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Copyright 2002, Offshore Technology Conference 
 
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2002 Offshore Technology Conference held in 
Houston, Texas U.S.A., 6–9 May 2002. 
 
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Abstract 
A 3,142-ft length of solid expandable openhole liner was 
installed successfully in a BP-operated well in November 
2001. This established an industry record length and 
demonstrated two improvements: (1) 654 ft of liner were 
simultaneously expanded and pumped to the bottom of the 
well without the need to stop to make connections; (2) a 
sliding sleeve valve permitted cement placement post-
expansion prior to drill-out. These improvements delivered 
significant time savings and offer reduced risk plus greater 
flexibility in the use of solid expandable liners. 
This work was conducted as a technology field trial at an 
onshore location before trying it in the higher cost offshore 
environment. Key steps were taken to reduce the risks of this 
trial, including provisions to completely recover the 
expandable equipment from the well in the event of a problem. 
Also, risks unique to the relatively shallow depth of this 
installation were addressed and minimized. 
 
Introduction 
Expandable tubulars introduce promising solutions to some of 
the challenges encountered in engineering and economics of 
wells. A growing body of literature describes expandable 
tubulars mechanics, applications and field case histories.1-6 
The first commercial installation of an expandable openhole 
liner was accomplished in November 1999. The work 
presented here was the 16th of 18 expandable liner 
installations undertaken by industry in year 2001. This paper 
reports fresh progress with upgrades to the knowledge and 
applicability of solid expandable tubulars. 
The concept of solid tubular expansion in wells is 
fundamentally proven, but as with many new technologies the 
commercial uptake can be slowed by end-users’ concerns 
about risk, reliability, versatility, etc. BP’s offshore 
operations teams have been instrumental in voicing their 
expectations and requirements for expandable tubulars. This 
in turn has enabled our drilling technology group to prioritize 
the goals of an onshore expandables field trials program. We 
believe that field trials such as the one described here are an 
effective way to identify areas for improvement, demonstrate 
progress and ultimately gain confidence that leads to faster 
and more efficient utilization of the new technology. 
 
Project Goals 
Three technical advances and a fourth technical objective were 
sought in this field trial: 
 
Expand more than 3,000 ft of liner. Certain deepwater 
drilling environments require dependable 3,000+ ft capability 
in order for expandable liners to be of practical use. End-users 
tend to view solid expandable tubulars as an unwarranted risk 
if success in their well entails doing something not previously 
accomplished. The greatest lengths run prior to this test were 
in the range of 2,462 ft, 2,342 ft and 2,186 ft; hence the goal 
was to demonstrate deployment of more than 3,000 ft length, 
with deepwater drilling staff present to gain 
first-hand experience. 
 
Expand via “scoping” technique. The term scoping 
describes extruding the liner off the face of the expansion cone 
while literally pumping the expanding liner to the bottom of 
the wellbore. Scoping is a possible solution to known 
difficulties with expansion of tubulars that are in a stuck pipe 
condition. Scoping was tried previously in a BP-sponsored 
test during which 280 ft of expansion was achieved. The 
goals in this test were to “scope” up to 700 ft of liner and then 
expand the remainder via standard technique. 
 
Cement via “scoping shoe”. BP underwrote development of 
a “scoping shoe” as a complementary enhancement to the 
scoping expansion technique. The scoping shoe provides, 
near the base of the liner, a sliding sleeve valve selectively 
opened and closed via up and down movement of the inner 
work string. This simple device introduces multiple fluid 
circulation and cementing options with distinct potential for 
significant time savings in expandable tubulars installations. 
 
Minimize “pop-out” to an acceptable level. “Pop-out” 
refers to sudden release of energy when the expansion cone 
 
OTC 14217 
Field Trial Proves Upgrades to Solid Expandable Tubulars 
Melvin J. Moore and Warren J. Winters, BP America Inc.; Edwin Zwald and David Brisco, Enventure Global Technology 
2 W. WINTERS, M. MOORE, E. ZWALD, D. BRISCO OTC 14217 
exits the expandable liner top. This is of concern primarily in 
shallow installations. If the cone is pumped hydraulically, the 
instantaneous pressure decrease (ca. 3,500 psi) upon expulsion 
can induce collapse loads in the liner and produce some 
upward work string travel at the surface. If the cone is pulled 
mechanically, pressure induced collapse loads are eliminated 
but there can be several feet of movement above the rig floor 
as the work string shortens from below and the drilling lines 
shorten at the surface upon sudden release (ca. 185,000 lb) of 
tension. The goals for this test were to prevent liner collapse 
and limit work string travel on the surface to 1 ft or less. 
 
