Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of kitab
Petroleum Engineering Department

second year

English
Directional of drilling
in Iraq

Miss. Dalia Kamran

BY: Dawod sulyman ali

 Directional of drilling
in Iraq
introduction
the oil wells were essentially vertical or the bottom of the hole was
directly under the drilling rig. The petroleum industry did not
become fully aware of deviated well problems until the
development of the Seminole, Oklahoma field. The wells in this
field were drilled very close together and as a result wells were
drilling into one another, and ones which were already producing.
Deviations as high as 46º from vertical were measured in the
Seminole wells. The average deviation from vertical was
approximately 13°. Directional drilling began emerging in the late
1920's when curve instruments were developed that could
measure both inclination and azimuth.
Directional drilling is now common from platform and offshore
locations. The expense of placing production equipment off shore,
or in the arctic, requires that wells be produced into a common
area. The well heads can be located on one platform instead of
several if wells are drilled directionally from one location. The
drainage area for a platform may be extended with extended
reach drilling (ERD) so that fewer wells and platforms may be
needed. This will also minimize the environmental impact of the
operations and maximize the economics of hydrocarbon
production.
Figure 1 Examples of directional drilling situations.
Platforms such as the one shown below may be taller than the
tallest buildings in the world. Most of the structure will be below
sea level and not visible. These platforms may be larger than
three football fields. The structural loading is crucial to the cost of
these tall structures. Each ton of material on the decks will add
significantly to the costs, so space is at a premium. However, the
cost of a structure this big makes it imperative that as many wells
as possible be drilled from this one location. Directional drilling
has permitted development of many subsea production intervals
in an economic manner even though these platforms are
expensive. The investment for these platforms, before a single
drop of oil or cubic foot of gas is produced, is frequently in the
hundreds of millions or billions of US dollars. Every effort is made
to decrease drilling costs for these production platforms.
Figure 2 Example of a platform drilling operation.

HORIZONTAL DRILLING
Horizontal drilling is an important application of directional drilling
and is used to increase the productivity of various formations
(Figure 3). One of the first applications for horizontal drilling was
in vertically fractured reservoirs. In fractured reservoirs, a
significant quantity of the production comes from fractures. Unless
a vertical well encounters a fracture system, production rates will
be low. A horizontal well has a much greater chance of
encountering a prolific fracture system. Horizontal wells are a very
common way to produce formations. The Austin Chalk in Texas is
a classic example of using horizontal drilling techniques to
produce a fractured reservoir.
Figure 3 Horizontal drilling.
Horizontal drilling is used to produce in thin oil zones with water or
gas coning problems. The horizontal well is optimally placed in
the oil leg of the reservoir. The oil can then be produced at high
rates with much less pressure drawdown because of the amount
of formation exposed to the wellbore.
Additionally, horizontal wells are used to increase productivity
from low permeability reservoirs by increasing the amount of
formation exposed to the wellbore. Numerous hydraulic fractures
can be placed along a single wellbore to increase production and
reduce the number of vertical wells required to drain the reservoir.
Horizontal wells can also be used to maximize production from
reservoirs which are not being efficiently drained by vertical wells.
These wells usually have permeability streaks in combination with
natural fractures. The horizontal well can connect the portions of
the reservoir that are productive.
Horizontal drilling was a major innovation in the industry.
It revolutionized shale drilling and led to the technique of fracking.
Some believe that fracking "obscured the far more important role
played by horizontal drilling in enabling oil and gas to be produced
from previously inaccessible rock formations, revolutionizing
energy output and even international relations". Today
approximately two-thirds of all wells are horizontal. [1]

MULTILATERAL DRILLING
Directional drilling can be used to drill multilateral wells as well.
Multilaterals are additional wells drilled from a parent wellbore as
illustrated in Figure 4. Multilaterals can be as simple as an open
hole sidetrack or it can be more complicated with a junction that is
cased and has pressure isolation and reentry capabilities.
Multilaterals are used where production can be incrementally
increased with less capital costs. Multilaterals can be used
offshore where the number of slots are limited. It is also used to
place additional horizontal wells in a reservoir.
Figure 4 Multilateral wells drilled from a platform.

SIDETRACKING
Sidetracking is one of the primary uses for directional drilling.
Sidetracking is an operation which deflects the borehole by
starting a new hole at any point above the bottom of the old hole
as in Figure 5. The primary reason for sidetracking is to bypass a
fish which has been lost in the hole; however, there are several
other reasons for sidetracking. A sidetrack can be performed so
the bottom of the hole can intersect a producing formation at a
more favorable position such as up dip above the oil-water
contact. A well can be sidetracked to alleviate problems
associated with water or gas coning. A sidetrack can be
performed in an old well to move the location of the bottom of the
hole from a depleted portion of the reservoir to a portion that is
productive, such as, across a fault or permeability barrier.
Sidetracking an exploration well can lead to a better geologic
understanding of an area (Figure 6) especially where the geology
is complicated. Sidetracking and directional drilling can be more
economical than multiple exploration wells if the upper portion of
the well is expensive to drill.
In horizontal wells, it is a common practice to sidetrack existing
vertical wells. A whip stock is set inside the casing and the well
sidetracked. Then the formation is drilled horizontally to increase
productivity. Multiple sidetracks can be drilled from the same well,
which are termed multilaterals.

