Drilling FDP
Drilling FDP
Drilling FDP
0 DRILLING ENGINEERING
1.2 INTRODUCTION
The main objective of the drilling program is to develop conceptual well design for
Peninsular Malaysia Field Development Plan (FDP). The objectives of drilling operation
are:
Drilling rig are selected based on criteria, which are water depth, seabed soil condition
(near seismic result), costing, rig capacity, and stability. Below are some specifications of
available marine offshore drilling units (MODUs).
Table 3.2 - Depth and daily rates for offshore drilling rigs.
The sea depth for Alpha PM330 area is approximately 238 ft from the mean sea
level to the seabed. Based on the water depth, only three types of rig are practical, which
are the jacket rig, jack-up rig and the platform rig. The semi-submersible and drill ship
are not necessary due to high excess cost.
The jack-up rig is the most common offshore drilling rig and is a preferable option for
PM 330 drilling. The jack-up rig is towed to location with its legs elevated. Once on
location, the legs are lowered to the bottom and the platform is "jacked up" above the
wave actions by means of hydraulic jacks. The jack-up rig has many advantages,
including a stable work platform, good availability, relatively lower mobilization costs,
versatility to work over a platform or drill in open water and generally competitive day
rate for 5-8 slots drilling in monsoon weathered environment usually in September-
December period. The jack-up rig should provide space for pipe storing, helipad, mud
pumps, tanks, power generators, cranes, and chemical stores complete with a folk lift
1.5 FORMATION PORE PRESSURE ANALYSIS
Before planning any drilling operation, it is crucial to determine the conditions of the
formation pressure. There are two pressure gradients, which are crucial in drilling operation.
They are the formation pressure gradient and fracture gradient. The formation and fracture
gradients are very important in determining the pore pressure and fracture pressure in certain
depths, in order to plan for the optimum mud design, cementing design and casing design.
Formation pore pressure can be a major factor affecting drilling operations. If the pore
pressure is not evaluated accurately, it can lead to various drilling problems such as BHA
damage and fracture, loss of circulation of mud and cement, stuck pipe, hole instability and
all these damages will result in excessive costs.
Theoretically, formation pore pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by the formation
fluids on the walls of rock pores. Generally, there are two types of formation pressures,
Normal pore pressure and abnormal pore pressure.
The data for constructing the formation pressure gradient is obtained from the repeated Form
Fracture gradient is defined as the minimum total in situ stress divided by the depth. The
drilling fluid and cement slurry will not fracture the formation only if the designed weight of
drilling fluids and cement slurry do not exceed the fracture gradient
Formation fracture gradient is a measure of how the strength of the rock, meaning its
resistance to break down, which varies with depth. Many methods can be used to predict the
formation fracture gradient.
Two methods are used for determining fracture gradient; the direct and the indirect methods.
Indirect method relies on the use of stress analysis method for predicting the fracture gradient.
For this project, Eaton’s method is used to correlate the formation fracture gradient because
it is widely used in the petroleum industry
Table 3.3 - Fracture, Pore, Mud Pressure Analysis
The fracture pressure of the formation of interest was calculated using The
Hubert and Willis Method:
P 1 σob+2Pp
=3( ) psi /ft ……………………. (1)
D D
Where:
D: depth (ft)
Where:
V = Poisson’s ratio
For this project, v = 0.45 was used. 0.91 psi/ft was used as overburden pressure
gradient considering the fact that overburden pressure increases with depth. Formation
pore pressure can be a major factor affecting drilling operations. If the pore pressure is
not evaluated accurately, it can lead to various drilling problems such as BHA damage
and fracture, loss of circulation of mud and cement, stuck pipe, hole instability and all
these damages will result in excessive costs. To prevent any possible issues, a safety
margin has been incorporated to both pore and fracture pressure by +/- 100psi. this could
further reduce the possible risk
Figure below shows the curves of pore and fracture pressure that were generated
by the analysis shown in table 4.1 above, and how the selection of each casing section
was designed according to these curves.
Functions of casing:
To keep the hole open and to provide a support for weak, or fractured
formations.
To isolate porous media with different fluid/pressure regimes from
contaminating the pay zone.
To provide a passage for hydrocarbon fluids; most production operations are
carried.
To provide a suitable connection for the wellhead connection.
2. Directional data: surface location; geologic target(s); and well interference data.
There are various loads in the drilling process during the landing, drilling, cementing
and productions periods. The most significant loads that need the casing needs to be able
to withstand include:
COLLAPSE PRESSURE
This is caused by a failure of the casing string from the outside, meaning the
hydrostatic fluid pressure that is in contact with the outer wall of the casing. These fluids
can either be the drilling fluid being used of the cement slurry. The casing also endures
the severe collapse pressure from drilling through difficult formations that contains
plastic clays and salts. These along with compression load are the only force that is taken
into consideration when designing a casing. The other possible forces are accounted by
using safety factors. To determine the collapse strength, the API bulletin 5C3 is used.
There are three known modes of collapse, these are elastic, plastic and failure due to
exceeding the tensile strength. The diameter against time ratio is used to determine the
type of collapse mode along with pressure. (Tenaris, 2013)
ELASTIC COLLAPSE
2𝐸 1
𝑃𝑒 = 2
× 2
(1 − 𝑣 ) 𝐷 𝐷
[ 𝑡 × { 𝑡 − 1} ]
Where:
t = casing thickness
PLASTIC COLLAPSE
Plastic collapse on the other hand may be calculated from the equation below:
Equation 0-2 Plastic Collapse:
𝐴
𝑃𝑒 = 𝑌 ( − 𝐵) − 𝐶
𝐷⁄
𝑡
A and B indicate the grade of steel used whereas Y is the tensile strength.
