IADC/SPE 155858

Successful Development of Changbei Marginal Tight Gas Field: Dual Lateral

Horizontal Well and Significant Drilling Performance Improvement

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Erhu Gao*, Harshit Desai, Wee Si-Boon, Zhao Hongkai, Shell China Exploration and Production Co. Ltd., Wang
Xiongfei and Yang Jin, PetroChina Changqing Oilfields Co. *SPE Members

Copyright 2012, IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition

This paper was prepared for presentation at the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition held in Tianjin, China, 9–11 July 2012.

This paper was selected for presentation by an IADC/SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abs tract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not
been reviewed by the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect
any position of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, d istribution, or storage of any part of this
paper without the written consent of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an
abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of IADC/SPE copyright.

Abstract
Changbei is a marginal tight gas field located in Yulin, China. Historically similar fields had been developed with fractured
vertical wells. To improve well productivity and reserve recovery, a new concept of long dual horizontal wells (2 x 2,000m
legs) has been developed to recover the gas reserves more cost effectively. The initial drilling campaign had proved to be
challenging due to:
 Bit balling while drilling the 12 ¼” hole section
 Difficulties in landing of the 9 5/8” production casing accurately, due to drilling of coals just above top of QA
reservoir and geological uncertainties
 Unstable carbonaceous claystone or coal across the long horizontal reservoir sections
 High Non-Productive Time (NPT) due to failures of downhole equipment and drillpipe
 High drilling costs as a result of the above stated problems

To make the field development a success, the Changbei wells team had formed a performance improvement team, which
turned around the wells performance with DTL, LEAN and Performance Improvement Staircases. As a result, the wells costs
and drilling times have been halved. The team has since maintained their drive for continued drilling performance
improvement and made drilling operations a successful story.

This paper will discuss the key successful factors for Changbei horizontal drilling. It will first of all introduce the dual lateral
horizontal well design. This will be followed by a summary of the drilling problems encountered from the initial drilling
campaign. The paper will then address how the various tools such as DTL, LEAN (a step-change performance improvement
methodology) process, RTOC and Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) have been applied effectively to drive down the
drilling times and wells costs, with the application of selected localized products and services.

It will also illustrate how to manage changes during horizontal wells drilling campaign with two case studies including change
of the drilling strategy and the re-drill of one of the horizontal legs in well CB8-3.

Introduction
The Changbei gas field is located in Shaanxi province, North Central China. It is on the edge of the Mauwusu desert in the
Ordos basin. The field supplied natural gas to the Northern part of China including the capital of Beijing. Changbei has also
supplied gas for the Olympic flare during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It is the first successful tight gas field in the
Ordos basin to use horizontal dual lateral wells as the basic development concept.

The Changbei field covers a very large area. However the tight reservoir sand is relatively thin ranging from 0 to 40 meters,
which has been the primary reason for the development concept of the 45 long reach dual horizontal wells. The wells are
completed open hole with 7” slotted liners to protect any unstable formation intervals. These wells have been drilled from 23
clusters with up to 3 wells at each cluster, as shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1: Changbei Block Map and Cluster Distribution

The pay zone is a Permian braided river deposit, making it very heterogeneous and hence difficult to correlate across wells
already drilled, resulting in large depth uncertainties and lateral variations of reservoir quality. This has presented the project
team with a challenging environment for the successful drilling of long horizontal wells. Although the sand reservoirs are
relatively clean, baffles of claystone are often encountered, which has caused concern for wellbore instability for both drilling
and production phases. Wellbore instability is coupled with hard and abrasive rocks, also with high torque & drag and
buckling issues. The Changbei development drilling campaign has been divided into three phases, Phase I wells located in the
central part of the field, Phase II wells in southen part of the field and Phase III wells in the Northen part of the field. There
are more geological uncertainties for Phase III wells as they are close to the edge of the field and near the boundaries of the
river channels.

During drilling operations, the wells team has focused on both HSE and operation excellence with TQ (top quartile) well
delivery. With great team spirits and thrust for performance, a rapid learning curve has been achieved for drilling operations.
Great efforts have also been made on the reduction of drilling waste by recycling mud and waste fluid whenever possible, with
the theme of „Zero Discharge‟ of waste fluids to the environment.

Changbei Well Design

The Changbei field is developed with cluster wells having up to 3 wells per cluster. Dual lateral horizontal wells were designed
for the Changbei development campaign, which was a novelty when compared with similar tight gas fields in China. The basic
well profile is shown in Figure 2. The wells are designed with a True Vertical Depth (TVD) of about 3,000m depending on
depth of the top reservoir, and a total Measured Depth (MD) of about 5,400m.

