LESSON 7

Design and Control of

Well Path

Tangyu
13387590401
Main building 136
1
 Design and Control of Well Path

Designing well path is the base of drilling engineering.

Well path can be designed as vertical
well 、 directional well 、 horizontal well 、 cluster
well and multilateral well etc according to the
geological condition 、 ground condition and technical
level of drilling and production in the oilfield.

Control of well path :In the process of drilling ,using

series of technologies to make the bit to drill as the
designed well path as possible .
2
 Main Content
§1 The principle and method for the design of well path

§2 Design of drill string and BHA(bottom hole assembly)

§3 The theory and technology of well path control

 1 、 Basic conceptions

Basic factors of well path

Well path ：
The preconceived or theoretical
shape of the well’s hole axial line
before drilling.

Well trajectory:
The practical shape of the well’s
hole axial line .

4
 Ｏ
Vertical depth in
point B
HB
The vetical depth(TVD)H:
vertical distance between rotary
table plane and bottom-hole
Measure depth （ Dm ） :
The length of well trajectory from
wellhead to a certain point
Mesured depth in point A ：
Dm = O A
Deviation angle α:The

A angle between plumb line

and the tangent line of one
point in well trajectory line
Well Depth :the length of well
trajectory from rotary table to
B
A
bottom-hole
Deviation angle in point A
5
Well depth ：Ｌ＝Ｏ B
6
Ｏ
Deviation rate K α ： the hole deviation in

unit well section

A 
K  B

A
ＬB ＬA
A Ｂ

Ｂ
7
 Azimuth: The angle from the
Ｎ north to projection of one
B point tangent line (drilling

A
direction) clockwisely in well
trajectory
 Ｂ
Ａ

Ｏ  Ｅ
Azimuth change rate Ｋ ： azimuth
change in unit well segment
8
 Parameters to calculate trajectory
horizontal displacement( 水平位移 ) ：
the horizontal distance from one certain point of the well
trajectory to the well head
Ｎ
horizontal displacement of point Ａ：Ｓ A ＝ OA

E
closed azimuth Ａ E(bottom hole)

Closed distance ： SE ＝ OE

Ｏ Closed distance SE : horizontal displacement of the

bottom hole
Closed azimuth  E: the angle from the due north
9
Parameters to calculate trajectory
Length of horizontal projection:
The projection of the length
of a point on a trajectory to the
wellhead on a horizontal plane.
LA=OA

Projection displacement:
Projection length of
horizontal displacement on Design
Azimuth Line

10
 Hole curvature ( K ) ：
the angle change in unit Hole curvature and its
well segment in three- calculation
dimensional space ，
including azimuth and
deviation angle.

Whole-angle changing
rate

Dogleg angle A K
：
  ( B   A ) 2  ( B   A ) 2 sin 2 c
Hole curvature ：
B
K  K   K  sin  c
2 2 2

 A B
c  11
2
 ro  N i  E j  D k N(i)
Sh

o
E(j)
• North coordinate （Ｎ）： the projection
distance from the well head to a certain point
at the north coordinate.
ro
• East coordinate （Ｅ）： the projection
distance from the well head to a certain point
Dm
at the east coordinate.
• Borehole torsion （Ｒｎ）： the angle that the n
main normal per unit well section rotating A
around the borehole axis. b α
t
D(k)
12
 magnetic single shot survey instrument

Shut surveying
magnetic multiple shot surveying
instrument
instrument

Single point work mode

Electronic surveying
Magnetic instrument Multi-point work mode
surveying
instrument
wireline steering tool
measurement while drilling
inclinometer measurement while
drilling (MWD) system
gyroscopic single shot

gyroscopic multi-shot

gyroscopic surveying Electronic gyroscopic

instrument

surface recording gyroscopic system 13

Measurement of trajectory

磁多点测斜仪器
magnetic multiple shot
surveying instrument

14
 Measurement of trajectory
Deviation angle ： When the
inclined pair of the inclinometer is
inclined with the borehole, the
cross pendulum always points in
the direction of the gravity line,
and the angle between the gravity
line and the axis of the instrument
is the deviation angle of the well.

Measured depth ： According

to cable length or drill string
length.

