Contents

  • Background
  • Description of analysis
  • Examples of field results
  • Conclusions

Background

  • Tortuosity = any deviation from straight hole => analysis of geometric shape
    • Large scale (wellbore) 100-1000m
    • Medium scale (survey interval) 10-100m
    • Small scale 1-10m

Medium and small scale tortuosity cause problems

  • Consequences:
    • Increased energy consumption
    • Equipment failure
    • Increased work-over frequency
    • Loss of production
    • Increased costs, reduced profit

Dogleg severity – not good enough

  • No simple way to «upscale» from short to long intervals

Novel tortuosity processing

  • Three output parameters, resolution >~1 ft
  • Input: High resolution survey data
    • Continuous gyro; interval ~1 ft
    • Standard survey operation
    • Standard conversion to position co-ordinates
  • Single external parameter
    • S = length of analysis window = length of equipment (physical device)

1. Tortuosity parameter: T

  • S = along-hole distance = ΔMD analysis window L
  • T = relative elongation = deviation from straight trajectory on length scale S
  • L = straight line distance (end to end)
  • T is typically within [0 … 0.001]

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View the entire Presentation:

Wellbore Tortuosity Analysed by a Novel Method May Help to Improve Drilling, Completion, and Production Operations

Jon Bang, Onyemelem Jegbefume, Adrián Ledroz, Gyrodata Inc.

Jay Thompson, SandRidge Energy

  

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