SPE 64696

Paper Title: Pushing the Envelope - Extending the Limits of Current Drilling Technology
Sazli Kamaruddin, SPE, Md Zin Che Lah, SPE, Lancelot Sering, SPE, Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd.
and Alan Good, SPE, Lim Hong Khun, SPE, Baker Hughes

Copyright 2000, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE International Oil and Gas Conference
and Exhibition in China held in Beijing, China, 710 November 2000.
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Abstract
The practical application of new technologies, including rotary
steerable drilling systems are overcoming previous limitations
in directional drilling to make designer, multilateral and
extended reach wells easier to drill.
In this paper, the authors will discuss the tremendous value
that can be achieved through application of winning
technology and teamwork that has been proven as an effective
tool in maximizing business opportunity in Asia Pacific.
Multilateral wells offer tremendous advantages including
reducing the size of platforms, surface locations, subsea
completions and total wells required to fully exploit a
hydrocarbon reservoir. However, such complex 3 dimensional
well applications can be severely limited by a number of
factors including:

Prohibitive well costs

Rig sizing considerations
Less than optimal directional control
Torque and drag
Unreliable WOB transfer and poor hole cleaning
Environmental considerations.

One technology having a significant impact on such designer

well applications are rotary closed loop drilling systems.
These systems provide enhanced drilling-while-steering
efficiency and improved hole quality. It comprises a nonrotating steering unit, a downhole guidance system, formation

evaluation (with optional LWD) and downhole pressure

monitoring. These tools can automatically guide the bit to a
preprogrammed target and two-way surface communication
allows rigsite engineers to adjust the well trajectory to meet
drilling objectives and redirect the wellpath based on real-time
formation logs. This eliminates the wait and see aspect of
drilling which often results in less than optimal well
placement, unnecessarily complicating the forward directional
plan for the well or missing the target all together.
In 1998 Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. commenced the Sotong
field development in offshore Peninsular Malaysia. The
objective was to efficiently drain marginal reserves using
multilateral Level 4 technology. The wellpaths are precisely
placed in an optimal position using rotary steerable technology
in order to ensure maximum production life of well. Modern
communications systems has allowed this technology to
transfer real-time wellsite data from rigsite to shore. The
critical well path decisions can be made in real time by the
team in the office and relayed to the wellsite instantaneously
and changes can therefore be made immediately.
Technical Objectives
Sotong is a marginal field that could only be economically
developed through utilization of multilateral technology. Once
drilling had commenced it was determined that this would be a
suitable application for RSS technology. The main technical
objective was the effective drainage of the K2 reservoir.
Reservoir Description
The main reservoir on Sotong field is K2 sandstone. This is a
32m thick sand (2166m 2198m TVD SS) which has an oil
column of 14m. This is bounded by a large gas cap above and
water below. Hence, the reservoir objective was to place well
path 2m above the water contact. This location is chosen in
order to optimize productivity. TVD control with high
precision within a 0.5m tolerance was used to define the exact
location of the OWC throughout the reservoir. Anticipated
problems in well path control due to hard dolomitic stringers
within the reservoir were overcame.

SAZLI KAMARUDDIN, SPE, MD ZIN CHE LAH, SPE, LANCELOT SERING, SPE, PETRONAS CARIGALI SDN. BHD.
AND ALAN GOOD, SPE, LIM HONG KHUN, SPE, BAKER HUGHES INTEQ
SPE 64696

Limitations and Project Constraints

The primary objective was to drill and complete the wells
within budgeted AFE. This was achieved by minimizing non
productive time (NPT), and reducing the standby time
between wells completion to casing exit well by well.
Another constraint was the reservoir requirement to provide
400m of drainage separation in conjunction with the TVD
placement, which was further compounded by dolomite
stringers within the reservoir. Over and above this it was
found that drilling tools had to sustain a environment with
temperatures recorded as high as 140C. The obvious
implication here was the sustainability of MWD in this type of
hostile environment. The only impact was intermittent density
sensor LWD failure(s) due to temperature, but fortunately this
did not impact operations and the missed sections were later
re-logged
Logistics and support - due to the nature of the technology
employed, RSS availability was an issue, with support
equipment being mobilized from Europe initially and
thereafter supported from Singapore. Over and above this
constraint, contingency planning was found to be of key
importance as it was discovered that in the case of an RSS tool
failure the backup equipment had to achieve the objective of
the primary well design. That is, the final well design has to
take into consideration the capability of the backup equipment
employed relative to the superior performance of the primary
equipment

Fig. 1 NPV-Cost-Time
The viewgraph as depicted in Figure 1 was used to illustrate
the impact of technology on NPV in terms of cost reduction,
bringing forward first oil date and maximizing the life of an
asset through efficient wellbore placement. It should be noted
that although RSS is an emerging technology it was
effectively applied and proved to be an immediate success.
With a correct approach to planning and contingency the
learning curve for this new drilling methodology was
significantly accelerated
Well Design

Even though the final well design(s) were of great complexity

it was determined that the rig capability was well within the
required operating envelope
Cost Impact / Maximizing NPV
The overall impact of cost versus maximized NPV was
realised through:

Well Cost reduction due to faster drilling and

eliminations of pilot hole and by minizing wiper trips
Maximized production by optimally locating the
wellpath to prolong well life through delay of water
and gas breakthrough
Utilization of multilateral technology leads to
efficiencies in terms of slot utilization which in turn
contributes to significant cost reduction and hence
impacts NPV
Suitable application of technology, that is, multilateral
and RSS

Fig. 2 Sotong-A Platform Well Distribution

A rigorous approach was adopted in the well planning and
design process which involved practically the entire team;
petrophysicists, geologists, reservoir engineers, drilling
engineers, directional drilling coordinator and completion
engineers.