15
 Measurement of trajectory

• Azimuth:
• The lead vertical line where the pendulum is located and
the instrument axis form the deviated lead vertical surface
of the well, and the intersection line between the inclined
lead vertical surface and the horizontal plane of the well is
the deviated azimuth line of the well. The angle between
the projection position of the pendulum on the compass
surface and the N pole of the compass is the azimuth
angle of the well.

16
 Measurement of trajectory
Principles of MWD
Measurement While Drilling ： While drilling measurement is the
technology of real-time measuring and uploading downhole information in
drilling process.
The usual MWD instrument system is mainly limited to the measurement
of engineering parameters (well deviation, azimuth, tool surface).
It is composed of downhole parts (pulse generator, drive circuit,
directional measurement probe, downhole controller, power supply, etc.)
and ground part (ground sensor, ground information processing and
control system). Drilling fluid is used as information transmission medium.
There are three kinds of pulse generator: positive pulse, negative pulse and
continuous pulse. Underground power supply can be divided into two
types: battery and downhole turbine generator.

17
 Principles of MWD

Components of MWD

 Downhole equipments
 Electronics and batteries

 Pulser

 Surface equipments
 Transducer

 Surface processing units

 Rules for calculation data of trajectory
1.Measuring point number:
A point where the first well deviation angle is
not equal to zero as the first logging point.

2.Segment number:
Top-down numbering, where the segment between
point i-1 and point i is the segment i

19
3.No. 0 measuring point:
It is man-made. If the depth of the first logging point is more
than 25 meters, the depth of the zero logging point is 25 meters
smaller than that of the first logging point, and the deviation
angle of the well is set to 0. When the depth of the well at the
first logging point is less than or equal to 25 meters, the depth
of the well and the deviation angle at the specified 0 point are
both zero

4.If αi=0, for the segment i, φi=φi-1;for the segment i+1,φi=φi+1

5. In a segment, the absolute value of the azimuth change must

not exceed 180 degrees.
20
21
 Well profile and the control of precision

• Well profile is composed of straight well section,

building up section, steady inclined section , drop-off
section, build up section and horizontal section.
• Straight well section :Deviation angle is 0. 直井段
• Kickoff point （ Ｄ ｋ ｏ ｐ ） :The point that begins to
kickoff is called the kickoff point. It is represented by 造斜点
the depth of this point. 增斜段
• Build-up Rate （ Ｒ ｂ ） : The deflecting force of the
deflecting tool, i.e. the hole curvature produced by amax
the deflecting tool. 稳斜段
• Building up section : The section that deviation
增斜段 水平段
increase with the increasing well depth.
• Steady inclined section : The section that the 降斜段
Deviation angle remain the same.
• Drop-off section : The section that the deviation 直井段
decreae with the incresing well depth.
• Horizontal section ： Deviation angle >86° 水平位移 22
 Precision control
• Target point ： The designed, must be drilled formation
position.usually represnted by the coordinate value of the space
coordinate whose origin point is the well head.
• Target area and its radius （ｒｔ） : Target area is an area that
includes the target point. In the conventional oil and gas well,target
area radius refers to the allowed deviation distance that the practical
well trajectory deviates from the designed target point. And the target
area is the circle area that centered by the target point.
• Safty control cone: The limited cone centered by the designed hole
axis .
• Off-target distance （ｓｔ） : The distance between the practical
hole axis and target point.
• Error ellipsoid: The ellipsoid formed at the center bottom hole due
to the measurement and caculation error.

23
 Target point and error
ellipsoid

Actual Designed well path

well path
Target point

Oil-gas layer

Off target Distance Error ellipsoid

24
The target area and control
cone in vertical well and
directional well
Well head
Control cone

Radius of
target area

Oil-gas layer
Target area

25
 Target area of horizontal well

Well path

The length of horizontal section

Range in vertical direction

Range in horizontal direction

26
 The mathematical relationship between the parameters

1.Fundamental parameters
Basic parameters for well path,thay are deviation angles and azimuth
corresponding to a series of discrete points along the well path and
measured by inclinometer which placed in the borehole. We can use
them to calculate other parameters

2.Coordinate parameters
Used to describe the spacial position of well path,including North
coordinate , East coordinate and Vertical depth etc.

3.Deflection parameters
Those describe the degree of bending and twisting in well
path,including Curvature and Torsion.

27
 The principle and method of well
path design
1.Types of well path
The well path can be classified as :
two-dimensional well path ,three-dimensional
well path according to the shape of designed well
path in spacial rectangular coordinate system.

