Multilateral Technology Then and Now

The first multilateral technology patent was filed in 1929 and was followed by additional patents.

Many of us can cite epochs in the petroleum industry’s history. But often not so memorable is the evolution of technologies that seem new and “cutting edge” but actually have a long history of development. A case in point is multilaterals. You may be surprised to learn that the first multilateral technology patent was filed in 1929 and was followed by additional patents and rudimentary attempts to drill multilateral wells in the 1930s. 

Some sources credit Leo Ranney with being the first to try horizontals and multilaterals in the United States. Ranney, a Canadian, was a consulting engineer in Texas and Oklahoma. In 1925, he developed the Ranney method of using horizontal wells to extract oil from exhausted fields. Standard Oil Company of New Jersey bought out his patent and made him president of Ranney Oil and Mining Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil from 1930 to 1938. In 1939, Ranney drilled an 8 ft (2.44 m) vertical shaft in Ohio, put men and equipment in the bottom of the hole and drilled a horizontal section. He is also reported to have drilled in a horizontal radial pattern like the spokes of a wheel, establishing probably the first multilateral with horizontal sections.

After the war, an inventor, John A. Zublin, drilled horizontal “drainholes” for operators in California. In 1945, Zublin sidetracked a well with eight drainholes. He eventually re-entered about 250 vertical wells in California, West Texas, and Wyoming, with an average of two laterals.

First True Multilateral Well
The first true multilateral well, 66/45, drilled in 1953 by Alexander M. Grigoryan in the Ishimbainefti field at Bashkiria, now Bashkortostan, Russia. 

Grigoryan graduated as a petroleum engineer from the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute in 1939. Two years later, he drilled one of the world’s first directional wells, the Baku 1385, using only a downhole hydraulic mud motor to drill the entire well bore. This is the first time a turbodrill was used for drilling both vertical and deviated sections of a borehole. The significant increase in reservoir exposure over vertical wells resulted in a corresponding significant increase in production and led to many more successful horizontal wells in the USSR. Grigoryan’s success in drilling innovation led to his promotion to department head at the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for Drilling Technology (VNIIBT) in Moscow, where he developed a new sidetrack kick-off technique and a device for stabilizing and controlling curvature without deflectors.

In 1949, Grigoryan, expanding on the theoretical work of an American scientist, L. Yuren, proposed branched boreholes to increase production in the same way a tree root extends its exposure to the soil. He tested his theory in 1953 when he drilled Well 66/45 using only turbodrills without rotating drillstrings, cement bridges, or whipstocks. The well had nine branches, each extending 262.5 ft to 984 ft (80 m to 300 m).

From 1953 to 1980, 110 more multilateral wells were drilled in East Siberia, West Ukraine and near the Black Sea. Thirty of these wells were drilled by Grigoryan, who is recognized as the father of multilateral technology.

In the 1980s, Grigoryan moved to Los Angeles, Calif., and opened a company named Grigoryan Branched-Horizontal Wells. He was a member of the SPE L.A. Basin Section from 1997 until his death in December 2005 at the age of 91. Before his death, Grigoryan received recognition in 2003 as a Technology Pioneer by Offshore Energy Center’s Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum.

Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Grigoryan, Multilaterals began to take off in the United States in the 1980s. Arco drilled the K-142 dual lateral well in New Mexico in 1980, and UPRC drilled 1,000 multilaterals in the Austin Chalk from the 1980s to 1998.

Simple open-hole and cased-hole sidetracking to create multilaterals are known as Level 1 and Level 2, respectively. It was in the 1990s when “modern” multilaterals began as systems were built to create multilateral junctions that went beyond simply sidetracking a well and provided new capabilities. Modern multilateral systems fall into categories of Level 3 through Level 6, and significant milestones with these systems came in quick succession:

•   1993 – 1st Level 3 multilateral, Shell, Alberta, Canada.
•   1994 – 1st Level 4 multilateral, Shell, Alberta, Canada.
•   1995 – 1st Level 5 multilateral, BP, Gulf of Mexico, US.
•   1996 – 1st through-tubing multilateral intervention.
•   1997 – Technical Advancement of Multi-Laterals (TAML) formed.

With such growth in the number of multilateral systems, installations and well complexities, a Shell Expro engineer, Eric Diggins, decided to form an operators group to share worldwide multilateral experiences, establish an informal network of contacts, and provide a more unified direction for the development of multilateral technology. The  kick-off meeting was held in the Expro offices in Aberdeen, Scotland in March 1997. Participants included BP, Norsk Hydro, Statoil, Esso UK, Exxon, Mobil, Phillips, Maersk, Texaco, Total, Chevron, Shell Oil, Shell International E&P and Shell UK Expro.

