Well Profile Comparison – Vertical Section

Well Profile
VS [ft]
-1000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
0

Which well profile will produce the highest surface torque

when rotating off bottom at TD? Assume the only difference
1000
between the two wells is the well profile. Drilling fluids,
formations, drilling tools and practices are all the same.
2000

3000
TVD [ft}

4000

5000

6000 TD @8500 ft MD @ 67° Inc

7000
TD @8500 ft MD @ 52° Inc

8000

Well 1 Well 2
01
Well Profile Comparison – Plan View
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
-4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000

-1000

-2000

-3000

-4000

Well 1 Well 2

02
Well Profile Comparison – Plan View (Zoom)

500

400

300

200

100

0
-500 -400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500
-100

-200

-300

-400

-500

Well 1 Well 2

03
Well Profile Comparison - DLS
DLS [°/100ft]
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
0

1000

2000

3000

4000
MD[ft]

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

Well 1 Well 2

04
Answer – Surface Torque
TQ Comparison - 0.4 FF
Torque [Klbs-ft]
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0

Well 2 has the highest rotating off bottom torque when at TD

1000

2000 This chart is a driller’s torque plot i.e. it shows surface torque that
the driller will see when taking torque measurements off bottom
3000
(normally prior to a connection) at a specific MD, assuming the
average friction factor for the wellbore is 0.4.
Measured Depth [ft]

4000

5000

6000

7000 Well 2 TQ @ TD = 25.1 kft.lbs

8000

Well 1 TQ @ TD = 21.6 kft.lbs

05
9000

Well 1 Well 2
Answer – Torque Profile
TQ Profile
Off Bottom Torque [klbs-ft]
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0

This chart shows the torque profile up the

1000 drill string when rotating off bottom at TD,
assuming the average friction factor for
2000
the wellbore is 0.4.
The lower DLS build in the
3000
curve for well 1 generates
4000
lower side-forces and therefore
torque than well 2.
MD [ft]

5000

6000
Well 1 produces more torque in the
7000
higher angle tangent, however this
has less of an influence than the
8000 higher DLS curve.

9000

Well 1 Well 2

06
Answer – Side-Forces

Sideforces [klb/ft]
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0

1000

2000

3000
The difference in side-forces is greater in
4000
the build section than in the tangent,
which results in the higher off bottom
MD[ft}

5000
torque through the curve on well 1 and
minimal difference in torque along the
6000
tangent interval.

7000

8000

9000 Well 1 Well 2

07
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