Predator Technologies

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in combining underbalanced drilling techniques with horizontal/multilateral drilling techniques to develop new and existing reservoirs. Advances in drilling and well control technologies have made Underbalanced horizontal drilling both a safe and economical means of extracting hydrocarbons, particularly in older, low-pressure reservoirs. Combining these technologies has given operators another means of improving production rates and increasing the percentage of hydrocarbons ultimately recovered from a reservoir. Underbalanced drilling reduces or eliminates skin damage, maximizing production efficiencies and minimizing the need for expensive stimulation programs.

The production efficiency gains are further enhanced through the greater formation exposure and better reservoir drainage provided by horizontal and multilateral drilling. Increases in initial production rates (of underbalanced horizontal wells compared to overbalanced vertical wells) of up to ten times have been achieved in Canada, with the average increase three times. Drilling underbalanced can also reduce overall drilling costs. This is primarily due to increased rates-of-penetration. Increases of two to four times the ROP using mud systems are not uncommon; cases in which the ROP was increased by a factor of ten have been reported. Other ways in which costs are reduced include elimination of lost circulation problems, reduction of stuck pipe incidents, increases in bit life, and - in air drilling - minimization of formation swelling.

Another advantage of underbalanced drilling is that hydrocarbons produced while drilling can reduce the payback time for the operator. Existing production infrastructure can usually accommodate produced fluids or gas with minimum modifications or additions, especially in infill drilling.

With 400 to 700 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of methane in U.S. mines this means that only 90 to 100 Tcf would constitute a four-year natural gas supply for the U.S. As a nation, if we recover just 15% of the methane in U.S. coal beds, it would meet the entire U.S. gas demand for 11 years. Coal Bed Methane, a clean-burning hydrocarbon, could potentially make a large portion of the country self-sufficient in coming years.

Another good reason to pursue this fuel source is that it will be easier and significantly less costly to access than offshore resources. The demand for natural gas is steadily climbing, but offshore discoveries are small and fragmented. In order to tap the world's remaining hydrocarbons, energy companies will be forced to develop more and more inaccessible and costly areas, be it the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, the harsh conditions in the Arctic or remote wastelands of Siberia.

Finally, this conversion of CBM to green energy reduces its global warming effect by 87% because it is a clean-burning fuel and is no longer released into the atmosphere so that the coal can be mined safely. CBM can be extracted before mining begins.

The Python Underbalance System is a proprietary system designed and engineered by Predator Technologies, LLC that provides solutions focused on underbalancing reservoir performance without jeopardizing safety or the environment. This system will be particularly beneficial for use in the exploration for coal bed methane. Using our revolutionary proprietary system, the drilling process can be performed in an environment in which the hydrostatic pressure within the wellbore is lower than the hydrostatic pressure within the formation being drilled. Hydrocarbons flow into the wellhead while drilling instead of being forced to the surface with drilling mud. This prevents drilling mud and other contaminant intrusion into the producing formation, thus minimizing potential formation damage and increased disposal costs.

This system will increase the rate of penetration and increase future reservoir removables without the need for expensive remedial work such as acid bath, etc. The system reduces potential losses due to lost circulation and the risk of lost in hole equipment caused by differential sticking and poor hole cleaning.

The result is increased wellbore profitability through the reduction in lost-time events and by producing while drilling.

One of the hottest new gas plays in the United States (which any shallow-well driller with an idle rig should be aware of) is coal gas (methane). The wells are shallow and they need lots of them. The idea of hundreds of new shallow wells should rekindle the old entrepreneurial spirit in any drillers heart. These fields cannot be found just anywhere, but they are in enough states to make quite a difference in the national shallow rig count. The main plays are in New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas, Iowa, Alabama, and along the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Virginia.

A new coal bed methane development project has begun in the Raton Basin, Colfax County, New Mexico by Pennzenergy and Sonat Exploration, in a leasehold covering 700,000 acres. The coals are in the Raton Formation (between 960 and 1,740 feet) and in the Vermejo Formation (1,470 to 2,500 feet). They plan to drill six hundred wells over the next five years to tap a gas reserve estimated to hold a trillion cubic feet of gas

The Forest City Basin of Kansas and Iowa has several thick Pennsylvanian coal beds that are very gassy. They formed from peat deposits in an old river delta that once crossed the area. The coal beds are about 4 feet thick and contain from 50 to 435 standard cubic feet of methane per ton. They have high sulfur and low ash content. Four exploration companies, including Duncan Energy Company, have formed a consortium to exploit the gas in northeastern Kansas, where they have leased some 250,000 acres. These wells produce from 10 to 300 thousand cubic feet per day and around two hundred barrels of water.

There are around three thousand two hundred coal bed methane wells in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama, producing from coals between 15 and 25 feet thick at depths between 500 and 3,000 feet. Gas content ranges from 250 to 500 cubic feet per ton, and well spacing is typically 80 acres. River Gas Corporation developed a coal bed methane field northeast of Tuscaloosa with some 535 wells on a leasehold of 32,480 acres.

The Appalachian Basin has about five hundred coal bed methane wells, producing from coals between 10 and 20 feet thick at depths between 500 and 2,800 feet.