SPE 178888

Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Automated RealTime Modeling and Data Analysis
Chuck Salminen, Curtis Cheatham, Mark Smith, Khaydar Valiullin;
Weatherford

Slide 2

Stuck Pipe: An Old Problem, But Still Relevant

Project initiated in late 2014

Drilling records indicated that stuck pipe was one of the leading
causes of lost time

With this in mind, stuck pipe prevention was selected as the first
service to be developed

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 3

Stuck Pipe Mechanisms

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 4

Data Criteria and Parameter Selection

Detection mechanism should be based on time-based drilling data

Detection should be possible during all common drilling activities

70% or more of stuck pipe incidents occur off-bottom

Detection methods should utilize commonly available drilling data

Success will be defined in two ways:

Successful detection of actual stuck pipe events with sufficient
warning time
Minimization of false alarms

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 5

Historical Data Analysis

Thirty four (34) historical instances of stuck

pipe were studied to determine root cause of
each
Primarily in Eagle Ford Shale, USA
Most common mechanism is hole packoff
due to wellbore instability or insufficient hole
cleaning
Study showed that the behavior of critical
parameters can reliably indicate impending
stuck pipe

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 6

Critical Parameters

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 7

Detection Methods

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 8

Depth-Based Threshold Determination

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 9

Alert Criteria and Weighting

Initial efforts used a pass-fail criteria

If deviation / rate of change is outside acceptable limit
generate an alert
This criteria is far too simplistic since:
It does not allow that one parameter may be out of range while
others are not, possibly indicating that no problem exists
Significant violations of acceptable range are not given greater
weight than small violations
A weighting system needed to be developed

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 10

Depth-Based Threshold Determination

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 11

Adaption to Time-Based Drilling Software

New software
system introduced
significant
improvements to
modeling capability

Real-time updates
to SPP, Hookload,
Torque, and ECD
predictions based
on actual drilling
parameters

On-the-fly custom
calculations

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 12

Adaption to Time-Based Drilling Software

Original depthbased threshold

Input parameter
adjustment

Axial speed
adjustment

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 13

Case History 1: Stuck Pipe While Back Reaming Out of Hole

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 14

Case History 2: Near Miss While Back Reaming Near TD

SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 15

Summary, Next Steps, and Conclusions

The method was found to be effective in detecting stuck pipe for a

variety of well types, rig activities, and BHA configurations
In all cases where calculated risk exceeded 50%, a stuck pipe or near
miss incident occurred within the next 2 hours
Future development will focus on automatic root cause determination
SPE 178888 Stuck Pipe Prediction Using Real-Time Modeling and Data Analysis Chuck Salminen

Slide 16

Questions?