For the most part, well instability is a complication related to drilling operations, but it

may
also appear in other phases of oil production. About one tenth of all drilling expenses
are
related to attempts of solving the problems associated to well instability. Since the
setbacks
resulting from well instability become more complicated over time, the key to achieving
greater efficiency in solving these problems is to identify them as quickly as possible.
Therefore, a complex study of the different risks that can appear in each operation is
necessary. A general analysis of these risks should be made in order to determine an
acceptance criteria for them. In addition, each well should be analyzed individually to
obtain
new data, which will be necessary for a quantitative and advanced assessment of the
risks
resulting from well instability.
As a result, some final objectives to mitigate the hazards arising from well instability in
drilling are: anticipated possible problems, study their severity, calculate the time and
available budget to solve problems, and study successful analyzes which were made in
similar
operations.
With that in mind, a case analysis was performed in 3 wells drilled in the pre-salt area of
the
Santos basin, where the procedures used in the process were studied, while also noting
the
problems that happened and how they were solved and implemented in the construction
of a
more adequate model that could minimize the setbacks in future drilling operations.
Keywords: Risk Analysis, Oil Well, Drilling, Instability.