Houston engineering firm conquers Spanish drilling problems!

By Patrick Reynolds

April 2004

HOUSTON – Signa Engineering Corp., An area of Southern Spain known for bullfighting and flamenco guitar was the recent site of a major drilling accomplishment by a Houston-area oil and gas engineering and operations management company.

Over the last month, engineers from Signa Engineering Corp. provided engineering and drilling consulting at the Marismas C5 and C7 gas wells in Andalucia, Spain, significantly reducing well construction costs from all previous attempts by Petroleum Oil & Gas Espana, S.A.

The drilling region is located south of Seville, parts of which are dubiously known amongst drillers as “problem areas” for oil and gas drilling operations, particularly wellbore instability occurrences.

“Wells previously drilled in this area have presented a lot of problems for drillers, specifically wellbore stability problems,” said Dennis Moore, senior operations engineer for Signa. “The wells are straight, shallow holes, but a lot of stuck pipe had been reported there.”

Signa engineers spent approximately a month at the site, during which time they conquered the problematic events that had historically plagued drilling campaigns in that area.

“The participation of Signa Engineering was critical in being able to drill these two wells under the curve and for a fraction of the AFE (authority for expenditure), while reducing or eliminating problems that were experienced in other wells,” said Ricardo Gonzalez, operations manager for Petroleum Oil & Gas Espana, S.A.

Signa also participated in the optimization of the drilling fluids program and supervised the mud engineering at the site. A well-designed engineering plan – combined with the optimized drilling fluids program – alleviated the problem of stuck pipe and wellbore instability.

“Signa personnel proved to be competent and professional and contributed a great deal to the success of the project,” Gonzalez continued. “We hope to continue working together with Signa for our upcoming projects and wells.”