Pulling out of the hole continued yesterday and the bit was on the surface at 16:00 o'clock. It was 1/8" under gauge and had some shirt damage. Running down with a new bit started at midnight.
The ROP reduced significantly after lunch yesterday and drilling continued to progress slowly last night. At 5:30 this morning at 1400 m depth drilling was stopped and a decision made to pull out of the hole. Small circulation losses were measured three times below 1362 m depth.
New drill bit reached bottom hole at 10:05 am yesterday morning. Depth this morning at 7:45 am is 1313 m. Yesterday progress in drilling was an average 5.8 m/hr. Inclination is 1° and there is no loss of circulation.
Work-over on motor was completed at 15:00 pm yesterday. After that BHA was assembled with new 16½" drill bit and this was completed at 20:30 pm. Currently drill string is run down hole to commence drilling, but the hole is cooled with 40 l/s circulation between drill pipes. Drill bit has reached 990 m at 7:40 am.
The fish was successfully retrieved from the hole last night at 00:30 am. Drill bit and stabilizer was packed with mud and cuttings but otherwise they did not have significant signs of wear. However, the motor was damaged and will be changed. Sleeve has been transfered to the new motor during the night and tripping in for drilling will commence when work-over on motor has been completed.
Fishing tools arrived at Krafla last night and after assemblage it was run down the hole. At 7:45 this morning the tool was at 1112 m depth. 15 l/s is being circutated between singles, mud temperature out of hole is ~50°C and temperature difference out/in is ~20°C. When the fishing tool reach the fish, the well will be cooled for an hour at a pump rate of 30 l/s before fishing starts.
Pulling out of hole was completed around 20:30 o'clock last night. A floating sub in the BHA had broken apart in a clean cut. The rest of the drill string remains in the hole, consisting of drill bit, motor, stabilizer and a part of the floating sub. Fishing tools are being sent to Krafla from Reykjavik. Currently the weather conditions are bad with snow blizzard and roads closed in the northern part of the country.
A total length of 100 m was drilled the last 24 hours. Depth at 7:15 o'clock was 1185 m. Drilling has been going slowly with an average ROP of 7.8 m/hr. Measurements show no loss of circulation and inclination ~1.5°. Drilling parameters have been as follows: WOB 3-7 tonnes, RPM 220, pump rate 60 l/s and pressure on stand pipe ~140 bars. Torque has increased from 1000-1200 dNm to 1800-2000 dNm at intervals, probably because of a rigid setup of BHA and variable hardness of the basaltic rock formation. At the depth of 1194,8 m the stand pipe pressure and the torque dropped suddenly, possibly because of a failure in the BHA. The string is now beeing pulled out of the hole.
Over the last 24 hours the hole was deepened with 117 m and depth at midnight was 1053 m. Depth at 8 o'clock this morning was 1088 m. There is no loss of circulation and inclination has been within 1-1.5°. Drilling has progressed with an average WOB of 5 tonnes and 220 RPM of drill bit. The rock formation from 900-970 m depth consists of altered basaltic tuff intersected by thin basaltic dykes. Below 960 m are layers of basalt breccia, glassy basalt and fine-medium grained basalt. Alteration minerals are abundant below 944 m depth, amongst the observed alteration minerals are epidote, amfibole, wollastonite, quartz and coarse grained clay.
Drilling with 16 1/2 " drill bit and motor is progressing well. Depth at midnight was 936 m and at 7:30 am the depth is 986. There is no loss of circulation and the inclination was 1,5° at 981 m depth.
Tyr started drilling into bedrock at 21:40 last night, at a depth of 796.7 m, relative to the rig's platfom. Drilling with mud started shortly after 4:00 this morning.
It is expected that drilling for anchor casing will commence later today. A temperature log was run yesterday, showing ca. 170°C-180°C from ca 200 m downwards. Last night the crew started to piece together the Bottom Hole Assembly, with a 16½" bit and motor.
Temperature and CBL (Cement Bond Log) logging was completed between 07:00 and 12:00 o’clock yesterday morning. The temperature measurements show that the well was well cooled prior to cementing and the cement bond log indicated a good and consistent bonding of the cement between the casing and the borehole wall from the first intermediate casing shoe around log depth 257 m down to the measured base of the CBL around 750 m. This concludes the second drilling stage and well operations at the IDDP-1 wellsite for the year 2008. The mast of the rig Jötunn has already been lowered and the transfer of the drill rig will commence tomorrow morning. Next year in spring - drilling activities are planned to continue with the next drilling stage down to 2400 m for the 13 5/8" anchor casing, and the remaining casing program during the summer, see the IDDP website (www.iddp.is) for closer information.
