Logging with coiled tubing less effective than with drill pipe

Coiled tubing offered neither economic nor operational advantages over drill pipe for conveying logging tools in open hole shallow horizontal wells in Germany. In the past 2 years, Mobil Erdgas-Erdoel GMbH (MEEG) participated in completing eight shallow horizontal wells. These were medium-to-short radius wells at measured depths of between 850 and 2,000 m. The average horizontal section was 350 m. The logging tools were conveyed by coiled tubing or drill pipe. MEEG attempted to log five wells with coiled tubing-conveyed tools, four with 1 1/2-in. tubing. Total depth was reached reliably in only one well, the shallowest and with the shortest horizontal section. Simulation programs were unreliable for calculating the downhole forces of the coil/tool combination or predicting possible helical lockups. In wells with drill pipe-conveyed logs, the tool combination could always be pushed to total depth, and the operations were generally faster and cost less than logging with coiled tubing. Also, drill pipe allowed longer and heavier tool strings. For reliable operations, coiled tubing needs to be more rigid, rig-up/rig-down times need to be improved, and the simulation programs must be more reliable for predicting downhole lock-up.