowable rotation speed was 100 RPM. It was
controlled from a small operator panel installed next to the
Driller's console and powered by its own hydraulic pumping
unit.
The piping from the RBOP flow tee to the UBD choke
manifold consisted of a 6" ESD valve, flow tee, 6" manual valve
and 6", 5,000 psi flanged piping. On the other side of the flow
tee there was another 5,000 psi manual valve and then the rig's
normal return flow line back to the shale shakers and mud pits
for normal (non UBD) circulation. The 6" ESD valve was
determined to be unnecessary for our application and was
capped in a "locked open" position. In the event of a leak
between the RBOP and UBD choke manifold our contingency
plan relied on closing the rig's BOPs to isolate the well bore
pressure.
The 5,000 psi UBD choke manifold contained two bladder
type chokes and one conventional bean type choke. The

normal flow path while in the UBD mode was through one of
the bladder type chokes. These chokes are hydraulically
operated using a hand pump positioned next to the separator
control station. A second inlet line to the UBD choke manifold
was connected from the rig's choke manifold. Return flow from
the well bore was diverted through this line whenever the rig's
BOPs were closed, for example when changing the RBOP
packer element.
Downstream of the UBD choke manifold the normal flow
path is through 6", 2,000 psi flanged piping to the separator
inlet manifold. A secondary contingency flow line of 4" chik
san was also connected from the UBD choke manifold to the
separator. During the first trip out of the hole in the UBD mode,
a bypass line of 4" chik san was installed from the UBD choke
manifold directly to the flare line.
At the separator inlet manifold the 6" line from the UBD
choke manifold was split into three different lines: two 4" lines
and one 3" line. Each of the 4" lines contained a globe valve
designed to throttle flow in a very harsh environment. The
function of the 3" line was to divert flow to the sample catchers
for the collection of geological samples. Two sample catchers
were piped together to allow for continuous sampling. The
sample catchers employed a tangential entry and operated
under the same principle as a cyclone separator. With this
cyclone effect, the heavy samples were forced to the bottom of
the collection pot where they remained until extracted through
the manifold system on the bottom.
The 200 psi UBD separator had a vortex inlet, a very large
surface contact area combined with a cyclone action, to aid the
separation of solids and gas from the liquid phase. The
separated cuttings fell to the bottom of the inlet section of the
separator and were kept agitated by the "sparge" system. The
sparge pump took its suction from the clean fluid end of the
separator and jetted it back into the separator inlet end through
two inch lines. The drill cuttings slurry mixture was removed
from the separator by a progressive cavity pump which
pumped the slurry to the rig's shale shakers.
The separator was equipped with two liquid outlets. In
normal operation (stable fluid production) fluid dumped from
the lower outlet but if a slug of liquid occurred and the lower
liquid outlet could not pass the fluid fast enough, the upper
liquid outlet opened. Both liquid outlets were equipped with
control valves and turbine meters. Downstream of the control
valve on each liquid leg was a centrifugal pump, used to assist
in liquid transfer when pressures were too low to transfer the
liquid out of the separator. External level sight glasses
monitored the liquid level inside the separator.
The lower liquid outlet from the separator was piped to the
rig's shale shakers and the upper liquid outlet piped to the rig's
poor boy degasser. Also a tee was installed on the lower liquid
return line and piping was run to a 500 barrel storage tank set
at the edge of the location for the collection of produced
condensate.
The separator gas measurement was obtained using a 6"

