Inspiration and Practice of Drilling and Completion in 10 000-Meter Ultra-Deep Wells in the Gulf of Mexico

Currently, China’s onshore drilling capability has reached the level of 9000 m in depth. In addition, the drilling depth of Well Take-1 has successfully exceeded 10000 m, making China the second country in the world to achieve onshore drilling depths of over 10 000 m, indicating the ability to explore and develop oil and gas resources at 10000 m in depth. However, at present, only five ultra-deep wells over 9000 m have been drilled in China, and the drilling and completion technology for wells over 9 000 m is still in the initial exploratory stage. The Gulf of Mexico in the United States has the largest number of ultra-deep wells in the world, and advanced concepts and mature practices have been formed in multiple areas including the design concept of drilling-completion-development integration, casing program optimization and expansion, key equipment and tools, drilling parameters strengthening for speeding up, and prevention and control of complex downhole situations. To this end, the drilling cycle, drilling and completion cost, crude oil production, drilling and completion scheme, mature application equipment, and technology of ultra-deep wells in the Gulf of Mexico were systematically summarized. It is concluded that due to differences in geological conditions and formation drillability, there are gaps in the number, drilling cycle, and rate of penetration of 10000-meter ultra-deep wells in China compared with those in the Gulf of Mexico. In accordance with the engineering problems and challenges faced in drilling China’s oil and gas resources over 10000 m in depth, development directions and suggestions of 10000-meter drilling engineering technology and equipment are introduced, so as to provide a reference for achieving the exploration and development of China’s oil and gas resources over 10000 m in depth and promoting the iterative upgrading of key drilling and completion technology and equipment.