System Overview 
Expandable Liner Assembly. The expandable liner system 
design for scoping is the same as for conventional bottom-up 
expansion. A scoping shoe (a sliding valve that allows 
circulation around the liner after expansion is initiated) was 
used. Subtle but significant differences between conventional 
and scoping expansion are depicted in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. Fig. 
3 and Fig. 4 present a schematic drawing and photograph of 
the scoping shoe. 
 
Deployment. Reference is made to Fig. 2 for a depiction of 
the deployment sequence: 
1. Lengths of unexpanded pipe ca. 42 ft long are connected 
together and tripped into the well with the pin end up and 
left hand thread makeup. 
2. Once the full length of expandable liner is run in, a hanger 
joint of unexpanded pipe ca. 20 ft long with elastomer 
seals is made up. (The hanger, once expanded, anchors 
and seals the liner top to the base casing.) 
3. An inner string of drill pipe is run inside of the 
expandable liner and screwed into the expansion cone 
located in the launcher at the bottom of the liner. 
4. The liner assembly is lowered into the well via work 
string and the scoping shoe is positioned in the open hole 
below the base casing. 
5. Once circulation is completed a dart is pumped down the 
inner string until it lands in the scoping shoe thus creating 
a closed pressure chamber. 
6. Pumping continues causing pipe to be expanded 
downward into the open hole at a rate proportional to the 
pump displacement and volumetric capacity of the 
expanded liner. Pipe expansion continues until the 
scoping shoe reaches the bottom of the well bore. 
7. The expansion cone is lowered to the scoping shoe and 
the sliding sleeve valve is engaged for circulating and 
cementing. (The scoping shoe is designed to allow 
multiple entries and when disengaged seals shut.) 
8. To complete the expansion process the cone is pulled 
backto the expansion face and expansion of remaining 
liner and hanger section is performed using conventional 
process. 
9. Final exit from the hanger joint causes a “pop-out” effect 
when energy is released. Depending on hanger depth, 
fluid properties and expansion force additional measures 
may be required to reduce surface shock. 
Scoping vs. Conventional Expansion. Deployment for 
scoping is similar to conventional expansion but there are 
certain distinctions: 
• Scoping expansion starts with the liner shoe some 
considerable distance off-bottom whereas conventional 
expansion starts with the liner shoe on or close to bottom. 
 
• During scoping expansion the liner shoe is pumped 
toward the well bottom while the work string remains 
stationary at the surface whereas in conventional 
expansion the liner shoe sits firmly on bottom as the work 
string is pumped upward and pulled from the well. 
 
• Scoping expansion is a continuous process during which 
hundreds of feet of liner can be expanded without 
interruption whereas conventional expansion is 
interrupted every time a (ca. 93 ft or 124 ft) stand of pipe 
is pulled from the well and removed from the work string. 
 
• Scoping expansion is begun prior to cementing (due to the 
liner shoe being far off-bottom) but the sliding valve 
permits cement placement once the liner has been pumped 
to bottom. Cementing can be done either before the 
hanger has been expanded (with fluid returns to surface) 
or after the hanger has been expanded (squeeze 
cementing). 
 
• Cementing options are fewer with conventional expansion 
(minus the scoping shoe). Cement is circulated either 
before start of expansion or squeezed after completion of 
expansion (requiring an extra trip into the well to either 
perforate or drill out the liner shoe before cement can be 
pumped). 
 
• The scoping shoe simply adds a useful circulation valve 
to the system. Scoping expansion can be done without 
the sliding valve (albeit minus the circulation benefits). 
Conversely, the sliding valve provides equivalent 
enhancement to a conventionally expanded drilling liner. 
 
During conventional bottom-up expansion of solid expandable 
openhole liners (via pressure driven cone), the initial liner 
shoe depth may be a few feet from bottom when pressure is 
applied and expansion is initiated. In such cases, the first 
reaction is for scoping expansion to occur until the liner shoe 
is pumped to bottom whereupon the subsequent reaction is for 
the work string to be hydraulically pumped upward, i.e., 
conventional expansion. 
 