R.A. MATHES, L.J. JACK

meter run complete with a Daniel senior orifice plate fitting and
full set of orifice plates. Manual readings of the flow variables
were taken and the flow rate calculated from the Barton chart
recorder. The back pressure on the separator was maintained
by two 4" bladder valves. The separator was equipped with
two safety relief valves, which were sized to protect it from
over pressure. These valves were vented to the flare pit
through a 5" flow line. The gas out from the separator was also
directed to the flare pit through a second 5" flow line.
Down Hole Equipment
All the bits used during the UBD operations were IADC series
4-4-7 and the mud motors were 4-3/4 OD, 4/5 lobe, 3.5 stage,
positive displacement motors with an adjustable bent housing
(ABH) (Fig. 2). The motors were run without a dump valve.
The settings of the ABH were either 1.50 or 1.83 degrees.
Maximum allowable flow rate through the motors was 250
gallons per minute (GPM).
Immediately above the motor a conventional drill string
flapper type back pressure valve (BPV) was installed. The
purpose of this valve was to prevent flow up the drill string
during trips in or out of the hole. A "restrictor" sub was
installed above the BPV. The sub had an internal profile and
threaded receptacle that permitted the installation of a standard
bit nozzle. The nozzle was sized to give a predetermined
pressure drop at anticipated pump rates. This was necessary to
counteract the strong U-tube effect while in the underbalanced
mode and to permit the recording of positive pressure pulses at
surface from the MWD tool.
The next item in the bottom hole assembly (BHA) was the
MWD tool. The tool used was a standard positive pulse tool
powered by a down hole turbine. It was configured to measure
inclination, direction, tool face readings and Gamma Ray
counts. The tool was designed to continuously update all the
readings as long as the down hole tool was in sync with the
surface computer. In order for the tool to get in sync it had to
see a no flow condition so that its turbine would power
down and switch off. Whenever flow was resumed the first
signals from the tool were a synchronizing sequence that the
surface computer had to recognize in order to correctly
interpret the subsequent data being transmitted. It was
possible to program the down hole tool at surface to have a
certain amount of delay from flow on until it transmitted the
synchronizing sequence.
Above the MWD tool, conventional flex drill collars, heviwate drill pipe and drilling jars were run. A drill string dart sub
was also included in the BHA to provide a means to install an
additional back pressure valve in the event that the flapper
type BPV failed. The drill pipe used was a combination of
3 1/2, 15.5 lb/ft (ppf), NC38 Grade G and X initially. At one
point in the well the X drill pipe was replaced with S135.
Drilling Program
The well was drilled conventionally to 11,372 ft MD (11,012 ft

SPE 57569

TVD) and a 7" liner was set and cemented using conventional
liner hanger equipment (Fig. 3). After cleaning out the excess
cement on top of the liner, a 7 casing tie back string was run
which included a 15 seal assembly on bottom and a perforated
joint just above it. The perforated joint had 7/8 diameter holes
drilled in it, 12 holes per foot, with a linear distance between
holes of at least 3 inches. Starting 2 ft up from the pin end, the
joint was perforated over a length of 15 ft.
Once the tie back string had been landed, the RBOP and
surface UBD equipment were installed and tested. The 7" liner
was cleaned out to the landing collar using a rotary BHA
which included the BPV, restrictor sub and the MWD tool.
Gas injection was begun down the 7 x 9-5/8 annulus and
after the well unloaded the pump was staged back up to 126
GPM. Several hours were spent varying gas injection and
pump rates to find good ranges for steady state conditions.
The 7 landing collar, shoe track cement, and shoe were drilled
out while continuing to experiment with pump rates and gas
injection rates. After drilling the shoe, the well was killed and
the bit pulled in order to run the standard mud motor BHA.
The 6 diameter A leg was drilled to a final TD of 15,580 ft
MD (11,659 ft TVD). A logging run was made using drill pipe
conveyed logging tools then a GR-CCL log was run on wireline
over the length of the 7 liner.
The well bore was prepared for drilling the second leg by
setting a 7" packer with orienting profile, installing a 5"
retrievable bridge plug (RPB) below the packer, latching a "one
trip" whipstock into the packer and milling a window through
the 7" liner. After tripping in the hole with a 6 bit and mud
motor BHA, gas injection down the 7 x 9-5/8 annulus was
resumed and the B leg was drilled to a final TD of 16,016 ft
MD (11,229 ft TVD).
At TD the well was circulated and flowed until clean. The
bit was pulled up into the 7 liner, the well killed and the bit
pulled to surface. The 7" whipstock and the 5" RBP were
retrieved from the well and then the Lateral Entry Nipple (LEN)
was run and latched into the 7" packer.
A bridge plug was set on wireline approximately 10 ft above
the holes in the 7" perforated joint. In order to confirm the
bridge plug was correctly set, a CCL-Gradio log was run to find
the fluid level inside the 7, additional water was pumped, and
the fluid level checked again to confirm it had risen the correct
amount. The 7 casing tie back string was then pulled from the
well.
The 5 tubing completion string was run with a 4.125 plug
set in a nipple 20 ft above the 5 seal assembly. The first 5,500
ft of tubing was filled with water and the remainder run without
filling. The tubing was spaced out and landed. The BOPs
were removed and the Christmas tree installed and tested. The
4.125 plug was retrieved from the bottom of the tubing string
and a temporary flow line rigged up from the Christmas tree to
the UBD choke manifold. Injection gas was opened up to the
5 x 9-5/8 annulus and the well unloaded through the UBD
surface equipment. The well was flowed several hours for an