Two-dimensional well path

The azimuth lines are in a certain,just
deviation angle change.
Three-dimensional well path
The designed well path not only has deviation angle
change , but also has azimuth change
1. Two-dimensional well path
二维井眼轨道组成：
Horizontal section Building up section
Steady inclined section drop-off section

28
 2. Three-dimensional well path
(1)Design Bypassing barrier well
Sometimes,there exist barriers (like drilled hole,gas cap ,etc ） between
wellhead and target point in horizaontal plane.In this case ,we should
design three-dimensional well path to steer clear of the barriers
(2)Modiffy well path
In the process of drilling, The actual well trajectory always deviates
from designed well path. So we should modify drilling parameters in time
in order to reach the target point.

Designer
well

29
 The principle and method of well path design

（ 1 ） Achieve the goal of drilling according to the requirement of

oil-gas exploration and development
（ 2 ） Helpful to increase petroleum production and recovery
factor ,can improve investment benefit according to structural
characteristics and oil-gas occurrence of the oil field .
（ 3 ） Those parameters like kickoff point 、 hole curvature 、
maximum deviation angle,etc should be beneficial to drilling 、
production and workover operation.
（ 4 ） On the premise of meeting fundamental drilling goal ， we
should adopt the most simple profile type ,the minimum measured
depth as possible ,so as to lower the well path’s control difficulty
and drilling workload.It is more safe and beneficial to drill quickly
and cut cost.

30
 The selection of key factors in well path design
1.kickoff point 2. maximum deviation angle 3. hole curvature
1.The laws for choosing kickoff point 
(1) Kickoff point should be chosen in a stable strata, and it should avoid
the complex zone like:fracture rock strata 、 leak formation 、 quick
sand layer or those easy to collapse ；
(2) Rock drillability is uniform around kickoff point, no hard interlayer ；
(3)meet the requirement of oil production ；
(4) If the well’s vertical depth is large and horizontal displacement is
small, the kickoff point should be deep in order to simplify the well
structure, accelerate the penetration rate ；
(5)If vertical depth is small and horizontal displacement is large , the
kickoff point should be shallow in order to reduce workload when
direction ；
(6) In azimuth drift district ， the deviated section should avoid those
strata whose azimuth is easy to drift .Or sometimes we can drill to the
target through drift district using drift law ( 井眼方位漂移规律 ) 。
31
2.Maximum deviation angle
Practice proves that the azimuth is unstable and it is easy to drift when
deviation angle ＜ 15 ； If deviation angle ＞ 45 ， it is difficult in logging
and completion, also it is difficult to turn direction when deflecting
because of high torque ， which may lead to borehole collapse. So we
draw a conclusion that the deviation angle in conventional directional
well should be controled in the range of 15° ～ 45°.

3.Hole curvature －－ A very important parameter

Over large hole curvature will bring about difficulties in drilling and
production. So , the hole curvature is around 5°-12°/100min direction
well ， usually not access16°/100m.

32
 The choose of the kind of well path
Usually we choose two-dimensional well path which is simple when
designing well path . Two-dimensional well path composed of vertical
section ,deviation section, steady inclined section, drop angle section
.Usually we adopt four kinds of well path.

Vertical well
Three section Five S型
三段制 section

33
 Sidetracking horizontal well technology( 侧钻水平井 ) ： using special down hole
tools to drill through old well’s casing and control the well path. It is based on
sidetracking technology 、 horizontal well technology and slim hole technology. It
水平井眼轨道类型的选择
respect the new drilling technology in 1990s. It not only can relive the odl well, but
also can improve single well production and recovery sharply 。