The Changbei reservoir is preferably completed with an 8-1/2” hole, because it was regarded difficult to achieve a 2,000m leg
with a 6” hole for reasons of inadequate weight transfer caused by drillpipe buckling. The casing design below has taken this
into consideration.

20” Conductor: The conductor is drilled down and cemented to +/-35m to protect the shallow soft formation and
provide a good foundation for the well.
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13 3/8” Casing: The surface casing is set in Yanchang formation at +/- 700m. This is to provide BOP protection and
allow for higher mud weight to drill the build-up section of the well. It will provide the shoe strength
required to drill to the top reservoir at +/- 2,885m TVD (3,400m MD).
9 5/8” Casing: The production casing is set at 3,400m with a horizontal displacement of about 900m. To secure the
build-up section of the well and seal off any shale in the Shihezi formation and multiple thin coal layers
that may cause hole instability problems.
Reservoir: 8 ½” open hole completion

After reaching the leg or well TD, a 7‟‟ slotted liner is run to protect any unstable claystone intervals. The 7” slotted liners are
run without liner hanger and are released in open hole. The completion consists of either a 3-1/2‟‟ or a 4-1/2‟‟ tubing to

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approx. 3,200m MD. The completion assembly is fairly simple and consists of a SC-SSSV, Nipple, WEG and Production
Packer.

The Surface Casing is cemented back to surface to seal off any shallow aquifers. This is readily achieved because of the high
formation strength of the shallow formations. The top of cement for the 9 5/8” casing is planned at 1,700m to seal off the
Liujiaguo formation. The 9 5/8” casing cement recipe has been specifically formulated to avoid any potential risks of gas
channeling.

The well trajectory has been designed for low torque & drag to enable the effective drilling of the 2,000m horizontal legs. The
well is kicked off at around 1,700m and the hole is then built to an inclination of 30o through the 12 ¼” section. The 12 ¼”
section TD is reached with more than 85o angle at top of QA reservoir. Thereafter, the first leg of the 8 ½” reservoir section is
drilled to 2,000m length. The second leg is then drilled with an open hole sidetrack from leg 1. Both legs will be drilled with a
proposed leg length of 2,000m to maximize well productivity and reserve recovery.

Water based mud systems (WBM) have been planned for the Changbei drilling campaign. The 16” surface hole is drilled with
a bentonite gel with mud weight of 10.2 – 11.2 kPa/m. The 12 ¼” production casing section is drilled with a fresh water
polymer based system. The 8 ½” reservoir section is drilled with a calcium carbonate / sodium formate, a low formation
impairment drill-in fluid. However, due to bit balling / shale instability for the 12 ¼” hole the section has been drilled with a
KCl / polymer mud system as discussed later.

Figure 2: Changbei Well Design and Cluster Design

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Summary of Early Drilling Challenges

The Changbei drilling campaign started in August 2005 with two rig operations supplied by Great Wall Drilling Company
(GWDC), a PetroChina company. Enormous drilling challenges were faced in the early wells as shown in Figure 3. These
challenges adversely affected drilling performances and even put the well design and development concept into question. It
took normally 200 to 300 days to complete one well at beginning of the project.

Some of the initial wells took close to a year to drill and complete. Below is a summary of the drilling challenges:
 Bit balling while drilling the 12 ¼” hole section
 Difficulties in landing of the 9 5/8” production casing accurately, due to drilling of coals just above top of QA

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reservoir and geological uncertainties
 Unstable claystone, carbonaceous claystone and coal layers across the long horizontal reservoir sections
 High Non-Productive Time (NPT) due to failures of downhole equipment and drillpipe
 High drilling costs as a result of the above stated problems

Figure 3: Summary of Drilling Challenges from the early Changbei Wells

Experiences and Practices of the Successful Drilling Campaign in Changbei Long Dual Horizontal Wells
Due to the poor start-up of the Changbei drilling campaign, it was imperative to set up a performance improvement team to
address the changes required in a structured manner. This initiative proved to be successful. As a result, drilling performance
improved on a continuous basis with Top Quartile (TQ) wells drilled repeatedly, as shown in Figure 4. In addition to this, the
HSE performance has also been outstanding. The two drilling rigs have achieved 5 year LTI free in October 2011. The
Completion and Well Intervention (CWI) has achieved 6 years LTI free in December 2011. In this part of the paper
experiences and practices for the successful drilling campaign are presented including the following key aspects:
 Excellence in HSE
 DTL and LEAN implementation in Changbei
 Drilling fluid optimisation
 Coal drilling and landing strategy for 9 5/8” production casing
 Reduction of NPT
 Lump sum contract for 12 ¼” bits
 Management of changes
 Localisation of products and services
 Application of new technology
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Figure 4: Successful drilling operations for Changbei project