SPE 57569 SUCCESSFUL DRILLING OF AN UNDERBALANCED, DUAL-LATERAL HORIZONTAL WELL IN THE SAJAA FIELD, SHARJAH, UAE

initial clean up then it was shut in and the rig released.

Drilling Results - 'A' Leg
The first trip in the hole for the underbalanced drilling phase
was with a rotary drilling assembly. The plan was to spend
some time inside the casing adjusting pump and gas injection
rates and to check the response of the MWD tool prior to
drilling out the shoe. Several important lessons were learned
during this exercise.
Gas injection and unloading of the well proceeded
smoothly until the gas bubble started reaching surface. At this
point it became extremely difficult to maintain a separator
pressure less than 200 psi without getting very close to the
maximum allowable working pressure of the RBOP. A maximum
pressure of 1,700 psi below the RBOP was noted and the pop
off valves on the separator opened momentarily when the
bubble reached surface. Based on this experience, during the
first trip out of the hole a bypass line was installed from the
choke manifold directly to the flare pit thus bypassing the
separator. On future trips and while unloading the well,
whenever the annulus pressure reached a predetermined safe
limit (usually 1,000 to 1,200 psi) the bypass line would be
opened and returns taken directly to the flare pit until the
annulus pressure dropped to 600 - 800 psi.
After several hours of trial and error it was determined that
the gas injection rate required to keep the well unloaded was
approximately 7 MMCFD. At this rate, steady returns were
achieved while pumping water at 126 to 168 GPM and drilling
cement. Good MWD pulses were acquired all the time while
circulating and drilling which confirmed that a restrictor sub
nozzle size of 9/32 was in the right range. The casing shoe
was drilled out along with 5 ft of formation. The injection gas
was turned off, the mud pumps stopped and the fluid inside
the drill string allowed to U-tube which killed the well.
The next trip in the hole was with a standard mud motor
BHA with the ABH set at 1.83 o. The bit was run in the hole to
just above TD before the gas injection was started. The well
was successfully unloaded and the bypass line used for the
first time which kept the annulus pressure at very comfortable
levels. Circulation down the drill string was begun and once
everything leveled out it was noted that the MWD tool was
pulsing but the synchronizing sequence had been missed by
the surface computer. It took several efforts before a routine
was found to successfully get the tool in sync. This routine
was:
1. Choke back the annulus until the pressure equaled 700 psi or
greater.
2. Stop pumping and close the TIW valve and standpipe valve.
3. Set down weight on the bit to restrict flow through the mud
motor.
4. Wait 15 minutes.
5. Open valves and pick up off bottom.
6. Start pumping at a high rate (300 GPM) until the drill string

filled and pump pressure started increasing.

