HORIZONTAL WELL DRILLING
By: Titus N. Ofei
Petroleum Engineering Department
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Malaysia
2015
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• At the end of the lecture, students should be able to:
• Explain the areas of application for using horizontal wells (HW).
• Describe the various HW classification techniques.
• Describe the possible HW completion techniques.
• Explain HW completion considerations.
INTRODUCTION
A horizontal well can be defined as any well
designed to improve productivity by drilling at
an inclination greater than 80o through the
producing formation.
Before 1990, horizontal drilling was not a
popular technique.
The global total HWs in 1989 was just over 200.
This number leaped to almost 1200 wells with
nearly 1000 wells drilled only in the USA.
WHY CHOOSE HORIZONTAL WELLS?
HWs increase the drainage area of a field,
thus maximising oil and gas production
Significant reduction in number of wells
Detailed logging of HWs allows us to measure
and model the lateral permeability and
porosity which influence reservoir
development
LIMITATIONS OF HORIZONTAL WELLS
Only one pay zone can be drained per HW.
Drilling a HW is very expensive.
Typically, it costs about 1.4 to 3 times more
than a vertical well.
POTENTIAL AREAS TO DRILL HWs CONT’D.
Naturally fractured reservoirs
Thin reservoirs
Thermal EOR for
Reservoirs with water heavy oil
and gas coning
POTENTIAL AREAS TO DRILL HWs CONT’D.
Waterflooding in thin layered reservoirs
HORIZONTAL DRILLING TECHNIQUES
These include:
1.Short radius technique
2.Medium radius technique
3.Long radius technique
SHORT RADIUS TECHNIQUE
It is drilled at build rates of 1.5o – 3o/ ft and build
radius of 20 - 40 ft. for 100 – 800 ft drainage length.
Applications:
Drilled in consolidated formations with open hole
completion.
Typically used in sidetracking existing wells
Limitation:
Difficult to log using MWD tools in the open hole.
Hole size: 4-3/4” to 6-1/2”, L = 5 ft
MEDIUM RADIUS TECHNIQUE
It is drilled at build rates of 8o – 20o/ 100 ft and build
radius of 955 - 267 ft. for 1500 – 3000 ft drainage
length.
Applications:
Allows for conventional directional drilling, logging and
completion hardwares.
Limitation:
Rotary steerable systems cannot be used in the build
section.
Hole size: 4-3/4” to 9-7/8”, L = 20 ft
LONG RADIUS TECHNIQUE
It is drilled at build rates of up to 6o/ 100 ft and build
radius 955 – 3000 ft. for 2000 – 5000 ft drainage length.
Applications:
Allows for conventional directional drilling, logging and
completion hardwares.
Limitation:
Increased directional drilling cost due to shallow KOP and
longer build section.
Hole size: No limitation, L = 70 ft
COMPLETION TECHNIQUES
The possible completion techniques for HWs can be summarized as:
1. Open hole
2. Slotted liners
3. Liners with external casing packers (ECPS)
4. Cemented and perforated liners
OPEN HOLE COMPLETION
This completion technique is inexpensive but is limited to competent or
consolidated rock formations.
It is difficult to stimulate open hole wells and to control either injection or
production along the well length.
SLOTTED LINERS COMPLETION
The purpose of this completion technique is
to guard against hole collapse
Slotted liners provide limited sand control,
but they are susceptible to plugging due to
hole and slot width sizes.
Disadvantage: well stimulation can be difficult
due to open annular space between liner and
hole.
LINERS WITH PARTIAL ISOLATIONS
This technique consists of external casing packers (ECPs) installed outside the slotted
liner to divide a long horizontal wellbore into several small sections.
This provides limited zone isolation which can be used for stimulation or production
control along the well length.
CEMENTED AND PERFORATED LINERS
This technique consists of a liner and cementing operation after which perforation is conducted
to produce the reservoir.
This is mostly applicable in medium and long radius wells.
HW cementing should have less free water, because, due to gravity, free water segregates near
the top portion of the well and heavier cement settles at the bottom.
HW COMPLETION CONSIDERATIONS
Several items need to be considered before selecting an appropriate completion scheme. A
brief discussion is given below:
1. Rock and formation type: for open hole completion, the formation rock must be competent.
2. Drilling method: in short radius only, open hole or slotted liner completion is possible. For
medium and long radius wells, completion can be open hole, open hole with slotted liners,
or cement and perforated liners.
3. Drilling mud cleanup: HWs are exposed to drilling mud longer than VWs, thus, prone to
higher mud invasion and related formation damage problems. HWs with large turning radius
can be cleaned with swab tools up to the end of build. For sharp turning radius wells, swab
tools cannot go beyond the VW portion.
HW COMPLETION CONSIDERATIONS CONT’D.
4. Stimulation requirements: a cemented HW is preferred if the well is to be fractured.
However, it is difficult to fracture or acidize wells completed as open holes or with slotted
liners. This is because large leak-offs can occur along the well length.
5. Production mechanism requirements: In reservoirs with bottom aquifers or gas caps, water
or gas may breakthrough easily along the HW. Cement liners or packers can be used to plug
off zones with undesirable fluids entering the well.
6. Workover requirements: In short radius wells, it is possible to reenter by using coiled tubing.
In medium and long wells, either coiled tubing or drillpipe conveyed tools can be used. With
coiled tubing, It is safer to reenter a hole completed with slotted liner than open hole.
Summary
• Now, students should be able to:
• Explain the areas of application for using horizontal wells (HW).
• Describe the various HW drilling techniques.
• Describe the possible HW completion techniques.
• Explain HW completion considerations.
End of Presentation
