Wrap Up – Final Session

In This Section:
• Recap Key-Points from Each Subject
− Highlights
− Things to remember
• Opportunity for Discussion
• Course Survey
• Shirts and Hats

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 Recap
• Preliminary Well Design
– Design the wellpath around the issues
• T&D, casing wear, survey and geologic uncertainty, wellbore stability,
differential sticking, hole cleaning
• B&H is often not the best choice
• S-Path, double-build, and catenery all have high potential impact
– Most wells are feasible, with proper design and equipment
– Don’t get hung up on “contingency” casing strings
• Especially tight-clearance strings common in vertical drilling
• Instead, solve key issues with wellpath and hole-size selection
• Don’t assume expandable casing is feasible to deploy
– Hole cleaning often drives drillstring design in big hole sections
– Start with ECD design in small hole and work back to surface
• Ie, “bottom-up” design

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 Recap
• Torque, Drag and Buckling Fundamentals
– Side force is the source of T&D
• The two categories are “low side” and “brake band”
• Anything that reduces side force will reduce T&D (Light = Good)
– Wells generate T&D in different areas, depending on wellpath
– The side-effects of T&D can be quite non-linear
– Buckling in often an un-expected phenomenon
• Typically not an issue until inclination is >70o
• Very Non-linear behavior
• Fatigue damage is common if buckled pipe is rotate
• Bent pipe is unusual

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

3/20
 Recap
• Torque, Drag and Buckling Modeling
– Garbage In = Garbage Out
• Must have correct block weight, drillstring weight, trajectory, etc.
– Soft String vs. Stiff String
• Both must allow for operation-specific friction factors
– Friction factors are affected by many things
• Clearance, cuttings beds, tortuosity, differential effects, hole quality, etc.
• Don’t confuse coefficient of friction with friction factor
– Be conservative with FF planning
• Especially when consequence of being wrong is severe
• Especially in a “new” or unknown area

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

4/20
 Recap
• Hole Cleaning
– The “System” must be built in as an integral part of the well design
• Directional strategy, wellpath, fluids, rig selection, drillstring design, casing
design, ALL OF IT!
– 3 Environments
• “Vertical”, “Medium”, and “High” angle
• Practices are different in each environment
– The Conveyor Belt is driven by 3 Things
• Rotary speed turns the belt on and off
• Flowrate Drives the speed of the belt
• Mud rheology enables viscous coupling and temporary suspension
– High rotary speed and patience is really what it’s all about!

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

5/20
 Recap
• Tripping and Backreaming
– The was the most important thing we talked about!
• Drilling is the easy part – easy drilling lends to a false sense of security
• Most train wrecks occur during trips, not while drilling
– Backreaming should be avoided, except in special circumstances
– Tripping on elevators is possible
• Requires thorough cleaning with high rotary speed and patience prior to trip
• Multiple bottoms up, waves of cuttings
• Most-importantly the bit/bha must have large junkslot area
– Tight hole on trips should always be attributed to cuttings…
• Until proven otherwise – RIH 3-5 stands and perform 30 min test
• Cuttings move up hole, ledges, keyseats, etc. don’t!
– NEVER turn the pumps on in “tight hole”

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

6/20
 Recap
• ECD Management
– ECD’s due bad things to us
• Loss circulation, wellbore instability, ROP, well productivity
• Many ER wells have failed due to failure to control ECD
– ERD wells have higher ECD due to MD-TVD ratio
• The longer and shallower the well, the higher the ECD
– Pressure drop in the annulus is driven by;
• Length, Clearance, Low-end mud rheology
– Many misconceptions about PWD behavior
• Can’t see most of the cuttings in wells >30o
• Often doesn’t see the worst-case load
– ECD’s are a problem that must be solved in the design stage
• Big hole, thin mud, skinny drillpipe

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

7/20
 Recap
• Surge and Swab
– What effects ECD also effects surge and swab
– ERD wells have higher swab than vertical wells
• And it’s NOT because of cuttings / hole cleaning!
• Most of the swab load comes from the drillstring
– The effects of swab are “felt” far below the bit
– Swab-induced instability is major concern in ER wells
– Allow for swab forces in the well design phase

– Be aware of the surge, surge reduction tools, and their effect on Drag

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

8/20
 Recap
• Connection Practices
– High angle wells require fit-for-purpose connection techniques
• Reaming to condition the well and “catch up” on hole cleaning
• Controlled parameters to avoid ECD spikes
– Reduced flow/rpm on down-stroke
– Pausing prior to changing directions
• Using rotation to break gel strength after connections
– This is your opportunity to collect very valuable T&D data

