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1. Abstract 2.2. Horizontal Vs Vertical drilling

Horizontal drilling has become a key technology Whether drilling vertical or horizontal wells, the
used to reduce costs and enhance recoveries same elements are needed to drill the well
from reservoirs. Through 2001, commercial economically, they differ only in terms of
databases contained records on 34,777 requirements. These elements include force on
horizontal wells from 72 countries. Horizontal drill bit, Fluid circulation and well design.
drilling, that increases exposure to the reservoir,
Force: WOB is reduced in horizontal drilling as
has delivered multiple benefits. Operators have
drill string touch the wellbore.
used horizontal wells to revive economic
production, to increase and speed recoveries, to Circulation:
reduce costs, and to increase the rate of return.
Flow rate requirements in horizontal drilling can
2. Introduction be two or four times higher than the flow rate
requirements in vertical well drilling.
2.1. History of Horizontal Drilling
Well Design:
Horizontal drilling was introduced in the 1920s.
Due to the limitation of technology and cost,
horizontal well technology did not make a
breakthrough at that time.
With the progress of technology and the increase
of experience, the cost of horizontal wells has
been reduced and the drilling period has been
significantly shortened so horizontal drilling is
becoming more common in the oil industry.
During the period 1980 to 1984, only one or two
Figure2: the KOP and buildup sections
horizontal wells were drilled worldwide per year,
but in 1988 that number of horizontal had 3. Classification of Horizontal Wells
jumped to over 200 wells. Since then, a gradual
• Long – radius (LR).
increase in wells has been noticed with 1570
wells being drilled in 1994. Current industry • Intermediate radius (IR).
projections are that by the year 2000 over 5000 • Medium – radius (MR).
wells per year will be drilled horizontally. • Short – radius (SR).
• Ultrashort – radius (USR).

Figure1: Horizontal Drilling Activity to the Year 2000 Figure3: Radius profile for horizontal wells

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 ➢ A horizontal well can alleviate this since it
can be placed away from gas and water
zones. Due to the longer length of the
completion, the drawdown and the
reservoir pressure around the wellbore will
also be reduced, giving greater oil recovery
before the onset of coning problems.

6. In gas production, they can be used in low

Table1: Classification of horizontal wells and high permeability reservoirs:

4. Application of Horizontal Drilling ➢ In low permeability reservoirs: they can

improve drainage area per well and
The reservoirs that may be considered as reduce the number of Wells that are
possible candidates for horizontal drilling are: required to drain the reservoir.
1. Tight and thin reservoirs (unconventional ➢ In high permeability reservoir: horizontal
reservoirs) permeability << 1 millidarcies reduce Near wellbore velocities. thus,
2. Relief Wells they reduce near well bore turbulence
3. inaccessible reservoirs. and improve Well deliverability in high
4. Multiple Wells from Offshore Platform. permeability reservoirs.
5. Reservoir with water/gas coning problems:
7. Intersection of Vertical Fractures:
➢ When a vertical well is drilled through a thin
pay zone above an aquifer, there is a ➢ Although the matrix of the rock may be
tendency for the water to be drawn up into fairly impermeable, the oil may still be
the perforations if the permeability is high. able to flow along the fractures. It has
This is water coning, and it increases water been found that in some reservoirs
cut in the producing wells. fractured limestone the most efficient
➢ This unwanted water production can be way of producing the oil is to drill highly
reduced by cementing off the lower deviated or horizontal wells to intersect
perforations, and re-perforating higher up. as many fractures as possible.
This requires shutting in the well and
carrying out a workover. 8. In EOR applications, especially in thermal
➢ same problem exists in a formation that EOR. A long horizontal well provides a large
has an overlying gas cap, where the gas is reservoir contact area and therefore
drawn down to the upper perforations. enhances injectivity of an injection well.

