Well Planning

Engr.
Rembrandt Rosales
Petroleum Engineering Instructor
Chemical Engineering Department Electives 1
Adamson University
Introduction to Well Planning

Introduction to Well Planning
Well planning is perhaps the most demanding aspect of drilling engineering.
It requires the integration of engineering principles, corporate or personal philosophies, and experience factors
The skilled well planners normally have three common traits.
● They are experienced drilling personnel who understand how all aspects of the drilling
operation must be integrated smoothly.
● They utilize available engineering tools, such as computers and third-party recommendations,
to guide the development of the well plan.
● They usually have an investigative characteristic that drives them to research and review
every aspect of the plan in an effort to isolate and remove potential problem areas.
Well Planning Objective
Safety.
● Safety of Personnel should be the highest priority in well planning.

-Personnel considerations must be placed above all other aspects of the plan. In some cases, the
plan must be altered during the course of drilling the well when unforeseen drilling problems
endanger the crew. Failure to stress crew safety has resulted in loss of life and burned or
permanently crippled individuals.
● The second priority involves the safety of the well.

-The well plan must be designed to minimize the risk of blowouts and other factors that could create
problems. This design requirement must be adhered to rigorously in all aspects of the plan.
Minimum Cost.
A valid objective of the well-planning process is to minimize the cost of the well without jeopardizing the safety
aspects. In most cases, costs can be reduced to a certain level as additional effort is given to the planning. It is
not noble to build “steel monuments” in the name of safety if the additional expense is not required. On the
other hand, funds should be spent as necessary to develop a safe system.
Usable Holes.
Drilling a hole to the target depth is unsatisfactory if the final well configuration is not usable.
The term “usable” implies the following:
• The hole diameter is sufficiently large so an adequate completion can be made.
• The hole or producing formation is not irreparably damaged.
This requirement of the well planning process can be difficult to achieve in abnormal-pressure, deep zones that
can cause hole-geometry or mud problems.
Classification of Well Types
1. Wildcats
-No known (or little) geological foundation for site selection.
-The site may have been selected because of wells drilled some distance from the proposed location but on a
terrain that appeared similar to the proposed site.
2. Exploratory Holes
-Site selection based on seismic data, satellite surveys, etc.; no known drilling data in the prospective horizon
3. Step-outs
-Delineates the reservoir's boundaries; drilled after the exploratory discovery(s); site selection usually based on
seismic data.
4. Infills
-Drills the known productive portions of the reservoir; site selection usually based on patterns, drainage radius,
etc
5. Re-entries
-Existing well reentered to deepen, sidetrack, rework, or recomplete; various amounts of planning required,
depending on purpose of reentry
Formation Pressure.
Normal-pressure wells generally do not create planning problems.
● The mud weights are in the range of 8.5 to 9.5 lbm/gal.
● Kicks- and blowout-prevention problems should be minimized but not eliminated altogether.
● Casing requirements can be stringent even in normal-pressure wells deeper than 20,000 ft because of
tension/collapse design constraints.
Subnormal-pressure wells may require setting additional casing strings to cover weak or low pressure
zones.
● The lower-than-normal pressures may result from geological or tectonic factors or from pressure
depletion in producing intervals.
Abnormal pressures
● Affect the well plan in many areas, including:
➔ casing and tubing design,
➔ mud-weight and type-selection,
➔ casing-setting-depth selection, and
➔ cement planning.
● The following problems must be considered as a result of high formation pressures:
➔ kicks and blowouts,
➔ differential-pressure pipe sticking,
➔ lost circulation resulting from high mud weights, and
➔ heaving shale.
● Well costs increase significantly with geo-pressures.
Planning Costs
The costs required to plan a well properly are insignificant in comparison to the actual drilling costs.
In many cases, less than U.S. $1,000 is spent in planning a U.S. $1 million well. This represents 1/10 of 1%
of the well costs.
Many historical instances can be used to demonstrate that well planning costs were sacrificed or avoided in
an effort to be cost conscious. The end result often is a final well cost that exceeds the amount required to
drill the well if proper planning had been exercised. Perhaps the most common attempted shortcut is to
minimize data-collection work. Although good data can normally be obtained for small sums, many well plans
are generated without the knowledge of possible drilling problems. This lack of expenditure in the early stages
of the planning process generally results in higher-than-anticipated drilling costs.
Overview of the Planning Process
Well planning is an orderly process. It requires that some aspects of the plan be developed before designing
other items.
For example, the mud density plan must be developed before the casing program because mud weights have
an impact on pipe requirements
Data Collection
Offset-Well Selection.
● The drilling engineer is usually not responsible for selecting well sites.
● However, he must work with the geologist for the following reasons:
• Develop an understanding of the expected drilling geology.
• Define fault-block structures to help select offset wells similar in nature to the prospect well.
• Identify geological anomalies as they may be encountered in drilling the prospect well.
A close working relationship between drilling and geology groups can be the difference between a producer
and an abandoned well.
Data Sources
Common types of data used by the drilling engineer are as follows:
.bit records
·mud records
·mud logging records
.IADC drilling reports
·scout tickets
·log headers
·production history
.seismic studies
·well surveys
·geological contours'
.databases or service company files
Activity.
Watch: Oil Islands of T.H.U.M.S in Long Beach California.
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Engr.

Introduction to Well Planning

Well planning is perhaps the most demanding aspect of drilling engineering.

● Safety of Personnel should be the highest priority in well planning.

● The second priority involves the safety of the well.

Watch: Oil Islands of T.H.U.M.S in Long Beach California.

Write your thoughts, opinion or reaction.

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