IX INGEPET 2018 (EXPL-CP-OB-14-N)

EFFECTIVE STICK-SLIP MITIGATION SYSTEM ALLOWED SMOTHER DOWNHOLE

DYNAMICS WHILE DRILLING AN EXPLORATORY WELL IN THE PERUVIAN
AMAZON: EXPERIENCE AND LESSONS LEARNED

O.M Bohorquez Aquino, V.H. Soriano Arambulo, M.A. Alcalá Quispe, Pluspetrol Peru
Corporation S.A; J.R. Tapia Ponce, Independent Consultant; J.A. Harada, National Oilwell
Varco; R. Ahmed, University of Oklahoma

Abstract

Downhole vibrations represent tremendous challenges in drilling development due to nature of

rotary drilling dysfunction. Therefore, highly effective drilling operation calls for innovative tools to
prevent or mitigate those destructive oscillations. In the Peruvian Amazon, previous field
experience indicates high values of stick-slip vibrations affecting overall on-bottom drilling
performance. Thus, an effective stick-slip mitigation tool was required to improve drilling
performance and to reduce down hole tool failure rates.

This paper presents results of a field application of an effective stick-slip mitigation system in an
exploratory well in the Peruvian Amazon. The stick-slip mitigation system optimized ROP in the
12-1/4” hole section, allowed taking high quality LWD logs and prevented damage to bottom hole
assembly components. When drilling was conducted using water-based mud without lubricants,
the tool kept torsional vibrations at lower levels as compared to existing methods applied in other
wells. Furthermore, 52% of torque reduction, 35% of ROP increment and 10% of cost savings
were achieved by optimizing drilling parameters (i.e RPM and WOB). As a result, the overall open
hole section condition observed during trips and casing run was good enough to accomplish
specific section objectives. The system allowed better energy transmission to the bit and improved
drilling performance.

Today, other operators in the area still work with conventional equipment without any stick-slip
mitigation tool, and therefore, they may find this report very useful to keep drilling dysfunctions at
low levels while promoting highly efficient drilling operations. This article introduces the suitability
of introducing new methods to feasible mitigate stick-slip vibrations.

Introduction

New economics driven by oil price around USD 60 are defining new game rules imposing oil and
gas industry to look at new technology to cut down well construction costs in order to ensure
profitability. Costs are strongly related to rate of penetration (ROP) in Drilling (Dunlop et al.
2011). However, increasing the ROP may come with detrimental consequences to hole quality if

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some dysfunctions are involved. Drilling automation has proven to be the path to transform the
technology to enhance ROP while keeping drilling dysfunctions at minimum and protecting
investment (Pink et al. 2017). The key is to understand individual field complexity and reduce
non-productive time to be competitive in the industry. The automation is closely focused on
minimizing drilling dysfunctions. Torsional “Stick-slip” vibration is a drilling dysfunction that affects
ROP by preventing energy to be optimized downhole (i.e. in the drilling process). Ideally, energy
must be spent only to cut the rock formation with the bit.

Stick-slip vibrations are the major source of issues related to bit damage, premature down hole
failures, surface Topdrive damage due to overheating, and poor hole quality. Therefore, an
effective stick-slip prevention approach has to be utilized if torsional vibration is expected to be a
problem in a drilling project.

In the past, methods to handle these vibrations include managing drilling parameters and
optimizing BHA and bit design (Nessjoen et al. 2011). However, these methods impacted directly
to drilling performance. In fact, sometimes the only solution was to reduce ROP as low as possible
(i.e. Reduce WOB and increase RPM) to prevent those vibrations. This made the process of
drilling very inefficient resulting in increased cost. In some cases, these methods were insufficient
for mitigating torsional oscillations (Kyllingstad and Nessjoen, 2009). Today, the industry
developed different Stick-slip mitigation tools, which are available in the market that are capable
of dampening harmful oscillations while providing excellent performance without compromising
drilling parameters. Those are Stiff PI speed control, Soft Torque, SoftSpeed and Z-Torque which
are described in the literature extensively (Aage Kyllingstad 2017).

A field experience using the Stick-slip mitigation tool SoftSpeed is presented in this article. This
is a software-based system that was installed conveniently in the existing Topdrive Programmable
Logic Controller (PLC). Once the system is activated, it dampens torsional stick-slip oscillations
in a very cost-effective way with outstanding results and without requiring any torque feed-back.
Furthermore, it allows drillers to understand vibrations throughout a user-friendly interface (i.e. a
simple touch screen) while optimizing drilling parameters to improve ROP.

