Well Planning
Well planning is perhaps the most demanding aspect of drilling engineering. It requires the integration of engineering principles, corporate philosophies, and experience factors. Although well planning methods and practices may vary within the drilling industry, the end result should be a safely drilled, minimum-cost hole that satisfies the reservoir engineer’s requirements for oil/gas production.
Some benefits obtained from an Engineering-approach well design are:
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Reduce time and work hours during the cycles of interaction and integration between facilities, environment, drilling, production and geo-scientists
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Most economical solution that fits to customers needs
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Improve communication channels between stakeholders
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Estimate project feasibility and clear hurdles on early stages
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Direct integration with facilities and subsurface modeling
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Establish geological targets and wellbore position uncertainty that match drilling capabilities
Metacortex Offers:
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2D and 3D Well planning of directional, horizontal, multilateral, and SAGD wells Development of field plans required to achieve engineering, facilities and subsurface objectives.
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Anti‐collision analysis against offset wells and plan optimization to accomplish geological objectives.
Torque & Drag
In very deep, highly deviated wells, overcoming torque and drag can be vital to the successful well completion. The capability to predict frictional loads on drillpipe has five main benefits:
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Can be planned to minimize torque and drag and ensure successful drilling operations to TD.
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Allows use of improved drillstring design techniques, having considered the extra forces involved.
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Estimate D&C feasibility ahead of the operation.
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Adjust AFE, add or subtract cost of surface or downhole equipment at early stage.
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Improve drilling performance through constant monitor and model update.
Metacortex Offers:
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Torque & Drag analysis for drilling, casing, liners and completion strings.
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Characterization and validation of friction factors for different drilling and completion operations.
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Installation load (Three dimensional stress analysis and axial load profile) for slotted liners, inflow control devices (ICD's) and completion strings.
Survey Management
With Metacortex survey management services, operators around the world are able to confidently build more complex drilling programs and use new technologies.
Quality control of surveys enables operators to:
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adhere to tighter environmental regulations
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increase anti-collision certainty
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avoid costly sidetracks
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achieve greater well density in brownfield, deepwater, and multilateral operations.
Metacortex Survey Management Services include:
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Real-Time Survey Corrections (*)
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Real_Time Anti-collision Monitoring (*)
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MWD Surveys Quality Analysis
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Survey Database Management/Auditory
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Real-Time Solar Activity and Diurnal Disturbance Monitoring (*)
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Post-Run Survey corrections
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Calculation of Estimated Drill-string Interference (EDI)
(*) Upon agreement
Survey Correction Methods
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Magnetometers Multi-Station Analysis (M-MSA)
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Full-set Multi-Station Analysis (MSA-360)
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Short Collar Correction (SCC)
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SAG Correction (SAG)
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Thermal Stretch Correction (TSC)
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MWD 5-Axis Compensation (5AX)
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Failed Sensor downhole diagnostics
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Dynamic Referenced Survey Station
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IFR
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IIFR
Hydraulics Optimization
Drilling hydraulics is considered the most important factor in drilling performance. The rate of penetration can be significantly increased using state-of-the-art techniques for hydraulics optimization to minimize drilling cost.
The goal of the optimization is to make the maximum usage of the pump's power to help the bit to drill at maximum efficiency. This is achieved by minimizing the energy loss due to friction in the circulating system and use the saved energy to improve bit hydraulics.
Metacortex Offers:
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Pressure loss profile for the entire drilling system.
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Calculation of ECD across the annular space for different rheological models.
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Cleaning analysis of formation cutting based on wellbore geometry.
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Swab and surge analysis for operation with low clearance on the annular space – Transient pressures within the wellbore.
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Calculation of optimal nozzle area and optimum flow regimes.
Casing Design
Casing is subjected to different loads during landing, cementing, drilling, and production operations. The most important loads that it must withstand are tensile, burst, and collapse loads.
Under axial tension, pipe body may suffer three possible deformations: elastic, elasto-plastic, or plastic. Burst pressure originates from the column of drilling fluid and acts on the inside wall of the pipe. Casing is also subjected to kick-imposed burst pressure if a kick occurs during drilling operations.
Primary collapse loads are generated by the hydrostatic head of the fluid column outside the casing string. Casing is subjected to severe collapse pressure when drilling through troublesome formations, such as plastic, clays, and salts. Strength of the casing under external pressure depends on a number of factors: length, diameter, wall thickness of the casing, and the physical properties of the casing material.
Metacortex Offers:
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Casing setting depth and wellbore scheme.
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Casing, liner and tubing design based on three dimensional stress analysis and service life load.
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Calculation of design factors to pipe body and connections.