One of the new group’s tasks was to create a Classification System for Multilaterals. The results were published in 1998 and included two tiers, a complexity ranking and a functionality classification. An example of this two-tier classification is: Level 6; N-4-IN-S-PR-RMC.  Level 6 refers to the complexity ranking. The string of letters and numbers that follow are the functionality classification: new well, four junctions, injector, single upper completion, re-entry by pulled completion, remote monitoring and control. In 2002, some minor changes were made to the complexity ranking definitions to accommodate new multilateral systems that had entered the market.

While the organization began as an operators’ forum, service companies were included in a portion of the face-to-face meetings. In 2001, a service company hosted a TAML meeting for the first time, and membership eventually became open to operators, service companies, and academia. The current membership has grown to 22 companies. With input from TAML and the continued effort of the service companies to provide improved tools, the evolution of multilateral technology has continued with additional milestones:

• 1998 – multilaterals started evolving toward intelligent wells.
• 1998 – 1st deepwater Level 5 from a floating rig, Petrobras, Brazil.
• 1999 – 1st Level 6, AERA Energy, California.
• 1999 – 1st intelligent multilateral, Level 2, BP, UK.
• 2002 – 1st multilateral system floated in, Level 3, Chevron, China.
• 2002 – 1st intelligent Level 6, CNOOC, Indonesia.

More than 50 years after that first multilateral by Grigoryan, the estimated number of multilateral junctions installed through the end of 2006 is estimated to be greater than 8,000. Level 1 and 2 multilaterals have become so common that those numbers are no longer tracked by the industry, and the actual number of installations could be as high as 10,000.

While all countries in which Level 1 and 2 installations cannot be determined, there are a minimum of 29 countries on six of the seven continents covered by the remaining levels.

Multilateral technology is neither new nor emerging, but even with global numbers in the thousands, it is still not considered mature by the industry. Multilaterals have not yet reached the acceptance level of horizontal wells, but with the economic incentives the technology offers in terms of reduced well count and equal or greater number of penetrations into the reservoir, it makes sense to evaluate projects for possible candidates, especially where horizontals are already being drilled. The challenges of sand control in and remote control and monitoring of each leg of a multilateral have been conquered. As for future multilateral milestones, the next big challenge is deepwater and ultra deepwater wells, where costs and risks are extraordinarily high.

Debu dan Batu Mulia

Sesungguhnya kemuliaan diri tidak terletak pada kesombongan dan tidaklah sama dengan kehinaan. Kemuliaan adalah cahaya dan terletak di kutub yang lain, sedangkan kehinaan adalah kegelapan dan terletak di kutub yang lainnya lagi.

Menghindari kesombongan bukan berarti rendah diri. Karena rendah diri kepada sesama manusia adalah kehinaan. Menghindari kesombongan adalah rendah hati, beribadah hanya karena-Nya dan mau menerima kebenaran dari mana pun datangnya.

Tidak ada orang yang menghindari kesombongan kemudian menjadi hina. Sekalipun orang itu tidak dikenal di masanya, tetapi karena akhlaknya yang mulia dan beramal dengan ikhlas, Allah mematri namanya di hati dan pikiran generasi selanjutnya. Tidak terasa ratusan tahun kemudian namanya banyak disebut orang, nasihat-nasihatnya didengar dan diamalkan, akhlaknya menjadi contoh teladan. Inilah makna firman Allah, “Dan kesudahan yang baik bagi orang-orang bertakwa.” (QS. Al-Qashash [28]: 83).

Abu Dzar Ra. berkata, “Ada orang yang bertanya, ‘Wahai Rasulullah, bagaimana pendapat engkau tentang orang yang mengerjakan suatu amal dari kebaikan dan orang-orang memujinya?” Beliau menjawab, “Itu merupakan kabar gembira bagi orang mukmin yang diberikan lebih dahulu di dunia.” (HR. Muslim).

Said bin Jubair walaupun bertahun-tahun dipenjara dan akhirnya dihukum mati, kepalanya dipenggal oleh seorang algojo, namun ulama dan kaum muslimin mencintainya dan mendoakannya karena dia adalah syuhada, pembela yang haq, dan penegak keadilan yang tak takut mati.

Ibnu Taimiyah mati di dalam penjara, namun kebaikan-kebaikannya terasa hingga kini. Dia dikenal sebagai ulama pembela as-Sunnah, panglima perang di medan jihad, dan seorang penulis yang tiada duanya. Kitabnya berjilid-jilid tebalnya, kandungannya sangatlah berharga, dan menjadi rujukan banyak ulama.

Hasan al-Banna mati ditembak, yang mengubur jenazahnya hanya empat orang; ayahnya, istrinya, anaknya, dan seorang nasrani. Hal itu terjadi karena seluruh pengikutnya dijebloskan ke dalam penjara dan para ulama tidak ada yang diberitahu tentang kewafatannya. Dia kini dikenal sebagai salah satu tokoh terkemuka, mujahid, ulama shalih, da’i, murabi, dan pendiri jamaah Islam terbesar di dunia.

