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Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells

Article  in  International Journal of Oil Gas and Coal Technology · January 2017

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2017.10007442

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236 Int. J. Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2017

Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells

Tuna Eren*
Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department,
Batman University,
Bati Raman Campus,
72100 Batman, Turkey
Email: tuna.eren@batman.edu.tr
*Corresponding author

Burak Kagan Caglayan

PerencoOil Company,
Cankaya, 06700 Ankara, Turkey
Email: bcaglayan@tr.perenco.com

Mustafa Verşan Kök

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department,
Middle East Technical University,
Inonu Blv. 06800 Ankara, Turkey
Email: kok@metu.edu.tr

Abstract: The industry of drilling for oil, gas geothermal, and storage
purposes necessitates construction of challenging wells in recent applications.
Challenging wells are required to be designed prior to the drilling to selection
of the equipment to be utilised while drilling. A poor engineering planning may
result in losing time and effort to remediate torque and drag related troubles
which might be encountered. Adequate planning is significantly important
which is going to reveal possible drawbacks in planned well prior to
commencing operations. The drag and torque calculations are required to be
estimated and monitored accordingly whilst drilling of the wells. This paper
gives the details of torque and drag calculations for every one-metre interval, so
that the rig crew can see what is the theoretical calculated magnitudes and
compare them to the actual. Implementation of this study is going to identify
limitations due to torque and drag allowing safe drilling. [Received: April 6,
2016; Accepted: September 20, 2016]

Keywords: torque; drag; friction between the drillstring and well; directional
drilling; horizontal well; drilling engineering.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Eren, T., Caglayan, B.K.
and Kok, M.V. (2017) ‘Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells’,
Int. J. Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.236–249.

Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells 237

Biographical notes: Tuna Eren graduated from the Engineering Faculty of

Hacettepe University in 2000 with Mining Engineering degree. He received his
Master’s Deficiency (2001), MSc (2004), and PhD (2010) from Petroleum and
Natural Gas Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University from
Ankara Turkey. He worked for Schlumberger, Turkish Petroleum, Eni, and BP.
Presently, he is a part-time Assistant Professor Doctor in Petroleum Natural
Gas Engineering Department of Near East University, and full time Assistant
Professor Doctor in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department of
Batman University respectively in Cyprus and Turkey.

Burak Kagan Caglayan obtained his BS in 2009 and MS in 2014 from

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department of Middle East Technical
University from Ankara, Turkey. He worked for Baker Hughes (an
international oilfield service company) between 2010 and 2014 as a
Measurement While Drilling (MWD) Engineer and involved in directional
drilling activities both onshore and offshore in countries of Turkey, Italy,
Austria and Kuwait. He worked for Perenco in Turkey interdepartmentally as a
Cost Control Engineer between 2014 and 2016 to manage internal and joint
venture operational costs. Presently, he is working as a Petroleum Engineer in
Perenco and responsible for wells production tracking, stimulation and
development.

Mustafa Verşan Kök received his PhD in Petroleum and Natural Gas
Engineering in 1990 from Middle East Technical University. In 1993–1994, he
joined CNRS-INSA de Lyon as Visiting Professor. He was an Adviser to the
President of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
(TUBITAK) and National Contact Point (NCP) of Turkey in European Union
Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) under the priority of Sustainable
Development, Global Change and Ecosystems and JRC. For more than 20
years. He has been mainly involved in fossil fuel (crude oil, coal, lignite,
asphaltite and oil shale) combustion and characterisation. He has published
more than 175 papers in SCI journals and 70 international conference papers.
He has more than 2,500 citations for his publications. He was awarded national
and international awards for more than 20 projects. He holds two Science,
18 Research and Achievement and Promotional awards. Currently, he is the
President of the Middle East Technical University since July 2016.

1 Introduction

The success of a drilling campaign is based on the quality of preparation in the planning
phase of the well. In today’s technology, highly deviated wells are drilled for a variety of
purposes; not being limited to underground storage, geothermal wells. The success of
drilling a well and casing it off is based on understanding the mechanics in the wellbore.
A thoroughly prepared drilling campaign is going to be having the details of the way
forward at a time when trouble is encountered. Drilling campaign planning should aim to
ensure an accident-free well as well as a well drilled with the practically minimum
non-productive time occurrence. Especially in current market conditions, the industry is
in a time squeeze and it is crucial for future value generation to reduce the well
construction duration and well cost (Webb et al., 2016). The ultimate goal is to be able to
determine whether the well trajectory being planned is going to be drilled in a feasible
manner or not. Drilling costs in an oilfield account for almost half of a field’s total
238 T. Eren et al.

