The Economic Viability of Multilateral Wells

AbstractMultilateral wells are receiving much attention in the oil industry. Despite the increasing amount of publicity, multilateral wells in practice account for only a small fraction of the total number of wells drilled in the world today. One reason for this limited application may be that the economic benefit of drilling these wells may be in question, even though the higher construction costs associated with drilling a multilateral well can usually be justified on paper by the resulting, projected rise in well producibility.Several factors can contribute to the economic success of a multilateral project:Reservoir Charecteristics Production and Facilities Capabilities Operator and Service Company experience with multilateral installations. Technological advances and refinements in the multilateral drilling and completion system Complexity of the drilling program Effective contingency planning prior to the commencement of the drilling operations.This paper examines multilateral wells that have been drillled in the North Sea and reviews their true economic impact. The paper proposes a balanced score card for tracking and benchmarking the economic performance of these wells. The paper also discusses suggestions for enhancing the probablility of both the economic and technical succes of multilateral wells.