“Tidakkah kamu perhatikan bagaimana Allah telah membuat perumpamaan kalimat yang baik seperti pohon yang baik, akarnya teguh dan cabangnya (menjulang) ke langit. Pohon itu memberikan buahnya pada setiap musim dengan seizin Tuhannya. Allah membuat perumpamaan-perumpamaan itu untuk manusia supaya mereka selalu ingat.” (QS. Ibrahim [14]: 24-25).

Sedangkan bagi orang-orang yang menyombongkan diri dan zhalim, sekalipun terkenal di masanya, kaya hartanya, tinggi kedudukannya, luas kekuasaannya, namun di masa kemudian hanya menjadi buah hinaan dan kutukan.

Al-Hajjaj seorang pejabat di masa kekhalifahan Umayah, dikenal karena kesadisannya, kekejamannya, pembunuh para ulama shalih, termasuk di dalamnya Said bin Jubair. Sekalipun kekayaannya banyak, kedudukan dan pangkatnya tinggi, namun ia hina di sisi Allah dan kaum muslimin yang mencintai kebaikan. Akhirnya ia mati dalam keadaan mengenaskan, tubuhnya dipenuhi bisul yang apabila muncul rasa sakit darinya, terdengar suara yang keras dari mulutnya seperti banteng yang meregang nyawa.

Ahmad bin Du’ad, seorang tokoh Mu’tazilah, ikut andil menyiksa Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Imam Ahmad pun mendoakan kebinasaannya, maka Allah menimpakan padanya suatu penyakit yang membuatnya sering mengatakan, “Adapun separoh tubuhku ini apabila dihinggapi oleh seekor lalat, kurasakan sakit yang bukan kepalang hingga seakan-akan dunia ini kiamat. Sedang separoh tubuhku yang lain andaikata digerogoti dengan catut sekalipun, niscaya aku tidak merasakannya.”

Sultan yang memenjarakan Ibnu Taimiyah akhirnya turun tahta, ulama-ulama pembisiknya akhirnya tidak dihormati masyarakat. Ulama-ulama su’ (buruk) itu tidak dikenal kecuali hanya namanya, dan itupun hanya orang-orang tertentu saja. Tapi Ibnu Taimiyah dikenal sepanjang masa dan ulama-ulama serta kaum muslimin mengagumi dan meneladani sikapnya.

Raja Faruq, pembunuh Hasan al-Banna, akhirnya turun tahta setelah beberapa tahun kematian Hasan Al-Banna. Dulunya dihormati, kini dicaci maki dan hanya bagian dari sampah sejarah mesir yang tak berguna. Pejabat-pejabat Mesir yang banyak menyiksa dan memasukkan aktivis ikhwanul muslimin ke penjara, seperti Gamal Abdul Naser dan Hamzah Basyuni mati secara mengenaskan. Yang pertama selalu dihantui ketakutan sebelum matinya, sedangkan yang kedua mati ditabrak truk penuh dengan besi sehingga tubuhnya tercabik-cabik tak karuan.

“Dan perumpamaan kalimat yang buruk seperti pohon yang buruk, yang telah dicabut dengan akar-akarnya dari permukaan bumi; tidak dapat tetap (tegak) sedikit pun. Allah meneguhkan (iman) orang-orang yang beriman dengan ucapan yang teguh itu dalam kehidupan di dunia dan di akhirat; dan Allah menyesatkan orang-orang yang zalim dan memperbuat apa yang Dia kehendaki.” (QS. Ibrahim [14]: 26-27).

Seberapa kayanya Anda, kelak ketika mati harta itu tidak akan dibawa ke alam kubur. Seberapa pintarnya Anda, sangat mudah bagi Allah memberi satu penyakit yang menjadikan seluruh ilmu yang Anda miliki hilang. Sekuat apa pun Anda, sesungguhnya Anda tidak lebih kuat dari rumput yang sering diinjak-injak orang.

Jadilah batu mulia, jangan jadi debu. Batu mulia mahal harganya dan sangat indah bila dipandang mata. Sedangkan debu, menempel di baju, menjadi kotor. Di mana pun ia menempel, sesuatu itu menjadi kotor. Batu mulia tersembunyi di dalam tanah, sangat sulit mencarinya. Kalaupun bisa, ia diambil dengan menggunakan alat khusus. Jika sudah diketahui ada di suatu tempat, beramai-ramai orang ke sana mencarinya.

Sedangkan debu, terlihat di depan mata, bahkan bisa membuat mata sakit, bisa membuat orang alergi. Orang-orang berusaha sebisa mungkin menghindari debu. Amal yang dilakukan bukan karena Allah – di dalam Al-Quran – diibaratkan “batu licin yang di atasnya ada debu, kemudian batu itu ditimpa hujan lebat, lalu menjadilah dia bersih (tidak berdebu).” (QS. Al-Baqarah [2]: 264). Begitulah amal orang-orang yang sombong, tidak mendapatkan apa-apa selain hanya gerakan-gerakan yang melelahkan.