LECTURE – 1 / 2010

WELL PLANNING

BY

Dr.A.K.Pathak
Department of Petroleum Engineering
Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad – 826004
E-mail: akhilendra_pathak@yahoo.co.in

Introduction: Well planning is the most demanding aspect of Drilling Engineering

that requires the integration of engineering principles, corporate or personal
philosophies, and experience factors. The concept of well planning vary within drilling
industry but the end result should be a safely drilled, minimum cost hole that satisfies
the reservoir engineer’s requirements for the production of the fluids. The well
planners normally have three common traits. They are experienced drilling personnel
who understand how all aspects of drilling operation must be integrated smoothly.
They utilise available engineering tools and they have critical analytical approach to
achieve a well thought and safe well plan.

Objectives: The objectives of well planning is to formulate a program from many

variables for drilling a well that safe, minimum cost and usable form.
Safety: Safety should be the highest priority in well planning. Personnel
considerations must be placed above all other aspects of the well plan. If required,
the plan must be altered during the course of drilling the well when unforeseen
drilling problems endanger the crew. Failure to stress crew safety has resulted in loss
of life etc. The second priority should be safety of the well. The well planner must
design to have minimum risk of blowouts and other creating problems on the well
during drilling or post drilling life of the well.
Minimum Cost: A valid objective of the well planning to have minimum cost
of the well with out jeopardizing the safety aspects. In most cases the effective cost
can be drastically reduced with a little effort of proper planning. It is not noble to build
steel monuments in the name of safety. The expenses should be incurred only when
they are necessary.
Usable Hole: Drilling a hole to the target depth is not completely satisfactory
if the final well configuration is not usable. The hole diameter is sufficiently large so
an adequate completion can be made and the hole or producing formation is not
irreparably damaged. This requirement can be difficult to achieve in abnormal
pressure, deep zones those can cause hole geometry and mud problems.

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Classification of Wells:

Wildcat Wells: No known geological foundation for site selection.

Exploratory Wells: Site selection based on seismic data, satellite surveys etc; no
known drilling data in the prospective horizon.
Step Out Wells: Delineates the reservoirs’ boundaries, Drilled after a exploratory
discovery; site selection usually based on seismic data.
Infill Wells: Drills the known productive portions of the reservoir; site selection
usually based on patterns, drainage radius etc.
Re-entry Wells: Existing wells reenter3ed to deepen, side track, rework, or re-
complete; various amount of planning required, depending on purpose of re-entry.

The Planning Process for Drilling a Well

Collecting Information

Evaluating Formation

Selecting Casing Depth

Selecting Hole Size

Selecting Casing Weight and Grade

Selecting a Drilling Technique

Designing the Hydraulics of Drilling

Designing the Cementing Program

Selecting the Drilling Rig and

Drilling Equipment

Complying with Regulatory

Permitting Requirements

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 Formation Pressure: The formation or pore pressure encountered by the well
significantly affects the well plan. The pressure may be normal, abnormal (high), or
sub-normal (low). Normal pressure wells generally do not create planning problems.
The mud weights are in the range of 8.5 – 9.5 ppg. Kicks and blowout prevention
problems should be minimised but not eliminated. Casing requirement can be
stringent even in normal pressure well deeper than 20,000 ft. due to tension/
collapse.
Subnormal pressure wells may require setting additional casing string to cover weak
or low pressured zones. The lower than normal pressure may result from geological
or tectonic factor or from pressure depletion in producing intervals.
Abnormal pressure affects the well plan in many ways including the following-
Casing and tubing design mud weight and type selection
Casing setting depth selection cement planning
Following problems can occurred in high formation pressured wells
Kicks and blow outs differential pipe sticking
Lost circulation heaving shales
Planning cost: The cost required to plan a well properly are insignificant in
comparison to the actual drilling cost. In many cases, less than $1,000 is spent in
planning a $ 1 million well. This represent 1/10 or 1 % of the well cost.

