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Forecast & Review

POINT OF VIEW: Unocal South Asia Energy Ltd. Pres. James Stone
Data mining algorithm selection: decision trees
Extended-reach drilling success improved
High-temp. , insulated coating aids Alberta bitumen line construction
DRILLING & PRODUCTION
By applying advanced
predrill modeling com-
bined with real-time
model updates, Chevron-
Texaco Corp., San Ramon,
Based on a presentation to XIV Deep Offshore Calif., successfully drilled
Technology Conference and Exhibition, New Drilling three extended-reach
Orleans, Nov. 13-15, 2002. wells to 19,000-ft hori-
zontal displacement in the Petronius
field of Gulf of Mexicos Viosca Knoll
Block 786 (Fig. 1).
mud-weight window to as little as 0.5
ppg.
The uncertainty of initial pore pres-
sure and fracture-gradient predictions
carry many different drilling risks, es-
pecially in a difficult deepwater envi-
ronment.
By applying new technology to
deepwater extended-reach drilling
(ERD), the company reduced drilling
uncertainty and either avoided or
was prepared

Advanced modeling, real-time model updating to deal with

drilling risks
to successfully

improve extended-reach drilling success meet the

wells objec-
tives.

Compared to conventional vertical Field development

wells, complications from formation
pore pressure, borehole stability, hole
Nikolay Y. Smirnov cleaning, drillstring torque and drag,
John C.Tomlinson and other parameters create serious
Schlumberger Ltd.
Houston challenges for extended reach and hori-
zontal well drilling in deep water.
Samuel D. Brady In most deepwater drilling environ-
W. E. (Bill) Rau III ments, high formation overpressures
ChevronTexaco Corp. combined with low fracture pressures
Bellaire,Tex. place narrow limits on the stable mud-
weight window.
Although the pore pressures in the
Petronius field were normal, a well-
bore-stability problem reduced the safe
With the Petronius field under de-
velopment since 2000, ChevronTexaco
has drilled one vertical well and several
deviated wells in various directions
from the platform before drilling the
three ERD wells (Fig. 1).
As horizontal displacement increased,
at the same TVD, the wells had become
increasingly difficult to drill and the
need for wellbore-stability modeling and
management became apparent.
To accomplish the task, the company
applied a service Schlumberger Ltd.
calls No Drilling Surprises (NDS) that

W ELL TRAJECTORIES* Fig. 1

0
Top view
1,000
3D view 10,000

2,000
3,000 5,000
4,000
TVD, ft

5,000 North
0
6,000
7,000
North, ft

8,000
5,000
9,000 2,000
10,000 0
2,000
11,000 4,000 Ea
st 10,000
,f
6,000 t
10,000
5,000 8,000
0 15,000

ERD wells 5,000 10,000

North
, ft
0

6 0
0

2 0
0
0
00

Vertical or deviated wells 10,000

,00
,00
,00
,00
,00

2,0
0
8

15,000
1

East, ft
*Gulf of Mexico Viosca Knoll 786, Petronius field well trajectories.

