American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015 - 52

SpecialReport: Horizontal Well Operations
FIGURE 4A

FIGURE 4B

Well 2 Simulated and Actual Hook Loads while
Drilling Curve and Lateral Section (Sliding Mode)
215.00
210.00
205.00
200.00
195.00
190.00
Tension (klb/ft)

185.00

240.00
235.00
230.00
225.00
220.00
215.00
210.00
205.00
200.00
195.00
190.00
185.00
180.00
175.00
170.00
165.00
160.00
155.00
150.00
145.00
140.00
135.00
130.00
125.00
120.00

Tension (klb/ft)

180.00

Well 1 Simulated and Actual Hook Loads while
Drilling Curve and Lateral Section (Sliding Mode)

175.00
170.00
165.00

160.00
155.00
150.00
145.00

10,500.00 11,000.00 11,500.00 12,000.00 12,500.00 13,000.00 13,500.00 14,000.00 14,500.00 15,000.00 15,500.00 16,000.00 16,500.00 17,000.00
String Depth (ft)

Friction factor = Cased hole/open hole

STÉPHANE MENAND is managing

director of DrillScan US Inc. in Houston.
Menand has 17 years of industry experience, mainly as a research and development project manager in directional
drilling, drill string mechanics (torque,
drag and buckling), drilling dynamics,
and drill bit performance. Menand serves
on the "Journal of Petroleum Technology" Editorial Committee and is associate editor of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers' "Drilling and Completions
Journal." He holds a Ph.D. in drilling
engineering from Mines ParisTech.
JEFFRY K. LEHNER is technology
director for Alcoa Oil & Gas in Houston.
He previously managed oil and gas
programs at the Alcoa Technical Center,
and his career at the company includes
application development for the petroleum, aerospace and defense industries.
Before joining Alcoa, Lehner was a
wireline services field engineer at
Schlumberger. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Indiana
University.
NIGEL EVANS is president of Ryan
Directional Services, the global directional drilling division of Nabors Industries. With 38 years of experience
in directional drilling and oil field serv52 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

10,000.00 10,500.00 11,000.00 11,500.00 12,000.00 12,500.00 13,000.00 13,500.00 14,000.00 14,500.00 15,000.00 15,500.00 16,000.00 16,500.00 17,000.00
String Depth (ft)

Friction factor = Cased hole/open hole

ices, he holds four drilling-related
patents and has specialization in horizontal drilling techniques. Evans has
previous managerial experience for major service companies in Latin America,
Asia, the Middle East and the North
Sea. He holds a degree in economics
from Liverpool University.
AARON PALMER is U.S. directional
operations manager at Ryan Directional
Services, a Nabors company. He started
his 13-year oil and gas industry career
as a roustabout in the Gulf of Mexico,
and has progressed to gain extensive
directional drilling experience throughout major U.S. oil and gas plays. Palmer
holds a B.S. in electronics engineering
technology from Northwestern State
University.
ARTHUR METCALFE is drilling
manager at Penn Virginia Corporation.
His industry experience includes serving
as a drilling supervisor and drilling
engineer in the Eagle Ford Shale, San
Juan Basin, Permian Basin and deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and mentoring
junior drilling engineers and technicians.
A former reconnaissance marine and
commercial diver, Metcalfe holds a B.A.
in chemical engineering with minors in
math and chemistry from Louisiana
State University.

determined the appropriate number of
ADP joints in the drill string to minimize
friction and reduce compression along
the wells' trajectories.
Figure 3 shows simulated and actual
torque off-bottom in the curve and lateral
sections of wells 2 (ADP) and 1 (SDP).
The surface rotation speed varied between
70 and 80 rpm. In well 2, ADP reduced
torque about 25 percent. The calibrated
coefficient of friction (based on torque
and drag simulations) was 0.15-0.3 for
ADP and 0.15-0.2 for SDP. Additional
analysis is required to quantify the effect
of hole cleaning on the coefficient of
friction, but it appears ADP showed its
strongest advantage while drilling the
second half of the lateral section.
Figures 4A and 4B show the actual
and simulated hook loads while sliding
with both the ADP and SDP strings, respectively, at different real WOB (15,00025,000 pounds for ADP and 5,000-25,000
pounds for SDP).
With the ADP string, the surface-measured WOB was always larger than the
real weight transmitted to the bit because
of friction, especially in the sliding mode.
Hook load measurements coupled to
torque and drag simulations better quantified the real WOB transmitted to the
bit. Based on comparisons between actual
and simulated hook loads, the real WOB
was about 15,000 pounds while sliding,
assuming an 0.2 coefficient of friction. It
is interesting to note that average surface

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015

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