development costs. Reducing the drilling costs down has been the target of a lot of
research and development in recent years.
The wellbore friction, torque and drag, between drillstring and wellbore is among
critical aspects limiting industry to reach certain subsurface depths (Mirhaj et al., 2016).
They implemented their model in two example wells in order to find out the importance
of the calculations for torque a drag modelling.
It has been observed that torque and drag analysis in the fly is not being widely
implemented by the engineers in charge of the operations management. However basic
calculations could reveal whether subsequent operations while drilling are trouble free or
not. The torque and drag analysis should not be based on planned well trajectory, but be
carried out taking into consideration the actual directional trajectory. The presence of
torque and drag cannot be eliminated, but if ignored, drilling efficiency will be reduced
and the final well objectives will not be met economically (Aguilera et al., 1991). The
wells being drilled in recent years are drilled with high angles and horizontally in certain
circumstances. The very reason for drilling the wells in high angles and horizontally is
the fact that the production can be doubled with only 30% additional costs in comparison
to vertical wells. Torque and drag calculations should be performed also for the
casing/liner strings. It is known that rotation of the casing/liner strings is critically
important for a successful cementing operation. For this reason prior to the picking up of
the casing/liner strings, the possible loads and torque magnitudes to be encountered while
running in along the wellbore should be calculated. When comparing offset wells’ torque
and drag data for similar wells, the sensor types, measurement principle, and calibrations
should be identical. Referring to offset data is only possible when the recorded drilling
parameters are identically comparable to each other.
Torque and drag analysis are used to optimise the wellpath for a well with more than
30 degrees maximum planned inclination or with high anticipated dogleg severities as
stated by Devereux (1998). Drilling troubles could be encountered in wells especially if a
proper monitoring is not in place and drilling parameters to be used are not handled
correctly. Due to this reason, drag and torque predictions during planning phase may not
be inline with the predicted magnitudes in execution phase Aarrestad (1990). Recent
research studies reveal that torque and drag studies are used to monitor torque and drag
values in real time and take precautions by means of applying prevention techniques once
the values exceed the allowable limits Caglayan (2014).
Torque is defined as the lost power due to friction while transferring surface torque to
the bit according to the study by Aarrestad and Blikra (1994). Drag is defined as the
difference of static and tripping weight of the drill string. Mitchell (1995) stated that
torque and drag refers to the effects of turning and pulling the drill string on wellbore
during sliding and rotary drilling in whatever the geometry of the wellbore is. One of the
critical unknown is the torque at the bit. Fazaelizadeh (2013) stated that torque and drag
analysis inside a wellbore should be carefully performed. Correct assessment of
buoyancy and the effect of the well path are critical for accurate estimation of the friction
coefficient. Friction factor determinations are being calculated by the commercial
software. Even though one does not need to have the commercial software, since the
calculations can be done manually, although it is a tedious process as stated by Byrom
(2007). Well planning in today’s technology are being conducted by commercial software
provided in a suite of drilling engineering applications which also includes the torque and
drag analysis, as mentioned by Mitchell (2006). The engineering systems enable well
 Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells 239

planners to design the wells accurately. During the course of drilling a chart for predicted
and actual torque and drag versus depth should be maintained (Azar and Samuel, 2007).
Lai et al. (2016) presented a study on surface-based torque and tension sub. A filtered
version of the torque measurements was used to calculate the magnitudes of
measurements, and compared to the findings of the commercial torque-and-drag software
package. They concluded that with appropriate software implementation, the
measurements can be performed in real time, and enable rig crew react quickly whenever
excessive stick/slip or wellbore drag is encountered. Real time torque and drag
predictions are being observed to be widely implemented. Hegde et al. (2015) stated that
real time torque and drag monitoring during drilling has particular significance in
on-the-fly rig floor operational modifications and in overall drilling optimisation. Their
study presented state of the art statistical learning techniques to predict torque and drag
during drilling to address to the unexpected values of torque which may forecast
imminent drilling problems.
The objective of this research is to ensure that horizontal wells are drilled without any
troubles by means of conducting torque and drag calculations with the proposed
methodology. Well planners design the wells within accurate engineering limits. The
planned models are required to be re-calculated during drilling process to monitor the
well and ensure that designed limits are not exceeded. This study is introducing quick and
practical torque and drag calculation methodology giving the details of calculation
requirements which can be implemented to estimate the torque and drag out of an
ongoing drilling process. Any major deviation from the calculated figures should indicate
a problem within the wellbore, triggering the necessary actions to be taken before the
problem occurs. Torque and drag calculations are not being conducted at the rig site in
most drilling operations for horizontal wells. However the behaviour of the torque and
drag can show significant changes in pretty quick time spans. The novelty of this study is
introduced a model’s calculation methodology. The model calculates torque and drag in
one-metre intervals, rather than 30-foot. Therefore the model uses linear interpolation for
the intervals between the available survey stations of inclination and azimuth readings.

