Well Design – 3D

ENM210 Drilling Technology

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

1
 Well Profile – 3D
• This works a profile out in full 3 dimensional
space
– Dimension 1 is TVD
– Dimension 2 is North
– Dimension 3 is East
• Using minimum curvature to design wells by
section
– Lead angles
– Dogleg limitations by formation
– Tangent section requirements

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 2

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 Manual calculation
• Forget it
– Use the software; it’s much easier.

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 3

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 Some ‘specials’
• Horizontal
• Designer
• Geo-steered
– Well placement in reservoir

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 4

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 Well Profile – 3D
• Azimuthal changes
• Same dogleg severity
• Lead angles needed
• Increasing MDs

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 5

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 S/Sn/W – 3D view
• Straight horizontal
– No dogleg
• Snaky horizontal
– Azimuth seeking
• Wavy horizontal
– Inclination seeking

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 6

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 Horizontal
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000 12000 13000 14000

0 0
Tie-In
seabed

1000
KOP
• Special S-profile 1000

2000 2000

3000 3000

EOC #1 (3D-S)
4000 4000

5000 5000

6000 6000

7000 7000

8000 8000

9000 9000

10000 10000

11000 11000

12000 KOP #2 RGU_E5 v1.00 12000

EOC
RGU_E5
#2 td

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000 12000 13000 14000

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 7

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 Well Profiles Terminology
T a rg e t
• North and East are
positive De pa rt ure

• South and West

negative

ntme
• True displacement is

lace
Latutude

Disp
the hypotenuse of the

on
cti
Se
latitude and departure

al
rtic
Ve
Surface Reference Point

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

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 Closure Azimuth
T arge t
• CLOSURE AZIMUTH
= DEPARTURE Depart ure
tan −1
LATITUDE

t
men
lace
Latutude

Di s p

on
cti
Se
al
rtic
Ve
Surface Reference Point

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

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 Vertical Section
• VERTICAL SECTION=
– DISPLACEMENT x cos (TARGET AZIMUTH - CLOSURE AZIMUTH) Target

Depart ure

t
men
VERTICAL SECTION IS

lace
Latutude
THE PROJECTION OF

Disp

on
THE SURVEY STATION

cti
Se
ONTO THE PLANE OF

al
rtic
PROPOSAL

Ve
Surface Reference Point

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

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 Plane of Proposal T arg et

• Purpose for De p a r t u r e

calculating vertical
section:

t
men
• Project well onto

lace
Latutude
Plane of Proposal

Disp

n
ctio
• Plot progress of well

Se
al
rtic
on the Well Plan.

Ve
PLANE OF PROPOSAL

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

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 Tortuosity
• Tortuosity is the excess curvature in a wellbore. It is
usually expressed as a value per unit length eg.
0.4deg/100ft
• It is very important when trying to predict torque and
drag for a particular profile.
• Rotary steerable assembly should significantly reduce
tortuosity compared with steerable motors

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

Tortuosity is the additional curvature that is not

indicated on a survey – if you have 100ft surveys
in a tangent section then there are no doglegs
BUT the well across this section may gain and
then subsequently lose several degrees of
azimuth or inclination – ie the surveys are the
same but there is a lot of curvature in the well. It
can greatly effect your torque and drag values
when doing predictions. Typically ranges
between 0.1 and 2.5 deg/100ft with average
being about 0.4 on a log-normal
Can get very large effects if motor drilling with a
poor asssembly – you slide for 10ft and gain 2
degree then rotate for 20ft and it drops 2 degree
and repeat this for the stand drilled. You have a
tangent section but huge tortuosity. Rotary
steerables are the answer to lower tortuosity
wells

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 Impact of Kick off Depth
• Kick off point can vary for all wells
• Simple J well
• Next slide will show the outcome of
deepening the KOP by 500ft increments
• Because the radius of curve is less than
the target offset distance there will always
be a mathematical solution

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

There are an infinite number of well plans for any

given simple target. Thus you need to construct
a well plan using judgement not just accept the
1st one that satisfy the criteria.
With Kick off depth the shallower the kick off the
lower the tangent angle and the shorter is the
well, but this is not always the preferred solution.
NEED TO GET ACROSS THAT YOU NEED TO
OPTIMISE YOUR WELL PLAN – DON”T
ACCEPT JUST ANY SOLUTION, KNOW WHAT
ARE THE VARIABLES AND WHAT YOU WANT
TO ACHIEVE.