Softspeed Principles

Stick-slip oscillation is a mode of drilling dysfunction characterized by a cycle of bit sticking

(coming to a stop) and slipping (accelerating to speeds much greater than the mean BHA speed).
In severe cases, the backward rotation at the BHA can occur during the stick phase causing
severe damage to downhole equipment and reduction of hole quality. In fact, torsional vibration
can often be coupled with damaging lateral vibration in the slip phase.

What are the effects of having high levels of stick-slip vibrations?

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• More bit runs per section
• Higher frequency of costly Damage Beyond Repair (DBR) events
• Decreased drilling performance
• Stick slip greatly diminishes the amount of energy transmitted to the bit
• Stick slip is also known to cause wellbore corrugation due to increased lateral force
imposed in the slip phase. This decreases the wellbore quality and slide drilling
efficiency when using conventional mud motors.

SoftSpeed controls the top drive in a way that mitigates stick-slip all the way to the BHA. This is
accomplished via transient top drive RPM fluctuation. Expect to see the RPM fluctuate +/- ~10%
from the defined RPM set point expecting to see a much smoother torque trace.

The system is based on algorithms located in the TopDrive PCL which commands Topdrive to
respond to surface torque oscillations to maximize the Mechanical Specific Energy. This system
identifies, quantifies and alerts the driller about torsional vibration levels in real time through a
stick-slip indicator using colors like the traffic lights: Green, Yellow and Red. In other words, it is
a TopDrive enhanced-software that damps stick-slip oscillations. This technology has been
proven worldwide with good results.

The implementation of the software consisted initially working through technical information of the
Top Drive in order to evaluate the feasibility of a successful installation of the system. The
implementation process was carried out in the field, closely working with the drilling contractor
staff and the technical specialists of the Top Drive team. This process consisted on updating both
the hardware and software of the Top Drive control system. Ultimately, the "Commissioning Time"
procedure was performed, which allowed to verify the optimal functioning of the Top Drive without
the activation of the software application. The personalized training was given to the different
positions of company man, assistant company man, toolpusher and drillers of the different shifts
of the well.

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Drilling Issues Associated with Stick-Slip Vibrations

Offset wells in the Peruvian Amazon indicated the presence of severe level of stick-slip that are
detected by the MWD tool. Figure 1 shows an example of the vibrations observed.

Fig.1 Stick-slip oscillation & RPM vs Depth in an offset well.

Those vibrations created severe damage to downhole after long runs (Fig. 2, 3 and 4)
compromising their integrity and becoming a great source for subsequent problems and related
nonproductive activities such as fishing jobs. The damages were observed at all levels of the
BHA.

Fig. 2 Roller Reamer had all rollers worn out and “welded” into the body due to high Stick-slip levels.

Fig. 3 Hole Stabilizer damage on bottom of blades about one inch more than when going in hole

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Fig. 4 Power Drive stab was worn out, while pads were in good shape but with hard facing completely worn out

Project team assessed that stick-slip vibrations would represent a huge problem during drilling an
exploratory well. Therefore, it decided to explore different options (tools) in drilling the well. After
extensive engineering analysis and considering cost-effective options, the project team agreed to
introduce “Soft-speed” tool in order to mitigate or eliminate harmful torsional vibrations and
provide a wide drilling window to work on and improve ROP.

Case Study

The project consisted of drilling one-directional well, “J” type with 2-dimensional trajectory and
total horizontal displacement of approximately 500 m from the top of the main target and roughly
1300 m from the final total depth (TD), maximum inclination of 54° and 280° Azimuth. Water based
mud was used for this application. The well was executed in four sections as explained below:

• First Section: This is the conductor section. It is a 26” hole drilled from surface to 58.5 m
where 20” casing was run and cemented.
• Second Section: This is the surface section. It is a 16” hole drilled from 58.5 to 1222.5 m
through Upper Red Bed and Lower Red Beds formation. Those formations are composed
of young and highly reactive clays. Directional trajectory called for kicking of the well at 80
m, building at an angle of 2°/30 m to reach 53° inclination. Then, it was held at the same
angle up to 1222.5 m. At this point, 13 3/8” casing was run and cemented.
• Third Section: This is the exploratory section I. It is a 12-1/4” hole drilled from 1222.5 to
1796 m, keeping a tangent of 54° through possible gas bearing formations composed of
clean sandstones with intercalations of Shale and Limestone. The main challenge in this
section was to keep stick-slip torsional oscillations low to be able to drill all the exploratory
section without using the contingency hole. As exposed above, in wells of similar geometry
and formations, high stick-slip vibrations were observed. At some points, the vibrations
exceeded the acceptable limit of the downhole tools, generating NPT for performing
unnecessary trips to change any BHA tool, damaged bit or a damage connection
(washout). A 9-5/8” casing was run in the hole and cemented without inconveniences.

