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Challenges for very deep oil and gas drilling – will there ever be a depth limit ?

Kelesidis Vasilis

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Summary

The continuous and ever increasing demand for fossil fuels and in particular oil and gas has pushed drilling and exploration industry to drill in ultra deep waters (water depths more than 2000 m) with the wells drilled to depths in ex- cess of more than 7500 m. These wells are very expensive to drill and complete with costs up to about $100 million. Reservoir challenges are pore pressures that exceed 138 MPa beyond the limit of some current logging tools while the temperatures are not as extreme being around 125 oC. In this paper we examine the challenges placed on drilling equipment, critically review the state of the art on developing new tools and techniques to withstand these high pressures and present views about the potential depth limits for hydrocarbon drilling. In addition, techniques and innovative tools to address these challenges are presented. The abiotic theory of hydrocar- bon generation from the depths of earth is also reviewed, based on prior and recent research findings, and the implications of such a theory are critically discussed. Whatever the origin of hydrocarbons, the challenges will be in the very deep boreholes and ultra deep water levels, re- quiring innovations and excellent teams from top notch professionals.

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