Operator successfully drills through historically difficult formation

Overview

Drilling through historically difficult formations, an operator wanted to drill the intermediate section using a 3-D geometry profile. Drilling this type of profile with motors has been challenging due to the need for continuous sliding to avoid BHA drop in inclination. This drilling scenario would not only be slow but will also lead to increased tortuosity and higher buckling in the upcoming lateral section. 

Halliburton’s Sperry Drilling team collaborated with the operator to design a BHA with DrillingXpert™ well engineering software. The hole section was drilled utilizing NitroForce® high-torque, high-flow motor assisting the iCruise^® intelligent rotary steerable rotary steerable system technology. The directional technology was matched with GeoTech^® GTi55M drill bit custom design for this application.

This matched system was able to hold the vertical and tangent sections and perform an azimuth turn to the casing point for a total of 8,017 ft MD in six hours less than planned.