5. Tools in Horizontal Drilling

The emergence of horizontal wells has been
facilitated some components:
1. DEFLECTION TOOLS: All tools work on one
of 2 principles: The first is to introduce a
bit tilt angle into the axis of the BHA above
the bit and the second is to introduce a
side force to the bit. The tools are:
Figure4: Water and gas conning

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1) jetting action with oriented nozzles: It 4) steerable positive displacement motor: A
relies on hydraulics to deviate the wellbore steerable motor can be used in oriented
and effective in soft formations. mode (sliding) or rotary mode.
• In the sliding mode, the drill string remains
stationary (top drive is locked) while the
drill bit is rotated by the motor. The course
of the well is only changed when drilling in
sliding mode as the drill bit will now follow
the curvature of the motor bent housing.
• In rotary mode, the steerable motor
becomes locked about trajectory and the
hole direction and inclination are
Figure5: jet bits with oriented nozzles maintained while drilling.
• The use of steerable motors with the
2) Whipstocks: The whipstock is used as a
correct drill bit and BHA reduces the
deflecting medium for drilling multilateral
number of round trips required to produce
wells. It consists of a long inverted steel
the desired inclination.
wedge which is concave on one side to hold
and guide a deflecting drilling.

Figure6: whipstocks deflection tool

Figure8: steerable motor in sliding and rotary modes
3) downhole mud motors and bent sub: The
bent sub is run above the motor and its pin 5) Rotary Steerable Systems:
is offset at an angle of 1-3. Deflection occurs • It uses downhole equipment to replace
when drilling without surface rotation to conventional tools such as mud motors.
the drill string. The drill bit is forced to • They are generally programmed by
follow the curve of the bent sub. the measurement while drilling (MWD)
that transmits commands using surface
equipment (typically using either
pressure fluctuations in the mud column
or variations in the drill string rotation)
which the tool responds to, and
gradually steers into the desired
direction.
• In other words, a tool designed to drill
directionally with continuous rotation
from the surface, removing the need to
Figure7: mud motor and bent sub slide a mud motor.

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 • The disadvantage is that well stimulation,
selective production and injection can be
difficult, due to the open annular space
between the liner and the well.

Figure11: open hole completion

Figure9: rotary steerable system

6) MWD and LWD Systems: the transmit 3. Liner with partial isolation: external casing
drilling and directional information data like Packers (ECPS) are installed outside the
angle, azimuth, drill bit position and the slotted liner to divide a long horizontal
trajectory, actual WOB, etc. wellbore into several small sections. This
method provides limited zone isolation,
6. Completion techniques which can be used for stimulation or
production control along the well length.
Types of Horizontal well Completion:
1. Open hole: open-hole completion is
inexpensive but is limited to competent
rocks. It is difficult to stimulate open hole
wells and control injection or production
along the well. A few horizontal wells have Figure12: open hole completion
been completed open hole, but now we are
away from using open hole completions, 4. Cemented and perforated liner:
except in formations such as Austin chalk.
➢ Cement used in horizontal completion
should have less free water content than
that used for vertical well cement. This is
because in a horizontal well, due to
gravity, free Water segregates near the
top portion of the well and heavier
Figure10: open hole completion cement settles at the bottom. This
results in a poor cement job.
2. Slotted liner completion: the main ➢ To avoid this, it is important to conduct
purpose of inserting a slotted liner is to a free water test for cement in addition
guard against hole collapse and to provide the conventional API free water test,
a convenient path to insert various tools
such as coiled tubing in Horizontal well.
• Slotted liners provide limited sand control
by selecting hole sizes and slot width sizes.
but they are susceptible to plugging. Recent
literature indicates the successful use of
gravel packing for effective sand control in
horizontal wells.
Figure13: cemented and perforated liners completion

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Completion summary:

