Directional Drilling

“Vertical” wells ?

There's no such thing as a straight hole

Wellbore deviation
Causes of Wellbore Deviation
The exact causes of wellbore deviation are unknown.
The following are possible contributing factors:

Formation
type, lithology
anisotropy
dip

Bottomhole assembly size, configuration

stabilizer types, size, positioning
drill collars
reamers and other tools

Drilling parameters
Weight on bit
Hydraulics
Causes of Wellbore Deviation
Causes of Wellbore Deviation
Drill string is a flexible, elastic
member, unable to resist lateral
loads and subject to buckling under
axial loads.

The shape of this buckling depends

on how much weight is applied at
the bit.

Once buckling occurs, the bit is no

longer vertical, and hole deviation
results.
 Deviation Control Methods
There are three basic techniques for controlling wellbore deviation:

· using a pendulum assembly, consisting of the bit, drill collars

and strategically positioned stabilizers, to decrease hole angle
(i.e., straighten the hole).

· using packed hole assemblies, consisting of reamers, short

collars and stabilizers, or square drill collars, to "lock in" the bit and
maintain a constant hole angle.

· using directional drilling tools (e.g., downhole motors with bent

housings).
 Pendulum assembly
Pendulum is that part of any bottomhole
assembly between the bit and the lowest point
of contact between the drill collars and the
borehole wall.

The term pendulum assembly refers to a drill

collar arrangement that employs a stabilizer to
center the drill collars in the wellbore at some
point above the bit.

When the stabilizer is correctly placed, the

pendulum length will be substantially greater
than it would be in an unstabilized BHA, thus
increasing the straightening force
 Pendulum assembly
increasing the restoring force of a
pendulum assembly by

• lowering the weight-on-bit to

reduce buckling

• using larger-diameter drill collars

to make the assembly stiffer and
provide more weight-per-foot to
the pendulum
 Packed hole assembly
Assembly employs large-
diameter drill collars and
multiple stabilizers to
provide added stiffness to
the bottomhole assembly
and thus reduce deviation
tendencies.
Directional Drilling
Applications of DD
 Applications of DD

Fault Drilling
If a well is drilled across a fault the casing can be damaged by fault
slippage. The potential for damaging the casing can be minimised by drilling
parallel to a fault and then changing the direction of the well to cross the
fault into the target.
 Applications of DD

Bypassing potential problem formations, such as salt domes.

 Applications of DD

Multi-well Platform Drilling

Multi-well Platform drilling is widely employed in the North Sea. The
development of these fields is only economically feasible if it is
possible to drill a large number of wells (up to 40 or 60) from one
location (platform).
 Applications of DD

Inaccessible Locations
Vertical access to a producing zone is often obstructed by some
obstacle at surface (e.g. river estuary, mountain range, city). In this
case the well may be directionally drilled into the target from a rig site
some distance away from the point vertically above the required point
of entry into the reservoir.
 Applications of DD

Relief Well
If a blow-out occurs and the rig is damaged, or destroyed, it may be
possible to kill the “wild” well by drilling another directionally drilled well
(relief well) to intercept or pass to within few feet of the bottom of the
“wild” well.
The “wild” well is killed by circulating high density fluid down the relief
well, into and up the wild well.
 Applications of DD

Sidetracking and Straightening

It is quite difficult to control the angle of inclination of any well (vertical
or deviated) and it may be necessary to ‘correct’ the course of the well
for many reasons. For example, it may be necessary in the event of the
drillpipe becoming stuck in the hole to simply drill around the stuckpipe.
 DD
Requirements for DD :

planning and calculating an optimal well trajectory

employing specialized equipment

specially designing bottomhole assemblies to help control the

well course and transmit weight to the bit

minimizing drill pipe and casing wear in highly deviated holes

increasing hydraulics capacity to ensure effective annular hole

cleaning
Well Trajectory Planning

Type 1: Build and Hold

Type 2: Build, Hold and Drop

Type 3: Continuous Build

Type 4: Build, Hold and Build

Well Trajectory Planning
 DEFLECTION TOOLS
Deflection tools include

directional wedges

jet bits with oriented nozzles

specialized bottomhole assemblies

mud motors
Deflection Tools

Whipstocks
Deflection Tools

jet bits
Specialized bottomhole assemblies
Downhole Mud Motors
Questions ?