Selection of Drill Site

`
Safety Plot Plan Regulatory Well
Permit Stimulation

Approach Drilling Environmenta Workover

Road Rig l Regulations
Equipmen
t

Drill Produced Well Test Pumping/

Cuttings Effluents Facilities Compression
Equipment
Produced
Land Fill Site Disposal Gas

Eff. Disposal Treatment Gas Flare

Drain/ Rivers
Well

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 Overview of Well Planning Process:
Well planning is an orderly process. It requires that some aspects of the plan
be developed before designing other items like-
The mud density plan must be developed before the casing program.
Bit programming can be done at any stage during the well planning. However
the bit program is usually based on drilling parameters from offset wells. This can be
affected by the mud plan i.e. the performance of PDC bit s in oil muds. Th bit sizing
can be controlled by casing program.
Casing and tubing should be considered as an integral design starting from
the size of production casing. The tubing design criteria are drift diameter of the
production casing that can be effected by packer to tubing forces created by tubing
tendencies for movement.
The completion plan must be visualised in advance. This affects the size of
casing and tubing to be used. In addition the plan can require the high strength
tubing or usually long seal assemblies in certain situations.

Classification of Drilling Rigs

Marine Rotary Drilling Rigs Land

Bottom Supported Floating Conventional Mobile

Semi-submersible Drillship Jack knife

Portable

Platform Barge Jackup

Self contained Template

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Offset Well Selection:
The drilling engineer is usually not responsible for selecting well sites. However, he
must work with geologist for the following reasons:
1. Develop an understanding of the expected drilling geology.
2. Define fault block structure to help selected offset wells that should be similar
in nature to the prospect well.
3. Identify geological anomalies a they may be encountered in drilling the
prospect well.
Data Sources:
Source of the data should be available for the virtually every well drilled in the field.
The wildcats can also be source of seismic data and pore pressure prediction.
Common type of data required by drilling engineers are-
Bit records mud records mud logging records
IADC drilling reports scout tickets log headers
Production history seismic studies well surveys
Geological contours data base service company files
Bit records: It contains data relative to the actual drilling operation and provide the
following information-
Operator Contractor rig number
Well location drill string characteristics pump data
Spudding date drilling in and casing wise drilling out
Number and type of bit jet sizes footage and drilling rate
Bit weight rotary operating condition Hole deviation
Pump data mud properties drill bit grading
Comments throughout the various bit runs are informative. Typical notes such as
stuck pipe and washout in drill string can explain why drilling times are greater than
expected. Bit grading data can be valuable in well planning if the operator assumes
the observed data are correct and representative of the actual bit condition. The bit
grade can assist in the preparation of a bit program for the prospect well by
identifying the most successful bits in the area. Bit running problems such as broken
teeth, gauge wear and premature failure can be observed and preventive measures
can be formulated for the new well.
Drilling Analysis: Bit records can be useful to prepare the plots for detecting
lithology, Pore pressure and cost per foot drilling. A cost comparison of each bit run
identify the bit and operating conditions yielding minimum drilling cost.
Mud Records: Drilling mud records are prepared on daily basis in which borehole
conditions can be inferred. It contains –

