Geomechanics: Modeling Wellbore Stability While Drilling Through a Parallel Weak Bedding Plane; Case Study of Highly Inclined and Horizontal Wells

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akong Bassey ◽  
Adewale Dosunmu ◽  
Friday Otutu
Keyword(s):  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Bedding Plane ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Plane Case

scholarly journals Study on the Surge-Swab Pressure considering the Effect of the Cutting Plug in Shale Drilling

Geofluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Tianyi Tan ◽  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Xusheng Ma ◽  
Yufei Chen
Keyword(s):  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Pressure Management ◽  
Accurate Calculation ◽  
Wellbore Instability ◽  
Wellbore Pressure ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Open Pipe ◽  
Frequent Problem

Wellbore instability is a frequent problem of shale drilling. Accurate calculation of surge-swab pressures in tripping processes is essential for wellbore pressure management to maintain wellbore stability. However, cutting plugs formed in shale horizontal wells have not been considered in previous surge-swab pressure models. In this paper, a surge-swab pressure model considering the effect of cutting plugs is established for both open pipe string and closed pipe string conditions; In this model, the osmotic pressure of a cutting plug is analyzed. The reduction of cutting plug porosity due to shale hydration expansion and dispersion is considered, ultimately resulting in an impermeable cutting plug. A case study is conducted to analyze swab pressures in a tripping out process. The results show that, in a closed pipe condition, the cutting plug significantly increases the swab pressures below it, which increase with the decrease of cutting plug porosity and the increase of cutting plug length. Under the give condition, the swab pressure at the bottom of the well increases from 3.60 MPa to 8.82 MPa due to the cutting plug, increasing by 244.9%. In an open pipe string condition, the cutting plug affects the flow rate in the pipes and the annulus, resulting in a higher swab pressure above the cutting plug compared to a no-cutting plug annulus. The difference increases with the decrease of the porosity and the increase of the length and the measured depth of the cutting plug. Consequently, the extra surge-swab pressures caused by cutting plugs could result in wellbore pressures out of safety mud density window, whereas are ignored by previous models. The model proposes a more accurate wellbore pressure prediction and guarantees the wellbore stability in shale drilling.

Revealing Hidden Information: High-Resolution Logging-While-Drilling Slowness Measurements and Imaging Using Advanced Dual Ultrasonic Technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-108
Author(s):  
Matthew Blyth ◽  
◽  
Naoki Sakiyama ◽  
Hiroshi Hori ◽  
Hiroaki Yamamoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Elastic Wave ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Ultrasonic Technology ◽  
Logging While Drilling ◽  
Pulse Echo ◽  
Depth Of Investigation ◽  
Wave Properties

A new logging-while-drilling (LWD) acoustic tool has been developed with novel ultrasonic pitch-catch and pulse-echo technologies. The tool enables both high-resolution slowness and reflectivity images, which cannot be addressed with conventional acoustic logging. Measuring formation elastic-wave properties in complex, finely layered formations is routinely attempted with sonic tools that measure slowness over a receiver array with a length of 2 ft or more depending upon the tool design. These apertures lead to processing results with similar vertical resolutions, obscuring the true slowness of any layering occurring at a finer scale. If any of these layers present significantly different elastic-wave properties than the surrounding rock, then they can play a major role in both wellbore stability and hydraulic fracturing but can be absent from geomechanical models built on routine sonic measurements. Conventional sonic tools operate in the 0.1- to 20-kHz frequency range and can deliver slowness information with approximately 1 ft or more depth of investigation. This is sufficient to investigate the far-field slowness values but makes it very challenging to evaluate the near-wellbore region where tectonic stress redistribution causes pronounced azimuthal slowness variation. This stress-induced slowness variation is important because it is also a key driver of wellbore geomechanics. Moreover, in the presence of highly laminated formations, there can be a significant azimuthal variation of slowness due to layering that is often beyond the resolution of conventional sonic tools due to their operating frequency. Finally, in horizontal wells, multiple layer slownesses are being measured simultaneously because of the depth of investigation of conventional sonic tools. This can cause significant interpretational challenges. To address these challenges, an entirely new design approach was needed. The novel pitch-catch technology operates over a wide frequency range centered at 250 kHz and contains an array of receivers having a 2-in. receiver aperture. The use of dual ultrasonic technology allows the measurement of high-resolution slowness data azimuthally as well as reflectivity and caliper images. The new LWD tool was run in both vertical and horizontal wells and directly compared with both wireline sonic and imaging tools. The inch-scale slownesses obtained show characteristic features that clearly correlate to the formation lithology and structure indicated by the images. These features are completely absent from the conventional sonic data due to its comparatively lower vertical resolution. Slowness images from the tool reflect the formation elastic-wave properties at a fine scale and show dips and lithological variations that are complementary to the data from the pulse-echo images. The physics of the measurement are discussed, along with its ability to measure near-wellbore slowness, elastic-wave properties, and stress variations. Additionally, the effect of the stress-induced, near-wellbore features seen in the slowness images and the pulse-echo images is discussed with the wireline dipole shear anisotropy processing.

Application Of Tandem Rotary Steerable-Positive Displacement Motor Bottom Hole Assembly In Drilling Horizontal Wells: Case Study Of Three East Siberia Wells

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zimuzor Michael Okafor ◽  
Andrew John Buchan ◽  
Dmitry Diyanov ◽  
Sheldon Andre Rawlins ◽  
Grigoriy Zhadan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
East Siberia ◽  
Positive Displacement ◽  
Bottom Hole ◽  
Bottom Hole Assembly

Bilinear Flow in Horizontal Wells in a Homogeneous Reservoir: Huntington Case Study

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Cher Feng ◽  
Peyman Nurafza ◽  
Basil Al-Shamma ◽  
Alain Gringarten
Keyword(s):  
Horizontal Wells
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