Weatherford in “industry’s first” with Gulf of Mexico casing sidetrack

U.S. oilfield services player Weatherford has achieved the industry’s first 12 ¼-inch casing sidetrack for an undisclosed operator.

Weatherford said that the casing sidetrack was achieved using the Shallow Angle QuickCut system and that it delivered a 22-feet window in a single trip for an ultra-deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Chip Miller, VP for the North America geo zone at Weatherford, said: “The operator contacted Weatherford to perform a Gulf of Mexico ultra-deepwater exit in a 12 ¼-inch heavy wall casing.

“This successful […] sidetrack casing became an industry first, made even more complicated by the need to achieve a dogleg low enough for production packers to safely pass through the resulting window”.

The company added that the operator deployed the Shallow Angle QuickCut with MultiCatch anchor and milled the 22-feet casing window and 15-feet rat hole in a single trip.

“This industry-first serves as a best practice for successfully exiting heavy wall casing, opening up a contingency scenario that was previously not feasible while at the same time, allowing operators to tap into bypassed reservoir sections safely and efficiently”, Miller said.