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 Easy to Impractical
0 2000 4000 6000 8000

0 tie-in 0

seabed
nudge point

nudge point

nudge point

2000 nudge point 2000

nudge point

nudge point

nudge point

4000 nudge point 4000

nudge point

nudge point
TVD Scale = 1:2000(ft)

nudge point

6000 nudge point 6000

nudge point

nudge point

nudge point

8000 nudge point 8000

nudge point

nudge point

nudge point

10000 nudge point j7 2000kop

J-7 10000kop
1000kop
4000kop
5000kop
1500kop
2500kop
4500kop
6000kop
3000kop
5500kop
8500kop
6500kop
7000kop
9500kop
8000kop
9000kop
7500kop
3500kop 10000
td

12000 12000

end of build

0 2000 4000 6000 8000

Vertical Section (ft) Azim = 200.22°, Scal e = 1:2000 Ori gin = 0 N/-S, 0 E/-W

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 14

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 Impact of Kick off Depth
For the same target and BUR:
• The shallower the kick off depth, the lower the
tangent angle and the shorter is the well length.
Well KOP Angle Measured Depth @ Amount of
TD directional steering
1000kop 1000ft 44 13077ft 2239ft
2000kop 2000ft 49 13395ft 2463ft
3000kop 3000ft 54 13777ft 2728ft
4000kop 4000ft 61 14242ft 3046ft
5000kop 5000ft 68 14418ft 3428ft
6000kop 6000ft 77 15522ft 3885ft
7000kop 7000ft 88 16400ft 4421ft
© The Robert Gordon University 2007

There are an infinite number of well plans for any

given simple target. Thus you need to construct
a well plan using judgement not just accept the
1st one that satisfy the criteria.
With Kick off depth the shallower the kick off the
lower the tangent angle and the shorter is the
well, but this is not always the preferred solution.
NEED TO GET ACROSS THAT YOU NEED TO
OPTIMISE YOUR WELL PLAN – DON”T
ACCEPT JUST ANY SOLUTION, KNOW WHAT
ARE THE VARIABLES AND WHAT YOU WANT
TO ACHIEVE.

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 Shallow Kick off Point
• Shorter well length
– Lower casing costs, smaller rig capacity ?
• More directional work
– Inevitable if platform drilling, but maybe not necessary
on land
– Likely leads to higher cost wells (higher mud and
directional)
• Lower tangent angles
– Easier for hole cleaning
– Maybe more difficult for directional work - holding low
angle is not always easy
© The Robert Gordon University 2007

Offshore or pad drilling, directional wells are

inevitable. Offshore: shallow kick are essential to
get away from other wells as the well spacing is
so small. Also you want to as soon as possible
get away from the need for gyro’s which take
more time and thus cost more money.

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 Shallow Kick off Point cont.
• Build up section to be cased off
– Good to case of the build up section
• Typical offshore designs set casing at end of initial build
• Reduce risk as build up section potentially more unstable
• Enables a very high displacement from the
wellhead
– ERD wells use very high kick off points and very high
angle tangent section angles
– Allows high displacement even if at a shallow TVD
• Build up rate typically low to reduce overall torque
and drag
– Allowing high build up rates here will have large impact
© The Roberton torque
Gordon values further down well
University 2007

Emphasise that shallow kick off points are

necessary especially for ERD applications.
High build up rates mean high side forces on the
assembly as you go further down the well. This
leads to higher torque – do you have the
capability to handle this. There is a compromise
between BUR, KOP, tangent angle and torque –
it is not by any means simple!

