Sabah Deepwater Exploration & Data Acquisition

Sabah Deepwater Exploration & Data Acquisition 2021

It was a remarkable journey of Petronas Carigali when its drilling team managed to run top batch drilling operation for both Well-K and Well-J. The drilling operation started by drilling Well-J top-hole, then rig moved to Well-K area for drill & complete. After complete Well-K formation evaluation, the drillship went back to Well-J to complete the appraisal well.

I was the the onsite reservoir engineer for the fluid sampling operation (through wireline tool) in Well-K. The oil & water samples onsite validation & atmospheric oil sample transfer were carried out at midnight time. There are several type of samples taken at Well-K i.e. Single Phase Fluid, Atmospheric fluid, Onsite Fluid & Seawater samples (using ROV). Moreover, I also involved in putting tracer in the mud before coring job as part of mud contamination tracking. Afterward, I also monitored the coring operation in Well-K well.

There were some challenges such as wireline tool power trip, core jammed and Covid-19 false positive of one of the crew member. However, team managed to acquire as maximum sample as we could during the drilling campaign. The false positive Covid-19 case has caused crew onboard including myself to be quarantined on West Capella drillship for another 1 extra week. Amazingly, personnel from Ministry of Health had came onboard to swab about 150 people onboard to avoid any spread of the virus and all of us were found negative. All in all, the drilling operation team managed to handle those challenges with their best efforts and management support. Thank you for those who involved in this drilling campaign!