11-02-2013, 12:45 AM
'Stavros' pid='30680' datel Wrote:I noticed the Western rig is capable to drill to 4,000 meters with 4 inch drill pipe. I was under the impression that all of IOC's recent deep wells had much larger drill pipe. Is there any implication in this regard? Perhaps 4 inch drill pipe is ok for shallow wells but not for deep wells where pressure drop would be high in a smaller pipe?
There are no implications to be drawn from the drill pipe size. When they say 4" they probably mean 4 1/2" which is probably the most common size and the same size as used by IOC. In order to increase the depth capacity of the rig they some times go to 3 1/2" drill pipe to decrease the weight the rig must support.