7. Reduce pump rate to normal circulating range and start
bleeding down annulus pressure.
8. Check for synchronizing sequence from MWD tool.
By following this procedure it was possible to create the
required no flow condition at the MWD tool in order to
power down the tool. Then by quickly filling the pipe and
getting positive pump pressure, the surface equipment was
ready to receive the synchronizing sequence when it was
transmitted after the pre-set time delay.
Further experience with this model MWD tool revealed that
once the tool was in sync it would stay that way for several
hours. Even while making connections the tool would stay in
sync because the U-tube effect kept it powered up during the
period of time from pumps off till pumps on and drill string
full. Eventually the surface computer clock and the down hole
MWD clock would drift apart and the data would become
corrupted. This necessitated repeating the synchronizing
routine. Also, different time delays for when the MWD tool
should start sending the synchronizing sequence were tried on
subsequent trips to try and optimize the procedure. It was
found that a delay greater than 6 minutes was too long, 2
minutes too short and 3-4 minutes was optimum.
Once the MWD problem was solved, drilling began in
earnest and the initial results were very encouraging with
penetration rates as high as 200 ft/hr. Normal penetration rates
through the same geologic sections in other Sajaa horizontal
wells were only 50 to 100 ft/hr. After only 5-1/2 hours of
drilling, the mud motor failed and it was necessary to trip out of
the hole.
A new mud motor was made up and run in the hole while
the first motor was sent to the shop for dismantling and repair.
The second motor drilled for only 3 hours before there was a
sudden increase in pump pressure and the motor stopped
working. While tripping out of the hole with the second motor
the results were received from the repair shop working on the
first motor. The first motor was completely plugged up with a
chalky looking substance. Since Sajaa field gas contains
small amounts of H2S (approx. 200 ppm), 5 lbs per barrel (ppb)
of lime had been added to the drill water to scavenge any H2S.
Apparently when this lime water passed through the restrictor
sub and mud motor, the lime would precipitate and plug up the
tools. After learning this, the lime water was dumped and a
circulating system which contained only water and caustic
soda (PH = 11+) was tried.
The next mud motor performed better than the first two but
it also failed after only 22 hours of circulating and drilling.
Examination of the MWD tool, restrictor sub and mud motor
showed that all were covered with some sort of scale. The
scale was analyzed and found to be comprised of mainly
calcium with some minor amounts of heavy metals. The
hardness of the drill water was checked and found to be 640
mg/l calcium. Apparently due to the large pressure drop

R.A. MATHES, L.J. JACK

through the down hole tools and the elevated temperature, the
calcium was precipitating out of the water. Treatment of the
drill water with soda ash until the hardness was 0 mg/l was
begun at this point and continued throughout the remainder of
the well.
A new mud motor was tripped in the hole and drilled 660 ft
in 10 hours with instantaneous penetration rates in the range
of 120 - 140 ft/hr most of the time. Drilling continued for
another 1.5 hours but the penetration rate suddenly dropped
from 120 ft/hr to only 20 ft/hr. A problem with the motor was
suspected so the BHA was pulled. The motor looked OK at
surface and in hindsight the reduced ROP was actually due to
drilling through a low porosity section of rock.
The last motor used in the A leg had the best and longest
run with a total of 57 hours circulating and drilling. Drilling was
discontinued because the drill string became partially plugged
and it was not possible to get sufficient flow rate to operate the
motor. When the BHA was pulled to surface it was discovered
that the top of the MWD tool was plugged with dehydrated
gel. While drilling the A leg periodic high viscosity pills
containing bentonite and PAC R had been pumped to help
clean the hole. The formulation being used was not correct for
the temperature environment and after this plugging incident
we started using pills mixed with XC Polymer only.
The RBOP and surface UBD equipment all worked
extremely well while drilling the A leg. Six complete trips were
made while drilling this section with only 5 RBOP packer
elements consumed. All the circulation had been through the
bladder type chokes in the choke manifold and only one
bladder was consumed during the process.
Logging and Sidetracking
The A leg was TDd at 15,580 ft MD and then the well was
logged using drill pipe conveyed tools. The logging tools were
stripped in the hole using the RBOP until the 7 liner shoe was
reached. At that point water was bull headed to ensure the well
was dead and the wireline side entry sub installed. Logging
down proceeded to a depth of 14,950 ft at which point the
string became differentially stuck. After pulling to maximum
allowable tension on the drill pipe with no movement, an
attempt was made to pull the wireline wet connect out of the
hole. The wet connect was pulled to 5,000 ft before the
maximum allowable wireline tension was reached. The wireline
was clamped to the drill pipe and then cut above the clamp at
the rig floor. An RBOP packer element was placed above the
wireline clamp and the drill string lowered a few feet to install
the packer element in the RBOP. Gas injection was started and
once the well unloaded the pipe came free. After circulating for
a couple of hours to clean up the well the gas injection was
stopped, the drill string fluid allowed to U-tube and it was
possible to pull out of the hole to the side entry sub. The
wireline was found wrapped around the drill pipe in several
places which was why it had not been possible to pull it out
completely with the logging unit.

