Openhole Systems anchor to the bottom of an existing casing string and extend into the unfinished wellbore. The expandable liner is then hydraulically expanded using cold-working process, casing-off the openhole while maintaining maximum hole size. Anchoring is achieved by expanding anchor hanger joints (expandable liner joints with bonded elastomeric bands) inside the base casing. Additional joints can also be run in different sections of the liner to achieve further zonal isolation.
The first applications of SET® Openhole Systems were mostly to mitigate trouble zones such as borehole instabilities and pore-pressure/frac gradient issues in an open wellbore. Today, however, the technology is used in multiple scenarios as part of well architecture. One common use is to strategically place the SET System in the well design in order to slim down the entire wellbore. This can increase the rate of penetration (ROP), maximize recovery, and increase efficiency while reducing overall environmental impact. Other applications include extending reach, preemptively mitigating risk in exploratory drilling, and maximizing recovery in sidetracking operations.
