Well Planning: Petro-Booster

PETRO-BOOSTER
Path to field Exposure
WELL PLANNING
Introduction:
The objective of well planning is to formulate a program from many variables
for drilling a well that has the following characteristics
1. Safety
2. Minimum cost
3. Usable
It's not always possible to accomplish these objectives on each well due to
constraints based on items such as geology and drilling equipments, i.e.,
temperature, hole sizing and budget.
Introduction
Safety is of the highest priority in well planning.

Personnel consideration are placed above all other aspects of the plan.
In some cases, the plan must be altered during the course of drilling the well when
unforeseen drilling problems endanger the crew.
The second priority involves the safety of the well:

The well must be designed to minimize the risk of blowouts and others factors that
could create problems.
Introduction
Minimum Cost:
A valid objective of the well-planning
process is to minimize the cost of the
well without jeopardizing the safety
aspects. In most cases, costs can be
reduced to a certain level as additional
effort is given to the planning. It is not
noble to build "steel monuments" in
the name of safety if the additional
expense is not required. On the other
hand, funds should be spent as
necessary to develop a safe system.
Classification of Well Types
The drilling engineer is required to plan a variety of well types,
including the following:
o Wildcat well
o Development well
o Exploratory well
o Step-outs
o Infills
o Re-entries
Wildcat well:
Wildcats are drilled on a certain location where

little or no known geological information is
available. The site may have been selected
because of wells drilled some distance from the
proposed location but on a terrain that appeared
similar to the proposed site.
Development well:
A development well is drilled in a proven producing area for

the production of oil or gas. It stands in contrast to an
exploratory well, which is one that is initially drilled to find oil
or gas in an unproven area. As a result, dry or unsuccessful
development wells are rarer than dry exploratory wells.
Chances of success increase when the development well is
drilled to a depth that is likely to be most productive.
Exploratory well:
An exploratory well is a deep test hole drilled by oil and gas

exploration companies to locate proven reserves of recoverable
gas and oil, both onshore and offshore. Areas that might contain
oil or gas reserves are first identified using seismic data before
exploratory wells are used to gather more detailed geological data
on rock and fluid properties as well as initial reservoir pressure
and productivity. If oil or gas is discovered, a development well will
be eventually be drilled to extract the oil.
Step-outs:
A step-out well is a type of exploratory well drilled outside of the

known reservoir to search for an extension of the reservoir or
even a new nearby reservoir. These wells have a high degree of
risk and are also known as a wildcat in the oil and gas
industry. They are used to find another productive zone within an
already producing field, or to extend the parameters of the known
field.
Infills:
Infills drills the known productive portions of the reservoirs; site

selections usually based on patterns, drainage radius etc.
Re-entry:
Existing well re-entered to deepen, side-track, rework, or

recomplete; various amount of planning required, depending on
the purpose of re-entry
Skills required to Plan a well for a drilling
engineer:
1. Data about the offset wells including field seismic data.
2. Software to use the data and manipulate the program requirements.
3. Analysis of the results obtained from the drilling software and reflect in the drilling
program.
Most drilling engineers consider reading the drilling, final well, mud, IADC, reports etc. is
enough to put a well design and to avoid the problems occurred in the original wells to
be repeated in the new well.
Drilling design consists of rig equipment, drilling fluids, cementing, bits, hydraulics, drill
string, directional drilling, pore and fracture pressures, casing and drill string designs.
Skills required to Plan a well for a drilling
engineer:
OFFSET WELL:
An offset well is a wellbore which is close to a proposed well, and which provides
information for planning the proposed well.
Data from an offset well can be very helpful in determining how a proposed well will
behave or react to certain treatments or techniques.
The offset well is drilled for purposes of obtaining information which will help in planning
a proposed well.
An offset well is a wellbore which is close to a proposed well, and which provides
information for planning the proposed well.
Planning
Formation Pore Pressure:

The formation, or pore pressure encountered by the well
significantly affects the well plan.
Formation pore pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by the

formation fluids on the walls of the rock pores. As discussed
earlier, the pore pressure supports part of the weight of the
overburden stress, while the other part is taken by the rock
grains.
Planning
Formations are classified based on the magnitude of their pore pressure gradients. In
general, two types of formation pressure are known, which are
Normal formation pore pressure (hydro pressure):

