SPE Drilling & Completion
Volume 28, Number 1, March 2013, pp. 65-74

Summary

From December 2007 through April 2011, the operator conducted a two-phase drill-cuttings-injection pilot at the Piceance field in western Colorado to reduce the environmental footprint of drilling operations. This was the first subsurface injection of drill cuttings in Colorado, and it used a lost-circulation zone in the Wasatch G formation as the injection interval. The first phase of the pilot was to assess the technical feasibility and formation response to injection. During this phase, waterbased mud and drill cuttings from four wells were injected into a fifth well that was temporarily suspended at the intermediate casing and perforated in the Wasatch G formation. More than 40,000 bbl of fluid was injected during vacuum conditions with confirmed confinement to the target zone. On the basis of the injection results, the pilot progressed to a second phase to assess the logistical requirements of transporting cuttings from multiple drilling locations to a central processingand-injection site. The injection well selected had experienced lost returns in the Wasatch G when originally drilled and was completed as a dedicated injector. The pilot processed cuttings from three active rigs, and it demonstrated the capacity to process cuttings from more than six rigs. The operator proved injection as a technically feasible option for drilling-waste disposal during full-field development at Piceance.

© 2012. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

• Original manuscript received: 22 May 2012
• Meeting paper published: 6 March 2012
• Revised manuscript received: 18 September 2012
• Manuscript approved: 20 September 2012
• Published online: 14 December 2012
• Version of record: 14 March 2013