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Well depth bit size and number pit volume
Pump data solid control equipment dristring data
Mud weight pH funnel viscosity
Plastic viscosity yield point gel strength
Chloride ion content calcium content solid content
Cation exchange capacity fluid loss solid content
An analysis of these characteristics provide clues to possible hole problems or
change in drilling environment.
An unusual increase in yield point, water loss, and chloride ion content indicate the
well kick or salt contamination in fresh water mud.
An analysis of the plots in the offset areas surrounding the prospect well can provide
the following information-
- Expected drilling times for various intervals.
- Identification of better drilling conditions by examining the lowest drilling times in
the offset wells.
- Location of potential zones by comparing common difficulties in the well.
IADC Report: The drilling contractors usually maintain daily log of the drilling
operations, recorded on the standard IADC-API report. It contains hourly report for
drilling operations, drillstring characteristics, mud properties, and time break-down
for all operations.
Scout Tickets: Scout tickets have been available as a commercial service for many
years. The tickets were originally prepared by oil company representativeswho
scouted operations of other oil companies. Current scout ticket a brief summary of
the well. The data usually include-
- Well name, location and operator.
- Spud and completion dates.
- Casing geometries and cement volumes.
- Production test data
- Completion information
- Tops of various geological zones.
Mud Logging Records: A mud log is a foot by foot record of the drilling, mud, and
formation parameters. Mud logging units are often used n high pressure or
troublesome wells. Many engineers consider the mud log to be the best source of
penetration rate data for analysis purpose. Mud logging records are seldom available
to group other than the operators. Mud logging scales are often arranged so the drill
rate curve can be compared to the SP scale on the offset logs. The mud log may

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contain many drilling related parameters. The drilling parameters included in mud
logging are-
Penetration rate. Bit weight and rotary speed. Bit number and type.
Rotary torque. Mud temperature Chloride ion content
Gas content. Lithology Pore Pressure analysis
The pore pressure can be computed from models such as the d-exponent or other
proprietary equations or can be measured by drillstem tests.
Log Headers: Drilling records similar to the previously described information are not
available on all offset wells. In these cases, a log header can yield useful drilling
data. It yield following-
Logging depths mud weight and viscosity at each logging depth
Bit sizes inferred casing sizes and actual setting depths.
Production History: Production records in the offset area can provide clues to
problems that may be encountered to the prospect well. Oil and gas production can
reduce the formation pressure, which can create differential pipe sticking in the
prospect well. Production records provide pressure data from the flowing zones.
Seismic Studies: Rank wildcat wells are seldom drilled without preliminary seismic
work being done in the area. Proper analysis of the seismic reflections can eliminate
the wildcat status of the well by predicting the pore pressure to be encountered.
Good agreement can be attained between seismic analysis and sonic log data.
Casing Selection and Setting Depth: First design task in preparing the well plan is
selecting the depths to which the casing will be run and cemented. Drilling
environments often require several casing string in order to reach the total depth like-
Drive or Conductor casing Surface casing Intermediate casing
Production casing liners Tubing and flow lines
All wells do not use each type of casing. The conditions to be encountered in each
well must be analysed to determine the types and amount of pipe necessary to drill it.
The general functions of casing string are as follows-
- Segregate and isolate various formations to minimize drilling problems or
maximize production.
- Furnish a stable well with a known diameter through which future drilling and
completion operations can be executed.
- Provide a secure means to which pressure control equipment can be attached.
Conductor Pipe or Drive pipe: The first string placed in the well is the drive pipe or
conductor casing, normally in the depth rage of 100 -300 ft to protect the well from
unconsolidated rocks. In soft rock areas, the pipe is hammered into the ground with a
large diesel hammer. Hard rock areas require a large diameter, shallow hole be

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drilled before running and cementing the pipe. Conductor casing can be as elaborate
as heavy wall steel pipe or as simple as a few old oil drums tacked together.
Structural Casing: Occasionally drilling conditions will require that an additional
string of casing be run between the drive pipe and surface casing in the depth range
of 600-1000 ft to protect the well against lost circulation, hole caving and kick
problems at shallow gas zones.
Surface Casing: Many purpose exist for running surface casing include following-
- Cover freshwater sands.
- Maintain hole integrity by preventing caving.
- Minimize lost circulation into shallow, permeable zones.
- Cover weak zones that are on competent to control kick imposed pressure
- Provided it means for attaching the blowout preventers.
- Support the weight of all casing string string run below the surface pipe.
Intermediate Casing: This casing is for protecting the well against abnormally high
formation pressures. Since higher mud weights are required to control these
pressures, the shallower weak formations must be protected to prevent lost
circulation or stuck pipe. This casing is used to isolate salt zones that cause hole
problems, such as heaving and sloughing shales.
Production Casing: The production casing is called oil string. The pipe may be set
at a depth slightly above, midway through, or below the pay zone.
- To isolate the producing zone from the other formation.
- Provide a work shaft of a known diameter to the pay zone.
- Tp protect the production tubing equipment.
Liners: Drilling liners are used for the same purpose as regular asing pipe. Instead
of running the pipe to the surface, an abbreviated string is used from the bottom the
hole to a shallower depth inside the regular casing pipe. Drilling loners are used
frequently as a cost effective method to attain pressure or fracture gradient control
without the expense of running a string to the surface When a liner is used, the
upper exposed casing, must be evaluated with respect to burst and collapse
pressure for the drilling the open hole below the liner.