This is when the formation pore pressure is equal to the hydrostatic pressure of a
full column of formation water. Normal pore pressure is usually of the order of
0.465 psi/ft.
Abnormal formation pore pressure (geo-pressure):

This type exists in regions where there is no direct fluid flow to the adjacent regions.
The boundaries of such regions are impermeable, preventing the fluid to flow and
making it trapped to take a large proportion of the overburden stress. Abnormal
formation pore pressure is usually greater than .465 psi/ft.
Planning
Subnormal formation pressure:

Subnormal-pressure wells may require setting additional casing strings to cover
weak or low-pressure zones. The lower-than-normal pressures may result from
geological or tectonic factors or from pressure depletion in producing intervals. The
design considerations can be demanding if other sections of the well are abnormal
Pressured.
Normal pressure wells generally do not create planning problems. The mud weight are in
the range of 8.5 to 9.5 lbm/gal.
The lower than normal pressures may result from geological or tectonic factors or from
pressure depletion in producing intervals.
Planning
Abnormal pressures affect the well planning in many areas,

including the following:
Casing and tubing design

Mud weight and type selection
Casing setting depth selection
Cement Planning
Planning
In addition, the following problems must be considered as a

result of high formation pressure:
Kicks and blowouts

Differential pressure pipe sticking
Lost circulation resulting from high mud weights heaving shale.
Well pressure increase significantly with geo-pressure
Planning
Overburden pressure:
The overburden-pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by the total weight of
overlying formations above the point of interest. The total weight is the combined
weight of both the formation solids (rock matrix) and formation fluids in the pore
space.
Planning
Pore-pressure gradient:
The change in pore pressure per unit of depth, typically in units of psi/ft or kPa/m.
Pressure increases predictably with depth in areas of normal pressure. The normal
hydrostatic pressure gradient for freshwater is 0.433 psi/ft, or 9.792 kPa/m, and 0.465
psi/ft for water.
Planning
Fracture gradient (FG):
Also known as frac gradient, is the pressure gradient at which the

formation breaks. Frac gradient is crucial to understand in order to
calculate the expected bottom-hole treating pressure (BHTP)
before the start of a frac job.
Planning
Determining Fracture Pressure:

Fracture Pressure – maximum surface pressure that can be applied to a casing
full of a known fluid without fracturing the formation below it.
Weakest zone is usually the shallowest exposed formation below the casing
shoe.
In some cases may be deeper than the formation below the casing shoe.
Generally based from leak off or formation competency tests to determine the
strength and stability of a formation.
Planning
Formation Competency Test:
A formation competency test or “jug test”, is performed when

there is a risk of formation damage.
During this test, the wellbore is pressured to a predetermined

pressure that the formation should be able to endure.
Planning
Formation Competency Test:
If Fracture mud weight or gradient is known, the Surface Test Pressure (STP) to stay
below can be calculated as follows:
If this test is run without fracturing the formation, the test is called “good.”
Advantage: formation not damaged.
Disadvantage: maximum formation strength not determined.
Planning
Leak-Off Test (LOT):
A Leak-Off Test is performed to estimate the maximum amount of

pressure or fluid density that the test depth can hold before
leakage and formation fracture may occur. Depending on how this
test is performed, various mud properties must be taken into
account.
Planning
There are various LOT techniques that depend on how pressure is

applied to the formation and may yield slightly different results.
These include:
• Pump down string
• Pump down casing
• Circulate through choke
Planning
No matter which method or test is used, the following should be

performed:
• Fluid conditioned.
• Well shut in.
• Use proper pressuring technique.
• Pump SLOW and begin recording pressure.
Planning
1. According to test type:
• LOT: Pressure to point where formation begins to take fluid.