Yesterday morning the hole was rinsed with water for several hours after having been cooled and rinsed with soda. The main cement job for the 18 5/8” casing was completed about 16 o´clock yesterday afternoon pumping a total amount of 102 m3 of cement to case the well. Temperature logging started around 7 o’clock this morning, approximately 18 hours after the cement job had been finished. It is expected that the temperature and CBL logging will be completed by noon today.
The work on casing the well with the 18 5/8" intermediate casing continued to go well and was finished around half past 3 yesterday afternoon. The casing shoe is located at a depth of 784.54 m measured in reference to the borehole flange, and at 791.5 m in reference to the drill-floor. After cutting off the casing, the cement string was run down the hole and the wellbore was cleaned up and prepared during the night for pumping down cement, which will commence today after the cementing equipment has been adjusted.
Work on casing the well began yesterday morning and has been going well. The work around setting down the casing is very likely finished in the afternoon, if things carry on smoothly as it has been the case. The cementing job is expected to begin tonight and based on the caliper measurements, the volume behind the 18 5/8" casing, down to a depth of 790 m, is estimated to be 77,5 m3.
Just after the completion of the temperature and caliper measurements yesterday morning, there appeared to be problems concerning the internal connections for the resistivity logging module. After a series of attempts to solve the problem, did the logging cable tangle up in the borehole in addition. Consequentially was the logging operation delayed until around 19 o’clock to get everything sorted, before continuing with data acquisitions. Nevertheless all borehole measurements were completed around 1:30 o´clock last night. Work on casing the well started around 8 o’clock this morning.
TD for this drilling stage was reached yesterday around noon at the depth of 796 m. Drilling had been progressing with an average ROP of 3.5 m/hr without circulation losses. Inclination measurements at the bottom of the well showed the well inclining by 1.5°. The well was rinsed for approximately 4.5 hours before the drillers began pulling the drill string out of the borehole. The drill bit had been drilling for 42 hours, completing 341664 revolutions, and turned out to be in a good condition with a diameter of 23". Geophysical logging commenced around half past 4 last night with temperature logging. Pre-arrangements for casing the well with the 18 5/8" second intermediate casing string are ongoing.
Drilling has been going well during the last 24 hours with an average ROP of 3.8 m/hr with the drill bit reaching 786 m depth at 8 o’clock this morning. Still, there are no indications of circulation losses. An inclination measurement of 1°- 1.5° was made this morning at around 786 m depth.
Druring the last 24 hours, drilling had been recessed two times due to adjustments to the new mud pump; initially between 10:30 and 14:30 for replacing the sleeves, and again between 17:30 and 22:00 last night, when the pump had to be leveled off with a crane. Consequently, little has been drilled, as can be seen in the summary of drilling data in figure 1. The ROP has been between 3 and 4 m/hrs, but increased this morning up to 6-10 m/hrs. The WOB was then decreased and ROP is now again around 3-4 m/hrs. Fortunately circulation losses have decreased down to 0 l/s and around 10:40 AM, the well had reached 708,5 m with an apparent decrease in drill cuttings size.
Drilling of the IDDP-1 well started again shortly after last midnight. The BHA was run into the borehole at 2 o ´clock in the afternoon yesterday. The well had to be cooled for a few minutes before each new drill pipe stand could be added after reaching a depth of 432 m. Drilling is progressing slowly, at 8 o ´clock this morning the drill bit reached a depth of 641 m. Because of the increased leakage at 425 m and 455 m depth, mica was added to the mud in an attempt to tighten the feed zones. Circulation losses have reduced from 20 l/s yesterday afternoon down to 2 l/s at 6 o ´clock this morning, which is a very a good result. The BHA has not changed besides the new bit and jar. Inclination measurements showed that the well is inclining 1.5° at 613 m and 622 m depth.
Yesterday, equipment on the drilling lot had to be relocated in order to remove the broken mud pump. The adjustment of the new mud pump that came from the drill rig Sleipnir, is still ongoing. Hopefully the work will be done later on today and drilling will start again. Circulation losses at 10 o’clock this morning increase to 20 l/s.
Yesterday the drill string and the BHA were pulled out of the borehole. The bit came up on the drill floor yesterday afternoon. Some teeth of the drill bit were broken and there were little signs of wear, but the seal failed on two cones. The bit had completed 750.000 revolutions and was coming close to its limit. The diameter of the bit had not changed. A bit of mud had accumulated on the stabilizers. A new bit has already been set up. The new mud pump arrived on site around midnight and has been put in place and will be connected today. A circulation loss of 4 l/s was measured yesterday afternoon, this morning the loss had increased to about 10 l/s.