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• Fourth Section: This is the exploratory section II. It is 8-1/2” hole drilled from 1796 to 2104
m keeping a tangent of 54° through possible gas bearing formations composed by clean
sandstones with intercalations of shale, chert and limestone.

Post Run Results

Soft-speed was successfully installed and its main task was to be able to reduce high torsional
vibrations while drilling 12-1/4” hole section. Initially, it was drilled from 1222.5 to 1500 m in order
to allow all BHA components to be out of the casing (i.e. in hole). After observing indications of
high levels of stick-slip oscillations (120%), drilling crew activated the Soft-speed system and the
Topdrive started to adjust RPM in order to reduce stick-slip vibrations. Figure 5 shows that stick-
slip measurements that were kept at low levels enhancing drilling performance.

Fig. 5 Stick-slip oscillation & RPM vs Depth in the exploratory well with Soft-Speed System.

A reduction of the stick-slip oscillations allowed to increase average ROP by 35% from previous
Off-set well. This is from 7.3 to 9.9 m/h as shown in Figure 6.

Fig. 6 ROP comparison between Off-set Well and Exploratory Well.

After run ends, BHA was pulled back to surface and inspected by the company representative.
They did not observed any visual damage on tools. Indeed, tools were sent to a service shop for
further inspection and reports showed that none of them had signs of damage outside or inside.

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The selected stick-slip mitigation tool accomplished project goals in a smooth manner that it
allowed the drilling crew to execute a high-risk exploratory well with outstanding performance and
without any drilling dysfunction while drilling 12-1/4” hole section.

Conclusions

The most important conclusions are presented below:

• The stick-slip mitigation system minimized torsional Stick-slip oscillations and their
detrimental effects during the drilling of 12-1/4 hole section in an exploratory well in the
Peruvian Amazon.
• The system eliminated NPT relating to unnecessary trips to change BHA due to premature
failure.
• TopDrive worked smoothly without showing any overheating issues.
• Once stick-slip levels were kept low, an average increase of 35% in ROP was reported by
using optimal drilling parameters.
• Open hole logs showed good quality hole section. This allowed to run casing without
issues and favoring the cementing job conditions.
• Stick-slip mitigation tool “Soft-Speed” improved the transfer of rotation energy to the drill
bit without the need of using high volumes of lubricants in the water based mud.
• The application of the tool resulted in saving of 10% of the Drilling AFE.

Acknowledgements

Authors want to thank the management of Pluspetrol for the encouragement and permission to
publish this work. Also, we want to thank The University of Oklahoma for providing research
support.

References

Dunlo, J., Isangulov, R., Aldred, W., Arismendi, S., Sanchez, L., Alarcon, J., Belaskie, J., and
Luppens, J. 2011. Increased Rate of Penetration Through Automation. A SPE/IADC paper
139897 presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition held in Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, 1-3 March 2011.
Kyllingstad, Aage. 2017. A Comparison of Stick-slip Mitigation Tools. A SPE/IADC paper
184658-MS presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition held in The Hague,
The Netherlands, 14-16 March.
Kyllingstad, A. and Nessjoen, P. 2009. A New Stick-Slip Prevention System. A SPE/IADC paper
119660 presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition held in Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, 17-19 March.

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Nessjoen, P., Kyllingstad, A., D´Ambrosio, P., Fonseca, I., Garcia, A. and Levy, B. 2011. Field
Experience with an Active Stick-Slip Prevention System. A SPE/IADC paper 139956
presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition held in Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, 1-3 March.
Pink, T., Cuku, D., Pink, S., Chittoor, V., Goins, A., Facker, B. and Hanford, R. 2017. World First
Closed Loop Downhole Automation Combined with Process Automation System Provides
Integrate Drilling Automation in the Permian Basin. A SPE/IADC paper 184694-MS presented
at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition held in The Hague, The Netherlands, 14-
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