2 Model for torque and drag

Drag and torque in deviated wells are the most important two parameters which is
required to be taken into consideration in addition to weight on bit, workstring rotation.
In deviated wells torque and drag are assumed to be entirely due to the frictional forces
that result from the drillstring and wellbore contact.
The calculation methodology representation of the bottom hole assembly (BHA)
items in a wellbore is given in Figure 1. The segment items are taken at 1 m intervals.
The azimuth and hole deviation along each and every 1 m is linearly interpolated
accordingly, and used in the calculation for each 1 m segment of the BHA. The drag and
torque calculations are conducted for each segment, starting at the bottom of the drill
string and moving upwards towards surface. The axial and torsional load for each
segment contributes increasing magnitudes towards the top of the string as a function of
the wellbore geometry.
240 T. Eren et al.

Figure 1 Calculation methodology (see online version for colours)

Note: This sketch depicts the calculation methodology of BHA items inside a deviated
wellbore.

2.1 Torque
Torque which can be defined as the moment of force is the ability of a force to rotate an
object around its axis. The measure of torque depends on three terms as given below.
τ = r × F × sin θ (1)
where τ is the torque, r is the vector of displacement, F is the force vector, θ is the angle
between the force vector and the lever arm vector.
Figure 2(a) demonstrates torque in which the force when applied upwards from a
distance causing the wrench to rotate. The unit measure for torque in oil industry is lbf.ft.

Figure 2 (a) Torque application as a wrench (b) Schematics of normal force (see online version
for colours)

(a) (b)
 Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells 241

2.2 Drag
Drag is the opposite force applied to the direction of motion due to resistance of contact
surface. When a drag force is in effect the velocity of the moving object is going to be
decreasing. In drilling drag is the force that increases the hookload when the drillstring is
being pulled upwards and vice versa when string is advanced downwards.

2.3 Torque and drag in wellbore deviations

The drillstring when rotates, turns clockwise. The torque that is generated is naturally
opposite to the direction of rotation, and hence counter-clockwise. The normal force
component is due to the effect of gravitational force on the drillstring. The normal force
which is a function of the wellbore deviation is necessary to be calculated initially to
conduct torque and drag analysis. Soft string model is preferred to be used in the scope of
this study for ease of calculations, to calculate the frictional torque due to the result of
contact in between the wellbore and drillstring. One of the assumptions in this study is
that the tube is in contact with the wellbore everywhere.
Inclination and azimuth magnitudes at each station are two important parameters for
the model. While drilling the surveys are measured at certain intervals, usually every
30 m for directional control. The directional survey is composed of measured depth,
inclination and azimuth readings at certain depth stations.
Model in this study calculates the torque and drag in one-metre intervals. The
calculations are based on linear interpolation of the data in between survey stations. The
following equation gives the example of linear interpolation calculations.
x − x0
y = y0 + ( y1 − y0 ) (2)
x1 − x0

The inclination and azimuth calculations for each station are based on the above given
linear interpolation equation. Once the interpolated inclinations, azimuth and weights of
the unit drillstring elements are known, the normal force can be calculated.

2.4 Normal force calculation

The normal force (also named as side force) is the measurement of the force being
exerted by the wellbore onto the workstring. Figure 2(b) depicts the forces acting on a
segment of workstring lying at an angle. The normal force is acting in a perpendicular
direction to the inclined wellbore surface. The weight of the workstring acts towards
downwards due to the gravitational force of the earth.

Fn = ( Ft Δφ sin θ )2 + ( Ft ΔφW sin θ )2 (3)

where Fn is the normal force, Ft is tension force at the lower end of the string element, Δφ
is change in azimuth angle over the string segment, θ is the inclination at the lower end of
the string segment, and W is the buoyed weight of the string element.
242 T. Eren et al.