The depth of the well this morning at 8 o’clock is 621 m. Yesterday´s drilling went slowly with an average bit rotation around 150 RMP, the WOB was kept around 15 tonnes. Altogether 61 m were drilled with an average ROP of 3 m/hr. A circulation loss of 8 l/s was measured at a depth of 618 m. Drilling was stopped four times due to problems with the mud pump system. At 23.30 o´clock last night, one of the mud pumps broke down for good, a new one will be sent to the drilling site from Reykjavík today. In the meanwhile the drill string will be pulled up and the drill bit examined. Inclination measurements showed that the well is inclining 1.5° at 603 m depth.
The depth of the well this morning at 8 o’clock was 583 m. Drilling is still progressing slowly, at an average ROP of 3.65 m/hr. A total length of 84 m was drilled during the last 24 hours. A circulation loss of 4 l/s was measured at a depth of 567 m. On average the WOB was kept around 14 - 15 tonnes with an average bit rotation around 150 RPM during the last 24 hours. Yesterday morning drilling was stopped for an hour due to adjustments at the pumps.
The depth of the well this morning at 8 o’clock was 493 m. Drilling continues to progress slowly at an average ROP of 3.2 m/hr adding 73 m drilled section to the borehole during the last 24 hours. A circulation loss of 8 l/s was measured yesterday at a dept of 466 m, a loss of 3 l/s was measured at 6 o’clock this morning at a dept of 490 m. On average the WOB was kept around 15 tonnes with an average bit rotation around 150 RPM during the last 24 hours. Weather conditions at drill site are much better today, cold but calm weather.
The depth of the well this morning at 8 o’clock was 429 m. Drilling continued to progress slowly, at an average ROP of 2.8 m/hr. A total length of 69 m was drilled during the last 24 hours. A 2 l/s circulation loss was measured early this morning at a depth of 426 m. On average the WOB was kept around 10.5 tonnes with an average bit rotation around 155 RPM during the last 24 hours.
Drilling has progressed fairly slowly and eventless the past 24 hours with an average ROP of ca. 2.5 m/hr and the well reached a drillers depth of 351 m at 7:30 am. Inclination measured 2° after the last single that corresponds to a depth of approx. 320 m. Circulation losses of 2 l/s were measured at a depth of 350 m at 6 o’clock this morning. The weather is forcasted to be cold and bring more snow during the weekend and early next week.
Drilling stage 2 commenced shortly before midnight at 275 m. Drilling progress has been fairly slow during the night and at 8 o'clock is MD 297 m. Currently there is a snow blizzard here in Krafla making working conditions difficult. Wind speed has been mesured more than 50 m/s in the top of the mast.
Preparations for drilling stage 2 have been underway during the evening and night. The BOP stack was connected to the flange again and tested under pressure after work over at the well top was completed. Running down the drill string with 23" drill bit is underway and currently is the BHA being assembled.
The casing was successfully cemented between 10:24-11:10 yesterday with 37 m3 of cement. The top cement job (2.2 m3) was completed at 12:30 o’clock. A temperature and CBL log run were finished by 06:10 o’clock early this morning. The casing was trimmed down at 11 o’clock, 24 hours after the cement job, and now preparations are underway for drilling stage 2.
There was an obstruction in the lowermost part of the hole and after several attempts the casing was set at 260.5 m depth (14.4 m from bottom). This was completed at 01:00 am early this morning. Preparations for cementing the casing are now in progress. The cement string has been run down hole and since 06:00 am and the hole has been rinsed for mud with water and soda. Cementing will commence, when the hole has been cooled sufficiently.
The drill bit came up onto the drill floor around noon yesterday. Two borehole logging runs were carried out until 5:30 PM yesterday afternoon after the dismantling the BHA was finished. First was the temperature of the wellbore measured, and thereafter was the caliper log run downhole. During the night work had continued with casing the hole. The 24½" intermediate casing segments are being welded together and this morning the fifth pipe was being welded to the casing string. Running the entire casing string downhole is expected to take all day.
Yesterday morning drilling was stopped at 9 am at a depth of 256 m due to a rupture on one of the water pipes, supplying water to the rig site. Repairs lasted for 5.5 hours and drilling recommenced at 2:30 pm. Drilling progress was rather slow with ROP approx. 2 m/hr, but shortly after midnight at 00:45 am TD was reached at a depth of 274.9 m (268 m below surface). There was no loss of circulation in the hole, but inclination was 1,5° at ca. 260 m depth. Subsequently the hole was rinsed thoroughly and mud was diluted. At 5 o´clock the rig crew began to pull out of hole, and it is anticipated that this will be completed before noon. Winter conditions are prevailing at rig site today with snow fall, wind speed of 5-8 m/s and temperature of -11°C.