BURST PRESSURE
This is due to the force applied to the casing from the inside wall of the casing. If
a kick occurs during drilling operations, the burst pressure may be a result of the kick.
A kick – imposed burst pressure can also weaken the casing if there’s a kick during the
operations. The minimum acceptable burst pressure is calculated used Barlow’s Formula
(Energy Pipe & Supply, LLC, 2002):
Equation 0-3 Barlow's Formula:
2𝑌 × 𝑡
𝑃 = 0.875 ( )
𝐷
Where,
t = thickness of the casing in inches
Y = min yield strength in psi
D = Outer diameter of casing in inches
Barlow’s equation would give a minimum burst resistance yield of 87.5% of the pipe
wall which allows a 12.5% variation in the wall thickness that may result from
manufacturing uncertainties. The burst failure in a pipe occurs if the pipe body ruptures
as a result of failure of the coupling used of leaking of the coupling threads. There are
two other types of resistance to the pipe body:
Tensile force
Originate from the casing weight and shock loading. The weakest point of any
casing is the upper most joint due to the tension on it as it carries the total weight of the
casing string. The pipe body may suffer three possible deformations under axial tension:
i. Elastic- in this type of deformation, the steel pipe does not suffer any permanent
damage. The shape changes when the force is applied, then it returns to the
original shape once the load is removed.
ii. Elasto-plastic- permanent deformation on the pipe body which results in the loss of
strength P
Safety Factors:
There are many uncertainties associated with casing design due to the change in
casing properties that results from wear and corrosion. Therefore, a design factor can be
used to guarantee the casing can always handle or withstand a higher load than expected.
This indicates that the casing strength is rated by the safety factor chosen. Each company
will have specific policies on the safety factors. The common design factors are:
Burst: 1 – 1.10
Collapse: 1 – 1.125
Tension: 1.6 – 1.8
Steel Grades
The tensile strength of the steel used in making the casing needs to be included in
the steel grade. The steel grades are not all of the same chemical composition. However,
it is the heat treatment applied that gives each grade its specific properties. The grades are
shown as a code number that includes a number and a letter, for instance N – 80. The
letter is included to give the grade a unique designation, to indicate the minimum yield
strength of the steel in psi.
H40, J55, K55, M65, N80 and R95 are some of the casing most commonly used
in offshore due to their inexpensiveness compared to the other grades. Following table 3-
1 has some information on these common application casings.
The selection of casing was made based on many factors and the most important
one is collapse and burst pressure. The main two types selected are K-55 and N-80 based
on calculated collapse, burst pressure and reservoir temperature. There are 3 rage of casing
that could be used and for this project, casing length that was used was 42ft. The table
below shows the depth at which the casing shoe was landed as well as the casing
specifications.
These casing setting depths were chosen based on the pressure gradient graph shown in
Figure.
There are many types of drilling muds and fluids, based on both their
composition and use. The decisions that make about select type of drilling fluid for a
well is based on three key factors and those are:
Technical performance
Environmental impact.
Fluid Cost.
Selection of proper drilling fluid or mud is very important since it consider one
of most important factors that contribute in a successful drilling plan. The functions of
the drilling fluid can be listed as below:
Pore Pressure and fracture gradient graph plots to establish the minimum and
maximum mud weights to be used on the whole well.
Type of formation lithology.
Casing design program and casing seat depths.
Basic mud properties required for each open hole section before it is cased off.
Restrictions that might be enforced in the area due to government regulations in
the area and environmental concerns.
The selection of each mud type and properties based on the formation
that should be drilled in term of the mud volume needed, weight of mud and
mud additives can be shown in the table below.
Table 3.6 -Mud type and mud weight for each section
Casing Depth (ft) Mud type Mud additives Mud weight
A drilling bit is the cutting or boring tool which is made up on the end
of the drill string. The bit drills through the rock by scraping, chipping,
gouging or grinding the rock at the bottom of the hole. With many choices
available today, selecting the proper bit for a particular application can become
quite a challenge. There is spade, drag and shear type bits, point attack bits,
PDC bits, milled tooth and TCI (tungsten carbide insert) roller cone bits and
the list goes on.
CONDUCTOR 1050 26 RC
From the table above shows that there are two types of bits were selected based
on several factors that already mentioned before. The selected types of bits are:
Roller Cutter: The rolling cuter bit was selected because of its high rotary speed
and high drilling rate. It has also has aggressive cutting structure and hard tooth facing.
Is cheaper than most bits.
PDC bit: its design flexibility and more applicable to long hours or multiple runs.
It has less impact damage on the formation and is better in hard rock formations.
3000
and cementing
4000 Run 12-1/4” casing
and cementing
5000
Following are the data used for some of the well trajectories that was designed:
With the coordinates of target and total vertical depth, these well trajectories can
be generated. eleven deviated well and nine vertical wells have been drilled in three
regions, which is the north, center and the south of the contour map. This coordinate were
generated with relative to rig placement at (0,0). Figures bellow shows the trajectory plan
that was made:
Figure 3.6 – Plan 1
Plan 1
Plan 2
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1.13 BOTTOM HOLE ASSEMBLY (BHA)
The bottom-hole assembly (BHA) is the component of the drill string that includes the core bit, outer
core barrel, various subs, and the drill collars. It hangs below the drill pipe and provides weight to the drill or
core bit to induce the teeth to penetrate the formation, thereby drilling a hole or recovering core to meet the
scientific objectives of the cruise. The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) employs different coring tools to obtain
continuous, relatively undisturbed cores in all types of oceanic sediments and igneous basement. ODP uses
three primary coring systems, each with a different BHA:
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Components of BHA
• HWDP
• Stabilizer
• Drill jar
• Drill collar
• RSS
• Bend
• Reamer
• Bit
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