The Geoprober concept proposes the use of coiled tubing drilling in order to reduce the total cost of drilling exploration wells. The feasibility study on the use of 2-7/8" steel coiled tubing to drill a typical "West Africa" ultra-deep water slimhole well has been concluded and includes:

• Use of STES Cerberus Software to optimise the CT string design, to model the fatigue life of the coil using a range of different reel sizes and materials, and to determine the optimum reel size, drum width, ect for operability of the vessel.
  
• Calculation of the hydraulics program in the 7" and 5" hole sizes, using a PDM to evaluate the effects of reactive torque on the CT performance.
  
• Evaluation of the deployment of the parabolic arch to reduce coil fatigue on a heaving vessel and determination of the steps needed to ensure the stability of the parabolic arch.
  
• Formulation of the coiled tubing management strategy for the primary drilling string ( with cable ) and secondary work string for liner running, cementing, etc.