Reprinted with revisions to format, from the January 27, 2003 edition of OIL & GAS JOURNAL
Copyright 2003 by PennWell Corporation
provides predrill modeling, real-time The difference between ESD and water of up to 3,200 ft water depth.
model updating, and drilling-parameter ECD became close to or greater than Operations had to drill through
change implementation at the rig site the difference between minimum safe some low-pressure sands, as well as
to lower and manage risk and reduce pressure, or the density required to some unknown formations and dipping
nonproductive time.1 3 control formation pore pressure, and beds, before reaching the target loca-
The success of the process required the fracture pressure or minimum hori- tion and reservoir that the company
flexibility, efficient communication, and zontal stress. had not previously penetrated.
close collaboration between the opera- The Petronius platform is one of the The main ERD well objectives were to:
tor and service company. worlds deepest fixed structures, posi- Avoid high over pulls, stuck pipes,
By integrating the many disciplines tioned in more than 1,750-ft water lost-in-hole tools or BHAs, or lost cir-
and with open collaboration in one depth, and is at the frontier of the Gulf culations.
process, the companies successfully of Mexico shelf and deep water. Set the 958-in. casing past the un-
drilled the ERD wells. The operator There are directions in which the stable zone and avoid drilling into weak
avoided potentially stuck pipe and lost seabed depth rapidly changes, becom- zones with excessively high mud
returns and saved up to 30% of drilling ing shallower toward the north and weight.
time. deeper south of the platform (Fig. 2). Monitor and maintain in real time
The approach relied the ECD and ESD
on integrated solutions within the set limits.
that reduced uncertainty W ATER-DEPTH CHANGE* Fig. 2 Monitor and
in pore pressure, frac- 0 maintain the hole
ture-gradient, and vari- Seabed north of platform condition to keep
ous drilling-parameter drilling parameters
predictions to avoid within the rig limi-
problems. The approach 2,000 tations.
also allowed workers to The company de-
apply fast-growing signed the ERD wells
knowledge to subse- 4,000 Seabed south of platform with the sections, as
quent wells. follows:
Previously set
TVD, ft

Objectives, well 20-in. conductor

design 6,000 pipe.
Engineers gathered Build-up section
the available field data with 1712-in. hole
and identified key con- 8,000 and 1338-in. casing.
cerns to determine op- Tangent section
tions available to identi- Well trajectory with 1214-in. hole
fy and solve problems. and 958-in. casing.
Hole cleaning, exces- 10,000 Reservoir section
sive circulation time, with 812-in. hole and
tight hole, pack offs, 7-in. liner.
tools lost-in-hole, and 12,000
sidetracks were among 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 Discipline inte-
the fields typical drilling Distance from wellhead, ft gration
problems. A geophysicist
Due to a narrowing safe-mud-weight Reservoirs south of the platform are might explain that a pressure ramp is
window, the problems worsened with under almost 3,200 ft of water but un- expected at a seismic time of 4 ms,
increasing hole inclination. Formation der only 700 ft of water to the north. which would be difficult for the driller
instability made the operational mud- Such fluctuation in seabed depth and others involved in the drilling
weight window close to or less than the creates significant environmental effects process to understand.
difference between equivalent static den- along the wellbore trajectory. Well de- Predrill modeling requires consider-
sity (ESD) and equivalent circulating signers must take these changes into able interaction and integration across
density (ECD). account, extensively studying and mod- the various disciplines. Integration and
The pressure fluctuations from the eling the stresses. The problem required internal consistency is crucial in the
mud-circulating pumps on-and-off a novel approach to modeling. whole process from planning until the
condition were greater than the pres- The new ERD wells would penetrate well is drilled.
sure difference for the hole to stay in- a previously unexplored block. The Even with the most accurate repre-
tact, prevent flow, and prevent drilling company planned one of the boreholes sentation of the earth, there still would
fluid loss. with inclination of 70 into the deep be some uncertainty during drilling.
DRILLING & PRODUCTION
Breakout is the failure of the the stress along the trajectory.
B REAKOUT FAILURE* Fig. 3 formation rock due to stress
causing compression of the Overburden stress
2 borehole wall (Fig. 3). Fig. 4 shows a comparison of the
A good understanding of overburden stress estimated without
rock properties, such as for- correcting for the water depth change
Potential mation density above the well and overburden stress calculated with
fractures path, is very important to esti- water depth change taken into ac-
2 > 3 mate the stress in extended count.
reach wells. Applying the uncorrected vertical
3 3 Since much of these essen- stress profile would give incorrect out-
tial data are usually missing, puts of pore pressure, the minimum-
modeling provides the answers. horizontal stress, and therefore incor-
Simple vertical integration of rect fracture gradient. These are the
formation density does not ac- main inputs to the wellbore-stability
Zones
of shear failure
count for dipping seabed or model computation.
or breakout Breakout lateral anisotropy effects. Work- It is very dangerous in terms of
angle ers estimated the vertical or wellbore stability and well control if
2 Stress overburden stress by modeling engineers under or overestimate any of
quality-controlled density data these gradients, which could be up to
component
from the offset wells as the 1.5 ppg in this case, and could lead to
*For vertical well.
Source: function of depth below mud costly lost circulation, borehole col-
line. lapse, and lost BHAs.
Mud engineers design the mud weight Density information was not avail- Over estimating gradients could cost
and rheology. Together with many other able through the complete depth inter- time and money and jeopardizing the
drilling engineering parameters and val. Density extrapolation from the sur- safety of the rig and its personnel.
drilling practices, it determines the ef- face to the top of the density data pro-
fective mud pressures in the hole. vided the needed information. Wellbore
Depending on these variables, the Engineers created a 3D density cube stability
ESD can often be different than the from a 3D-seismic velocity survey, with The modeling process used log data
mud weight. ECD fluctuations depend sonic data providing quality control. together with the seismic velocities for
on hole size, BHA and drillstring con- The workers integrated overburden pore-pressure modeling, with corrections
figuration, pipe movements, tripping stress along the well path, extracting applied for the changing seabed slope.
speed, pumping rates and pressures,
drilling penetration rate, etc.
Without integrating all of this O VERBURDEN-STRESS COMPARISON Fig. 4
knowledge, to yield an understanding
of ERD wells and wells with small
mud-weight tolerances, the wells sim-
ply become undrillable.

