Quartz School for Well Site Supervisors

Module – 8
Directional Drilling

Section – 8
Well Design Fundamentals
Introduction
• Well Trajectory Design is one of the very first steps for Well Planning

• This is a responsibility of the D&M Drilling Engineer who works together with Well
Engineers, Geologist and Directional Driller

• Normally the Oil Operator provides surface coordinates with vertical elevations and
the coordinates for one or more objectives, including its shape

• It is very important to involve the Drilling Engineer since the visualization and
selection of geological objectives in order to optimize the well trajectory with regards
to drilling hazards (Well Collision, Faults, Difficult formation to slide, etc.)

• All dogleg severity limitations have to be specified at the very beginning of the well
trajectory design (BHA Max Dogleg capability, Casing bending capacity, Completion
Assembly specs, Electro-Sumersible pumps, etc)

• Make sure that the Drilling Engineer is using previous experiences in the same field
Well Design Terminology
• There is a specific terminology that we need to understand for well trajectory design

• This directional terminology define the main characteristics for the well trajectory

• These terms describe how the well trajectory is built without the need of looking at
the drawing
• The Directional Driller will use these terms to give a verbal update for the current
status of the well trajectory and he might ask for decisions to be taken based on the
information given
Well Profile Concepts

Well Type “S” Horizontal Well

Well Design Terminology
1. Surface Location or Surface Coordinates
2. Kick off Point
3. Build Section, Drop Section and Vertical Section
4. Well Profile (Vertical, J Type, S Type or Horizontal)
5. Target and Target Shape
6. Inclination and Direction (Azimuth)
7. Measured Depth
8. True Vertical Depth
9. Horizontal Displacement
10. Vertical Section
11. Build Rate
12. Turn Rate
13. Dogleg
14. Dogleg Severity
15. Closure
16. Closure Azimuth
 Surface Location and Surface Coordinates

Well Origin or well reference point. Surface

Coordinates represent the geographical
location where the well is located.

Surface coordinates can be given as local or

geographical.

Well profile is defined as the well trajectory

from surface location to the well Total
Depth. It is designed to avoid Torque &
Drag issues by reducing the doglegs to
the minimum allowable
 Kick Off Point

The Kick off point is where the well is

deviated to an specific direction (azimuth)
to reach a given inclination with a
determined build/turn rate. The kick off Kick off
Point
point is selected based on:

• The well geometry profile

• The Formation lithology

The build/turn rate is how much the

inclination and azimuth will change in a
30m interval
 Well Geological Target

This is an area defined by local or

geographical coordinates at an specific
true vertical depth or subsurface vertical
depth. This target must to have a defined
shape with tolerance lines. This area has
to be well defined at the planning phase.
It doesn’t matter how well the surface and
intermediate sections are drilled if the Geological
Target
target is not intersected. The actual well
trajectory has to be projected to the target
it doesn’t have to be right on the plan
 Inclination and Direction (Azimuth)

Inclination: Angle between any point along

the well trajectory and the vertical.

Direction: Angle between any point along the

well trajectory and the north. If the well is
drilled towards north the direction is 0deg
TVD

of azimuth. If the well is drilled towards

east the direction is 90deg azimuth.

True Vertical Depth: Well depth projected to

the vertical plane
 Measured Depth

This is the real length of the well and it

doesn’t require any projection.

This is measured while the well is drilled by

the drowworks sensor. This sensor
converts drowworks shaft rotation into
drilled depth. The measured depth is
allways referenced to the rotary table.
Measured Depth is the same as the
drillers depth which it is referenced to the
drillpipe length.
Horizontal Plane Terminology

• North and East are positive Target

• South and West negative Longitude

• Displacement or Closure is the hypotenuse

t
of the latitude and departure. It is the

n
em e

on
distance from the WRP to any survey or

Latitude

ti
sp l a

ec
lS
Total Depth

i
or D

ca
rti
•

Ve
Vertical Section is the projection of the

u re
Clo s
displacement to the vertical projection Vertical Projection
plane Plane

• The vertical projection plane is normally

defined by the direction of the well to the Surface Reference Point

target at TD
 Bottom Well Positioning: Vertical Section
Vertical Section = Displacement X Cos (Target Azimuth – Closure Azimuth)
Target

Survey Station

Depart ure

Vertical Section is the Projection

ent
cem
of the Survey Station onto the

n
tio
Latitude

pla
Plane of Proposal

ec
Dis

lS
ca
rti
Ve
Surface Reference Point
Bottom Well Positioning: Closure Azimuth
T arge t

De pa rt ure

−1 Departure
CLOSURE AZIMUTH = tan

nt
Latitude

e
acem
Latitude

l
Disp

n
tio
c
Se
al
rtic
Ve
Surface Reference Point
Purpose for calculating Vertical Section

