Successfully completed casing and cementation of the top 500 m in KFD1. The operations started around 3 AM yesterday and was completed by 9 PM today. No operations tomorrow as we would be waiting on cement for 24 hours.
KFD-1 continued to progress through the New Year Day, reaching a depth of 403 m by midnight. The rate of penetration is quite appreciable, 115 m during the past 24 hours!
KFD-1 reached a depth of 288 metres just before midnight. It is Deccan basalt all the way from the surface, with alternating massive, vesicular and amygdaloidal variants. Drilling of KFD-1 will continue through the New Year’s Eve and the New Year Day. On behalf of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Team-Koyna wishes everyone a very Happy New Year 2017 from the rig floor!
KFD-1 reached a depth of 144 metres at 6 AM today. Cementation unit has arrived and is being set up for the first cementation job after completion of 500 metres of drilling and casing.
The bit started rotating again this afternoon after a break of a few days. The mud logging and ETP units are set up and synchronised with the drill rig. The borehole diameter is 17-1/2 inches. Drilling is progressing quite smoothly.
The wait is over! Borehole KFD-1 has been spudded at Koyna. Targeted to reach 3000 m depth in the next four months, drilling started with a 24inch Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) cutting bit and reached a depth of 14.88 m (w.r.t. Kelly Bushing) before lowering the 20inch diameter false conductor casing and cement grouting to isolate the overburden. During the next few days, the discharge line for cuttings will be connected to the conductor casing and the Mathena air-gas separator, arrangements for collection of cuttings will be set up, the mud logging unit and the ETP unit will be set up and synchronised with the rig. Calibration of different equipments will be carried out.
The scientific drilling and measurements is being carried out by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, India with ICDP collaboration. The rig and associated equipments are in place and are being tested prior to spudding. Air hammer drilling will be employed, with the option to switch to mud rotary while coring. The borehole is designed to be vertical, with overall deviation planned within 3 degrees. After spudding and drilling through the overburden, 20" conductor casing will be piled. The well configuration is shown in Figure 2. The first phase of drilling up to 500 m is likely to be completed by the end of the year. The second phase of drilling up to 1500 m depth followed by geophysical logging is likely to be completed by mid-January 2017. We hope to reach the base of the basalt between 1200 and 1300 m depth. This will be followed by granite-gneiss basement rock. The OLGA fluid-gas measuring equipment will be commissioned and tested. The final phase of drilling, i.e., 1500-3000 m will involve intermittent coring, sampling for fluid/gas and geomicrobiology. This phase may be completed by March 2017. After completion, a full suite of downhole geophysical logging will be run. (Sukanta Roy)