Modeling
Each division = 2,000 ft

To resolve the drilling problems, Without water-

provide reliable results, and account for depth correction
all environmental changes, the No
Drilling Surprises process used a 3D
modeling approach and integrated the
knowledge across many disciplines.
Engineers built a full 3D mechanical
earth model (MEM) using 3D seismic Water-depth
log and test information.4 The model corrected
also incorporated the drilling experi-
ence from all wells previously drilled in
the area.
The dipmeter, FMI (Fullbore Forma-
tion MicroImager log), and cuttings re-
turns that indicate formation failure
breakout revealed the stress direction. Each division = 1 ppg
 water, blue represents water
W ELLBORE-STABILITY ANALYSIS Fig. 5 or total porosity, with green
Petrophysical analysis MD ft Wellbore stability Expected failure and brown representing oil
(Fig. 5).
xx000 The available calibration
data from MDT (Modular
Formation Dynamics
xx000 Tester), RFT (Repeat Forma-
tion Tester), and leak-off
xx000
tests provided calibrations
for all of the profiles.
Engineers created the
xx000 wellbore stability model
along the specified trajecto-
ry of the well.2 Stability
xx000 analysis indicated that an
unstable zone existed with-
in the well path toward the
xx000
reservoir section that re-
quired drilling with the
xx000 higher mud weight (Fig. 5).
This forced a stable mud
weight window of less than
xx000 1 ppg, which was narrower
One division = 1 ppg 0 Borehole 360
circumference than the ESD-ECD differ-
PP = Pore pressure, Sh = Minimum horizontal stress, OBG = Overburden stress, LOT = Leak-off test, ence.
MWO = Mud weight to prevent breakout initiation, MW60 = Mud weight to prevent 60 breakouts. Due to the very narrow
stable mud-weight window,
Engi- indicated as the envelope between the
neers MW0 and Sh curves of Fig. 5, drilling
B OTTOMHOLE ASSEMBLY HYDRAULICS Fig. 6 per- operations had to establish new safe
6,000 formed margins.
PDM = Positive PDM planned a com- For a given hole size and drillstring
5,500
displacement motor plete design, workers modeled the maximum
BHA = Rotary steerable petro- magnitude of failure that the rig hy-
bottomhole assembly physical draulics could handle with minimum
5,000 analysis probability of losses.
to estab- Engineers found that a borehole fail-
Pressure, psi