Controlling Pop-Out. An extra joint of expandable liner was 
run above the hanger joint placing the exact depth pop-out in 
this installation at 1,649 ft RKB. This provided space in 
which to change expansion method, from pressure-driven 
movement of the expansion cone through the hanger joint to 
mechanically pulled movement of the cone through the final 
16 ft of expandable pipe. 
OTC 14217 FIELD TRIAL PROVES UPGRADES TO SOLID EXPANDABLE TUBULARS 3 
Mechanically driven pop-out eliminated concern about 
pressure induced liner collapse but raised concern about 
sudden, excessive movement of work string, blocks, bails and 
elevators above the rig floor. The amount of unrestrained 
upward work string movement was predicted to be 4.6 ft. 
 
Measures to reduce surface movement to the goal of 1 ft or 
less included: 
• Three 4.75 in. OD bumper subs, each with 15.5 inches of 
stroke, were positioned in the work string at 
approximately 500 ft intervals beginning 500 ft above the 
expansion cone. These provided the potential to absorb 
up to 3.8 ft of the predicted work string movement. 
 
• Three 4.75 in. drill collars (93 ft stands) were positioned 
immediately above each bumper sub. These provided 
additional mass in the work string to dampen the rate of 
upward movement and somewhat reduce the amount of 
tension-induced stretch in the work string. 
 
• A 3.5 in. OD drill pipe pup joint was installed at the top 
of the work string for space-out so that the position of the 
traveling blocks in the derrick at the time of pop-out 
would be at least 60 ft above the rig floor. This 
minimized the length of drilling line between traveling 
blocks and sheaves and hence the amount of drilling line 
stretch in the system. 
 
• As a precaution the drill pipe elevators were, in addition 
to their normal latching mechanism, secured so that they 
could not inadvertently open in the event of excessive 
pipe movement. 
 
Well Selection 
Criteria for an appropriate test well included: 
• BP operated project; 
• Onshore location; 
• Lower cost environment (day rate at least factor of 10 less 
than potential offshore application); 
• Outstanding safe working practices; 
• Rig and service personnel well-versed in BP HSE policy; 
• Rig with sufficient hoisting and load handling capacities; 
• Well design compatible with expandable tubulars; 
• Expandable installation must satisfy a required casing 
point (includes liner top pressure test and liner shoe 
cement integrity); 
• Convenient road access with nearby logistical support; 
• Schedule during moderate climate. 
 
The Cable 5-18 well met these criteria. The well is located in 
Pittsburg County, Oklahoma (Arkoma Basin onshore US) as 
part of the Wilburton Field development. Cable 5-18 was 
proposed as a 9,200 ft development gas well with a protective 
9-5/8” casing string set at 4,700 ft depth. 
A combination of 1,792 ft of 9-5/8” 47.0 lb/ft standard 
base casing and 7-5/8” x 9-5/8” 29.7 lb/ft expandable liner set 
at 4,700 ft depth was designed to satisfy the casing 
requirement. This entailed drilling a 12-1/4” diameter hole to 
4,700 ft but instead of running 9-5/8” casing fully to the well 
bottom a shorter length (1,792 ft) of 9-5/8” casing was 
suspended (uncemented) from the wellhead. This created the 
opportunity to install the 3,142 ft (pre-expansion length) of 
expandable liner through the remaining 2,908 ft of open hole. 
 
This was an ideal situation for a solid expandable tubulars 
field trial because: 
• It introduced minimal risk and disruption to the original 
well plan. 
• It was not necessary to cement the 9-5/8” casing before 
running the expandable liner. 
• If there was an unresolvable problem with the expandable 
openhole liner (prior to cementing), the liner and if 
necessary 9-5/8” casing could be completely removed to 
fully restore the well to previous status, i.e., the open hole 
could be recovered and 9-5/8” casing run to 4,700 ft depth 
per original plan. 
 