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 Impact of reservoir entry
Kick off point can vary for all wells
• S-shaped wells and the simple J
• Target G-6 from the Grekromano field
• Drilled from Slot 04 on the Zeus
installation
• Next slide will show the outcome of
increasing reservoir entry angle

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

There are an infinite number of well plans for any

given simple target. Thus you need to construct
a well plan using judgement not just accept the
1st one that satisfy the criteria.
With Kick off depth the shallower the kick off the
lower the tangent angle and the shorter is the
well, but this is not always the preferred solution.
NEED TO GET ACROSS THAT YOU NEED TO
OPTIMISE YOUR WELL PLAN – DON”T
ACCEPT JUST ANY SOLUTION, KNOW WHAT
ARE THE VARIABLES AND WHAT YOU WANT
TO ACHIEVE.

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 0 0

2000 2000

4000 4000
TVD Scale = 1:2000(ft)

6000 6000

8000 8000

10000 C-6 10
c6 40
90
30
70
60
J
20
80
50 10000

12000 12000
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
Vertical Section (ft) Azim = 339.12°, Scale = 1:2000 Origin = 35.35 N/-S, 7.07 E/-W

© The Robert Gordon University 2007 19

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 All possible reservoir entry angles
• For the same target; use same BUR and DOR
• Vary reservoir entry from vertical to horizontal (10 S + 1 J)
• Demonstrates the differences
KOP Sail Measured Depth Amount of directional
Well Angle @ TD steering
C-6 vertical 600ft 76deg 21647ft 8337ft
C-6 10deg 600ft 74deg 21319ft 7628ft
C-6 20deg 600ft 72deg 21084ft 6946ft
C-6 30deg 600ft 70deg 20930ft 6296ft
C-6 40deg 600ft 69deg 20840ft 5683ft
C-6 50deg 600ft 68deg 20800ft 5104ft
C-6 60deg 600ft 68deg 20782ft 4560ft
C-6 ‘J’ 600ft 68deg 20780ft 4150ft
C-6 70deg 600ft 68deg 20781ft 4250ft
C-6 80deg 600ft 68deg 20785ft 4749ft
C-6 90deg 600ft 67deg 20810ft 5250ft

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

There are an infinite number of well plans for any

given simple target. Thus you need to construct
a well plan using judgement not just accept the
1st one that satisfy the criteria.
With Kick off depth the shallower the kick off the
lower the tangent angle and the shorter is the
well, but this is not always the preferred solution.
NEED TO GET ACROSS THAT YOU NEED TO
OPTIMISE YOUR WELL PLAN – DON”T
ACCEPT JUST ANY SOLUTION, KNOW WHAT
ARE THE VARIABLES AND WHAT YOU WANT
TO ACHIEVE.

20
 J Type vs S type discussion
• As can be seen for the same kick off point
there is a large difference in the tangent
angle and measured depth of the well.
• S type wells will tend to develop a lot more
torque than an equivalent displacement J
type
• Usually S shaped wells drilled for
“production reasons” have a small
tolerance on the angle across reservoir
(less than 5 or 10 degrees)
© The Robert Gordon University 2007

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 Summary
• Every target potentially has 1000’s of well plans to hit the
centre.
– Choose your plan based on reason – don’t just accept the 1st
one you are given
– Use geology to help with plans, if you know a formation naturally
builds then use this to your advantage
• Also find out if formations are stable drilled in all directions
– Make plans as simple as possible
– Remember big bends in the wells initially cause major issues
later on in the well with torque
– Know what the completion mechanism is during design stage
e.g. ESP’s need tangent sections, PCP’s have dogleg
constraints

© The Robert Gordon University 2007

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