BHA-actual
4,500 rheology lish the ure of up to 60 of the borehole cir-
forma- cumference or maximum breakout an-
4,000
tions gle would be acceptable without affect-
miner- ing hole cleaning and integrity (Fig. 3).
alogical This implied, however, that drilling op-
3,500 compo- erations would require cautious moni-
BHA-planned rheology
sition toring.
3,000 and de- The MW60 curve of Fig. 5 repre-
rive the sents that limit. Note that this value is
2,500
rock only theoretical. Once the well condi-
810 831 852 873 894 915 936 957 978 999 1,020 proper- tions initiate borehole wall failure,
Flow rate, gpm ties. there is no predictive answer of how
The the breakout will behave. Experience
The model calibrated minimum hor- left panel of Fig. 5 shows a petrophysi- has demonstrated that the failure has a
izontal stress for shale, using the for- cal analysis, with colors representing time-dependent character.
mation breakdown tests. The break- the volume percent of the rock mineral Drilling operations, therefore, must
down tests provided limits for maxi- composition. place emphasis on ECD which is
mum horizontal stress. The model also The gray color corresponds to the greater than breakout-initiation pres-
used the mud-loss information that was volume of illite clay, yellow represents sure when the circulation is on and
available. quartz, black is the interstitial or bound there is a short connection time.
DRILLING & PRODUCTION
When no circulation
is possible, the bore-
hole is exposed only to
E QUIVALENT CIRCULATING DENSITY* Fig. 7
13,700
ESD pressure.
The expected failure 13,500
chart at the extreme Maximum recommended ECD, 12.6 ppg
right of Fig. 5 shows the 13,300
predicted failure along
13,100
the circumference of the
ECD, ppg
borehole for the given 12,900
mud weight. ECD at 22,400 MD
12,700
Drilling mechanics
The model indicated 12,500
a drilling mechanics re- ECD at casing Shoe
sponse that called for 12,300
replacing some of the 12,100
drilling equipment.
An example is the 11,900
improved hole cleaning 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510 540 570 600
from use of the rotary- Flow rates, gpm
*Equivalent circulating density (ECD) for 11.0 ppg synthetic oil-based mud.
steerable system called This is the cuttings corrected ECD for 100 fph penetration rate.
Power Drive (PD900)
compared to sliding the
drillstring when using the downhole standing of po-
positive-displacement motor (Fig. 6). tential risks, TRIPPING LOADS Fig. 8
The PD900 allowed trajectory con- hazards, and
casing
20-in.

trol while rotating and permitted better limitations

flow with less pressure drop within the found during 3,000
tool. the predrill 4,000
The modeling process incorporated preparations,
133/8-in. casing

wellbore stability analysis, a cuttings and the modeling 5,000

cavings corrected ECD, and annular ve- process captured 6,000 Theoretical loads
locities to optimize hole cleaning (Fig. the lessons
7). The model estimated the critical learned and best 7,000
pump rate that the flow regime would practices of ac- 8,000
change from laminar to turbulent. tual drilling op-
Measured depth, ft

The model also took into account erations. 9,000

the cuttings-corrected rate of penetra- Engineers 10,000
tion and the pressure loss over each of performed root-
the drillstring elements. The process cause analysis 11,000
optimized hydraulic horsepower. for problem
121/4-in. open hole

12,000
The modeling process analyzed events and de-
torque and drag and generated theoret- veloped preven- 13,000
ical profiles that were calibrated with tive and remedi- 14,000
the real-time pickup and slack-off al actions for
weight data (Fig. 8). each. 15,000
To prevent drillstring failure, engi- 16,000 Actual
neers performed a complete stress Uncertainty loads
analysis evaluating bending stresses, si- With the 17,000
nusoidal buckling, effective axial load, best-in-class 18,000 Pick up
Slack-off weight Rotating weight weight
total and inclination side forces, and techniques and (tripping in) (off bottom) (trip out)
torsional and tensile capacity. processes, the 19,000
150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475
To prevent or eliminate potential tools and inte- Hook load, lb x 1,000
downtime, the modeling process con- gration create
sidered the limitations of the most es- the best representation of the parame- able information along the actual bore-
sential rig equipment. ters, qualities, and conditions. A prob- hole trajectory comes from modeling,
In addition to a complete under- lem, however, remainsthe best avail- estimates, and predictions.

