Chapter 1:

Directional Drilling
CGE 578 Drilling Engineering II

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 OUTLINES

Planning for directional drilling

Well profile/Trajectory
Deflection and Surveying Tools

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 What is Directional Drilling??

Refers to all activities that are required to design and

drill a wellbore to reach a target or a number of
targets located at some horizontal distance from the
top of the hole.
To connect the surface location with oil/gas reservoirs
that are not located right below it.

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 PLANNING FOR DIRECTIONAL
DRILLING
Our Goal: To determine the most economic path from
the surface to the bottomhole location.
To determine target coordinate with respect to the
proposed surface location.
To assign target radius based on well objective. Target
radius indicates how tightly we have to control well
trajectory.

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 HOW TO DRILL A NON-VERTICAL
WELL?
It is easy to drill a vertical well from the rig. But how to drill at
location far away from the rig?

MEAN SEA LEVEL

SEABED

WELL 3
WELL 1

WELL 2
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 APPLICATIONS
Multiple wells from offshore structures
The most common application of
directional drilling techniques is in
offshore drilling.
Many oil and gas deposits are situated
well beyond the reach of land based
rigs.
Drilling a large number of vertical wells
from individual platforms is both
impractical and uneconomical.
The obvious approach for a large oilfield
is to install a fixed platform on the
seabed, from which many directional
boreholes can be drilled.
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 APPLICATIONS
Relief Wells

Directional techniques are used to

drill relief wells in order to
killblowouts.
Relief wells are deviated to pass as
close as possible to the uncontrolled
well.
Heavy mud is pumped into the
reservoir to overcome the pressure
and bring the wild well under
control.

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 Montara Oil Spill

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 APPLICATIONS
Sidetracking
Sidetracking out of an existing
wellbore is another application
of directional drilling.
This is done to bypass an
obstruction (fish) in the
original wellbore, to explore
the extent of a producing zone
in a certain sector of a field, or
to sidetrack a dry hole to a
more promising target.
Wells are also sidetracked to
access more reservoir by
drilling a horizontal hole
section from the existing well
bore.

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 APPLICATIONS
Inaccessible locations

Directional wells are often

drilled because the surface
location directly above the
reservoir is inaccessible,
either because of natural
(eg. river estuary and
mountain range) or man-
made (eg. City) obstacles.

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 APPLICATIONS
Fault Drilling
Fault denotes a break in
subsurface strata.
Directional wells are also drilled
to avoid drilling a vertical well
through a sharply inclined fault
plane which could damage
casing by fault slippage.
This can be minimized by drilling
parallel to a fault and then
changing the direction of the
well to cross the fault into the
target

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 APPLICATIONS

Salt Dome Drilling

Salt dome performed
hydrocarbon trap underneath it.
However, drilling across the salt
dome could cause problem and
affect the mud rheology.
Instead of drilling through the
salt, the well is drilled at one side
of the dome and is then deviated
around and underneath the
overhanging cap.

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 APPLICATIONS

Shoreline Drilling
In the case where a
reservoir lies offshore but
quite close to land, the
most economical way to
exploit the reservoir may
be to drill directional wells
from a land rig on the
coast.

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 APPLICATIONS
Controlling Vertical Wells
Directional techniques are
used to straighten crooked
holes.
When deviation occurs in a
well which is supposed to be
vertical, various techniques
can be used to bring the well
back to vertical.
This was one of the earliest
applications of directional
drilling.

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 Directional Well Profiles

True Vertical Depth (TVD)

The true vertical depth of any point or station
along a wellbore is the vertical distance from
the well surface reference point to the station
of interest.

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 Directional Well Profiles
Measured Depth (MD)
The measured depth of any
point or station along a
wellbore is the distance from
the well surface reference
point to the station of
interest along the actual well
path.

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 Directional Well Profiles

Horizontal Departure (D)

The horizontal departure is the distance
between any two points along a wellbore
projected onto a horizontal plane or plan
view.

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 Well Profile: Build and Hold

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 Well Profile: Build and Hold

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 Tutorial 1

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 Tutorial 2

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 Assignment

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Basic
Mathematics

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Basic
Mathematics

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Basic
Mathematics

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 Trigonometry

More info: http://www.mathopenref.com/trigany.html

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 Directional Well Profiles
Quadrant

The quadrant bearing of a well is the angle in the horizontal plane

measured from either a North or South reference direction towards the
East or West, defining the direction of the wellbore.
Example: S 30E

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AZIMUTH-QUADRATURE
CONVERSION

The NE quadrant is clockwise from N,

so you add the azimuth to 0.

The SE quadrant is counterclockwise

of S, so you subtract the azimuth
from 180.

The SW quadrant is clockwise from S,

so you add the azimuth to 180.

Finally, the NW quadrant is

counterclockwise from north so
subtract azimuth from 360

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 SELF-CHECK EXERCISES
Convert the following quadrant bearings into azimuth.

QUADRANT BEARING AZIMUTH

S64-1/2E ?
N 35E ?
S 88-3/4W ?
N 66.5W ?
S 22.25E ?
N 35.5W ?
S 89E ?
N 71 1/2E ?
S 25.5W ?
N 3-3/4W ?
S 11.5E ?
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 SELF-CHECK SOLUTION
Convert the following quadrant bearings into azimuth.

