«Onshore and offshore oil and gas well construction»

Complications associated with incomplete wellbore cleaning in deviated and horizontal wells and methods for their prevention

UDC: 622.24
DOI: -

Authors:

¹ Gazprom VNIIGAZ, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: cuttings, model, complication, well, drilling fluid, calibrator, nozzle, velocity

Annotation:

The efficiency of directional (DW) and horizontal well (HW) construction, including those built in complicated conditions, is now beyond doubt. Therefore, the necessity of addressing the challenges associated with this problem of drilling wells in such complicated conditions is becoming increasingly pressing. The authors of the article consider current understanding of the mechanism underlying complications caused by incomplete cuttings removal from the wellbore of deviated and horizontal wells. Incomplete wellbore cleaning of DW and HW causes drilling mud fouling, sticking of drilling and casing strings, excessive torque, well walls instability under hydrodynamic pressures, loss of circulation, poor quality of cementing and complications during logging operations. Furthermore, untimely cleaning leads to increased resistance to longitudinal movement of the casing string, sudden changes ofthe wellbore trajectory, difficulties in properly orientation of the deflection tool and formation contamination. Two methods for increasing cuttings removal are considered: reducing slip velocity and increasing the velocity of the drilling fluid upward flow. A new method for intensifying drilling fluid flow in the wellbore annulus using computer modeling is proposed.

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