SPE 64696

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE - EXTENDING THE LIMITS OF CURRENT DRILLING TECHNOLOGY

The location of drainage points for maximizing field coverage

by platform were first considered. These targets were then tied
back to a possible casing exit point. The hole inclination and
formation at the casing exit area were then evaluated they may
affect the quality of cement bond. Poor cement bond around
the exit point could hinder the sidetracking operation.
Although dogleg severity greater than 5/30m was feasible
with the RSS tool, the profile was planned at less than 5/30m
to allow for any contigencies during actual drilling. From the
initial targets, the wellpath was then extended by at least 350m
of horizontal section for production drainage. All the
wellpaths were then reviewed to ensure that the 300m of
production area did not intersect a 400m radius circle of the
production zone of other wells. In several instances, the
horizontal sections had had to be redrawn and turned to meet
this requirement. Once a preliminary well trajectory was
designed, torque and draq calculations were performed to
ensure that the design did not exceed the existing rig
capability and tubular limitations.
Hole cleaning and wellbore stability were the next factors that
had to be reviewed.
Another serious consideration was the TVD uncertainty due to
survey inaccuracies. Typical TVD uncertainty for this type of
well profile at the HEP was in 9-11m range which grossly
exceeded the requirement of landing the wellpath within
0.5m TVD in a 14m oil column. Contigency had had to be
built into the plan so that in the event of a TVD descrepancy,
the revised build rates would still be within the tools
capability.
The above well design process was iteratively repeated until
an optimum solution was obtained that meet all requirements.
Once a design was accepted, a final check was made to
determined whether the liner and other completion tubulars
could be effeciently run.

navigation (geosteering). This type of service have

traditionally been performed with the service company
specialist located on well site, to interface as closely and
quickly as possible with operator, drilling, MWD and other
parties at the well site. In this case there was still a reservoir
navigation specialist at the well site, as this have some distinct
advantages, but due to the advantages described above, the
main work with respect to updating earth models and
positioning the well bore in the optimum position was done in
the operator office. This was carried out by having continuos
24 hrs. coverage, and utilizing all the real-time data which was
available in the operator office (exactly the same data as seen
at the well site). The reservoir navigation engineers could
therefor quickly generate updated models, as required based
on LWD tool response, and work together with the operator
personnel to ensure the well path stayed in the optimum
position.

Drilling & Wellbore Placement

With the overall target of positioning the wellbore in either a
pre-defined (geometrical) location, or a dynamic position
based on information acquired during drilling, effective
communication and information distribution becomes critical.
On this project available information technology was utilized
to virtually move the well site to the shore office with respect
to evaluation and drilling data. All data acquired at the well
site was displayed simultaneously at the shore office, and the
system used enabled data to be seamlessly moved from well
site to shore office. By having all this data available at
virtually the same instance, decision making is greatly
enhanced due to shortened lag time.
This also allows for excellent data distribution, to all required
parties, both within the operator and service company. The
main benefit of this being that additional expertise will be able
to evaluate the data, and better decisions can be made
compared to traditional data evaluation process (mainly done
at well site only).

The Rotary Steerable Systems (RSS) used on this application

had a bi-directional communication link which enabled real
time control, with continuos feed back to confirm the
commands initiated had been received correctly. This gave the
added advantage that every request for directional changes
were confirmed received correctly, and no wait and see
situations were required, to confirm the behavior of the down
hole assembly. This effectively was the long feedback loop
that worked from surface, down to the tool and back up to
surface. This combined with the communication system to the
operator office enabled directional control commands to be
initiated in the operator office.

The wellbore placement for these wells required a

combination of geometric placement and dynamic reservoir

Fig. 3

Closed Loop System

On top of this long feedback loop, the RSS had an internal

down hole loop. This ensured the programmed directional
parameters were closely followed, through usage of down hole
sensors and sophisticated programming to automatically
initiate required adjustment on the steering unit, and therefore
kept the well position in the planned location. To keep the
overall control within the human sphere, any changes made
was also telemetered back to surface through the long feed

SAZLI KAMARUDDIN, SPE, MD ZIN CHE LAH, SPE, LANCELOT SERING, SPE, PETRONAS CARIGALI SDN. BHD.
AND ALAN GOOD, SPE, LIM HONG KHUN, SPE, BAKER HUGHES INTEQ
SPE 64696

back loop, and manual intervention (or adjustments) could be

carried out if interpretation of down data justified this.
Additional benefits of the RSS utilized in these wells, was the
improved directional control. This was used extensively to
maintain the well bore in the best position as determined by
the operator personnel and reservoir navigation specialist. This
enabled small changes in TVD and azimuth to be carried out
with great confidence, and immediate feed back to confirm the
desired changes had actually taken place. Because of this the
required length of good payzone could be achieved with a
shorter overall drilled distance, thereby saving drilling time
and cost associated with blank completion sections etc.
In addition to these enhancements to the reservoir navigation,
the improved directional control was used to further
explore/confirm structure tops and fluid contacts to improve
the overall knowledge of the reservoir and its extent. This
basically provides data which otherwise would be acquired
through drilling of pilot holes with its associated cost.