Implementation 
Peer Reviews and Risk Assessment. Two peer reviews and a 
risk assessment were conducted during field trial planning. 
One concern that emerged was about familiarizing rig and 
casing crews with unique aspects of solid expandable tubulars, 
handling equipment and associated procedures. Pipe handling 
of solid expandables is similar to that used for chrome 
tubulars. Low penetration, nondirectional dies in the pipe 
tongs and elevators are required to reduce the chance of 
introducing external defects that could lead to rupture during 
the expansion process. Extra emphasis was thus devoted to 
procurement of appropriate pipe handling equipment, and in 
determining beforehand the availability and location of 
supplemental and backup equipment if required. Also, it was 
agreed that particular emphasis would be devoted at the well 
site during pre-job safety meetings to the special care and 
handling requirements for solid expandable tubulars. 
Another concern was addressing differences between the 
kelly-drive rig used in this test vs. top-drive rigs for which 
predominant application of the technology is envisioned. Pipe 
expansion via bottom-up pump/pull method requires that the 
system is de-pressured each stand length and then re-pressured 
after a pipe stand is removed. This is compatible with top-
drive rigs but on kelly-drive rigs a high-pressure hosemust be 
connected to the top of each stand pumped out of the well. 
This requires a unique crossover “pump-in” sub. As each 
stand is removed from the work string and racked in the 
derrick, the derrick man can disconnect the high-pressure hose 
and union. It is safest and more practical to leave the pump-in 
subs attached to the pipe stands, to be removed later as the 
pipe is laid down or run back in the hole to cement. Twenty-
six 3 ½” IF x 1502 pump-in subs were manufactured for use 
on this job. 
 
 
4 W. WINTERS, M. MOORE, E. ZWALD, D. BRISCO OTC 14217 
Technical Limits Workshop and Site Visit. All rig 
personnel, service representatives and company drilling and 
safety representatives attended a two-day “technical limits 
workshop” near the well location during the rig move. The 
workshop and site visit established exactly what equipment 
was available and facilitated final detailed planning for job 
execution. This included preparation of load-out lists, 
organizing fishing equipment, and establishment of final 
equipment inspection and testing requirements. 
The workshop led to a change in the mud program that 
improved probability for expansion success. Typically in 
some Arkoma Basin wells drilling mud is required when water 
influx makes it impractical to continue air drilling. The 
preliminary drilling program called for mud-up with water 
based sodium silicate fluid. As rig personnel learned that 
friction and fluid lubricity are significant factors in tubulars 
expansion, they suggested using oil base mud in lieu of 
sodium silicate fluid for drilling the lower section of the well 
interval. The crews were experienced in use of oil base mud 
and the asset had sufficient volumes of this mud in local 
storage. The decision to use oil base mud created a win-win 
situation for deployment of solid expandable tubulars since 
additional lubricants are required when sodium silicate or 
other water base fluids are used. 
 
Installation. By design, 13-3/8” 54.5 lb/ft casing was set at 
800 ft depth (Fig. 5). A 12 ¼” hole was air-drilled to 2,200 ft 
depth where water influx required mud-up. The remaining 
interval was drilled to 4,700 ft depth with oil base fluid. Base 
casing (9-5/8” 47.0 lb/ft) was run to 1,800 ft depth preparatory 
to installation of the expandable openhole liner. 
Job safety analysis meetings were conducted with the 
crews, once per tour first for the pipe running phase and next 
for the pipe expansion phase of the installation. It was 
imperative for everyone to clearly understand his or her 
respective roles and responsibilities. It was agreed that 
anyone who detected a safety or procedural concern during the 
installation should immediately raise the issue, and that 
operations would cease for as long as necessary to 
satisfactorily resolve the concern per “management of 
change” policy. 
The 3,142 ft of 7 5/8” x 9 5/8” 29.7 lb/ft expandable liner 
were assembled and run in the hole to 4,000 feet on an inner 
string of 3 ½” 13.3 lb/ft drill pipe. A dart was pumped down 
the inner string for sealing inside of the scoping shoe to create 
a pressure chamber and thus initiate expansion. The 
calculated fluid volume to displace the dart was 29 barrels 
compared to the measured volume 30.3 barrels. Once the dart 
landed in the scoping shoe 3,030 psi pump pressure was 
applied to shear-out a rupture disc in the expansion cone and 
initiate expansion. 
 
