Shell and Halliburton Push the Limits of Extreme Well Conditions in Libya

HOUSTON - Today, Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) announced the recent deployment of its new Hostile Sequential Formation Tester II (HSFT-II™) tool. This latest formation evaluation tool allows operators to evaluate formations at increased pressures and temperatures, up to 30,000 pounds per square inch (psi) and 450°F, respectively, and in boreholes as small as four inches. No other commercially available formation testing tool is rated for such operating conditions.

In June 2009, Halliburton evaluated Shell’s Rashda A1 well in Libya with its industry-leading high-pressure/high-temperature (HPHT) wireline logging suite and the newly introduced HSFT-II tool to acquire downhole formation pressures, at temperatures reaching 420°F, a first for Shell, and pressures of about 20,000 psi.

Normally, in these hostile conditions, drilling would have been “blind,” and the low-risk option would have been to set an intermediate liner to prevent formation damage, at considerable cost with associated nonproductive time. With the new HSFT-II tool, five pressure points were successfully acquired, which revealed that the drilling operation could continue with minimal risk of a blowout, saving time and money.

As operators continue to expand their operations into increasingly challenging downhole environments, Halliburton is keeping pace with their evolving demands by providing the technologies and expertise to help them optimize their assets while reducing nonproductive time, costs and risks.

“This capability is clearly demonstrated on the high-pressure/high-temperature job successfully completed in Libya for Shell,” said Jonathan Lewis, vice president of Wireline and Perforating, a Halliburton product service line. “The Rashda A1 pressure data was successfully collected at the highest temperatures ever attempted by Halliburton and provided the customer with very valuable information in the most difficult of down-hole conditions.”