2.5 Calculations in wellbore

The drag force is also required to be taken into consideration for drag calculations. Drag
force acts to the opposite direction of the motion. The force for the drag is a function of
the normal force magnitude, and the coefficient of friction between the inclined plane and
the workstring segment in question.
Friction coefficient is to be determined as per field practice based on trial and error
attempts. The realistic magnitudes are determined based on offset wells’ data. The
standard in oil industry is to use 0.25 as the friction factor for cased hole sections,
whereas to use 0.35 for open hole sections. It is worth to state that the coefficient of
friction is a function of wellbore deviation, formations, mud properties, penetration rate
at the time of the drilling of the wellbore, mud system lubricity, cuttings bed, key seats,
stabiliser and centraliser interaction, differential sticking, dogleg severity, hydraulic
piston effect and viscous force.
Mitchell (1995) stated that stabilisers and reamers can steal weight away from the
drill bit if they are enlarging an under gauge hole, cutting a ledge on the low side, or
cocked in the hole Gravity pulls pipe and BHAs only toward the centre of the earth.
Friction between the wall of the hole and the drillstring becomes zero during rotation of
the drill string. Matching the field data with that of the modelling is going to be helpful in
determining a realistic friction factor for accurate calculations. The recommendation is
that after each casing run; a friction factor calculation is carried out. This is going to give
the realistic friction factor for each casing string section, and this information could be
used to calculate the friction factor for the respective open hole section. For a friction
factor determination, the surface load must be known in order to calculate the friction
factor. The recommended method to calculate the cased hole friction factor is as follows:
1 when the workstring is run in hole following the setting of the casing string, just
prior to the drilling, the drillstring if lifted, the hookload reading is recorded as the
surface load including the drag
2 the pick up load is the needed parameter to calculate the friction factor for the cased
hole interval, by matching the theoretical pick up load with the respective friction
factor which is going to calculate the actual pick up load.
Drag is calculated by means of the following formula:
Ft = W cos θ ± μFn (4)

where Ft is the increment in tension across the string segment, μ is the friction coefficient
between the workstring segment and the wellbore plane. The resultant drag force (or the
product of the Fn and coefficient of friction) is added when the workstring is moving
upwards, whereas subtracted when the workstring is moving downwards. The torque for
each segment is calculated using the below formula:
ΔM = μFn R (5)

where ΔM is the increment in torque at the string segment, R is the radius of the string
element. The torque calculations start from the bit which is located at the bottom of the
workstring and added to the top at each 1 m interval to surface.
Torque magnitudes calculated with the formula above are frictional torque across the
BHA. However there is an additional torque that is to be included in the calculations due
 Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells 243

to the rotation of the workstring, which is the torque that is being generated by interaction
of the bit with the formation. This is the bit torque component. This rotational torque is a
function of rotation speed of the string, weight on bit being applied on the bits. Rotational
torque is found by offset torque observations in the oil fields. A general conception is to
take the rotational torque magnitudes of 2.0 to 4.0 klbf.ft, if accurate rotational torque
magnitude is not available.

Figure 3 Torque and drag site monitoring flow (see online version for colours)

To validate the developed torque and drag calculation methodology, the input data is
processed accordingly. With this methodology, whatever the workstring member is
defined in the BHA, the code flow is going to calculate the estimated torque at the
surface as a function of depth (that the bit is at). The torque and drag site monitoring flow
244 T. Eren et al.

is given in Figure 3. The calculations model for torque and drag is given in below
stepwise sequence:
1 ‘MDtoTVDCalcs’ code of the model converts the MD for well sketch data into TVD
depth points.
2 ‘Create_1m_WellSketchData’ code calculates the list for every 1 m station so that
the respective calculations can be conducted. The 1 m list is then going to be
composed of start depth, end depth, inclination for this interval, azimuth for this
interval.
3 ‘CalculateUnitWtList’ code is going to place the respective unit weight for the
interval in question which is listed in previous step for every 1 m station.
4 ‘ODCreator’ code is calculating the OD of the item that is corresponding to the
station for the depth interval assigned to the respective line in the 1 m list.
5 ‘TorqueDragCalculationWellSketch’ calculates the torque and drag for each 1 m
station.
6 Once the torque and drag calculations are obtained the charts are drawn accordingly.

