Efficient Drilling Technology of Horizontal Wells in the Duverney Block in Canada

Recent years, both exploration and development have made considerable progress in the Duverney block shale gas in Canada. However, technical problems exposed in horizontal drilling engineering need to be optimized: 1) Loss is common in shallow formations; 2) High downhole friction torque, low ROP and drilling cuttings accumulation in long horizontal well section; 3) Borehole instability leads to hanger or packer failure; 4) Drill bits and PDM have short servicing life and low efficiency. Optimization comes from three aspects: (1) Based on previous drilling experience and latest formation condition and development requirement, we design a new well profile for the block taking into drilling safety and further development account;(2) Optimize strong inhibitive, easy-maintenance and high cutting-carrying capacity OBM to ensure the safety requirements in the ultra-long open hole section; (3) BHA and parameters optimization. Optimize drill bit with high-abrasiveness and axial efficiency according to logging data, drillability and UCS. Upgrade conventional PDM into high-performance PDM with even-wall thickness. By means of simulation and calculation, drilling parameters suitable for Duverney block has been optimized. Based on the optimization above, a stable and efficient well profile has been improved solving hanger failure on-site efficiently and complete with composite casing design (4-1/2 inch plus 5 inch) in reservoir section; a 90/10 oil-water ratio OBM has been optimized and applied onsite; Combined with high performance PDC bit and even-wall PDM as well as optimized drilling parameters, higher ROP and longer horizontal section have been achieved. The optimization has made successful field application results:(1) Completion depth has been deepened gradually, from 18,080 ft in 2013 to 23,208 ft at present, with an increase of 28.3%;(2) Horizontal section length has been increasing dramatically, from 6,190 ft in 2013 to 10,301 ft at present, with an increase of 66.4%;(3) The average drilling cycle has been shortened, from 51 days in 2013 to 26 days at present, with a decrease of 48.8%;(4) The average ROP has increased steadily, from 71.2ft/h in 2013 to 82.12ft/h at present, with an increase of 15.3%; (5) Drilling costs per meter have been significantly reduced, from 442.4 CAD/ft in 2013 to 228.3 CAD/ft at present. Combining the optimization and matching design above, it has effectively solved the difficulties of the Duverney block drilling engineering and achieved good field application effects: well depth and horizontal section length in the block have been deepened year by year, the drilling cycle and cost have been decreased year by year, as well as the economic effect has been significant. In all, the research achievements provide a practical and effective reference for horizontal wells in other region especially for the unconventional gas.

A Practical Method for the Automatic Recognition of Rock Structures in Panoramic Borehole Image during Deep-Hole Drilling Engineering

Digital panoramic borehole imaging technology has been widely used in the practice of drilling engineering. Based on many high-definition panoramic borehole images obtained by the borehole imaging system, this paper puts forward an automatic recognition method based on clustering and characteristic functions to perform intelligent analysis and automatic interpretation researches, and successfully applied to the analysis of the borehole images obtained at the Wudongde Hydropower Station in the south-west of China. The results show that the automatic recognition method can fully and quickly automatically identify most of the important structural planes and their position, dip, dip angle and gap width and other characteristic parameter information in the entire borehole image. The recognition rate of the main structural plane is about 90%. The accuracy rate is about 85%, the total time cost is about 3 h, and the accuracy deviation is less than 4% among the 12 boreholes with a depth of about 50 m. The application of automatic recognition technology to the panoramic borehole image can greatly improve work efficiency, reduce the time cost, and avoid the interference caused by humans, making it possible to automatically recognize the structural plane parameters of the full-hole image.

Research on Abnormal Detection Method of Data Flow Trend in Oil Drilling Engineering Early Warning

In this paper, by collecting and analysing the domestic and foreign oil drilling accident data and early warning technology, combined with the oil drilling process prediction and forecasting process deficiencies. Based on theoretical analysis and analysis of five typical accident modes in actual drilling rig engineering, the early warning method and train of thought of oil drilling engineering are established, and the index of early warning of accident is given. The sensitivity of various accident prediction indexes to the corresponding accidents is studied. On the basis of analysing the forecast signal and processing, the comprehensive model of accident early warning under multi-objective condition is established.