SPE 57569

A GR-CCL log was run on wireline across the 7 liner with

well control provided at surface by using a shooting nipple.
Setting up the well bore to facilitate drilling the B leg then
proceeded according to plan with all equipment working
perfectly the first time. A window was milled in the 7 liner from
10,938 ft to 10,953 ft and rat hole drilled to 10,971 ft.
Drilling Results - B Leg
The first bit run in the B leg drilled 935 ft. in 24 hours at which
point the MWD tool started transmitting erroneous data and a
trip was made to change out the tool. On the next trip in the
hole after only drilling 38 ft the Nahr Umr formation was
unexpectedly penetrated. The Nahr Umr is the cap rock for the
Thamama reservoir in the Sajaa field and it is known to be
extremely unstable at high wellbore inclination angles from
previous experience in other Sajaa horizontal wells (Ref. 4).
The standard solution whenever this occurs is to pick a spot
up hole to perform a low side sidetrack and the procedure that
has been developed after much trial and error is to trip for a
special sidetrack assembly and sidetrack bit. The time to trip
for the sidetrack assembly, time drill to initiate the sidetrack
and then trip again for the normal drilling assembly typically is
in the range of 2 to 3 days. All previous attempts to sidetrack
with the standard drilling assembly when drilling in the
overbalanced mode were unsuccessful. Since the penetration
rates had been so much faster when drilling underbalanced
(190 ft/hr vs. 70 ft/hr in this case) than in previous Sajaa wells,
the decision was made to attempt to sidetrack with the
assembly already in the hole. This proved to be very
successful. After spending only 1 hour reaming and 6 hours
"time drilling" the low side sidetrack was completed.
This assembly drilled for another 39 hours (total of 48
hours) before it was pulled from the well. With the 1.5o ABH
plus a 5 3/4 sleeve stabilizer on the bottom of the motor it
became impossible to achieve the required dog legs when
attempting to slide drill. The assembly was pulled and replaced
with a motor that had the ABH set at 1.83o and with no
stabilizer sleeve.
The 1.83o ABH motor performed well drilling 1,791 ft in 33
hours. However it became more difficult to slide drill and finally
the point was reached where it was not possible to move the
drill string unless it was being rotated. This was due to two
factors. First and primarily because of the cumulative
tortuosity of the well bore; i.e. at the sidetrack point the
inclination was dropped from 90o to 76.9o then it was built back
up to 96.5o then dropped again to 87.6o. The second
contributing factor was the lubricant being added to the
drilling fluid. While drilling the A leg a premium quality,
environmentally friendly lubricant had been added to the
water and it worked very well with torque and drag values only
slightly higher than those experienced with oil base mud.
However, consumption was higher than anticipated and the
vendor ran out of this product early on while drilling the
second leg. Two lesser quality lubricants were tried but they

SPE 57569 SUCCESSFUL DRILLING OF AN UNDERBALANCED, DUAL-LATERAL HORIZONTAL WELL IN THE SAJAA FIELD, SHARJAH, UAE

did not perform as well as the original. In fact one of them even
caused additional problems by forming a sticky emulsion when
mixed with the wells condensate and fine drill cuttings.
With the B leg at a depth of 14,411 ft MD, the mechanical
limits of the Grade X drill pipe had been reached. Since no
appreciable levels of H2S had been detected while drilling to
this point the decision was made to replace the 3 " X Grade
drill pipe with S135 Grade to give additional torsion and tensile
strength. Several days were spent switching out the drill pipe
and also making a reaming trip with a stabilized rotary
assembly to help smooth out some of the dog legs.
A new mud motor BHA with 1.5o ABH was run in the hole,
but after drilling only 72 ft the Nahr Umr formation was again
penetrated. The first attempt to sidetrack with this assembly at
14,100 ft was unsuccessful probably because the well bore was
fairly smooth and level at that point. The bit was pulled to
13,750 ft where there was a 7.5o/100 ft dog leg and the well
successfully sidetracked in only 5-1/2 hours.
Drilling continued with the same assembly for another 9
hours at which point the drill string became plugged and it was
not possible to circulate. While pulling out of the hole the drill
string became differentially stuck, but by resuming the gas
injection the drill string was quickly freed in only 1 hour and
the trip out completed. The cause of the plugging was found to
be scale in the restrictor sub from the S135 rental drill pipe. A
new mud motor with 1.5o ABH was run in the hole and drilled
to TD at an exceptional rate of 1,608 ft in only 20.5 circulating
and drilling hours.
The surface UBD equipment again worked very well with
only an additional 2 choke bladders consumed (total of 3 for
the entire well). Initially the RBOP also worked well with
consumption of 2 more rubber elements up until the point
where the X drill pipe was replaced with the S135 drill pipe.
From that point onwards consumption of the rubbers increased
dramatically (6 more consumed). The S135 drill pipe had three
grooves cut in the tool joints and the grooves had very sharp
edges. Each time a tool joint passed through the RBOP it sliced
off some of the rubber from the packer element. This did not
occur when using the X Grade drill pipe.
Well Completion
Based on the difficulties experienced while logging the A leg
and the high potential for differential sticking whenever the
well was in the dead condition, the decision was made to not
log the B leg. Completion of the well proceeded according to
the plan. All tools and procedures worked the first time with
one exception. It took 3 trips before all the components of the
whipstock assembly were recovered.
After installing the Christmas tree the well was unloaded by
injecting gas down the 5 x 9-5/8 annulus with production
directed through the UBD choke manifold. The well cleaned up
very quickly and the drilling rig was released to its next project.
When the well was subsequently placed on production and
tested, its rate was 60% higher than anticipated by predictions

