Challenge
A major Brazilian operator had a requirement to use Drop Gyro and the PBL as contingency to face drilling fluid losses in the same BHA during a drilling operation.
In the event of encountering discrepancies while pulling the drilling string out of the hole, and as a contingency, a Drop Gyro tool will be used in order to reduce the level of uncertainty, avoid gross errors in well construction and ensure the accuracy of the survey data.
Solution
In this scenario, the solution was to position a 30ft long drill collar spacer between the PBL main body and ball catcher sub. The compressible centralizers of the Drop Gyro tool would freely pass through the internal components of the PBL’s main body without any problems and the Gyro running gear would be fully accommodated bellow the ball seat of the PBL, avoiding unintentional activation.
Conclusion & Recommendation
The PBL tool has been used in conjunction with Drop Gyro in the challenging Brazilian deep-water scenario with high level of success and exceptional performance.