On Sotong-6 Lateral-2, again utilizing the exceptional

directional control of the RSS, additional information was
obtained without adding cost to the overall project. On all the
laterals drilled, one of the objectives was to have 400m
clearance between the production zone. This meant that on the
2nd and 3rd laterals, there could be some distance of drilled
hole before this circle was exited. On this well it was decided
to land the well below the OWC, before it was steered up to
re-land at the optimum TVD location at the point outside the
400m radius where the perforation zone would start. This
would again function as a pilot hole at the heel of the well, and
the exact determination of the OWC would enable a better
placement of the horizontal drain hole 2m above this contact.
Additionally on this well, the azimuth was changed faster then
originally planned (5.2/30m vs. 2.5/30m) which meant the
earlier discussed 400m radius production interference circle
was exited some 95m MD earlier, enabling the total length of
the well to be shortened accordingly.

Fig. 5 Sotong-6 Lateral-2 Vertical View

Fig. 4 Sotong-6 Tri-Lateral Plan View
One example of this is Sotong-6 Lateral-1. On this well the
horizontal drain hole was drilled and positioned with reservoir
navigation, and after the required horizontal pay zone
exposure of 423m was achieved, the well bore was
deliberately steered down. This would give valuable
information as the well path approached the OWC, with
respect to actual tool response. This complements the modeled
data from off-set wells as additional effects like anisotropy,
actual transition zone resistivity profile and other local or
structural artifacts are seen. In this case the OWC contact was
not penetrated, but a projected distance of 2m was maintained.
The resistivity changed from the optimum 10.5 ohm-m to
approximately 6.5 ohm-m as the wellbore was steered down.
This effectively functioned as a pilot hole on the southern
flank of the structure, where control previously had been
limited.

Overall Results
The drilling and completion of the Sotong-6 trilateral well met
all well objectives, that is, reservoir target, well course, well
spacing / placement objectives and most importanty cost of
well relative to prognosed AFE. The TVD placement was
controlled to within 0.2m of the required wellpath position
through use of realtime geosteering control and decision
making. The well capability was tested up to 7000 barrels per
day. In order to limit drawdown effects production is currently
controlled to 2000 barrels per day.
The total well costs were reduced by 30%. This was achieved
by:

Faster drilling continuous rotation and automated 3D

control, no slide drilling for corrections.
Elimination of a pilot hole drill under-section, precisely
to locate the GOC and OWC using a realtime geosteering
model, facilitated with LWD.
Reduction in the number of wiper trips due to smoother

SPE 64696

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE - EXTENDING THE LIMITS OF CURRENT DRILLING TECHNOLOGY

wellbore and better hole cleaning.

Placing the well in the exact position as determined
through real time decision making. This was facilitated by
a realtime data transmission system from and to the rig
Smoothe well path facilitated running liners and other
completion tubulars.
Improved cementing and junction integrity by placement
of the casingres exit in shale section as opposed to sand
section.
Dynamic approach to well design - redefine wellbore
placement based on observed geological and real time
information.
Health, Safety and Environmental issues were improved
with RSS system, where MWD is an integrated part and
handling of heavy BHA components was significantly
reduced.

Conclusion
It was proven that even with limitations to rig capacity, it is
still possible to drill highly complex 3D wellpaths using the
RSS technology. However, for this application to be
successful, prudent engineering and planning must be
prepared to ensure that all technical constraints can be met by
optimizing the existing tools and their environment
Contingencies and backups to cover unplanned events must
also be considered so that they too do not exceed existing
tools constraint.
A win-win approach drawing upon the synergy from the
different discplines of the team including the various service
contractors must be coordinated to ensure project success.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank PETRONAS, Petronas Carigali
Sdn. Bhd. and Baker Hughes INTEQ for permission to publish
this paper.
References
1.

F.Donati, J.Oppelt, A.Trampini, D.Ragnitz: Innovative Rotary

Closed Loop System Engineering Concept Proven by
Extensive Field Application in The Adriatic Sea. SPE paper
39328 , SPE/IADC Conference, Dallas, Texas, 3-6 March 1998.

2.

M.Z.CheLah, L.Sering, S.Kamarrudin, A.Good, T.Gjerdingen:

Technology Advancements in Optimum Wellbore Placement.
SPE paper 64479, SPE Asia Pacific oil and Gas Conference,
Brisbane, Australia, 16-18 October 2000