Publications Details
Design, Development and Testing of a Drillable Straddle Packer for Lost Circulation Control in Geothermal Drilling
Lost Circulation is a widespread problem encountered when drilling geothermal wells, and often represents a substantial portion of the cost of drilling a well. The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors research and development work at Sandia National Laboratories in an effort to reduce these lost circulation expenditures. Sandia has developed a down hole tool that improves the effectiveness and reduces th cost of lost circulation cement treatment while drilling geothermal wells. This tool, the Drillable Straddle Packer, is a low-cost disposable device that is used to isolate the loss zone and emplace the cement treatment directly into the region of concern. This report documents the design and development of the Drillabe Straddle Packer, the laboratory and field test results, and the design package that is available to transfer this technology to industry users.