The Russian connection

The CIS region in general, and Russia in particular, are no exception to the global trend of operators redirecting their efforts towards unconventional, more complex-to-drill areas. Bringing those oil and gas reserves to the surface will involve a series of operational, environmental, economic and logistical challenges. Tackling each of these challenges will call for careful technical consideration.

The CIS region in general, and Russia in particular, are no exception to the global trend of operators redirecting their efforts towards unconventional, more complex-to-drill areas. Bringing those oil and gas reserves to the surface will involve a series of operational, environmental, economic and logistical challenges. Tackling each of these challenges will call for careful technical consideration.

Sakhalin-1, a megaproject in the Russian Far East, illustrates the magnitude of the tasks that lie ahead. The development of the initial Chayvo and Odoptu fields by Exxon Neftegas has produced a quick succession of world records for extended-reach drilling. Only after a huge purpose-built land rig was assembled in the remote island was the operator able to drill offshore from onshore locations. Similarly in the North Caspian Sea, the Korchagin offshore field is being developed by Lukoil through highly demanding wells that can extend horizontally for over five kilometres. For such extended-reach applications, the ability of the pipes connections to withstand extreme torque and compression becomes paramount to allow a successful operation.

TenarisHydril Wedge Series 500^TM premium connections have been a logical choice for Russian operators developing difficult extended-reach and deep wells. Thanks to their unique dovetailed-wedge thread form design, which creates the largest possible contact surface area during make-up, these connections offer superior compression and several times the torque strength of competing solutions. They can be combined with Dopeless^® technology, another revolutionary solution pioneered by Tenaris which drastically minimises the environmental footprint of drilling operations.

The combination of TenarisHydril connections and dope-free technology is poised to play a pivotal role in the development of unconventional operations in Russia. Unlike standard connections, which require the use of liquid-based storage and running compounds, the dry coating is applied at the mill after each pipe is threaded, in a controlled industrial process. Since our dope-free connections already come with the exact amount of uniformly applied lubricant, operators can eliminate time-consuming preparation activities at the rig. In environmentally sensitive areas, avoiding the use of wet lubricants helps operators meet zero-discharge policies. Lukoil has been using Dopeless connections in the North Caspian Sea precisely for this reason, as well as for the technology's ability to provide cleaner working surfaces and reduce pipe handling and manpower at hazardous offshore rigs.

In Eastern Siberia, Rosneft has achieved significant time-savings and operational simplicity in extreme low temperature environment at its Vankor project, where the use of this innovative technology is proving its worth in extreme, remote Arctic conditions. As Russian operators move ahead with the development of new oil and gas offshore and onshore fields, we can expect more world records for extended-reach and other complex drilling applications to be broken. Helping make many of those records possible, you can also expect the unmatched torque and high-compression capabilities of Wedge connections teaming up with the environmental, operational and safety advantages of Dopeless technology.

Biography

Nina Molochkova is a Sales Manager for the CIS region at Tenaris, the leading supplier of tubular products and related services for the world's energy industry.