If you thought the StarWars missile defense system had nothing to do with natural gas, think again. The Gas Research Institute, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army and the Colorado School of Mines are teaming up to determine if StarWars laser technology could “revolutionize” how natural gas wells are drilled.

The two-year research project will examine the feasibility, costs, benefits and environmental impact of applying laser technologies to drill and complete wells. GRI said applications might include a downhole laser drilling machine, laser-assisted drill bits for both conventional and slimhole (coiled-tubing) applications, a laser-perforating tool and side-track and directional laser drilling devices.

GRI will manage the project, but Dr. Ramona M. Graves, associate professor of Petroleum engineering, and Darien G. O’Brien, director of engineering solutions at the Colorado School of Mines, came up with the idea, and did so at just the right time. Last summer, Congress passed a measure calling for the U.S. armed forces to share defense technology with the private sector.

“Everybody said it couldn’t be done,” said Graves. “But that was with old technology. With these new high powered lasers in less than two seconds we drilled a six-inch diameter hole two inches deep. That’s maybe 100-200 times faster than with a drill bit. And people should remember 50% of the time spent drilling a hole is pulling and pushing the drill bit in and out. We can cut drilling time in half.”

While the costs of using lasers may be higher, the time is cut in half, resulting in a better cost-benefit ratio, she said. But the research is only just beginning.

So far, the research team has about $600,000 in laser time at the armed forces’ labs, excluding the Navy which still has not been contacted. (Laser time costs between $5,000 and $50,000 per second). GRI is contributing $600,000 in cash and Phillips is contributing analysis time at its own labs.

“Laser technology has the potential to revolutionize gas drilling in the 21st century,” said Richard Parker, GRI principal technology manager, basic research. “Achieving a technological breakthrough with laser drilling could generate the kind of radical change that occurred at the turn of this century when the rotary drill replaced cable tools.”

The laser drilling consortium has five primary objectives:

  • Determine the amount of data available on StarWars laser technologies.
  • Evaluate the capabilities and limitations of applying lasers to drill and complete gas wells.
  • Decide what areas of laser drilling research need to be addressed.
  • Quantify benefits that can be obtained from laser drilling, such as higher penetration rates reduced rig day rates and casing requirements.
  • Improve safety and economics.
  • Undertake laboratory research to understand laser, rock and fluid interactions.

The Colorado School of Mines (CSM), Golden, will be the primary contractor. Subcontractors are Solutions Engineering, of Lakewood, CO; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and Phillips Petroleum, Bartlesville, OK. Some of the research will be conducted at U.S. Army and Air Force labs in New Mexico.

Two promising high-energy lasers will be used in testing advanced drilling concepts. The first is the Mid Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) – the highest average power laser (megawatt class) in the United States. It was originally developed for shipboard defense and used extensively for testing StarWars concepts during the 1980s and 1990s. The existing MIRACL laser has propagated hole-burning power many miles through the atmosphere at flying tactical and strategic military targets, and it has the demonstrated power levels needed to burn through solid materials such as soft rock minerals.

The second laser is the Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser (COIL) – a high-powered laser invented by the U.S. Air Force in 1977 for air-to-air defense. It appears to offer potential for natural gas drilling applications, GRI said. COIL has gained notoriety as an airborne laser tactical weapon capable of tracking and destroying missiles. This same precision applied to drilling and completing gas wells at depths of more than 15,000 feet could eliminate problems with well control, side-tracks and directional drilling, according to GRI. Two other lasers, useful for studying the interactions of lasers and soft rock minerals, are Electric Discharge Coaxial Laser I and the Laser Device Demonstration (LDD).

“The Air Force is very interested in finding commercial uses for COIL technology,” said Captain Brian G. Quillen, laser systems engineer, Gas/Chemical Laser Technology Branch, Air Force Research Laboratory. “Although developed as a weapon system, a COIL’s high power output and inexpensive chemicals make it ideally suited for other applications. One distinct advantage of a COIL, which makes it ideal for commercial use, is its potential for coupling into fiber optics. This makes it well-suited for power projection over long distances, such as oil-well drilling.”

Rocco Canonica

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