HSE Excellence. Since the start of the Changbei drilling campain, HSE has been taken as the top priority. All personnel are
trained and committed to follow the company 12 Life Saving Rules (LSR) as shown in Figure 5 and other company procedures
such as DuPont STOP cards. An effort was made to fully align CNPC standards with the International standards. It is critical
for employees, including those of Drilling - and Third Party Contractors, to fully understand and appreciate that everyone has
the right as well as the obligation of stopping any unsafe acts. With great team spirits and unrelented efforts, Changbei has
achieved excellent HSE performances, achieving 5 year LTI free for both rigs in October 2011.

Figure 5: The Shell 12 Life Saving Rules (LSR)

DTL and LEAN Implementation in Changbei. LEAN uses methodology for continuous performance improvement,
complimenting the Shell DTL approach for a step change in performance as shown in Figure 6. LEAN originally comes from
the manufacturing industry, where it became a must for many of the big international companies. LEAN is now being adopted
to the E&P business and Shell is one of the pioneers in this process. LEAN involves people to map out the details of their own
work process. This brings clarity and understanding of the tasks to everyone involved, making the non-value adding steps
visible so waste can be eliminated.
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The pilot project for a LEAN application in Changbei was the „optimization of the well tie-in and clean up process‟. Being at
the interface of drilling, well services, engineering and operations departments, this activity represented a good case for LEAN
application. The result was more than encouraging. This pilot test has reduced the well tie-in time from 40 to 20 days. Well tie-
in is defined from the end of completion tubing running operation to the time of first gas to the central processing facility.
Since the initial success of the pilot project the wells team started to apply LEAN process to many other drilling operations
such as tripping, BHA handling, rig move, casing running, BOP testing, slip & cut drilling line as shown in Figure 7.
One of the great examples of LEAN implementation was the optimisation of the cluster to cluster rig move operation, which
used to take 20 to 30 days to complete. After collecting and analysing as much data as possible from the previous rig moves,

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the wells team together with Drilling Contractor (GWDC) mapped out the rig move activities and developed a detailed rig
move plan. The team had also set an aggressive target of 18 days to complete the rig move from Cluster 14 to Cluster 6. As a
result, the rig move was completed in 10.7 days, which was regarded to be impossible before the introduction of LEAN
process.

Another good example of successful application of LEAN process was casing running operations. As part of LEAN
implementation, the running procedures were re-designed, going outside the comfort zones of the local crews by running
casings from the V-door with a single joint elevator and stabber, rather than with the crane or tuggers from the mouse hole. By
doing this, the double clutching link tilt operation was avoided. Also, the availability of the crane was identified as the
bottleneck in the conventional procedures, and this negative aspect was duly eliminated. Due to the transparency and
stimulance that LEAN provides, many procedures are now clear and easy to follow. Since LEAN procedures were introduced,
casing running times have been improved by up to 66%. The LEAN strategy and process are shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: LEAN Strategy/ Process

Figure 7: Application of LEAN to BOP tests, slip & cut, BHA handling and tripping
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Drilling fluid optimisation. Before the introduction of KCl / polymer mud system, bit balling was a serious issue as shown in
Figure 8. This not only caused wellbore instability / hole collapse, but also low Rate Of Penetration (ROP) and high NPTs. To
overcome this challenge, a KCL/polymer mud system was successfully field tested. In Changbei the swelling clay is
interbedded with fragile and brittle coal. If clay swelling is not prevented the coal layer will have a tendency to collapse. For
the same reason pipe sticking occurred at very high frequency in the past. Many motors were lost in hole owing to the collapse
of coal layers. The use of KCL mud has inhibited the swelling of clay and improved wellbore stability, which has contributed
to the achievement of 3 to 4 runs for the entire 12 ¼” section.

