Offshore staff
LONDON – Drilling of the Columbus development well in the UK North Sea will likely run three to four weeks over schedule, operator Serica Energy has advised.
The well was spudded in mid-March and reached the planned measured depth of 17,600 ft (5,364 m). A 5,900-ft (1,798-m) horizontal section was drilled through the reservoir formations of the upper Forties, encountering a sequence of sands and shales, as expected.
However, difficulties arose when running sand screens to prevent fine particles being produced, and ultimately the screens could not be installed.
The reservoir section of the well will instead be side-tracked and re-drilled, using data gathered during initial drilling to optimize the trajectory.
Serica still expects Columbus to come onstream during the fall.
At the Rhum field in the UK northern North Sea, the R3 well has been cleared of all equipment installed when it was originally completed for previous operator bp in 2005.
Reservoir access has been regained allowing new completion equipment to be run in preparation for production. The new completion is undergoing installation ahead of a flow test on the well, due to be conducted next month.
Serica has contracted a diving support vessel to install the subsea control equipment needed for the well to start producing this summer.
05/25/2021