Figure 5 Sidetracking a stuck bottom hole assembly.

Figure 6 Multiple sidetracks.

STRAIGHT HOLE DRILLING

In some areas of the world, deviation from vertical is caused by
the natural formation tendencies. Packed hole assemblies are
employed to keep the dogleg severity within reason. Pendulum
assemblies are used to keep the inclination as low as possible
though with limited success at lower inclinations. If the inclination
is already too great to hit a previously specified target, pendulum
assemblies, and sometimes downhole motors are used to bring
the hole back within range of the target. It should be noted here
that sometimes targets are unduly restricted. Controlling the
inclination of a well costs significantly more than letting it deviate
and keeping the dogleg severity within reason. If there are no
restrictions on bottomhole location, the well should be allowed to
deviate.

Figure 7 Straight hole drilling.

CONTROLLED DRILLING
Controlled directional drilling is used when drilling multiple wells
from an artificial structure such as offshore platforms, drilling
pads, or man-made islands (Figure 8). The economics of building
one offshore platform for each well would be prohibitive in most
cases. However, since wells can be directionally drilled, forty or
more wells can be drilled from a single platform. Without
controlled directional drilling, most offshore drilling would not be
economical. Some fields are developed using drilling pads where
multiple wells are drilled from one location due to economic or
environmental pressures. Where the environment is concerned,
roads and production facilities may not be allowed for each
surface location with a vertical well. As oil companies become
more environmentally conscious, it may be politically
advantageous to develop fields from drilling pads in sensitive
areas. In areas of shallow water depth, multiple wells can be
drilled from artificial islands. Subsea wells are drilled from a
template on the ocean floor. In all cases, location construction
expenses and rig move expenses are reduced. Also, due to the
proximity of the wells, production costs are lower. However, for
most land wells, it is usually more economical to drill vertical wells
rather than drill directional wells from a pad.

Figure 8 Multiple wells from an artificial structure.

SEALED SAND ZONES DRILLING
There are special cases when multiple sands are drilled with a
single wellbore. This occurs when steeply dipping sand zones are
sealed by an unconformity, fault, or salt dome overhang. Several
vertical wells would be required to produce each sand, which are
separated by a permeability barrier. However, all the sand zones
can be penetrated with one directionally drilled well thereby
greatly reducing the cost of production (Figure 9).

Figure 9 Drilling multiple sands from a single wellbore.

REACHING INACCESSIBLE DEPOSITS

There are times when oil deposits lie under inaccessible locations
such as towns, rivers, shorelines, mountains, or even production
facilities (Figure 10). When a location cannot be constructed
directly above the producing formation, the wellbore can be
horizontally displaced by directional drilling. This allows
production of an otherwise inaccessible hydrocarbon deposit.

Figure 10 Inaccessible location.

FAULT DRILLING
Directional drilling is also applicable in fault drilling (Figure 11). It
is sometimes difficult to drill a vertical well in a steeply dipping,
inclined fault plane. Often, the bit will deflect when passing
through the fault plane, and sometimes the bit will follow the fault
plane. To avoid the problem, the well can be drilled on the
upthrown or downthrown side of the fault and deflected into the
producing formation. The bit will cross the fault at enough of an
angle where the direction of the bit cannot change to follow the
fault.
Figure 11 Fault drilling.

SALT DOME DRILLING

Many oil fields are associated with the intrusion of salt domes.
Directional drilling has been used to tap some of the oil which has
been trapped by the intrusion of the salt. Instead of drilling
through the salt overhangs, the wells can be directionally drilled
adjacent to the salt dome and into the underlying traps as shown
in Figure 12. However, since the development of salt saturated
and oil based muds, the amount of directional drilling has
decreased. It is difficult to drill long intervals of salt with fresh
water muds. Directionally drilling around the salt, alleviates a lot of
the problems associated with drilling salt.
Figure 12 Salt Dome drilling.

RELIEF WELL DRILLING

A highly-specialized application for directional drilling is the relief
well. If a well blows out and is no longer accessible from the
surface, then a relief well is drilled to intersect the uncontrolled
well near the bottom (Figure 13). Water or mud is then pumped
through the relief well and into the uncontrolled well. Since it is
sometimes required that the relief well intersect the uncontrolled
well, the directional drilling must be extremely precise and
requires special tools. Survey data is not accurate enough to
intersect a wellbore at depth; rather, proximity logging is required
when drilling relief wells.
Figure 13 Relief well drilling.

EXTENDED REACH DRILLING

Another application of directional drilling is what is commonly
termed as extended reach drilling. As illustrated in Figure 14,
extended reach drilling is where wells have high inclinations and
large horizontal displacements for the true vertical depth drilled. It
is used to develop reservoirs with fewer platforms or smaller
sections of a reservoir where an additional platform cannot be
economically justified. Extended reach drilling will become more
popular as the costs of platforms in deeper water and severe
environments become more expensive.
Available at:
https://www.petroskills.com/blog/entry/00_totm/introduction-to-directional-drilling#.Xu_oyGgzbIU