'Putncalls' pid='43340' datel Wrote:Peteng, Any comments of the current sidetrack? Thanks
This appears to be the typical case of the drill pipe becoming stuck in the hole due to sticky shale, sloughing shale or swelling shale. May be caused by the shale doing a kind of plastic flow due to it malleable nature when a hole is drilled through it. Or it is sometimes caused by the shale being wet by the drilling fluid causing the clays to swell. Or it can be caused by over pressured shale that has not had an opportunity to loose its water since deposition. The problem can sometimes be corrected with a change in the mud character and sometimes by mud weight.
Why are they sidetracking? When the pipe becomes stuck you either have to get it unstuck and pull it out of the hole or you have to "back off" the drill pipe above the stuck point and side track or attempt to "fish" out the stuck portion. It is usually more economical to abandon the fish, replace the lost drill collars and bit and proceed to side track around the fish.