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Figure 8: The use of KCl mud prevented bit balling for 12 ¼” section

Coal drilling and landing strategy of 9 5/8” casing. Coal drilling procedure mainly includes drilling and tripping practices
across the coal interval. These include practices like controlling ROP while drilling coal interval in order to maximize time for
coal cuttings circulation and to break down coal cuttings in small pieces. Surface rotary speed is also limited to 10 rpm while
drilling or having stabilizers across the coal interval in order to minimize the vibrations. Drilling flow rate is limited below
3,000 lpm in order to avoid washout across the coal intervals. In addition to drilling, tripping across the coal intervals is
closely monitored in order to avoid BHA failures. This includes a maximum allowable overpull of 50 kN while pulling across
the coal layers. Driller is instructed to go down and circulate in case of overpull above 50 kN. Back reaming is also avoided
across the coal intervals.

The accurate landing of the 9 5/8” production casing is critical for the success of all Changbei horizontal wells. Due to
formation uncertainty the landing strategy shall take into account shallow, expected and deep formation tops, making sure
casing can be landed correctly no matter which case comes out. This has been illustrated in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Landing strategy of 9 5/8” production casing

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Reduction of NPT (Non-Productive Time). At the initial stage of the drilling campaign high NPTs have been experienced
due to tool failures (motor and MWD), wellbore instability, failure of drillpipe and rig equipment associated downtime.
Therefore it is critical to reduce NPT to consistent low levels in order to drive down the wells costs. A series of steps have
been taken to achieve our goal of low NPTs and this has proved to be very successful as shown from Figure 10. Figure 11
shows a typical example of NPT reduction staircase used in Changbei project as part of the performance improvement
staircases.
 Improved QA/QC and quality of tool services. This is to make sure all tools delivered to the wellsite are of a high
standard (commonly NS-1 and NS-2) and tools are properly serviced in suppliers‟ workshops prior to re-use. The
service workshops from our key suppliers are visited on a regular basis to ensure high standard of service is

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maintained at all times.
 Mud coordinator to work across two rigs to ensure mud is properly maintained and treated. The condition of solids
control equipment is also assessed and adjusted by mud engineers for optimum working order.
 Drillpipe management system is developed to ensure the threads are properly cleaned during tripping and pipes are
properly protected during transport and also at storage.

Figure 10: Changbei NPT summary

Figure 11: An example of NPT reduction staircase

SPE 155858 9

Lump Sum Contract for 12 ¼” Bits. Significant performance improvement has been achieved drilling the 12 ¼” section,
penetrating seven different formations from top Yan Chang to final target of abrasive QA sandstone reservoir as shown from
Figure 12. With a series of measures as summarized below, the number of bits used for drilling this section has been reduced
from over 10 bits down to 4 runs:
 The use of KCl mud to reduce bit balling
 Replacement of Tungsten Carbide Inserts (TCI) bits with PDC bits
 The change of a non-incentive contract to a lump sum contract for 12 ¼” bits

The introduction of a lump sum bit contract has stimulated bit suppliers to strive for more aggressive bit optimisation. With the

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use of different contractors per cluster or well, the competition among bit suppliers was intensified as well. This has resulted in
continuous performance improvement and lowered wells costs. The project team has now set a new target of 3 runs for the 12
¼” section, leading to further improvement and cost reduction.

First PDC was tried

Figure 12: Achievement of 12 ¼” section drilling performance

Management of Change (MoC). Due to formation uncertainties, changes of drilling programme are necessary during
horizontal drilling operations to maximize reserve recovery and well productivity. Daily discussions between sub-surface and
wells teams are held with the drilling rigs and well trajectories are adjusted and fine tuned if necessary. However, major
changes such as drilling strategy and well profiles are made with technical justifications and management approval.

MoC Case study #1: New drilling strategy. While drilling the 8 ½” reservoir sections unstable claystone, carbonaceous
claystone and coal layers are often drilled, leading to hole collapse, unplanned sidetracks and high NPTs. Therefore the
original drilling strategy was developed to avoid drilling through such unstable formation intervals with undercut sidetrack as
shown in Figure 13. For Phase I and early Phase II wells such drilling strategy is feasible and effective due to thicker
reservoirs providing enough space for undercut sidetracks. However with Phase III and some of the Phase II wells a new
drilling strategy becomes necessary because of thinner reservoirs and more unstable interbedded claystone intervals being
encountered, resulting in too many sidetracks as shown from Figure 14. After a detailed technical and risk assessment, a new
drilling strategy is developed, drilling through unstable claystones instead of avoiding them as shown in Figure 14.