Again, drilling went smoothly the last 24 hours. 54 meters were drilled during 22 hours without any indications of circulation losses. Drilling has only been recessed for mending pumps and connections of the mud system. An inclination measurement was made this morning at around 240 m depth, showing that the well inclines about 2°. Preparations for the casing and cementing job ahead are ongoing. The weather conditions are cold, with temperatures below -10°C, fairly still and more snow is forcasted over the weekend.
Drilling went smoothly the last 24 hours. 63 meters were drilled with an average ROP around 2,6 m/hr. Early this morning the drill bit reached a depth of 207 m. So far there have been no indications of circulation losses. Yesterday morning it started to snow at Krafla and the winds have been little to moderate.
Activities at well IDDP-1 have now started again after the 32" surface casing had been completed last June-July 2008. The drillers of Jarðboranir (Iceland Drilling Ltd.) started preparing drilling for the 24 ½" intermediate casing on November 1st by moving the drill rig Jötunn to Vitismor. After the transfer, some adjustments on the drill rig were made to fit the large diameter drilling assembly. The BOP´s (Blow Out Preventers) were pressure tested on November 17th, and the drill string with the 26 ½" drill bit was assembled. Rotary drilling into concrete started at 9 o’clock yesterday morning by slowly drilling out the cement. Drilling has been going smoothly without any circulation losses. Around half past four yesterday afternoon reached the drill bit into bedrock at 102 m depth and 150 meters this morning 8:00 o´clock.
Pe-drilling of well IDDP-1 commenced on June the 19th 2008 at 5 m depth (measured from the pliers, which is 2 m above ground). Drilling was completed on Saturday the 28th of June at 91,4 m depth. It took 91,5 hours to complete the pre-drilling stage with an average ROP at 1 m/hr. The casing shoe was set in a section of altered basaltic tuff with abundance of calcite and pyrite. On Sunday, the 29th of June, the well was rinsed and the string was pulled out of hole in the evening. The following day the well was cased with the 32" surface casing to a depth of 89 m measured from the pliers and 87 m in reference to the ground. The casing was successfully cemented on the 1st of July from 16:15-18:05 with 34,1 m3 of cement and with the cement coming up to surface. The following day the Saga drill rig was prepared to move off-site, marking the completion of the pre-drilling operation of well IDDP-1.
Drillhole RN-17 at Reykjanes has been the prime candidate for deep drilling by the IDDP. However a flow test of this well in November 2005 was cut short when it became plugged by rock debris and last week attempts to clean and condition this drillhole failed. A caliper log revealed that there has been extensive caving. We therefore reluctantly conclude that drillhole RN-17 is no longer a candidate for deep drilling by the IDDP. We must therefore now consider alternative "wells of opportunity" at the Reykjanes geothermal field for deepening. In December 2003, Hitaveita Sudurnesja Ltd (HS) offered one in a series of several production wells they planned to drill as a candidate for deepening by the IDDP, once its production characteristics had been evaluated. HS intended to release this drillhole, or another well of opportunity, to IDDP for deepening, provided enough steam for a 100 MW power plant had been secured before mid-year 2006. In February 2005 RN-17 was completed to 3.1 km depth, the deepest drillhole in the field, and was then the prime candidate for deepening by the IDDP. Accordingly all daily reports and well reports were written in English and, following the ICDP protocol, made available at the ICDP website, as well as on the ISOR website. ICDP agreed to finance a spot core in this well. However, by the time funding became available RN_17 had already been completed and so the core was collected from the bottom of well RN-19, another "well of opportunity" that was being drilled at that time. In 2005 the IDDP distributed samples of drill cuttings from RN-17 and core from RN-19, for study by the international science team. At the moment several groups in Italy, France, Germany, USA, Russia and Iceland are studying this material as well as drill cutting samples from other wells at the Reykjanes geothermal field. Other teams were waiting for fluid samples from the flow test of RN-17 of last November that ended abruptly due to collapse of the formation, as mentioned above. Losing RN-17 as a candidate for IDDP deepening is most unfortunate for both Hitaveita Sudurnesja Ltd and the IDDP, while the severe financial loss has all been borne by the HS. However the IDDP will continue as other wells of opportunity are available. At the moment HS and IDDP are discussing and evaluating which of the other wells at Reykjanes can be considered for deepening. Wells RN-16, RN-19 and RN-20 are being evaluated in this respect. IDDP Deep Vision and the PI’s will make a new announcement on this matter once it is finalized.