• Competency-test: Pressure to predetermined point.
• Test pressures typically are held for a minimum of 5 minutes.
2. Bleed pressure off.
3. Repeat to verify.
Planning
Maximum Allowable:
Maximum Allowable is the combination of the hydrostatic pressure of a fluid plus an
additional pressure that results in unwanted leak off or formation damage.
Maximum Allowable Mud Weight (MAMW) or frac mud weight is the total pressure,
represented as fluid density, above which leak off or formation damage may occur. It is
calculated from LOT data and can be calculated as follows:
Planning
Maximum Allowable Annular Surface Pressure (MASP) can be
calculated if the fluid density in the well changes from the test
fluid density by the following:
MAASP = Formation BreakDown Pressure - Head of mud in use
MAASP = (E.M.W - MWMUD) x 0.052 x Shoe Depth (TVD)
Where
E.M.W = Equivalent mud weight at which formation breaks at shoe
MWMUD = Mud Weight
REMEMBER:
Calculated maximum pressures and densities are only good if the casing is full of the
same fluid from the casing shoe to surface!
Planning
Mud Weight (MW) Essentials:
Mud weight forms an integral and vital component part in controlling the

drilling operating window and wellbore pressure management requirements.
Mud primarily provides the hydrostatic density and pressure as a function of
vertical depth to support the range of wellbore formation pressures that exist in
each section to be drilled.
It serves to assure that no kicks, lost circulation, or wellbore instability events
result in both static and dynamic operating conditions during all drilling
operating activities conducted.
Overview of Planning Process:
Overview of Planning Process (Contd):
Overview of Planning Process (Contd):
Pore pressure & Fracture pressures calculations
uses:
They are used to define the following:
1. Mud weight to be used while drilling to avoid losses or well control.

2. Casing setting depths for the phases drilled a define the possibility of
deepening when required by the exploration team.
3. Pump rate resulted in equivalent circulating density not to sever the
formation while drilling and cause losses
4. Cement heights not to cause losses and spacers not cause an influx while
cementing.
Pore pressure & Fracture pressures calculations
uses:
Wellbore stability related to the pore and fracture

pressures and hole collapse calculations define the area of
excessive shale failure that resulted in hole break-outs and
wash-outs of the wellbore especially at the pressurized
shale intervals.
Safe Wellbore Trajectory Analysis
The graph shows the effect of
changing the will trajectory including
inclination and Azimuth on the
stability of the hole at one point of
the hole, the range of the required
mud weights ranges from 12.9 ppg in
the vertical hole to 16ppg with
changing the wells Azimuth and
direction. It is clear that drilling in the
direction perpendicular to the
maximum horizontal stress will
provide better hole conditions.
THANK
YOU!
You may ask
questions now

Well Planning: Petro-Booster

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Well Planning: Petro-Booster

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Well Planning: Petro-Booster

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PETRO-BOOSTER

Path to field Exposure

Safety is of the highest priority in well planning.

The second priority involves the safety of the well:

Wildcats are drilled on a certain location where

A development well is drilled in a proven producing area for

An exploratory well is a deep test hole drilled by oil and gas

A step-out well is a type of exploratory well drilled outside of the

Infills drills the known productive portions of the reservoirs; site

Existing well re-entered to deepen, side-track, rework, or

Formation Pore Pressure:

Formation pore pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by the

Normal formation pore pressure (hydro pressure):

Abnormal formation pore pressure (geo-pressure):

Subnormal formation pressure:

Abnormal pressures affect the well planning in many areas,

Casing and tubing design

In addition, the following problems must be considered as a

Kicks and blowouts

Also known as frac gradient, is the pressure gradient at which the

Determining Fracture Pressure:

Formation Competency Test:

A formation competency test or “jug test”, is performed when

During this test, the wellbore is pressured to a predetermined

Leak-Off Test (LOT):

A Leak-Off Test is performed to estimate the maximum amount of

There are various LOT techniques that depend on how pressure is

No matter which method or test is used, the following should be

1. According to test type:

• LOT: Pressure to point where formation begins to take fluid.

2. Bleed pressure off.

Mud Weight (MW) Essentials:

Mud weight forms an integral and vital component part in controlling the

1. Mud weight to be used while drilling to avoid losses or well control.

Wellbore stability related to the pore and fracture

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.