UNDERBALANCED DRILLING

There are different ways of drilling a well, underbalance drilling is one of the technique used to drill
wells especially in depleted reservoirs and subnormal pressure regions. In this technique we keep the
mud pressure less than the formation pressure. The mud pressure is kept low in order to avoid
formation damage and loss circulation problems. In weak and low pressure areas, high mud hydrostatic
pressure could result in severe formation damage and complete loss of circulations, thats why in those
areas drilling a well with high mud pressure is avoided and Underbalance drilling technique is used
which involves drilling with low density fluid which exerts less hydrostatic pressure so that these drilling
problems can be avoided. Underbalance drilling technique make use of low density fluid, we can add
different types of additives in the conventional mud to reduce its density or we can also use other types
of low density fluid like air, gasified mud, foamy mud etc. to drill well.
Underbalance drilling technique is not just used in subnormal regions sometimes it is used in the normal
pressure region as well to avoid different types of problems like differential sticking, horizontal well
drilling, reduced (Rate of penetration) ROP problem etc. These problems can be avoided using
underbalance drilling technique in high permeable zones , high mud pressure results in the formation of
thick mud cake which is the major cause of pipe stuck problem, in underbalance drilling low density
mud is used which minimizes the chances of differential pipe sticking. Similarly in horizontal well drilling
there are very high chances of pipe stuck as whole drill string comes in complete contact with the
formation, therefore underbalance drilling is used to avoid major problems. Also ROP during drilling a
well can be increased in underbalance as in this technique low mud pressure is used which facilitates in
increasing ROP.
Underbalance drilling technique has its advantages in some cases over the other drilling techniques
however; in many other cases it has damaging effect on the formation and therefore must be avoided in
those conditions like in case of unconsolidated formation, abnormal pressures zones etc. In these cases
low mud pressure can cause serious problems like in case of unconsolidated formation if low mud
pressure is used to drill a well then because of this low pressure there are high chances of hole collapse.
Similarly in case of abnormal pressure zones, or in places where we can expect abnormal pressure zones
during drilling, underbalance drilling could result in formation fluid invasion in the wellbore i.e. kick or in
critical cases blow may occur. Therefore in those cases underbalance technique must be avoided and
overbalance technique should be used.
So in Short, Underbalance drilling is an effective technique in many cases and has a lot of advantages
over other type of drilling technique. However careful and thorough planning is necessary to drill a
successful well using this drilling technique.