Soft Torque Impact on Drilling Performance in Qatar

The drilling industry has identified torsional stick-slip vibrations as one of the obstacles to the progress and efficiency of drilling operations, and a common cause for tool failures. Therefore, significant research into different technologies and methods has been conducted to mitigate this issue. The Soft Torque Rotary System (STRS) is one of these technologies which aim to actively dampen these vibrations from surface. This system was originally developed by Shell in the early ‘90’s. In recent years, the implementation of the original Soft Torque technology has been improved and this improved implementation is now rapidly being deployed on the Shell global rig fleet. In 2009, Qatar Shell was one of the first to use this new Soft Torque implementation for the Pearl GTL development wells. Gulf Drilling International, GDI, has also taken up this technology and installed it on their Al-Khor jack-up rig, currently on contract with Qatar Shell. This paper highlights the experience Qatar Shell had by comparing the drilling performance on Pearl GTL between wells with STRS installed and those that did not have STRS. This paper also details the experience and improvements seen as a result of the STRS installed on Al- Khor rig and the tests conducted with having the STRS system switched on and off in the same formations to compare its efficiency. Finally, this paper will also cover Shell’s global experience with these systems.