Table2: Drilling Method & Their Completion Technique Figure15: Shows poor hole cleaning.
The actions taken to avoid stuck pipe in
7. Advantages of Horizontal Drilling: conventional wells apply also to horizontal wells.
1. A general reduction in sand production from In addition, some techniques may be employed:
reducing the pressure drop and lowering
fluid velocities around the wellbore. ➢ Eccentric tool joints.: As the drill string
2. Hit reached targets by vertical drilling. rotates, the eccentric tool joints will stir
3. Increased Production from a Single Well: up any cuttings that have been deposited,
4. Seal or relieve pressure in an out-of-control returning them to the main flow stream.
well, a relief well can be drilled using ➢ Reverse circulation subs. These can be
horizontal drilling techniques to intersect made up as part of the BHA to divert flow
the original well and relieve pressure there. from the string into the annulus to move
5. Increase production in low permeable rocks. cuttings off the side of the borehole.
➢ When stuck pipe is, circulation and
8. Disadvantages: rotation of the string should begin quickly
as the pipe is being pulled out of the hole.
This process is called back-reaming.
1) Frictional forces: The power needed to
➢ The properties of the drilling fluid must be
turn the drill string or to pull it out of the
hole is higher on horizontal well than on carefully chosen to achieve good hole
a normally deviated or vertical well. cleaning. The most important parameter
is the yield point of the mud, which may
have to be increased in a deviated well.

3) Exerting WOB and running in tools:

• As the inclination of the well increases, a
larger proportion of the weight is applied to
the side of the borehole, and the exerting
weight on the bit is reduced.
• The driving force could be increased by
adding more drill collars, but this would
only lead to more lateral force, causing
Figure14: Shows friction force.
increased friction and drag.
2) Hole cleaning: • Numerous devices have been proposed to
As the drill string lies on the low side of increase the driving force on the bit:
the hole, beds of cuttings build up ➢ A hydraulically operated drill collar has
around the bottom of edge of the drill extended arms or anchors that grip the
string. These can be very hard to shift. A side of the borehole.
buildup of cuttings will cause problems ➢ A piston mechanism within the collar
when running logging tools or liners. pushes down to advance the bit.

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 4) Logging Problems: 10. Case study
• Above 60°, inclination logging tools run on HORIZONTAL DRILLING IN THE UNITED STATES
wireline do not fall under their own weight. The success of horizontal wells in the fractured
• In order to run logs at higher inclinations, it Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk trend in Texas
is possible to pump the tools down through and sustained high levels of horizontal-drilling
open ended drill pipe or tubing. activity in the United States through 1998. 4230
• The drill string is run into the hole to the horizontal wells were completed in the Austin
required depth. The logging tools are then Chalk trend through May 1999. These wells
lowered down inside the drill string with the generated 6887 completions. Horizontal wells
aid of sinker bars. If the logging tools do not
have been drilled in virtually all U.S. Horizontal
fall under gravity, pump pressure is applied
wells have been used to increase productivity
to force them out the end of the drill pipe.
while controlling water and gas coning.
5) Completion Problems:

• The horizontal section is completed by

running a liner, which is tied back to the
previous casing shoe. Even at modest
inclinations, many encounter problems in
obtaining a good cement job on a liner.
• One of the major problems is to ensure
good displacement of the drilling mud by
the cement slurry. Before running the liner,
the hole should be cleaned out. If mud Figure16: horizontal wells in the U.S in May 1999.
solids, such as barite, are allowed to build
up on the low Side of the hole the cement 11. References
slurry will by-pass this area leaving a mud 1. Mitchell B., “Advanced Oilwell Drilling
channel within the cemented annulus. Engineering Handbook”, Oilwell Drilling,
• The cement slurry may be affected by Golden Colorado, (1974), 605 pages.
gravity, leaving free water on the upper 2. SPE Reprint Series, “Directional Drilling”,
side of the hole. This will allow connection No. 30, (1990), 23 articles, 208 pages.
of reservoir fluids along the annulus. 3. G. M. Briggs. "How to Design a Medium-
9. Horizontal Well Costs Radius Horizontal Well. " Petroleum
In comparison with vertical holes, horizontal Engineer International (September
holes have added costs. These costs may be 1989): 26-37.
120% of vertical well costs. 4. D. Ebert sand R.D. Barnett. .”Ultra-High-
Angie Wells Are Technical and Economic
Success."011& Gas Journal (July
19.1976): 115-120.
5. J.A.SHORT.”Introduction to directional
drilling”, Pennwell, TULSA
OKLAHOMA,(1993), 239pp.
6. SADA D. JOSHI. “horizontal well
technology”, Pennwell, TULSA
Table3: Comparative cost of wells OKLAHOMA, (1991), 287pp.

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