Expansion. Scoping expansion proceeded reasonably 
smoothly (Fig. 6) at ca. 2,550 psi pump pressure. The 1 
bbl/min pump displacement corresponded to an expansion rate 
and liner advancement speed of 17 ft/min. We were aided in 
monitoring progress, perhaps owing to the shallow depth of 
this installation, by distinct pressure spikes that were soon 
recognized to be indicative of expandable couplings passing 
across the expansion cone. Reference is made to Fig. 6 where 
at least 14 such pressure spikes are evident at consistently 
spaced intervals (a total of 15 couplings were expanded during 
scoping). Due to the thread interface and expansion 
mechanics, greater force and hence pressure is required at the 
expandable couplings than in the pipe body to produce the 
required plastic deformation of the material. 
It is desirable while scoping to know the liner shoe depth 
as it progresses downward. One must use indirect indicators 
since the work string remains stationary at surface. We were 
prepared with charts to correlate total pump displacement to 
liner depth. The key measurements during scoping are total 
volume pumped, pump pressure and hook load. 
A total of 654 feet of liner were expanded via scoping in 
40 minutes time. Scoping progress stopped 46 ft above total 
depth of the hole in what was interpreted to be fill. The end of 
scoping is seen in Fig. 6 as the final rise in pump pressure. 
This was accompanied (not shown) by a corresponding 
decrease in hook load indicating that scoping had stopped and 
conventional bottom-up expansion had begun. 
The remaining 2,488 ft of expandable liner were 
expanded by conventional pump/pull technique at ca. 3,150 
psi pump pressure in 9 hours time (Fig. 7). During 
conventional expansion the driller pulls the weight of the 
blocks and inner string so that pump pressure acting on the 
expansion cone has only friction and plastic yield to 
overcome. Several pipe expansion cycles are usually required 
before the driller can optimize coordination of pipe pull to 
pump pressure and expansion force. 
The liner dimensions before expansion were 7.625 in. 
OD x 6.875 in. ID. Liner dimensions after expansion were 
8.544 in. OD x 7.830 in. ID. This represents 12.0% and 
13.9% expansion of the OD and ID, respectively. Liner length 
shortened (top-down) during expansion by 4.4% (137 ft). 
Pump pressures during scoping expansion were less than 
those during conventional expansion (2,550 psi vs. 3,150+ 
psi). During scoping the weight of the entire liner is applied to 
the expansion cone thus contributing to expansion. We 
believe that it is preferable to minimize the pressures applied 
during expansion. Scoping expansion is clearly one means to 
reduction of the required pressures. 
 
Pop-Out. The final 16 ft were expanded via 185,000 lb. 
mechanical pull without application of pressure. Pop-out was 
clearly recognized by the sudden reduction of hook load but 
was an otherwise acceptably low-energy event at the surface. 
Upward pipe movement was less than 1 ft indicating that the 
pop-out reduction measures were effective. 
 
Liner Lap Test. The expanded liner top was tested, 
immediately following completion of expansion, to 1,000 psi 
surface pressure for 15 minutes per regulations (Fig. 8). The 
drilling liner was full of 9.4 lb/gal mud also subjected to the 
1,000 psi test so pressure integrity of the entire post-expansion 
system was confirmed. A bleed-off of 22 psi was recorded 
OTC 14217 FIELD TRIAL PROVES UPGRADES TO SOLID EXPANDABLE TUBULARS 5 
during the liner lap test. This reduction is insignificant since 
22 psi under such conditions corresponds to a .003 (three-
thousandths) gallon change in volume of the pressurized 
system. The expandable liner hanger provided an effective 
liner lap seal. 
 
Cementing. Conventional inner string cementing was used to 
cement the liner shoe. A stinger at the bottom of the work 
string was lowered to the scoping shoe and the sliding sleeve 
engaged to permit flow to the well annulus outside the 
expanded liner. Several open and close sequences were 
conducted to confirm function and reliability. A 40-bbl 
cement spacer was pumped ahead of 470 sacks of lead cement 
followed by 130 sacks of Class C tail cement and a wiper ball. 
Once the cement was pumped and the wiper ball displaced, the 
work string was pulled upward to close the sliding valve. 
Monitoring of the annulus confirmed that the sliding valve 
was sealing. The work string was then pulled from the well.Drill Out and Drill Ahead. The next well interval required 
air drilling so mud was displaced from the well prior to 
drilling out the scoping shoe. Pressure integrity of the 
expanded liner was once again demonstrated, this time under 
negative pressure conditions. A milled tooth bit drilled out the 
scoping shoe on air/mist in 4.5 hours time. A 7-5/8” hole was 
drilled to 9,200 ft depth through which 5 ½” 20.0 lb/ft 
production casing was set. The expandable openhole liner 
fulfilled all requirements for the casing point including 
supporting drilling and setting of production casing to total 
depth. The well is currently on production. 
 