Vertical
section Vertical section

Building up
section

steady inclined section

Building up section
Horizontal section
Deviation section

Horizontal section
Sidetracking
Conventional
horizontal well
horizontal well
侧钻水平井
34
 The well path correction design while
drilling
1.It is impossible that the design well path coincide with actual well path
(well trajectory) , there always exist some deviation between them 。
2.Tiny deviation is permitted. We can continue to drill after making some
appropriate adjustment to drilling parameters or bottom hole assembly.
3.However, if the deviation exceed normal range, we must redesign the
awaiting drilled borehole ； also ,if the target area need to change
temporarily because of geological exploration need or other reasons, we also
should redesign the well path. The above cases called well path correction
design while drilling.
4.No matter the original well path is two-dimensional or three-
dimensional, usually, the well path correction design is three-dimensional.
However, now there are several kinds of correction design method which
translate the three-dimensional design into two-dimensional design.
35
 The well path design for detouring obstacles and
anti-bumping
In the vertical plane determined by well surface
location and target point, if there exist impassable
obstacles (like drilled borehole, complex
formation) ,we need to bypass them and then drill
to the target point. This kind of directional well
called detouring obstacles well.
Usually the detouring obstacles problem occur in
high-density cluster well or in latter period of
oilfield development.
Theoretically, the well path needn’t to be
designed as three-dimensional without limitation
of hole curvature( 曲率 ),maximum deviation
angle( 最大井斜角 ), pithead position （井口位置） ,
target point location, economic factors and
construction level. But the three-dimensional well
path design is more economical and conforms to
36
reality.
 The general planning of cluster drilling

Every single well in the cluster well is a directional well ； So

cluster well’s design method is similar to conventional directional
well’s when it doesn’t contain too much single well ； But ,when it
contain too many single wells and the density is too high ,we
should considerate some key technology as follow:
1.determine the location of cluster well ,the quantity of well site
,the quantity of single wells
This is the primary problem no matter at land or offshore platform.
(1)meet the requirement of oil development ,which is the basis of
pattern arrangement for cluster well ；
(2)the choice of pithead location should considerate the surface
condition . The quantity of well site and single wells should assure
minimum cost.
(3) Well spacing( 布井 ) in cluster well should considerate some
limitation in geological and engineering aspects
Ex. Overall inclination angle , overall angle change rate etc. 37
 Anti bumping ---key factor in cluster well’s
design and
construction
(1)well pattern ---radiation type or cone type
① Radiation type
There is no restriction on the surface , we can arrange the well site homogeneously and
the cluster well site is the center ， all single wells radiate from the well site
Advantages: interference between single wells is relatively small
②Cone type
The wells All single wells like a cone . The interference between single wells is larger

38
 Well path design 
① Radiation type : usually adopt two-dimensional well path
② Cone type : sometimes must adopt the three-dimensional
well path to make sure that the boreholes won’t interfere each
other.
(3) Well-head arrangement
There are several well-head arrangments in pluster wells, such
as square well spacing and spacing in rows et.al.

39
(4)The location of kickoff point design －－ One of the best anti-bumping measure

If the azimuth between adjacent wells differ a lot, the interval of kickoff points can be
small ； Oppositely, the interval should be large. Besides ,when choose location of kickoff
point ,we should also considerate synthetically ( 综合地 )strata condition, the depth of
reservoir, horizontal displacement , maximum deviation angle and hole curvature
(5)Deflection rate and minimum deviation angle
The more far away between single well and cluster well site , the higher deflection rate
（造斜率） is . But the maximum deviation angle is restricted by geological condition,
logging and drilling technology , production technology and so on.
(6)drilling order
Cluster well network often arrange the well at the central area when the kickoff point is
deep and the well’s horizontal displacement is small, we should drill those wells in
priority. followed by outward wells .Those with high deflection should drilled finally, so
that the actual well trajectory errors can be corrected in time

40
(7) control cylinder
In order to assure that we can drill to the target point exactly , oil engineer
usually design a cylinder around well path axis as a safe range ,they call it
control cylinder. The dimension of control cylinder will become more and
more small as with the development of technology.

(8)Improve precision of inclinometer ( 测斜仪 )

(9)Use computer to draw well path anti-bumping graph 41
 Deviation prevention technology in vertical wells

The harm of well deviation ：

Geological exploration ： Causes the geological data distortion, disrupts the

reasonable underground well pattern and the development plan.

Drilling: Deterioration of the working conditions of drill string can easily cause
hole wall collapse and drilling jam, and it will easily lead to the difficulties of
cementing casing and cement channeling, and increase the cost of sidetracking.

Production: Influence of slice mining, workover and recovery factor

42
 Deviation prevention technology in vertical wells

Drilling practices show that many reasons will result in well

deviation, such as geological conditions, drilling tool structure,
drilling technology and quality of the equipment installation, but to
sum up, there are two main aspects :
The first is the mechanical reasons of the drill string, that is the
bending of BHA under pressure will lead to drill bit deviation and
the side force generated at the bit will curved the well trajectory.
The second is the interaction between the rock and the bit .
Because of the tilt, anisotropy and heterogeneity of the formation
been drilled, the well trajectory will also bend.

