A New Measurement While Drilling System Designed Specifically For Drilling Unconventional Wells

Abstract The recent drilling explosion targeting unconventional reservoirs has created extraordinary opportunities for growth in the oil industry and has also presented many challenges for the MWD industry. Since the first commercial application of MWD in 1978, significant technological advances have been made. However, most of these advances have been focused on the development of technology for formation evaluation targeting the offshore environment and the higher operating costs associated with this environment. Most of the existing MWD systems were developed for drilling directional wells through clastic or carbonate reservoirs and are not well suited for drilling unconventional drilling programs. The issues with existing MWD systems are associated with measurement accuracy, measurement type and BHA incompatibility. The requirements for an MWD system for drilling unconventional wells on land are; accurate well bore placement which includes directional drilling and geosteering, drilling efficiency and interfacing into automation systems such as automated top drives and MPD systems. A new generation of MWD systems has been created specifically for the unconventional drilling environment. Starting with a blank sheet of paper enabled the development of a fit for purpose MWD system that meets the technical and financial requirements for drilling these unconventional reservoirs. The system is designed to fit the existing cost structure associated with drilling unconventional reservoirs on land. The system eliminates the need for dedicated MWD personnel at the wellsite thereby enabling remote directional drilling and also drilling automation. The measurements provided by the MWD system are focused on providing the information required for precise wellbore placement, drilling dynamics for drilling efficiency, annulus pressure to assist with MPD and formation measurements for geosteering. Perhaps most importantly the system is only 34 feet in length which makes it easy to place in the bottomhole assembly.