Cavings or breakout material, indicating borehole failure, is easily distinguished at surface from normal drill cut- drilling information, which the
tings (Fig. 9).
F RACTURE INDENTIFICATION
Original pass
The actual conditions begin to
emerge only as the rig drills the well.
Regardless of how detailed and how
expertly engineered a predrill plan may specifically focused on the uncertainty. collapsing and fracturing the forma-
be, it is obsolete as soon as new infor- This made it necessary to build the best tion.
mation becomes available. There is un- possible internally consistent model
that would minimize error.
In addition, the engineers
built the model so that all new
information acquired from the
well would reduce the uncer-
tainty, not only at the current
depth but also ahead of the
bit.
Real-time updating
As required by conditions,
the predrill modeling allowed
some failure of the hole to oc-
cur. To reduce the uncertainty
and manage borehole integri-
ty, drilling operations must
closely monitor well condi-
tions and update the wellbore
stability model in real time.5
The engineers at the rig site
continuously monitor the
drilling parameters. The multi-
disciplinary team provides 24-
hr support to the operations
through connections between
the office in town and the rig.
Various sources provide
engineers analyze appropriately
and incorporate into the ini-
tial models.
Fig. 10 The new measurements
and new event information
calibrates the model and
Relogging provides new constraints to
the various parameters.
Combining the drilling
and logging information,
the team in the office up-
dates the wellbore stability
model. The model updates
the require information
with use of the gamma ray,
resistivity, sonic, and neu-
tron density and porosity
log measurements.
The process provides time-
ly information and allows the
team to give their recommen-
dations for actions as neces-
sary.
Borehole cleaning be-
certainty in the prediction. comes a great challenge, to remove cut-
The process of integrating a multi- tings from the well and at the same
disciplinary team to drill the wells, time maintain stability in terms of both
ECD was very sensitive to the hole
DRILLING & PRODUCTION
condition and, in the case of the Petro-
nius field wells, there was very little
tolerance. Engineers closely monitor
and manage the mud weight to within
0.1 ppg of the established, after forma-
tion test, baseline pressures.
Understanding the possible process-
es occurring in the borehole allowed
real-time interpretation of the log and
drilling parameters response.
Workers calibrated the pickup, slack
off, and weight of the drillstring during
rotation and compared the results with
the actual measurements while drilling
and during every trip (Fig. 8).
This provided the team with an
overall understanding of the well con-
ditions and, together with ECD and
known responses, provided information
that crews could act on.
Workers monitored the drilling-me-
chanics time logs and established sever-
al patterns to identify the borehole fail-
ure due to cavings generation and to
differentiate hole loading with breakout
material from drilling cuttings.
Even though not many cavings ap-
peared at the surface, cavings appeared
in the borehole.
Based on the observations, engineers
could modify drilling, tripping, and
circulating procedures.
Removing the larger cavings from the
borehole required a mechanical action
since circulation alone would not remove
the material. Prior to coming out of the
hole, crews increased the circulation
times at the bottom, the casing shoe, and
at the critical inclination angle.
After several full circulations, when the
shakers were clean of the normal PDC
cuttings, caving formation material came
to the surface for several hours (Fig. 9).
Although the modeling process had
broadened the stable mud-weight win-
dow without jeopardizing borehole sta-
bility, the possibility of formation frac-
turing remained.
The first ERD well drilled encoun-
tered some ballooning and losses.
The team identified the fractures and