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

9/20
 Recap
• Casing and Drillpipe Wear
– Side force and revolutions drive casing and drillpipe wear
– Side force should be designed <2000 lbs (900 kg) per tooljoint
• Via wellpath and drillstring weight
• When this isn’t possible, mitigation strategies should be implemented
• Bearing devices, thick-wall casing, sacrificial protection
– Bending stress should be managed below critical threshold levels
• Wellpath design and directional drilling practices are the focus
– Range 3 drillpipe should often be avoided
• Higher side forces
• Potential for mid-tube wear

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

10/20
 Recap
• Wellbore Stability
– ER wells are usually more prone to instability than vertical wells
• Due to greater imbalance of wellbore stresses
• Due to bedding-plane effects
• Due to self-inflicted causes (hammer, fatigue, swab, too-low MW)
– Prevention is better than reaction
• Get the right data in exploration/appraisal mode to make development wells
easier (via the development of a geomechanical model)
• Wellpath, casing, fluids, drillstring design (direct or indirect)
– Patience becomes even more important if instability occurs

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

11/20
 Recap
• Hole Condition Monitoring
– Listening to what the well is saying is a little trickier in deviated wells
• Typical techniques (torque, PWD) are misleading
• Often there is too-much data rather than “not enough” data
– We need a “Roadmap” in order to successfully implement trend
monitoring
– Roadmaps should be constructed, updated, and interpreted for
• Drag
• Torque
• ECD
• SPP

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

12/20
 Recap
• Differential Sticking
– Sticking force is driven by
• Contact area
• Differential pressure
– We can exponentially reduce sticking tendency by reducing contact area
• This is best-achieved via standoff
• Don’t run any un-stabilized drill collars
• Don’t run flush-joint casing
– Pay close attention to filter-cake quality
• Check for a broad particle size distribution

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

13/20
 Recap
• Performance Drilling With MSE
– Using Mechanical Specific Energy improves understanding of what is
limiting performance
– Most effectively used in realtime and in the planning stages
• Allows identification of dysfunction and redesign of the system to remove
bottlenecks
– Main Types of downhole dysfunction
• Bit Balling
• Bottom Hole Balling
• Vibration
• Bit/Cutter Wear
• Cutter Embedment
– The goal is to redesign the system so that we are bottlenecked by hole
cleaning, rather than downhole dysfunction

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

14/20
 Recap
• Casing and Liner Running
– Few casing strings run to TD due to “luck” in ER wells
– Many options are available to increase the odds of running casing and
liners successfully
• Reduce side forces
– Lightweight casing, casing flotation
• Improve clearance (PHAR)
– Drill bigger hole or run smaller pipe
• Reduce friction
– OBM/SBM, lubricants, friction reduction tools
• Allow for rotation
– Typically limited to short liners or and/or floated casing strings
– Usually required special equipment
• Eliminate buckling
– Stiffer pipe, lighter pipe, DLS, rotation

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

15/20
 Recap
• Casing Flotation
– Offers a step-change in drag performance
• FD= sinθ * µ * WB
– Must be designed around the key issues
• Collapse, buoyancy performance, fluid logistics, simplicity
– Buoyancy performance is very sensitive to;
• Casing Size
• Casing Weight
• Mud Weight
– Well control scenarios must be thought through in advance

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

16/20
 Recap
• Cementing
– Getting a good cement job is more challenging in deviated wells
• We need to manipulate mechanical, chemical, and hydraulic energy to
overcome these challenges
• Obtaining a good cement job must be engineered into the well design
– Use large volumes of spacers, consider internal displacement issues
– Design for low-ECD and good standoff
• Via casing and hole size selection
• Don’t over do it on centralizers
– Design liners to be rotated throughout the cement job
• High torque equipment
• Possible torque-reduction equipment
• Training
• Roadmaps

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

17/20
 Recap
• General
– Design wells from the bottom up
– Multiple iterations are often necessary to land on a design
that satisfies all the constraints
– Compromises usually have to be made to focus attention on
the most-important issues
• Prioritization is critical
– Throw away your “vertical drilling” hat
• Most mistakes in deviated wells stem from vertical hole logic

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

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 Future K&M Course Dates
5-Day ERD 5-Day ERD
Calgary, Alberta The Woodlands, TX
May 17-21 December 6-10

5-Day ERD
The Woodlands, TX
July 12-16

5-Day ERD
Aberdeen, Scotland
August 30- September 3

5-Day ERD
The Woodlands, TX
October 4-8
© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

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 Thank You!

© K&M Technology Group. - 2010

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