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EQUENCE OF WELL PLANNING:
1. Type of Well: Wildcat, Exploratory, Step out, Relief or Re-entry
2. Method of Drilling: Cable tool Drilling, Rotary Drilling, Drilling with
Down the Hole motors, Top drive drilling etc.
3.Target Location & Analysis:
i. Vertical well drilling ii. Directional well drilling
iii. Horizontal well drilling iv. Slanted well drilling
v. Drain hole drilling vi. Curvature drilling
vii. Tangential Drilling

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4. Formation Characteristics:
i. Formation Pressure ii. Formation Temperature
iii. Formation condition iv. Formation Permeability
v. Formation Porosity vi. Formation Boundaries
vii. Formation Fluid equilibrium
5. Well Lithology:
i. Geological Structure ii. Rock Sequence
iii. Aquifier Position iv. Surface Soil
v. Pay zone rock vi. Fractures/ Fissures
vii. Gas traps viii. Geological faults and folds
ix. Formation dipping
6. Mechanical Planning:
i. Overburdon pressure ii. Compressive strength
iii. Fracture pressure iv. Stress failure
v. Drillability of rocks vi. Rock consolidation
vii. Rock strength
7. Well Completion Program:
i. Type of well completion: Single, Dual, multiple string
completion.
ii. Casing configuration:
a. Conductor casing
b. Surface casing
c. Intermediate casing
d. Production casing
e. Liner setting
iii. Casing Bit size Program
iv. Casing Setting depth selection
v. Casing Design
vi. Casing Cementing Program
8. Mud Program:
Lithological analysis, Formation Pressure Fracture Pressure
Density planning Mud conditioning Hydraulic impacts
Flow characteristics Mud thixotropy Nozzle performance
Type of mud Functions of mud Properties of mud
9. Drill String and Bottom Hole Assemblies:
Drill pipe Drill collar Positioning the stabilisers
BHA for build up, drop off and tangential drilling

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10. Rig Selection:
i. Analysis of static load and dynamic load
ii. Environmental loading
iii. Derrick load capacity and derrick efficiency
iv. Hoisting planning and block & tackle system
v. Derrick leg foundation and stability
vi. Rig sizing
11. Power Requirements:
i. Requirement of hoisting power
ii. Requirement of Circulation power
iii. Requirement of Rotary power
iv. Requirement of accessory power
v. Total power requirement
vi. Requirement of power source- engines, pumps etc.
vii. Power transmission devices and their lay outs etc.
12. Bit Planning:
i. Type of bit and its suitability; Drag bit, Rotary roller nits,
Diamond bits, PDC bits, Core drilling bits, Jet bits, mill bits
ii. Drilling mechanism of the bits in various formations
iii. Drilling energy of bits
iv. Cost per foot analysis of drill bits

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 Typical Drilling Organisation

Drilling Oil Company (Well operator) Drilling Services

Contractor Company

Accounts Rig Design and

Departme Accounts Reservoir Land
Maintenance
nt Department Engineering Department