43
 （ 1 ） Drilling pressure affection 钻压的影响

Drilling pressure is one of the important drilling parameters which will

affect the force between drill bit and formation, moreover, it can be
controled by human. So, for the prediction and control of the well path, it is
of great necessary to study its influence law. In most cases, the deviation of
the well will increase a little bit as the drilling pressure is growing.

44
（ 2 ） Deviation angle affection 井斜角的影响
The transverse load of the drilling tool is produce both by the weight of
itself and the deviation. When the bottom hole assembly (BHA) is
selected, the transverse load is determined by the deviation, meanwhile
the density of the axial load will change with the deviation angle
variations. Therefore the force between the drill bit and formation is
evitable closely related to the deviation angle. The drop-off force of the
drop-off drilling tool will increase with the increasing deviation angle.
And the larger the deviation is the stronger the drop-off force of the
build up drilling tool, sigle bending guidance drilling tool and reverse
double bending drilling tool is, of which the most obvious is the build
up drilling tool. Deviation angle has no distinct influence on the build
up characteristics of the steady incline drilling tool.

45
 （ 3 ） Borehole curvature affection 井眼曲率的
影响
All kinds of BHA have bending rigidity, and when they are going
through the deviated borehole they will perform against the affection.
Borehole curvation has a great affection on the force between the drill bit
and the formation. The build up force will sharply decline as the build up
rate increases. Among which the slope of the steady incline,build up and
guidance drilling tool are the largest, and the slope of the drop-off drilling
tool is smaller. The build up drilling tool may produce build up force at a
certain curvature but drop-off force at another, also, the azimuth-
increasing drilling tool may produce the force to increase the azimuth at a
certain curvature but to bring it down at another.
46
（ 4 ） Main normal line affection 主法线方向的影响
The main normal line of the borehole(i.e. the bending direction which is
similar to tool face setting angle, assume the main normal line of the build
up borehole is equal to zero and the clockwise is positive)has great affection
on the build up force as well as the azimuth-increasing force.

47
 5 ） Hole enlargement or stabilizer
eccentricity affection
井径扩大或稳定器偏心的影响
The deformation of the BHA has also been strictly restricted by the
geometic shape of the borehole. When faced with hole enlargement or
eccentric stabilizer, the borehole constraint condition on BHA changes,
and thus the whole drill string deformation and stress state will be
affected.
Rules ： The hole enlargement or stabilizer eccentricity will lead to
decreasing in build up force and increasing in drop-off force; the azimuth
force will also increase but just a little bit. For more stabilizer BHA, the
gap between the borehole wall and the stabilizer near the bit has the
greatest impact on the bit side force, the farther the stabilizer away from
48
the drill bit, the weaker the impact is.
（ 6 ） Drilling fluid density affection 钻井液密度
的影响
The BHA is working in the borehole which is fulfilled with drilling
fluid, so it will affected by the buoyancy of drilling fluid inevitably, but
the drilling fluid has little influence on the bit side force.
（ 7 ） Stabilizer installation position
affection
The installation position of the stabilizer has a great impact on the
mechanical characteristics of drilling tool
when the first stabilizer is enough far away from the drill bit, all the
drilling tools mention above do have the drop-off function; when the
first stabilizer is near to the drill bit, different drilling tools will produce
different bit side force on the same condition. And on different
49
conditions, the bit side force would be different even produced by the
（ 8 ） Guidance drilling tool bending angle position affection
Guidance drilling tool bending angle position is one of the important
structural parameters of guidance drilling tool. With the distance between the
first bending angle to the stabilizer which is near to the drill bit increases,
there will be a rapid linear decrease of the build up force of both guidance
drilling tool; and there would be a linear increase of build up force of drilling
tool if the distance between the bending angles.
（ 9 ） Guidance drilling tool bending angle magnitude
afffection
Guidance drilling tool bending angle magnitude is also one of the important
structural parameters of guidance drilling tool. The build up force of guidace
drilling tool will sharply increase linearly with the increasing magnitude of the
first bending angle and decrease linearly with the increaing magnitude of the
second bending angle 50
 Causes of well deviation
The anisotropy of formation drillability

