The number of incidents of drill pipe and casing getting stuck downhole on Statoil rigs declined by 40 per cent last year compared with 1998.
This decline in stuck pipe cases during oil and gas exploration operations has saved the group about 88 days of operational time worth roughly NOK 110 million, reports staff engineer Per Freddy Kristiansen. He heads the group's stuck pipe project.
A 1992-94 drive to change attitudes in this area helped to cut annual costs associated with such incidents by roughly 30 per cent, but the number of cases rose again once the campaign had ended. Statoil accordingly relaunched the project last May.
Zero incidents of stuck pipe per well will become one of the performance measures for drilling efficiency in licences from March, Mr Kristiansen reports.