Two-Well Fish Ranging & Re-Intersection

New Mexico, USA · 2022

Ranging two open-hole sidetracks adjacent to stuck-BHA fish to re-intersect and abandon the original holes

The challenge

→Two wells lost a BHA stuck in the vertical hole.
→Each left a long drillpipe / BHA fish downhole.
→Open-hole sidetracks had to track adjacent to the fish and re-intersect it for a sealed P&A.

Our solution

Passive magnetic ranging located the fish stump / end-of-pipe while active ranging mapped the pipe body, anchored by existing directional surveys and dedicated gyro runs to cut the number of open-hole ranging runs. Gunnar steered each sidetrack to stay adjacent to the fish and re-intersect it, then set up cement abandonment, without adding casing strings that would corrupt the magnetic picture.

Both open-hole sidetracks ranged to re-intersect their fish for abandonment

The result

2 wells

stuck-BHA fish re-intersected & abandoned

·Located the fish end / stump by passive ranging; mapped the pipe body with active ranging
·Used directional surveys + dedicated gyro to minimize open-hole ranging runs
·Steered each open-hole sidetrack to stay adjacent to and re-intersect the fish
·Enabled balanced cement abandonment without adding interfering casing strings

Ranging

PMR

Deployment

BHA While Drilling (PMR + Active) / Gyro

Re-entry

Yes

Location

New Mexico, USA

Year

2022

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