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Abstract
This paper will address the improvements in well placement and drilling efficiency seen during a start-up project where wired drillpipe was introduced as an enabling technology during the project.

By using multiple strands of new technology, in a controlled, managed fashion, Eon Ruhrgas delivered rate of penetration (ROP) increases of 200% and, at the same time, increased net-to-gross by nearly 100%. The delivery of these new technologies will be reviewed along with the culture of learning and constant improvement fostered by the Eon Ruhrgas. The collaborative atmosphere led to an open environment where all the potential issues, risks, and hazards had been discussed and contingencies made to ensure that delivery would not be compromised.

A case study on the drilling of the first three wells on the Babbage field, where significant new technology advances were introduced on the second and third development wells, will outline, in detail, the improvements in performance observed. In summary, the introduction of wired telemetry drillpipe and the use of a downhole-powered rotary steerable system (RSS) ensured optimum trajectory control, ensuring “sweet” spots were identified and delivered, while maintaining an optimum ROP. By using the increased data-carrying capability of the wired drillpipe, it was possible to provide high quality image data, allowing a better understanding of the downhole environment and ensuring that the stratigraphic control was optimized. The optimization was enhanced by 24-hour operations geological support, continuous dip-picking, and geosteering modelling support onshore but livelinked to the wellsite. By using this knowledge in conjunction with a mud motor power section attached to an RSS, it was possible to deliver a step change in drilling performance through the reservoir.

Introduction
At the Amsterdam SPE drilling conference of 2009, members of the Eon Ruhrgas drilling team attended a presentation on the use of wired drillpipe. This spurred the team to look at innovative technologies that could be used on the upcoming Babbage field phase 1 development that was, at that point, in the advanced stages of planning. To follow up on this, Eon Ruhrgas formed a team, incorporating their drilling group, their subsurface group, NOV (suppliers of the wired drillpipe) and Weatherford (suppliers of directional drilling and M/LWD services) to see what the introduction of wired drillpipe could add to the project.

After poor results drilling the reservoir section of first of the three planned wells, the opportunity was taken to try a new technology that would hopefully lead to better performace. This technology adoption would allow the initial well to serve as a “benchmark” for performance. The decision was made to introduce the wired pipe technology on the subsequent wells in the phase 1 development.

The introduction of this new technology had several nested drivers, each leaning on the other. The first driver was to improve real time understanding of the reservoir. The second driver was to optimize well placement, by use of this better understanding. The third driver was to use this to allow use of a mud motor power section to maximize drilling ROP.