In 2012, TOTAL E&P BORNEO decided to continue the Maharaja Lela South Field (MLS) development by drilling wells with up to 15,000psi on the south panel. This project required the installation of the third well head platform on the field is knowns as the ML South project. In 2016, the new wells drilled were among the most challenging development wells ever drilled in Ultra HP/HT domain, with reservoir pressure up to 17,000psi, well head pressure close to 15,000psi, reservoir temperature up to 165°C, all combined with CO2, H2S and shallow reservoir.

The MLS field is operated by TOTAL E&P BORNEO B.V for the association with Shell Deepwater Borneo Ltd and PB ExPro Sdn Bhd. Mud optimization, drilling procedures and adaptation of the well architecture have been intensively prepared and developed in partnership with Vallourec in order to overcome the extreme field conditions. A 10-½" Premium production casing with 125ksi sour service material was tailor made and qualified for this project in order to withstand the extreme load cases but also to optimize the string weight and maintain similar minimum clearance as with a 10" casing in a 12-¼" hole. On the completion side, the latest generation of premium connection has been intensively tested for the production tubing according to ISO 13679 FDIS:2011 CAL IV protocol, the most severe protocol available in the Industry. A fine-tuned chemistry of the Super 13 Chromium material which successfully passed the corrosion tests as per TOTAL requirements without pitting nor cracks has been developed, industrialized, delivered and finally run in the MLS South wells.

This paper describes how Vallourec and TOTAL have worked together on the development of innovative connection designs; new generation of materials and how the combination of both was able to solve several of the well architecture design challenges historically faced by operators embarking into HP/HT projects.

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