Norwegian offshore drilling technology company Enhanced Drilling (EDR) has recently received an order from Shell to supply a second EC-Drill Controlled Mud Level (CML) system to be used in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
The Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) system, named CML Closed Riser, is a further development of EDR’s EC-Drill technology, and will provide increased capability and safety, EDR suad,
According to the company, EDR’s standard EC-Drill technology uses a subsea pump connected to the drilling riser to manipulate the level of fluid within the riser and control wellbore pressure.
"This system is being used by multiple global clients to control the annular pressure during drilling, tripping, cementing, wireline and completion activities," EDR explained.
To handle the potential challenge of small influxes and riser gas when drilling deep-water wells, EDR has further developed the EC-Drill functionality by combining it with a riser closure device.
A dual annular riser closure device will be used together with the EC-Drill system where the dual annular joint will be located subsea just above the EC-Drill pump.
The system will perform normal operations with annulars open functioning as a conventional EC-Drill system. If an influx occurs during operations, closing the annulars allows a small influx to be circulated out of the well via the EC-Drill Closed Riser system rather than up the rig's choke and kill lines.
"The CML Closed Riser technology provides further value to Clients by allowing dynamic pore pressure measurement and dynamic leak off testing. This allows the system to actively identify both low and high side well limits during the operation," EDR said.