To combat hole instability associated with the new drilling strategy, a higher range of mud weight is selected after performing
further formation impairment tests / studies. The use of higher mud weight in combination with best drilling practices has
enabled the successful drilling of unstable carbonaceous claystone. In addition the new drilling strategy has reduced the
number of sidetracks and wells costs. It has also improved the delivery of the total effective leg lengths as shown in Figure 15.
This has made the Phase III part of the field being economically feasible for further development.
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Figure 13: Original drilling strategy: Undercutting to avoid unstable claystone formations

Figure 14: New drilling strategy for Phase III wells: Drilling through unstable claystone

Figure 15: Total effective leg lengths and number of sidetracks (Red wells being drilled with New Drilling Strategy)
SPE 155858 11

MoC Case Study #2: The re-drill of leg 1 for well CB8-3. Well CB8-3 is one of the phase-2 wells, which was drilled in 2010.
The well was successfully landed in the reservoir. However while drilling leg-1 numerous issues with borehole instability and
poor reservoir sand had to be addressed, which led to an early completion of leg-1 with leg length of less than 700m. After
careful consideration by wells and subsurface teams, it was proposed to drill leg-3 as a replacement to leg-1 in order to
maximize the production and reserve recovery. Figure 16 illustrates the leg-3 drilling direction. The proposal was submitted
via MOC process for approval and it was endorsed by the management team. Leg-3 was projected to provide additional
production of 0.4 MM SCM/day of gas. This leg was successfully drilled with an effective leg length of more than1,600m.
After a successful completion and clean up, well CB8-3 turned out to be one of the highest producers in the Changbei field.
CB8-3 was one of very successful examples of using MoC process to change well profiles in case of major challenges.

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Figure 16: Successful Re-drill of Leg 1 in well CB8-3 with MoC Process

Localisation of Drilling Products. At the start of the Changbei project, localization of products and services has been high on
the agenda to help local contractors to grow (a sustainable development in China for Shell) and drive down the wells costs. At
present out of 27 contracts 16 contracts are local Chinese contractors. This has provided opportunities for the local contractors
to gain experience to work with an international company. Below are few successful stories of the localization of drilling
products.

Qualified Local BOPs (Blow out preventer). International BOPs were used on Changbei rigs at the start of the development
campaign. After 4 years in operation, there was a strong drive to use a local BOP. In any case, the pending five year inspection
of the international BOPs would take (too) long and there were no similar BOPs available as back up. Before accepting local
BOPs, QA/QC engineers visited the selected BOP manufacturer several times to satisfy themselves with their manufacturing
and QA/QC process. SCEPCO also consulted the company BOP expert so that a detailed list of technical checks could be
made as part of the qualification process. The qualification of the local BOP systems was concluded successfully. Both rigs
have since worked with local BOPs. To date the BOPs, as shown in Figure 17, have been used for more than two years without
any technical problems.

Figure 17: Qualified local BOP system

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Local Drill Bits. The wells team has also made selected trials on local bits. All three sections of the well have been tested with
local bits through the years of drilling operations in Changbei. There has been varying degree of success. Local tri-cone bits
are used regularly to drill top hole sections without any issues so far. Local PDCs were tried in 12 ¼” and 8 ½” hole sections
with mixed results. Further trials are planned in these two sections. Local PDC bits are not only cost effective but also fast in
turn around with design changes in comparison to international contractors, making it attractive to further reduce wells costs
and bit optimisation.

Local Top Drive. Due to five year inspection on the international top drive, a local top drive is used to drill well CB3-3. This
locally made top drive has successfully drilled the longest horizontal leg / well in the Changbei project. The local top drive has

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been tested in extreme loads and worked very effectively with no downtime being reported.

Application of New Technology in Changbei

Real Time Operating Centre (RTOC). Changbei gets offsite technical support from the RTOC located in Miri. The RTOC
provides support through theoretical modeling of torque and drag, BHA analysis, performance review reports and high level
after action reviews. The performance reports include road maps, torque/drag analysis, hydraulics, BHA optimisation, etc.
Along with the regular support provided by RTOC, it also provides operational dashboards. These dashboards are a quicklook
analysis of the operational performance which highlights any deficiencies like standpipe pressure, rotary speed, WOB, HIS,
connection time, tripping speed, etc. Each of the above mentioned deficiencies is color coded to represent the optimum
parameters to be achieved and any performance gaps. These optimum parameters are set using benchmarking data from offset
wells. With the help of these dashboards, the rigs are continuously reminded to adjust parameters to the optimum levels hence
achieving the desired operational results.