Time Impact. The Cable 5-18 solid expandable tubulars field 
trial consumed 31 hours more rig time than normally required 
to run and cement conventional 9-5/8” casing at that depth in a 
typical Wilburton field development well. We consider it a 
significant achievement that this field trial was accomplished 
with relatively modest impact to the drilling schedule and 
business of the host business unit. This result is attributed to 
appropriate planning and close coordination between the 
drilling contractor, service providers, drilling team and 
upstream technology expandable tubulars team. 
Scoping expansion was 3.5 times faster than 
conventional pump/pull expansion. We can reasonably 
project that had it been possible to expand the entire 3,142 ft 
of liner via scoping technique (the well depth was too shallow 
for this), 6.5 hours of time would have been saved thus 
reducing the net time impact of the field trial from 31 to 24 
hours. 
The sliding valve saved a round-trip to bottom of the 
well plus wait-on-cement time, i.e., 18-22 hours even at 
shallow depth. We can reasonably predict that time and cost 
savings in a deepwater well would be much more due to far 
greater depth (trip time) and (ca. ten-fold) higher hourly cost. 
 
Summary 
• A 1,000 horsepower kelly-drive rig was used to install 
3,142 ft of 7 5/8” x 9 5/8” expandable open hole drilling 
liner in the Cable 5-18 well in Pittsburg County, 
Oklahoma, USA. The expandable liner was set through 
9-5/8” 47.0 lb/ft casing to a total depth of 4,654 ft. 
 
• Liner dimensions before expansion were 7.625 in. OD x 
6.875 in. ID. Post-expansion dimensions were 8.544 in. 
OD x 7.830 in. ID representing 12.0% and 13.9% 
expansion of the OD and ID, respectively. 
 
• This technology field trial was conducted at an onshore 
location before trying it in a higher cost offshore 
operation. Net time impact to the well operation was 30.6 
hours more rig time than normally required to run and 
cement conventional 9-5/8” casing at that depth. 
 
• The installation established an industry record solid 
expandable openhole liner length. 
 
• The first 654 ft of liner were simultaneously expanded 
and pumped to bottom in 40 minutes without the need to 
stop for connections. The remaining 2,488 ft were 
expanded via conventional technique in 9 hours time. 
Scoping expansion was 3.5 times faster than conventional 
pump/pull expansion. 
 
• The pop-out reduction measures were effective. 
 
• Following expansion, the liner lap was pressure tested 
successfully at 1,000 psi for 15 minutes. 
 
• A sliding sleeve valve permitted cement to be placed 
post-expansion prior to drill-out. This delivered 
significant time and cost savings. 
 
• The field trial met R&D objectives while satisfying a 
casing point requirement in the commercial gas well. 
 
• The field trial was completed without accident, safety 
incident or harm to the environment. 
 
• Insights, achievements and areas for improvement were 
observed first-hand and documented both by upstream 
technology and deepwater drilling personnel. 
 
Acknowledgement 
We acknowledge the support of our Technology Unit 
Leadership and thank the Mid Continent Business Unit, 
Arkoma Drilling Team, personnel at the Cable 5-18 well site 
including Larry Young, Tim Sasser, Roger Russell and 
especially drilling engineer Jon Wright for outstanding 
dedication to this project. We are indebted to teammate Jon 
Gent for his many contributions before, during and following 
the Cable 5-18 expandable tubulars field trial. Thanks to Ron 
Nida, Halliburton Energy Services for excellent service on 
this project. 
6 W. WINTERS, M. MOORE, E. ZWALD, D. BRISCO OTC 14217 
References 
1. Filippov, A. et al: ”Expandable Tubular Solutions”, SPE 56500 
presented at the 1999 Annual Technical Conference and 
Exhibition, Houston, Texas, 3-6 October. 
2. Haut, R. and Sharif, Q.: “Meeting Economic Challenge of 
Deepwater Drilling with Expandable-Tubular Technology”, 
presented at the 11th Annual Deep Offshore Technology 
Conference and Exhibition, Stavanger, Norway, 19-21 October, 
1999. 
3. Stewart, R. et al: “Expandable Wellbore Tubulars”, SPE 60766 
presented at the Technical Symposium Quest for Solutions in a 
Changing Industry, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 24-27 October 1999. 
4. Benzie, S., Burge, P. and Dobson, A.: “Towards a Mono-
Diameter Well – Advances in Expanding Tubing Technology”, 
SPE 65184 presented at the European Petroleum Conference, 
Paris, France, 24-25 October, 2000. 
5. Ruggier, M. et al: “Advances in Expandable Tubing – A Case 
History”, SPE/IADC 67768 presented at the Drilling 
Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27 February-1 
March, 2001. 
6. Dupal, K. et al: “Solid Expandable Tubular Technology – A 
Year of Case Histories in the Drilling Environment”, SPE/IADC 
67770 presented at the Drilling Conference, Amsterdam, The 
Netherlands, 27 February-1 March, 2001. 
OTC 14217 FIELD TRIAL PROVES UPGRADES TO SOLID EXPANDABLE TUBULARS 7 
 
Fig. 1 – Installation Sequence for Conventional Bottom-Up Expansion. 
 