of the Sajaa Field reservoir simulator.

Conclusions
1. TRUE (Training to Reduce Unscheduled Events) training
was very beneficial in educating all key rig site personnel
about underbalanced drilling and in developing team work
among the participants.
2. A bypass flowline around the UBD separator proved to
be a key component of the surface equipment for safely
unloading the well after trips in the hole.
3. A good understanding of MWD performance
characteristics is necessary in order to ensure the compatibility
of the UBD procedures and the MWD data collection system.
4. Adding lime to the drill water for H2S inhibition did not
work because the lime precipitated out of solution and plugged
up the down hole tools.
5. Due to the large pressure drops and elevated
temperatures through down hole tools scales were easily
formed from ions in the drill water. Treating the hardness to
zero mg/l Calcium eliminated scaling problems.
6. Replacing bentonite and PAC R as high viscosity sweep
material with XC Polymer only worked in eliminating another
source of down hole plugging.
7. Bladder type chokes are very effective and economical
for extended circulation of abrasive fluids.
8. Drill pipe conveyed logging was not very successful due
to differential sticking. Specialized RBOP equipment for sealing
around wireline would make this a viable option. Alternatively,
logging while drilling (LWD) tools should be used if
economics permit.
9. UBD techniques mitigated differential sticking problems.
10. UBD techniques eliminated massive lost circulation
problems and allowed geologic targets to be reached.
11. UBD techniques permitted low side sidetracks to be
accomplished with standard bits and BHA's resulting in
considerable time savings.
12. UBD penetration rates were 2 to 4 times faster than
conventional ROP's.
13. Proper selection and stock piling of an effective
lubricant is an important factor when using water as the drilling
fluid.
14. Drill pipe should be checked for compatibility with
RBOP equipment. Sharp edges or grooves in the drill string will
quickly wear out RBOP rubber elements.
15. UBD techniques contributed to improved productivity
from the well when compared to wells drilled conventionally in
an overbalanced mode.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the government of Sharjah and the
management of Amoco Sharjah Oil Company (a member of the
BPAmoco group) for their permission to publish this paper.

R.A. MATHES, L.J. JACK

References
1.

2.

3.
4.

Mokhalalati, T., Reiley. R., and Neidhardt, D.: Aerated

Mud Drilling Experience In Abu Dhabi, paper prepared
for presentation at the 7th ADIPEC, Abu Dhabi, 13-16
October, 1996.
Hogg, T.W. and Boyle, J.E.:Colombian Underbalanced
Drilling Operations - Start Up Experience, paper prepared
for presentation at the 1997 SPE/IADC Drilling
Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 4-6 March,
1997.
Summers, M.A.:"Sajaa #38 Underbalanced Multilateral
TRUE", The Brief, May 1999.
Triolo, D.K. and Mathes, R.A.:Review of Amoco Sharjah
Multi-Lateral Drilling and Stimulation Program, paper
prepared for presentation at the 1997 SPE/IADC Middle
East Drilling Technology Conference, Bahrain, 23-25
November, 1997.

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R.A. MATHES, L.J. JACK

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