Challenging the Status Quo Leads to Enhanced Drilling Performance

The technology described in this paper has been developed to challenge the shortcomings of the 40+ year old conventional blade stabilizer. The focus of this paper is to compare drilling performance on two lateral well sections against conventional spiral blade stabilizers. The comparison will highlight the noticeable improvement in drilling performance through analysis of relevant drilling parameters. The new design stabilizer, referred to in this paper as Innovative Drillstring Stabilizer (IDS), can be positioned in the drill string as you would typically do with a conventional spiral blade stabilizer or roller reamer. The design, however, is considerably different. The opened profile, placement and contour of the blades are designed to enhance energy transfer and flow along the tool, improving the transportation of cuttings around the tool while minimizing the occurrences of balling up. The orientation and dome shape of the blades is designed to reduce friction and torque, reduce vibration, improve weight transfer and when slide drilling minimizing the occurrence of hanging up and motor stalls. The engineered drillstring stabilizer was deployed in two wells for trial and technology acceptance purpose. An 8" OD innovative drillstring stabilizer was used as part of a steerable motor bottom hole assembly (BHA) in an integrated operations project. An in-depth performance comparison study was conducted by a specialized and independent third party between two identical BHAs. One (BHA-1), however, included conventional spiral blade stabilizers while the other (BHA-2) adopted the innovative drillstring stabilizers. The pioneering design of the IDS in BHA-2 contributed to reducing the overall torque and aiding in better weight transfer and drilling efficiency. It was possible to apply more weight and the energy transfer to the bit, based on mechanical specific energy (MSE) calculations, showed more efficient drilling conditions. As a result, the ROP, both rotating and sliding showed significant improvement with an overall increase of more than 30%. Better stabilization with BHA-2 aided in less vibration and no motor stalls. In addition, while pulling out of hole, lower hook loads were observed due to the enhanced hole cleaning features, improved hole condition and less friction along the string components. When back on surface no indications of balling-up were observed either. Today, drilling related inefficiencies, in the form of low ROP, non-productive time, damages beyond repair or stuck pipe and lost in hole incidents costs the oil and gas industry millions of dollars on an annual basis. The IDS is designed and proved to address such dysfunctions and improve drilling performance and efficiency while simultaneously stimulates a lower MSE drilling environment.