(1)The anisotropy of formation drillability will lead to hole deviation

(2)The drillability is high in the direction that vertical to the plane
and low in the direction which is parallel to the plane;

(3)There are always a trend for the drill bit to drill torward the direction
which could be easily drilled

51
（ 2 ） soft-hard alternation of the formation 地层
软硬交互
a) From hard rock to soft rock
The drill bit will go ahead along the direction that deviate from the
normal line of the plane
b) From soft rock to hard rock
When drilled with the formation whose dip is larger than the critical
angle, the drill bit will go down along the plane; conversely, it will go ahead
along the normal line of the plane.
c) From hard to soft and to hard
52
The drill bit will go ahead along the normal line of the plane
Soft-hard alternation

53
 （ 3 ） Anisotropy of drill bit 钻头各向异性
Anisotropy of drill bit refers to the different drilling ability in different
directions due to the structure of the drill bit itself. No matter it is the
cone bit, drag bit, diamond bit or PDC bit ， their structures are benefit
for them to drilling in forward(along the axis). Therefore, the drilling
efficiency of drill bit along the axis is better than that along the side, which
means that there exists drilling efficiency anisotropy. We use drill bit
anisotropy index to represent the anisotropy of drill bit.

54
 Mechanical analysis of BHA

There are many factors that affect the

mechanical properties of the BHA, which
mainly includes:
Bottom drilling tool structure parameters
such as the drill collar length, rigidity, weight
per unit length,bending angle,tool face setting
angle,the number of stabilizer,installation
position,eccentricity of the stabilizer.
Borehole geometic parameters
Such as borehole curvature radius, the main
normal line direction, deviation angle.
Operating parameters
such as drilling pressure, drilling fluid 55
density.
 Drillstring refers to the general
name of pipes and strings from
kelly to bit, including
kelly 、 drill pipe 、 drill coll
ar 、 pipe joints and stabilize
r etc.
It connects the ground
installations and bit when
drilling

图 3-5 Typical bottom 56

hole assembly
 Design method of bottom 钻铤
旁通阀
hole assembly 稳定器 动力段 垫块
弯外壳
Design principles: 轴承外壳
1) Effectively to drill the design for
well path
弯接头
2 ） Bit, motor and measure system
变接头
have work stably , can bear large bit
pressure, increase drill speed
3 ） Intension is high enough and
service life is long enough
4 ） convenient for pipe trip and
柔性连接
installation
Bottom hole assembly include:
inclination holding drilling tool, drop off
drilling tool, anti-deflection drilling tool,
deflection tool,build up drillingtool, geometric
steering drilling system and Geo-Steering
Drilling System etc 57
 ①Lock-up bottomhole assembly( 稳斜钻具 ) : to make the wellbore trajectory
along with the current bottomhole tangent( 切 线 ) direction ,and keep drilling with
the same deviation angle and azimuthal angle.
Lock-up bottomhole assembly has the rigid full hole drilling structure( 刚性满
眼钻具结构 ) ， and it controls the deformation with the external force to keep the
deviation angle and azimuthal angle steadily while increasing the rigid of lower
drilling tools assembly.
Common combination of lock-up bottomhole assembly ： bit+ stabilizer near
the bit +short drill collar+ Stabilizer +single drill collar+ stabilizer + drill collar+
pipe.

58
②Drop-off drill tool( 降斜钻具 ) : to decrease the deviation
angle on directional well.
③Anti-deflection drilling tool( 防 斜 钻 具 ):to keep away
from deviation on straight well.
Drop-off drilling and anti-deflection drilling are
normally using pendulum drill string combination, it
comes drop-off drilling with the gravity. The distance
between bit and stabilizer is based on the deviation angle,
so it is easy to change the penduium force.

59
 ④Kick-off drill tool: to drill the kickoff section with
some derection.
⑤Angle gain drill tool( 增斜钻具 ):to increase deviation
angle.
All the kick-off drill tool can used for the angle gain
drill tool.
Common Combination of kick-off drill tool: bent sub+
mud motor 、 all kinds of bent coat mud motor
（ including NDS ） .
NDS( 地质导向钻井系统 ):
⑴Composition: bit 、 steerable motor 、 wireless log
tool while drilling 、 wireless inclinometer and computer
system.
⑵Characteristics: angle build 、 angle gain 、 angle
drop 、 direction turn 、 hold angle without make a trip.
It is good for increasing the bit speed , controlling borehole
trajectory and testing the formation parameter anytime. 60
 垂直钻井系统简介 Vertical Drilling System(VDS ）

The VertiTrak system is designed to keep the top

hole vertical without interaction from surface and
without compromising critical drilling parameters
(flow rate, WOB or bit speed) while maintaining
high ROP along the entire section and avoiding
timeconsuming correction runs.