The RN-17 well report is now available under Daily Report on this website. The report is 198 p. long including appendices. The well RN-17 was drilled and funded by Hitaveita Sudurnesja (HS) as one of many production wells at Reykjanes. RN-17 is a prime candidate as a well of opportunity for deepening in 2006 and 2007 by IDDP. The HS energy company will need to release the candidate well officially to IDDP prior to a final decision on deepening. At present IDDP expects to receive funds for deeping from multiple sources. The funding issue should be clarified soon. The well RN-17 was completed as a 12 1/4 inch barefoot drillhole, 3082 m deep, cased by cemented 13 3/8 inch steel casing to almost 900 m depth. Upon IDDP deepening, a 9 5/8 inch casing will first be inserted and cemented before deepening with a 8 1/2 inch drill bit to 4 km depth. Frequent spot coring is planned in that depth interval, funded by ICDP and the US National Science Foundation. Later in 2007 it is proposed to continuously core this well down to 5 km depth. Scientists involved in IDDP research can now make a formal request for samples of the drill cuttings available from well RN-17. Such sample requests should be made before November 1st, 2005. Conventional drill cutting samples (125 ml containers) were collected at 2 m intervals. Additional large cutting samples (1000 ml containers) were collected at 50 m intervals. A 2.7 m long dolerite spot core from a neighbouring well, RN-19, was also obtained. See the RN-17 well report for details.
The first IDDP_ICDP spot core was retrieved at 6 o’clock this morning, april the 11th 2005, from the bottom section of well RN-19 at Reykjanes. The spot core was funded by the ICDP. Well RN-19 now reached a total depth of 2248m and is one of the many candidate wells for deepening during the IDDP at Reykjanes. The coring operation went well, until the core jammed completely after about 3m of coring. The reason for the core jamming was related to subvertical fractures, which were filled by actinolite. The drilled core is composed of a dolerite intrusion – which some geologists like to term diabase. The dolerite was relatively fresh in appearance, despite the secondary mineralised fractures that were observed. The fracture fills contained actinolite, which precipitates from hydrothermal fluids at temperatures around 300°C. For the time being the drilled core will be kept at the ISOR (Iceland GeoSurvey) core laboratory in Reykjavik. Please enjoy browsing through the photo documentation showing the spot coring operations.
Coring services have been hired from Baker Hughes (Christensen) to drill spot cores in well RN-17. The spot coring will be funded by the ICDP. The equipment was intended to be used at the bottom of well RN-17 with a present TD at a depth of 3082.4m. However, due to unexpected liability issues between the drilling contractor and ISOR, the Iceland GeoSurvey, spot coring had to be postponed to a later point in time. Hitaveita Sudurnesja Ltd. has now solved these liability issues, and spot coring will be attempted at the bottom of well RN-19, which is currently being drilled at Reykjanes. Extensive spot coring is intended during the IDDP phase 2, which is planned for autumn in 2006.
Drilling of the RN-17 sidetrack was completed at a depth of 3082.4m. The drill-bit was too worn out to continuing to drill down to 3100m, therefore the decision was made to call final TD. The well is the deepest high-temperature well in Iceland, and only 2.6 m shallower then the deepest well in Iceland, which is located in Reykjavik.
A depth of 3060m was reached at 09:00 o’clock this morning. No increase in circulation losses were recorded still coming in between 3-4 l/s. Total depth should be reached today and drilling should be completed.
The well reached a depth of 2870m this morning at 09:00 o’clock and the inclination of well was measured at 3.5°. At noon the decision was taken to set the final total depth of the well at a maximum of 3100m for this 12 ¼” borehole and the well reached 3000m shortly past midnight.
The depth around 08:00 o’clock was 2717m, drilling at a rate of 7-8 m/hr. Circulation losses were recorded between 3-4 l/s with no increase. The well was a bit under gauge and had to be reamed slightly.
Geophysical wireline logging operations were completed last night around 04:39 in the morning. The well was too hot for any logging below a depth of 2050m. The decision was made to continue drilling with a new 12 ¼” bit and a motor down to 3000m for a final attempt to intersect a feed point with good increased losses of circulation.
The well reached a depth of 2638m at 10:00 o’clock this morning, drilling 189m during the last 24 hours. The inclination of the well at 2443m was measured at 3°, at 2500m at 2.5°, and at 2615m at 1.5° being close to vertical. Drilling operations were stopped at a depth of 2699.5m this afternoon in order to exchange the drill-bit. Circulation losses were recorded around ~4 l/s.
