At Balance Benefits Firsts

A Record of Firsts in 2007

**Benefits of At Balance Drilling**
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At Balance has helped its customers achieve a number of industry firsts in pressure stability, well construction, and field life extension

Like all useful drilling technologies the Dynamaic Annular Pressure Control (DAPC) system has provided a practical solution to many real world problems and a new category of benefits.

Read about our record of firsts in well construction savings and field life extension:

Read the case history about this Industry First

2007 saw the DAPC system again getting the first ever approval from the US MMS to control the BHP in a GOM deepwater well drilled statically underbalanced.

Using the DAPC system the operator was able to reduce the mud weight to a level not possible with conventional or manual methods.

Drilling statically underbalanced enabled the operator to eliminate lost circulation in the narrow depleted margin, reduce operating costs, and successfully complete a producing well in a previously unattainable target.

This is yet another example of how the DAPC system has been used to extend the life of a mature field.

...Read the SPE technical paper by the operator discussing the benefit of this technology to their redevlopment drilling program.

In another industry first combination of complementary technologies the DAPC system was selected to control constant BHP in a well drilled in South Texas with 7" liner through a series of severly depleted gas sands.

By combining the DAPC system and a liner drilling assembly the operator was able to simultaneously drill and case off significantly depleted sands, reduce the mud weight well below the level used in previous offset wells, and TD the well at the planned depth with no lost circulation.

In 2007 constant BHP control was used for the first time to drill severly depleted gas sands in a Louisiana offshore field from an inland barge.

In previous wells the operator used manual pressure control techniques to manage the pressure through the severly depleted gas sands.

The operator sought to reduce mud losses and non-productive drilling time by reducing the mud weight and managing the BHP in a window too tight for manual control. By using the DAPC system for automated pressure control and early kick detection the operator reduced his losses and drilling flat time.



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