• Project well onto the Plane of Proposal Departure

• Follow the progress of well trajectory on the

ent
Well Plan by plotting on it the “VS” vs. “TVD”

cem

n
for each survey station (bottom of well

Latitude

tio
pla
position)

ec
lS
Dis

ca
rti
Ve
PLANE OF PROPOSAL
 Exercise - Well Plan Format

What is the minimum information needed on a well plot

to convey all the information a directional driller needs ?
Note down all the items that are needed on a well plot
(5 minutes).
 Exercise - Well Plan Format
What is the minimum information needed on a well plot to
convey all the information a directional driller needs ?
Note down all the items that are needed on a well plot.

• Titles, Client, Date, Well Paths (labelled)

• Scales for each axis noted, measurement units
• Plane of proposal
• Geomagnetic model used for plan, version, date etc.
• True north, grid,magnetic north corrections – reference
for well
• Technical Sign off (QC), approved by etc
Projection of Well Trajectory on Vertical Section

For a simple build hold profile, if the well was going due
Plane of East, 90 deg, this would be as shown.
Proposal
However if the plane of proposal was stated as 180
90 degrees
degree, what would the well look like on a plan view?
1000ft

1250ft It would be a straight line , shown in red.

Well is going
90 degrees Be careful with 3D well plans
1500ft

Plane of Proposal
2000ft
180 degrees
Impact of Kick off Depth on Well Trajectory
For the same target and BUR:
• The shallower the kick off depth, the lower the tangent angle and the shorter is the
well length.
Surface Reference Point
Examples:
MD INCL AZI TVD NORTHING EASTING
feet deg deg feet N/-S feet E/-W feet

For a KOP 1
TIE 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shallow KOP KOP 1000 0 90 1000 0 0
2000 30 90 1955 0 256
10712 30 90 9500 0 4612

KOP 2
MD INCL AZI TVD NORTHING EASTING
feet deg deg feet N/-S feet E/-W feet

For a TIE 0 0 0 0 0 0
Deeper KOP 5735 0 90 5735 0 0
KOP 7735 60 90 7389 0 955
11958 60 90 9500 0 4612 Target
Shallow Kick off Point

• Shorter well length

• Lower casing costs, smaller rig capacity

• Lower tangent angles

• Easier for hole cleaning
• Maybe more difficult for directional work - holding low angle is not always easy

• Essential for pad drilling or platforms to get away from other wells

• Allows high displacement even if at a shallow TVD

• ERD wells use very high kick off points and very high angle tangent section angles

• Build up rate typically low to reduce overall torque and drag

• Allowing high build up rates here will have large impact on torque values further
down well
 “J” Vs. “S” type Wells
To hit the same target for the same KOP, BUR and DOR, profiles would be
as follows:

J type Well MD INCL AZI TVD NORTHING EASTING DISPL DLS

feet deg deg feet N/-S feet E/-W feet feet deg
TIE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
KOP 1000 0 0 1000 0 0 0 0.00
2000 30 90 1955 0 256 256 3.00
10712 30 90 9500 0 4612 4612 0.00

S type Well MD INCL AZI TVD NORTHING EASTING DISPL DLS

feet deg deg feet N/-S feet E/-W feet feet deg
TIE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
KOP 1000 0 0 1000 0 0 0 0.00
Hold 2500 45 90 2350 0 559 559 3.00
Drop 7440 45 90 5844 0 4052 4052 0.00
8940 0 90 7194 0 4612 4612 3.00
11246 0 90 9500 0 4612 4612 0.00
“J” type vs. “S” type discussion

• As can be seen for the same kick off point there is a large difference in the tangent angle and
measured depth of the well

• “S” type wells will tend to develop a lot more torque than an equivalent displacement “J” type, it
also depends on the DD work

• Usually “S” shaped wells drilled for “production reasons” have a small tolerance on the angle
across reservoir (less than 5 or 10 degrees)

• “S” type wells are unavoidable for low displacement wells or when directional drilling is
complicated at deeper sections

• “S” type wells allow to use cheaper BHAs at deeper sections

• Low dogleg is highly recommended at the drop off curve

• Directional drilling might be very difficult at the drop off curve due to high torque and BHA hanging
 Summary
• Every target potentially has 100’s of well plans to hit the centre.
• Choose your plan based on reason – don’t just accept the 1st one you are given
• Use geology to help with plans, if you know a formation naturally builds then use
this to your advantage
• Also find out if formations are stable drilled in all directions
• Make plans as simple as possible
• Remember big bends at top sections cause major torque issues later
• Know what the completion mechanism is during design stage e.g. ESP’s need
tangent sections, PCP’s have dogleg constraints