Abstracts:

Drilling With Glass and Air: Using Hollow Glass Spheres To Address A Wide Ranging Drilling Challenge In A Safe, Efficient And Cost-effective Manner

A major oil development with multiple rigs delivering extensive multi-laterals encountered a pervasive mud-window issue within the reservoir.  The resulting extensive NPT, severe mud losses and associated formation-damage was also deteriorating with time due to production related depletion. Conventional approaches to stem losses had failed to deliver an effective outcome and adoption of an energized mud-system with acceptable Effective Circulating Density (ECD) was not considered cost effective, pragmatic nor safe.

HGS as an approach to lighten the mud, often used for cementing ECD, application for drilling has been fairly limited and bespoke.  For this application we required an option with broad capabilities that could be scaled-up and exported to other development areas where such issues existed.

Speaker Bio:

Martin Rylance is the Distinguished Advisor for Completions and Well Enhancement at MEDCO Energi. Previously he worked at bp, their NOJVs and partner companies for more than 39 years. Having lived in 12 Countries and worked in over 55 he has a truly International footprint in well enhancement, fracturing and stimulation services, well control and multilateral drilling. He is a co-author of several books, including “Modern Fracturing: Enhancing Natural Gas Production”, and the principal author of more than 200 industry technical papers, articles and patents.

Technically, he has been involved in all aspects of stimulation, pumping, well interventions and pressure control service, multi-laterals, CTD and snubbing. More recently (the last 20 years) he has also specialised in developing challenging and stranded resources and fracturing and stimulation in tectonic and HPHT environments. During his career he has been responsible for the implementation of numerous Global Exploration and Appraisal programmes, having executed multiple pilot programmes in a broad swathe of overseas locations. He has built, developed and managed Teams that have delivered 10s of 1,000’s of stimulation and fracturing treatments Internationally.

Martin Rylance has been an SPE Distinguished Lecturer in 2007, 2013, 2018 and then once again in 2024, he is a Distinguished Member of the SPE. He received the SPE Completions Optimization and Technology Award for the SPE GCS in 2015 and then SPE Internationally in 2021. He is a contributing editor of the JPT, a JPT Reviewer, the current Past Chair of the SPE HyFTS, a Director of the SPE MTS and continues to serve on a number of diverse SPE Committees, including the SPE HFTC and IHFTC.

He holds a 1st Class BSc (Hons) degree in Mathematics from Salford University, is a Chartered Mathematician and a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics.