Inspiration From Practice of Drilling and Completion in Ten-Thousand- Meter Scale Ultra-Deep Wells in the Gulf of Mexico

With successful breakthrough of key technologies and equipment including 12000 m automatic drilling rig, high efficient PDC bits and 240 ℃ resistant drilling fluid, China's onshore drilling capacity has reached 9000m level. The depth of Take-1 Well has successfully exceeded 10000 meters, making China the second country to achieve onshore drilling with 10000 meters globally with the ability to explore and develop oil and gas resources buried with depth over 10000 meters. However, the drilling and completion technology, used for oil and gas resources buried with depth over 10000 meters in China, is still in its infancy and exploration stage as only little experience has been obtained from 5 drilled onshore wells with depth over 9000 m. To this end, by systematically reviewing the geological conditions and drilling difficulties in the Gulf of Mexico, the drilling situation of deep and ultra deep wells, the drilling cycle, drilling and completion costs, production, drilling and completion design, widely applied equipment and technologies, reference and inspiration are provided for the drilling of oil and gas resources buried with depth over 10000meters in China. Analysis shows despite differences in geological conditions, formation drillability and other aspects, gap still exists in the number, drilling cycle, and ROP of ten-thousand-meter scale ultra-deep wells in China compared to that of the Gulf of Mexico. Based on the challenges faced for drilling oil and gas resources buried with depth over 10000meters in China, the future development direction of engineering technology and equipment is proposed. Proposed direction helps to accelerate the research and development of key engineering technologies and equipment for 10000meters ultra-deep drilling, providing support for exploration and development of oil and gas resources buried with depth over 10000 meters in China as well as assisting in the iterative upgrading of key technologies and equipment for drilling and completion.