AGR Enhanced Drilling Celebrates Decade of Riserless Mud Recovery (RMR®) System

Offshore technology provider AGR Enhanced Drilling is celebrating 10 years of its Riserless Mud Recovery (RMR®) system – trusted to reduce risk on more than 200 wells worldwide to date. RMR® is an innovative way to return mud and cuttings to the rig before the riser is run, without any discharge to the seabed – meaning engineered, weighted drilling fluid can be used on the top-hole section.

RMR® enables this vital section of a well to be drilled more safely, quickly and with less environmental impact. Used together with the complementary MPC® (Managed Pressure Cementing) system, which manages wellbore pressure during the displacement of cement in the casing annulus, the two deliver top holes of superior integrity. RMR® was first deployed commercially in 2003 in the Caspian for BP. The operator has since gone on to use the system on more than 50 wells to date in that location alone. Other customers that have placed their trust in the risk-reduction system have included, among others, Statoil, BG Group, Apache Energy, Total, Woodside, Japan Energy and Shell.

In addition to its RMR®, MPC® and CTS™ solutions and services, Enhanced Drilling has a Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) technology in its portfolio: EC-Drill®. In July this year the company announced a NOK120m (USD20m) deal with Statoil to develop the next-generation EC-Drill® system.

EC-Drill®, which is designed for floating rigs, solves a challenge commonly encountered in deep-water wells: operating in a narrow drilling window. EC-Drill® enables the operator to ‘walk the line’ between pore and fracture pressures by managing Bottom Hole Pressure. This is done by changing the level of drilling mud in the riser. EC-Drill® provides a far greater degree of control than conventional drilling while enhancing safety, plus it is possible to cost-effectively hit deep targets that are simply economically unviable to reach with traditional drilling techniques.

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