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Saudi Aramco
Drilling & Workover Organization
Offshore Gas Drilling Engineering Department
Ground down MLS Hanger prior to deployment

July 2014
The Alerts are provided to all Drilling and Workover Operations Foremen and Liaisonmen so that we all learn from the
experiences of others. The knowledge of this incident could prevent similar ones from happening in the future.
Saudi Aramco policy requires the information in this Alert to be communicated to all crew members and documented on
morning reports.

What happened?
June 2014. While running 24” casing in 28” sidetrack hole, after running 92 joints (3815 --ft) of
24” JVLW casing, Vetco MLS hanger was made up to the casing string to continue running but
observed that the MLS hanger would not go below 19-ft, a depth that corresponds to top of the
Bell Nipple. MLS hanger was picked up to the rig floor and measured confirming OD of 29.50”
which is bigger than the confirmed bell nipple ID of 29.25”.
To address this problem the OD of the MLS landing ring was ground down to 29.20” before it
could pass through the bell nipple and finally landed at 343-ft.

Consequences:
 Grinding down the MLS landing ring to 29.20” to pass through the bell nipple took 38 hours
to finish and the total cost incurred is estimated to be 520,000 USD.

Why did it happen?

 Service Contractor hand on board ought to have confirmed with the Rig Foreman that the
maximum OD of the MLS hanger can go through the minimum ID in the wellbore which is
in the bell nipple area prior to equipment deployment.
 Foreman ought to have re-confirmed the bell nipple and other restrictive equipment ID in
the well with the Drilling contractor.

What should be done to prevent reoccurrence?

 Service Contractors on board should measure their equipment at location and provide the
Foreman with dimensioned drawing of the equipment prior to its deployment.
 Aramco Foremen need to verify that the equipment drawing is correct and also check that
there will be no problem with the running of equipment through the entire wellbore. The
Foreman shall ensure that relevant personnel are aware of the details of the operation and
keep very good communication with all involved parties in the operation.
 Drillers on duty during the equipment deployment must confirm that equipment can be
deployed through their wellhead system without any problem.