promptly treated the losses with lost-
circulation material and updated the re-
al-time wellbore stability model to al-
low crews to lower the mud weight
with confidence.
To identify the fractures, the team
used a novel resistivity analysis of time-
SMP-6143
lapsed resistivity (Fig. 10). The engi-
neers found the minimum horizontal
stress to be 0.3 ppg less in the sands
than in the shale.
The team developed a new model
for minimum horizontal stress for dif-
ferent lithologies.
The information from the well and
modeling power allowed the team to
understand the processes going on in
the well around the clock, continuously.
Results, conclusions
The company successfully drilled
and competed the three ERD wells
while applying real-time wellbore-sta-
bility estimation and management. The
team integrated the process across the
various disciplines.
Managing minor mud losses, the
drilling operations successfully reached
all targets and ran all casing strings to
the planned depth. No stuck pipe inci-
dences, lost-in-hole, or costly sidetracks
occurred.
For the three wells, the company
saved an average of 15% of the AFE
days, with about 45% savings in
planned drilling time.
The real-time updating of the earth
model and the drilling events database
allowed the operator to have the best
possible representation of the earth at
any point while drilling.
Effective knowledge capture of the
best practices observed and lessons
learned, as well as an updated earth mod-
el and drilling database, made an efficient
knowledge transfer process to the next
well and improved the learning curve.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Gemma Keaney,
Patrick Hooyman, and Charlotte
Sodolak, of Schlumberger, Houston, for
help in preparation of this article.
References
1. Bratton, T., Edwards, S., and Fuller,
J., Avoiding Drilling Problems, Oil-
field Review, Summer 2001, p. 32.
2. Addis, T., Boulter, D., Last, N., and
Plumb, R.A., The Quest for Borehole
Stability in the Cusiana Feld, Colombia,
Oilfield Review, Summer 1999, p. 33.
3. Aldred, W., Plumb, R.A., and
Cousins, L., Managing Drilling Risk, the Petronius project. Rau has a BS in mechanical
Oilfield Review, Apr.-July 1993, p.2.
4. Plumb, R.A., Edwards, S., Pidcock,
G., Lee, D., and Stacey, B., The Me-
chanical Earth Model Concept and Its
Application to High-Risk Well Con-
struction Projects, paper No. SPE
59128, presented at the IADC/SPE An-
nual Drilling Conference, Feb. 23-25,
2000, New Orleans.
5. Bradford, I.D.R., Aldred, W.A.,
Cook, J.M., Elewaut, E.F.M., Fuller, J.A.,
Kristiansen, T.G., and Walsgrove, T.R.,
When Rock Mechanics Met Drilling:
Effective Implementation of Real-Time
Wellbore Stability Control, paper No.
SPE 59121, presented at the IADC/SPE
Annual Drilling Conference, Feb. 23-25,
2000, New Orleans.
The authors
Nikolay Y. Smirnov works in
the Holditch-Reservoir Technol-
ogy Department of Schlum-
berger Inc. in Houston. He pre-
vious worked for Schlumberger
Sedco-Forex as a drilling engi-
neer and for Schlumberger's
geomechanics group. Smirnov
has a degree in geophysics from
the Novosibirsk State University.
John C.Tomlinson is Schlum-
berger Inc.'s in-house sales and
service engineer in drilling and
measurements for ChevronTex-
aco Corp. He previous worked
as a mud-logger and for the
Anadrill product line of
Schlumberger. He is an SPE and
SPWLA member.
Samuel D. Brady is a drilling
engineering coordinator for
ChevronTexaco Corp. on its Ag-
bami project, off West Africa.
He previously worked as a
deepwater development engineer
for Texaco Inc. in the Gulf of
Mexico. Brady has a BS in en-
gineering of mines from West Virginia University
and an MBA from the University of New Orleans.
He is an SPE member and a registered professional
petroleum engineer in Louisiana.
W.E. (Bill) Rau III is a senior
project drilling superintendent
with ChevronTexaco Corp.'s
Gulf of Mexico deepwater busi-
ness unit in New Orleans. His
career has included various
drilling assignments around the
world, and currently he is with
engineering from Tulane University.