Petroleum Engineering 626 Lesson 20: Horizontal Wells

Offshore Drilling
Lesson 20
Horizontal Wells
4Why Drill Horizontal Wells?
4Relative Production Rates
4Relative Costs
4Types of Horizontal Wells
4Drilling Problems and Solutions
4How Popular is Horizontal Drilling?

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Quiz B 4Thursday, April 7

Austin
4Rich 101 Chalk
46-8 p.m. Pearsall Field Austin
San Antonio
Oil Rig

Presentations: Austin Chalk

Not to scale
- Start on April 13

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WHY DRILL HORIZONTAL WELLS? WHY DRILL HORIZONTAL WELLS?

4Increase Production Rates 4Produce From Thin Reservoirs

4Control Water Production 4Connect Vertical Fractures

4Control Gas Production 4Produce Methane from Coal Seams

4Control Sand Production 4Increase Injectivity (steam, water,

polymers, etc.)
4Increase Reserves
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Horizontal Well
Horizontal Well /

8 Drainage Area Vertical Well

Production,

7 = vertical drainage area

Vertical Well

6 = 30 acres
5 *Steady State
4
3
2
1
Horizontal Well
0
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Horizontal Well Length, 100 ft increments

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Horizontal Drilling Sites

Horizontal Drilling
Bryan
Austin 4Horizontal wells are often drilled
Austin Chalk Giddings
perpendicular to vertical fractures in
Austin Chalk Houston
Fields order to intersect and drain as many
San Antonio fractures as possible.

Pearsall
4Horizontal drilling greatly reduces
Field the risk of bypassing vertically
fractured reservoirs.

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PRODUCTION RATES:
Horizontal Drilling ORYX - Austin Chalk

Vertical Horizontal Horizontal/

Well Well Vertical
B/D B/D Ratio
Oil-filled fractures 12 507 42
15 215 14
5 107 21
Drilled 7 wells over a period of 4 years (1986-1989)
Drilled 85 additional wells the next year (1990)
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 ROSPO MARE, ITALY
PRUDHOE BAY
Oil Production,

500 Vertical Well: 3,000 - 4,000 B/D

m3/D

Horizontal
Well Horizontal Well: 10,000 - 12,000 B/D
250 Slant Well
Production Ratio: 3-4
Vertical
Well
1982 1984 1986
Vertical Well: 235 $/ft
Horizontal Well: 520 - 282 $/ft
Water 70m Cost Ratio: 2.2 - 1.2

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2-6 degrees/100 ft NEW DRILLING TECHNOLOGY

Long Radius 2,800-1,000 ft. radius
- Conventional
- Directional 20-75 degrees/100 ft
300-125 ft. radius Measurement While Drilling (MWD)
Medium Radius 1.5-3 degrees/ft
20-40 ft. radius
4Directional Surveying and Control
Short Radius
Pay 4Identification of Markers
Zone 400-700 ft 1,000-5,000 ft 1,000-6,000 ft
4Identify zones

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Top Drive Mud Motors

4Drill with 90-ft stands instead of 4Drill without rotating pipe

30-ft joints
4Change hole direction while drilling
4Circulate while pulling drillpipe without making a trip
out of hole to change the BHA
4Rotate drill pipe while pulling 4Steerable systems
out of hole
4High-torque motors…
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 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN
HORIZONTAL DRILLING

Geological 4Running equipment in and out of

Marker
hole: drillstring, casing, cables
4Preventing/Remedying
differential sticking
MWD tools are used to locate geological markers as
a well approaches its target so that the driller can
determine the vertical distance between the bit and
4Excessive torque
target.
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POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN SUMMARY

HORIZONTAL DRILLING (cont’d)
4Horizontal wells may produce at 3-5
4Cleaning the hole and preventing times the rate of vertical wells in the
cuttings from settling along the same area. (as much as 20 times
hole bottom higher in special cases)

4Controlling weight on bit to achieve 4Horizontal wells typically cost 1.5-3

and maintain directional control times as much as vertical wells
in the same area.
4Cementing casing or liner
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SUMMARY (Continued)
LONG-RADIUS WELLS

4Horizontal wells are often very attractive in

formations with extensive vertical fractures.
4Used for achieving large horizontal
4The use of horizontal wells is growing- displacements from platforms or
worldwide. drilling pads
4Horizontal wells will increase our
4Used for achieving very long
recoverable reserves.
horizontal sections (4000 ft +)
4In the U.S. one rig in ten is drilling
horizontal wells. (1995) { ~7% today }
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4
LONG-RADIUS WELLS (cont’d) METHOD

Build Rate: ~2-6 degrees/100 ft 4Use conventional directional drilling

technology

Build Radius: ~1,000-3,000 ft 4Use rigid bottom hole assemblies,

motors & bent subs, stabilizers
Length of Horizontal 1,000-7,000 ft 4Or, use Navigation drilling systems
Section: with “steerable” drilling motors

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MEDIUM - RADIUS WELLS METHOD

Build Rate: ~ 8-20 degrees/100 ft 4Use modified long-radius drilling

technology
Build Radius: ~ 300-700 ft 4Use different motors for ANGLE
BUILD and ANGLE HOLD sections
Length of ~ 1,000-5,000 ft 4Use a “TANGENT SECTION” between
Horizontal Section: the two build sections

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Fig. 1: Medium SHORT - RADIUS WELLS

String Stabilizer
Radius Angle
Dump Valve
Build Assembly
Build Rate: ~ 1-3 degrees/ ft
Bent Sub

Low-Speed, Build Radius: ~ 20-40 ft

High-Torque
Motor Kickoff Sub

Upper Bearing Length of Horizontal 400-1,000 ft

Housing with
Stabilizer Section:

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 METHOD
METHOD (Continued)

4Downhole motor designs are now

available
4Drill vertical “rathole” to identify
horizon
4Build angle with special curve-
drilling assembly with a non-rotating
shell that gives curvature to the tool
4After building angle to horizontal,
use a special angle-hold assembly:
this consists of two undergauge
stabilizers behind the bit, and flexible
drillpipe

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Drill Pipe Fig. 4: Short

(rotating)
Radius Curve Multi-Lateral
Drilling Completion Systems
Clutch Sub (rotating) Assembly from Baker Oil Tools
Clutch
Stabilizer

Curved Drill Guide

(non-rotating)

Bit Sub
(rotating)
Stabilizer

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Multi-Lateral Drilling and Completions

Some Things are Designed for

Easy Re-entry.

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“Complex well geometries boost

Orinoco heavy oil producing rates
Oil & Gas Journal, Feb. 28, 2000

4Single horizontal lateral

4Gull-wing well
4Stacked multilateral
4Fishbone well
4Gull-wing, fishbone well
4Stacked fishbone well
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~9 API oil. ~1.2 * 10 bbls in place. ~250 * 10 recoverable
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 End of
Lesson 20

ATM
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