QUADRANT BEARING AZIMUTH

S64-1/2E 115.5
N 35E 35
S 88-3/4W 268.75
N 66.5W 293.5
S 22.25E 157.75
N 35.5W 324.5
S 89E 91
N 71-1/2E 71.5
S 25.5W 205.5
N 3-3/4W 356.25
S 11.5E 168.5
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 DEFLECTION TOOLS

To change the direction in which a bit will drill.

To change the inclination or the azimuthal direction of the

wellbore or both.

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 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DEFLECTION TOOLS

The directional well

could be drilled if the bit
change direction.

Bit will depart from its

trajectory by mean of
tilt angle and side force.
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DEFLECTION TOOLS

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 Whipstocks

Whipstocks is a long steel casing that uses an inclined

plane to cause the bit to deflect from the original
borehole at a slight angle (KOP)
Application = cased hole for sidetracking operation or
straightening crooked borehole.
Purpose of the inclined plane = to apply a sideforce and
deflect the bit in the required direction.
Step involved =
1. Whipstock is run in hole to the point at which the
sidetrack is to be initiated
2. A series of mills (used to cut through the casing) are
used to make a hole in the casing and initiate the
sidetrack.
3. When the hole in the casing has been created a drilling
string is run in hole and the deviated portion of the well
is commenced.
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 Mud motor and Bent Sub

Bent sub provides the pivot for the drillbit to be

pushed sideways and downwards. It is about 1 to 3
degrees offset.
Positive displacement motor (Mud motor) is used to
rotate the drillbit when the drilling fluid is circulated
through the drillstring.
The bent sub and displacement motor is placed just
above the bit in the BHA.
Can only be used in the build up or drop off portion of
the well since the bit will continue to drill in the
direction of the tilt angle as long as the bent sub is in
the assembly and the mud motor is being used to
rotate the bit.

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 Jetting Bit

Best suited to soft formation in which the

compressive strength is relatively low and hydraulic
power can be used to wash away a pocket of the
formation to initiate deflection.
Three cone bit with two small and one large big
eye jet is used.
Water or drilling mud is pumped through a large jet
that is oriented in the direction of the desired
trajectory change.
Very cost-efficient but requires a good directional
monitoring
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 Jetting Bit (Cont)

Procedures:

The bit is mounted on an assembly, which

includes an orienting sub and a full-gauge
stabilizer near the bit.
Once the bit touches the bottom, the large
nozzle is oriented in the required direction.
Maximum circulation rate is used to begin
washing without rotating the drill string.
The drill string can be rotated to ream out the
pocket when it is washed away.
Surveys are taken frequently to ensure that
the inclination and direction are correct.

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 SURVEYING

To check actual trajectory of the well is

in agreement with the planned
trajectory when drilling a directional
well.
The survey will be taken at very close
intervals (30) in the critical sections
(e.g. in the build-up section) of the
well.
Whilst drilling the long tangential
section of the well, surveys may only
be required every 120'.
If it is found that the well is not being
drilled along its planned course, a
directional orientation tool must be run
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SURVEYING
Objectives of Surveying
Surveying Calculation
Surveying Calculation
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 SURVEYING TOOLS (Cont)

Example of surveying tools:

1. Magnetic Single & Multi Shot
2. Gyro single & Multi Shot
3. North seeking rate gyro
4. Surface readout Gyro
5. Etc
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 Later Attempts: While Drilling
Techniques

To measure the direction of the wellbore,

condition of the drillstring as well as the
formations that have been penetrated
while drilling
The measurements transferred to the rig-
site while drilling.
While drilling sensors are typically mounted
at the BHA as close as possible to the bit
depending on the drillstring configuration.
Eg: MWD & LWD

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 Later Attempts: While Drilling
Techniques

Measurement While Drilling (MWD): To detect directional parameters

(MD, inclination, azimuth) as well as certain drilling parameters like WOB,
downhole torque, temperature, etc.
Logging While Drilling (LWD): While drilling measurements of formation
measurement like resistivity, porosity, density and sonic logs.
Data transfer: Since the amount of data measured by while drilling
techniques can be large, mostly not all measurements are continuously
transferred to the rig. Data that are not transferred are commonly stored
and retrieved at the following trip. Several different systems have been
developed to transfer the measured data to the surface, the mud pulse
telemetry is the by far most often applied on.

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 ASSIGNMENT 2

1. Steerable drilling system is widely used in directional drilling. This system consists of a
drillbit, a stabilized positive displacement steerable mud motor, a stabilizer and a MWD
tool. Discuss the function of each component in the steerable drilling system and
explain how this systems is used in directional drilling

2. Discuss the function and limitation of the following surveying tools:

Magnetic Single & Multi Shot
Gyro single & Multi Shot
North seeking rate gyro
Surface readout Gyro

3. Diffrentiate between MWD, LWD and wireline logging

You can use diagrams/pictures as aid to your discussion.

Due date: 8th October 2015

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