Integra engineers the ideal well

Integra Group is a leading provider of integrated oilfield services. Moscow-based and focused primarily on Russia and the CIS countries, its workforce of some 15,000 is led by a team that blends regional and international know-how. Building also on operational experience in the Middle East, Africa and South America, Integra aims to deliver international standards of service quality and HSE.

“The “ideal well” concept is about optimizing cost of the well construction process. There are no easy solutions here. Only a team of highly skilled professionals can minimize well cost while meeting geological, engineering and safety requirements.”
-Jorge Lopez, Integra Executive Vice-President for Drilling, Workover & IPM

An unusually comprehensive portfolio of services includes seismic data acquisition and interpretation, drilling and related services, as well as Integrated Project Management (IPM) for the well construction process as a whole. Forty five drilling rigs, supported by an in-house Technology Services division, provide a platform to deliver the "ideal well". Rather than conventional daywork, Integra prefers to contract rigs as part of an integrated solution to customer needs. The combination of engineering capability, project management and operational experience offers real value to Integra customers.

Engineering the "ideal well" includes optimal well design (whether directional, horizontal or extended reach) but also experience-based operational considerations at every stage of the well construction process. Taking IPM responsibility for the well construction process allows Integra engineers to produce drilling programs, for example, that their rig-based colleagues can deliver with optimal efficiency. Integra drilling crews, for their part, provide practical feedback on how to enhance well construction performance, knowing that this will be used to improve the drilling program next time around.

Integra has extensive experience drilling deviated, horizontal and extended reach wells. For S-shaped borehole profiles, in-house studies show the dependency of conductor depth, intermediate casing point and well depth on radius of curvature at well sections where angle of deviation builds and drops. For horizontal and extended reach wells the dependence of intermediate casing, production string depth and well depth on the radius of curvature at the build-up sections is understood and applied.

This work has led to designs for S-shaped, horizontal and extended reach well profiles that significantly reduce construction cost. Formulated into Company Standards, these techniques allow 3-4% reduction in cost at the stage of well design and operational planning. Using this technology on standard contracts (as well as IPM projects) allows the customer to reduce expenses.

Drilling programs present further opportunities for Integra specialists to optimize well construction. For example, critical review of well designs made it possible to reduce the setting depth of intermediate casing. Changes in grade and weight of casing material, sufficiant to meet design criteria, have also provided savings. On some projects, single-stage casing cementing was shown to be sufficient, and implemented instead of two-stage cementing.

To deliver the "ideal well", important technical support is provided by Integra's in-house Technology Services division. As well as engineering design this includes advanced down-hole technologies and feasibility studies using existing equipment, much of which is manufactured in-house. Where necessary and cost-effective, customized solutions are developed.

"When talking about the "ideal well" concept, there are no easy solutions. Only a team of highly skilled professionals can minimize well cost while meeting geological, engineering and safety requirements" explains Integra Executive Vice-President for Drilling, Workover & IPM, Jorge Lopez.

He continues: "We are in close contact with customer representatives about their needs and our capabilities. The effectiveness of our "ideal well" solution has been demonstrated in the field to major oil and gas producers, with very positive feedback. But we keep moving forward, and have identified further innovations to propose to our clients, including rig types new to Russia. All of this originates from our innovative vision of the well construction process."