 
 
Fig. 2 – Installation Sequence for Scoping Expansion. 
 
 
 
Condition mud, 
cement liner Latch plug Expand Liner Expand Hanger Jt 
Drill Hole Run 
Expandable 
Liner 
Exit 
Hanger 
Joint Mill Out Shoe 
 
 
Drill Hole Run 
Expandable 
Liner Mill Out Shoe 
Pump Dart 
to Initiate 
Expansion 
Expand 
Liner off 
Cone 
Scope Liner 
to TD Lower Cone for Cementing Expand Hanger Jt 
Finish 
Expansion 
8 W. WINTERS, M. MOORE, E. ZWALD, D.BRISCO OTC 14217 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 3 – Diagram of the “Scoping Shoe” with Sliding Sleeve Valve. 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 4 – Photograph of the “Scoping Shoe” used in the Cable 5-18 
Field Trial. 
Stinger Assembly 
Collet Area for Stinger 
Upper Flow Port - Open Position 
Lower Flow Port - Open Position 
Outer Sliding Sleeve 
Inner Sliding Mandrel 
OTC 14217 FIELD TRIAL PROVES UPGRADES TO SOLID EXPANDABLE TUBULARS 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 5 – Schematic of the Cable 5-18 Well. 
 
 
11/17/01 
23:40 23:50 
11/18/01 
00:00 00:10 00:20 00:30 
11/18/01 
00:40 
Time 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
A 
1000 
2000 
3000 
4000 
5000 
6000 
7000 
B 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
C 
0 
100 
200 
300 
400 
500 
600 
700 
E 
Rate 
(b )
Pressure 
( i)Total Volume 
(bbl)
Expansion Length 
(ft)
A B 
C E 
4 3 2 1 
Event Log 
1 2 
3 4 
 Displace Dart Land Dart 
 Begin Scoping End Scoping 
 
Fig. 6 – Pressure Record for 654 ft of Scoping Expansion in the Cable 5-18 Field Trial. 
 
40’
800’
4,700’
9,200’
20” 
13-3/8” 
9-5/8” 
5-1/2” 
30” hole 
17-1/2” hole
12-1/4” hole
7-3/4” hole
40’ 
800’ 
4,700’
9,200’
20”
13-3/8”
9-5/8” 
5-1/2” 
30” hole 
17-1/2” hole 
12-1/4” hole 
7-5/8” hole 
8.54” OD 
expanded liner 
(7-5/8” pre-
expansion) 
Standard Well Design Expandables Field Trial 
1,800’ 
Pump Pressure 
Volume 
Pumped 
Length 
Expanded 
PSI BPM BBL FT 
Pump Rate 
10 W. WINTERS, M. MOORE, E. ZWALD, D.BRISCO OTC 14217 
 
 
Conventional Expansion 
11/18/01 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 11/18/01 08:00 
Time 
0 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
A 
1000 
2000 
30004000 
5000 
6000 
 B 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
C 
Rate Pressure Total Volume A B C 
 
 
Fig. 7 – Pressure Record for 2,488 ft of Bottom-Up Expansion in the Cable 5-18 Field Trial. 
 
 
 
 
11/18/01 
14:10 
 
14:15 
 
14:20 
 
14:25 
 11/18/01 
14:30 
 Time 
0 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
 
100 
 
400 
 
700 
 
1000 
 
1300 
 
1600 
 
 
0.0 
0.2 
0.4 
0.6 
0.8 
1.0 
1.2 
1.4 
1.6 
 
 
 
 
1 
 
1 Test Top Of Liner 
Fig. 8 – Pressure Record 
for the 1,000 psi Liner Top Test in the Cable 5-18 Field Trial. 
Pressure 
Volume 
Rate 
BPM PSI BBL 
Pressure 
PSI BPM 
Rate 
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