An inclinometer monitors
any vertical deviation
and an integrated oil
pump provides hydraulic
energy to power steering
ribs on the
bearinghousing to push
the assembly back to
vertical.
 Several Advantages

The system can create smooth holes without offsets and

ledges because there is no bend in the assembly to cause
oversize sections and no string rotation to damage the
borehole walls and trigger borehole stability problems. The
resulting improvement in hole quality and the precise wellpath
leads to several advantages:

•Minimal torque and drag in deeper hole sections

•Precise well placement
•Reduced wellhead spacing at the surface
•Improved safety for layout of the casing program
•Lean casing drilling with cost savings in drilling mud, casing
material, cuttings disposal, etc.1,2
•Reduced hole length as the rig can be placed directly above the target without
factoring in the formation’s natural drift tendencies.
•No need for time-consuming correction runs even in highly dipped formations,
fault zones, and salt formations,
where it is difficult to control the directional behavior of PDC bits.
 Well path prediction and control 井眼轨道预测与控制
（ 1 ） Well path prediction
View from the hole formation process, the hole is smooth except for some individual
spots, according to the coordinate system, horizontal drilling speed is zero. Thus, the
well depth, deviation angle and azimuth of the predicted point in the well path
prediction should meet the horizontal drilling speed of the drill bit is zero. To reduce the
error, the distance between the two predicted points can not be too long.
（ 2 ） Well path control
Well path control is the key technology in drilling operation. It is a comprehensive
technology which could make the drill bit drill to the target area along the designed well
path.
Well path control runs through the entire process of drilling, the main content of it
is: optimize drilling tool assembly, optimize drilling parameters, using advanced tools
and instruments, using computer to test and predict the well path and ultilize the
natural influence law of formation on the trajectory et.al. Therefore, the well trajectory
control technology is of great significance to guide the directional drilling, to reduce
downhole complex conditions, to drill to the target with safety and high quality and to
63
achieve the purpose drilling.
 Introduction of short radius and radial wells

Horizontal well ——There is only one directional well

with the maximum angle ≥ 86 °in a well field and the
horizontal section of a certain length is drilled at this
angle.

Long radius well(deflection rate<6°/30 ｍ )

Middle radius well(deflection rate 1° ／ｍ～ 6° ／ 30m)
Short radius well(deflection rate 1° ～ 10° ／ｍ )
Radius well(deflection infinite)

64
 Application scope of horizontal well

Development of thin reservoir or low permeability

reservoir can increase single well production
Horizontal wells can greatly increase the oil discharge area
compared with the straight wells and the regular directional wells,
thus significantly improving the productivity of thin oil layers and low
permeability reservoirs, making them have production value or
increasing economic benefits.

65
 Application scope of horizontal well
Development of reservoirs with vertical fractures
Horizontal wells are more likely to drill vertical fractures
than vertical wells, thus achieving higher productivity and
recovery.

66
 Application scope of horizontal well

Develop reservoirs with active bottom water or

gas cap
The horizontal well can delay the advancing speed of the
water cone and the gas cone , prolong the service life of
the oil well and improve the recovery factor ;

67
 Application scope of horizontal well

Development of conventional heavy oil reservoirs

Horizontal well can increase the fluid production of
heavy oil reservoir, so as to maintain the wellbore
and wellhead oil flow temperature, which is
conducive to heavy oil production;

68
 Application scope of horizontal well

Horizontal injection and mining

“Horizontal injection and mining" is beneficial to the
even advance of water line and to the improvement of
oil recovery.

69
 Horizontal well path control

• Use of MWD guided drilling tool to monitor and control wellbore

trajectory in the directional section below the kick-off point
• Use of LWD guided drilling tool to monitor hole trajectory in the
section below the top section of oil exploration Control and
geological guidance

70
 盘 2- 斜 172 井

illed depth 3259.43 m

rizontal displacment 1090.16 m

Three targets five

sections
71
Drilling cycle 27d