An overview of RTOC support provided to Changbei is illustrated in Figure 18 below.

Figure 18: Technical support from RTOC to Changbei Drilling Operations

SPE 155858 13

Soft Torque Rotary System. Soft Torque Rotary System (STRS) is a Shell-proprietary tool which significantly dampens the
stick-slip vibrations from a control system installed at surface. STRS automatically eliminates the destructive torsional
vibrations from the drillstring. Figure 19 shows the comparison of surface drilling torque with / without the use of STRS. The
use of STRS has achieved a smooth torque i.e. reduced string vibration. During reaming operations in the horizontal reservoir
section, the vibrations encountered are often intolerable, which can be reduced significantly with STRS. Due to its
effectiveness STRS is currently used from the 12 ¼” hole to well TD. This has reduced downhole failures and NPT. The use
of STRS has also reduced unnecessary damage to bits, which results in an elongated bit life as shown in Figure 20.

CB5-3 CB6-3

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CB8-2 CB8-3

Figure 19: Comparison of drilling torque with / without the use of STRS at similar well depth

Figure 20: Comparison of PDC bit wear before and after STRS being utilised
14 SPE 155858

SLIDER Technology: One of the key success factors is to achieve 2,000m of leg length in hard rock drilling environment.
For such wells sliding is necessary until at the end of 2,000m horizontal leg to ensure the well path is properly steered for the
penetration of optimum sand reservoir. This is a huge challenge at the start of project as it was really difficult to transfer WOB
(Weight on Bit) due to the high friction while sliding. It was then decided to include an Agitator in the string, to vibrate the
drillstring and hence reduce the friction. However this technology proved to be not useful due to the long horizontal leg length
and high cost associated with the agitator. After careful technical consideration, it was decided to introduce SLIDER
technology instead.

Slider is a surface technology. It consists of a simple set of boxes which creates interface with the top drive control panel. It

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will automatically rock the drillpipe to the right and left following a rigorous analysis of torque by a computer/software. Below
are the benefits of SLIDER technology contributed to the success of the Changbei project:
 Increasing sliding rate of penetration (ROP) by more than 3 times in some cases.
 It has reduced motor stalls and hence reduces the non-drilling time associated with picking off bottom and re-
orienting tool face.
 Reducing time to orient tool face by an order of magnitude. Tool face orientation was obtained in about 1½ to 2
minutes without coming off bottom.
 Removing the tedious work the directional driller had in “rocking” the pipe, which also reduces the risk of torque
breakouts.

Conclusions
This paper has presented a successful development drilling campaign for the tight gas Changbei field. The field has been
developed with dual lateral horozonbtal wells (2 x 2,000m legs per well). The paper has discussed the main field development
concept, basic well design and various technical challenges experienced during the drilling operations of the long dual lateral
horizontal wells. With application of LEAN and DTL performance improvement processes, the Changbei wells team, together
with our contractors have successfully resolved the various technical challenges and significantly reduced drilling times as
well as wells costs, making the project a technical success as well as economical success.

During the development drilling campaign HSE has been placed as the project top priority. With Goal Zero and the
implementation of the12 Life Saving Rules, the drilling operations have been performed without any major incidents to date.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Shell China Exploration and Production Co. Ltd (SCEPCO) and PetroChina Changqing
Oilfields Co. (PCOC) for allowing the publication of this paper. The authors would also like to thank the Changbei project
management for their encouragement and support. Thanks shall be also extended to the Changbei wells team and our
contractors for the successful delivery of these challenging long horizontal wells. Their professionalisms and hard work have
made the Changbei project a successful story. The authors would also like to thank the sub-surface team and procurement team
for their excellent support during well design, drilling operations and contract management. We would also like to thank
Gerard De Blok for reviewing this paper and for his excellent comments.

Nomenclature
BHA: Bottom hole assembly
BOP: Blow Out Preventer
DTL: Deliver the Technical Limit
KOP: Kick-Off Point
LTI: Lost Time Incident
MD: Measured depth
MoC: Management of Change
NPT: Non-Productive Time
PCOC: PetroChina Changqing Oilfields Co.
ROP: Rate of penetration
RPM: Rotation per minute
RTOC: Real Time Operating Centre
SCEPCO: Shell China Exploration and Production Co. Ltd
SCSSV: Surface Controlled Sub Surface Safety Valve
STRS: Soft Torque Rotary System
TD: Target Depth
TVD: True Vertical Depth
WEG: Wireline Entry Guide
WOB: Weight on Bit