3 Results and discussion

The BHA sketch used as an input is given in Figure 4 as a reference. The analysis
conducted on a directionally planned trajectory for a highly deviated well profile. The
depth versus inclinations (85 and 90 deg) for two wellpath trajectories used for this study
is as depicted in Figure 5. The given deviations show a difference in inclinations starting
from 1,800 mMD depth station. Figure 6(a) gives the torque and drag data charts only for
the planned wellbore path having 85 deg inclination. The first is the chart with no torque
component at the bit, and the second is with a torque of 2.0 klbf.ft. The surface torque
magnitudes are observed as 2,500 lbf.ft and 4,500 lbf.ft respectively for non-drilling and
drilling torque. While drilling the surface torque can be compared to what is expected and
what the actual torque magnitude is. The drag trend is also a critical factor, excessive
hole drag could indicate hole problems or even development of a stuck pipe incident. The
drag at the surface on the example calculation of 85 deg wellpath is calculated to be
around 15,000 lbs.
Figure-6b depicts the torque and drag chart along the workstring for 90 deg horizontal
well trajectory. The given chart also gives the previously discussed chart given in
Figure 6(a) for a relative comparison, which was planned for a drain section with
85 degrees. It is observed that in case the well is going to be drilled with a drain angle of
90 degrees, the drag and torque to be encountered is going to be increasing.
The changes in the torque and drag charts in Figures 6(a) and 6(b) at 3,400 m,
3,300 m, and 2,300 m are due to the change of inclination at the stated depth stations and
unit weight of the BHA. For instance from the wellbore total depth (TD) to 2,630 m, a
change due to wellbore deviation is not existing, since for both charts the wellbore
inclination is constant at 85 and 90 deg respectively. The torque and drag trend in the
interval of well TD to 3,400 m is a function of the unit weight change of the drillstring
items. The greater the unit weight of the drillstring items, the greater the torque and drag
magnitude response due to the normal force in the subject interval. The change at
 Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells 245

3,300 m is due to change of drillstring items from thick walled pipe to 3 1/2” pipe.
Eventually the change at 2,300 m is due to the change of the drillstring members to
3 1/2” drill pipe and kick off interval which has started from about 1,800 m to 2,240 m.

Figure 4 Workstring layout (see online version for colours)

246 T. Eren et al.

Figure 5 Analysed wellbore path depth versus inclination chart (see online version for colours)
Planned Wellbore (85 deg)
Planned Wellbore (90 deg)
Inclination, deg
0 20 40 60 80 100
0

500

1000

1500
Depth, mTVD

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Figure 6 (a) Torque and drag chart along the workstring for the wellpath having 85 deg
inclination (b) Torque and drag chart along the workstring for both 85 and 90 deg
horizontal well trajectory (see online version for colours)

(a)
 Torque and drag field applications in horizontal wells 247

Figure 6 (a) Torque and drag chart along the workstring for the wellpath having 85 deg
inclination (b) Torque and drag chart along the workstring for both 85 and 90 deg
horizontal well trajectory (continued) (see online version for colours)

(b)

The input data to be used by means of utilising the methodology of this study is going to
define the reach capability for the drilling and casing/liner strings. If the torque and drag
calculations are conducted regularly as the drilling operations are in progress, the output
data can be used to compare the theoretically calculated magnitudes to that of actual
values. It is very critical that the instrumentation to acquire the torque and drag data is
required to be as accurate as possible.
Torque and drag response of the wellbore is very critical for the rig site staff. If the
team is equipped with the correct training and in a position to suggest an optimum
wellbore trajectory ahead or even for the successive well in sequence for more efficient
drilling, their recommendation can be taken into consideration by the planning team. The
proposed methodology of the torque and drag calculation can be used to update the
theoretical calculations from the input wellbore trajectory to be proposed. The proposed
methodology of torque and drag representation is easy to be used to make the necessary
calculations. Nowadays industry motives are to acquire large volume of data which is
most of the time complex and time consuming to process. The model proposed is
simulating the torque and drag model fairly easily, and assisting to engineer out the
drilling related troubles before they are encountered.
The friction factors in calculations are important to be appropriately taken. For a
planning study the offset wells’ frictions factors can be used. For an ongoing drilling
activity the rig site team should carry out calibrations, with trial and error friction factors
248 T. Eren et al.

until theoretical torque and drag measurements match the actual measurements with the
correct friction factor.

4 Conclusions

This study gives the significance and methodology of torque and drag calculations for the
wells while drilling wells with horizontal well profile. Torque and drag is desired to be
reduced and kept under control in horizontal well design and their drilling. While
planning the horizontal wells a detailed torque and drag study is a necessity to be
conducted prior to moving forward to execution. The benefit of this study is the ability to
conduct accurate torque and drag calculations by means of defining the well trajectory
and BHA specifications. The proposed methodology of the torque and drag calculation is
great use to prevent the operational risks, down times, BHA item losses, and
consequently delays for production.
This study resulted in ability to quickly calculate the torque and drag magnitudes of
wellbores for a particular wellpath trajectory and BHA. The advantage of this method is
the implementation of linear interpolation for every 1-m interval on the inclination,
azimuth and unit weight of the BHA for torque and drag calculations. This model allows
users to easily conduct torque and drag calculations by using MS Excel program package
due to its user friendly interface. Previous models analysed the string by dividing into
sections of 30 feet.

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