Formation Organisation Production

Evaluation Engineering
Drilling Superintendent

Drilling Engineering Drilling Superintendent Geology

Company Other wells in

Representative Progress

Cementing
Othe r Rigs Tool Drilling
under Contract Pusher Fluids

Well Formation
Monitoring Evaluation
Rig Deployed
Driller

Directional Well Casing

Drilling
Derrickman Rotary
Helper

Drilling Bits Well Completion

Equipments

Blow Out MISC

Prevention

Field Representative

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 Selection Hole Size

Production Rate Performing Stimulation Treatment

Artificial Lift Drill Cuttings Removal

Tubing Size Performing Future Workover and

Recompletion

Completion Method Select Optimum Production Casing Size

Select Production Hole Size

Select Optimum Surface Casing Size

Select Surface Casing Hole Size

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 API CASING BIT SIZE PROGRAMME
Casing OD Coupling Drift Min Min. Hole Min Bit
OD Clearance Size Size
4½ 5.000 3.701 1.000 6.000 6
5 5.563 4.283 1.250 6.833 7
5½ 6.050 4.545 1.250 7.300 7 3/8
6 5/8 7.380 5.550 1.750 9.140 9½
7 7.656 5.785 2.000 9.656 9¾
7 5/8 8.500 6.500 2.500 11.000 11
8 5/8 9.625 7.386 3.000 12.625 12 ¾
9 5/8 10.625 8.379 3.250 13.875 14 ¾
10 ¾ 11.750 9.404 3.250 15.000 15
11 ¾ 12.750 10.616 3.500 17.875 18
13 3/8 14.375 12.791 3.500 17.875 18
16 17.000 14.822 3.500 20.500 20 ¾
18 5/8 19.500 16.000 3.500 23.000 23
20 21.000 18.936 3.500 24.500 25 ½
24 25.500 21.250 3.500 29.000 29
30 32.000 26.000 4.000 36.000 36

DRILLING RIG

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Problem Sheet:
Design a Well Casing program and Mud planning of 5 ½ inch Production Casing well
using following data.
Depth (feet) EMW (Pf) in ppg.
1000 9.0
2000 9.0
3000 9.0
4000 9.0
5000 9.0
6000 9.0
7000 9.0
8000 9.0
9000 9.0
10000 9.0
11000 9.0
12000 11.3
12500 13.4
13000 14.3
13500 15.0
14000 15.7
15000 16.0
16000 16.7
17000 17.0
18000 17.2

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 TUTORIAL SHEET
Q.1: A prospect well has the Concordia B sand as its intermediate target zone.
Production records indicate that the original bottom hole pressure prior to
production from the B sand was 5389 psia at 9890 ft TVD. Currently, the
producing BHP is 3812 psia and the produced fluid is dry gas. A mud weight of
10.7 ppg is required to drill the intermediate shale sections contiguous to the
Concoridia sand. However, a 12.1 ppg mud is required to drill the lower target
zone at 12,050 ft. If a maximum pressure of 2000 psi is established as the upper
differential pressure limit can the well be drilled with the Concoordia sand
exposed or must casing be set below the sand before reaching 12,050 ft.?
(Convert all mud hydrostatic pressure to absolute pressure by adding 15 psia
for atmospheric conditions)
Solution:
i. The mud required to balance the Concordia sand is 10.7 ppg which exeret the
hydrostatic pressure of –
P1 = 0.052 x 10.7 x 9890 = 5502 psig.
ii. The differential pressure with 10.7 ppg is-
5517 – 3812 = 1705 psia.
iii. A 12.1 ppg mud is required to reach 12,050 ft. This mud weight will create a
hydrostatic pressure at 9890 ft.
P2 = 0.052 x 12.1 x 9890 = 6222 psig.
iv. The differential pressure will be 6237 – 3812 = 2425 psia.
v. A casing string or liner mst be set below 9890 ft. since the 12.2 ppg required at the
bottom of the well creates a differential pressure in excess of the 2000 psi upper limit.

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