BY MITIGATING MOTOR FAILURES AND THE ASSOCIATED TIME LOST, OPERATOR SAVED $105,000 PER WELL

Challenge

An operator in the Eagleford was struggling with consistent motor failures close to total depth (TD) in their two-mile unconventional laterals. In an initial effort to limit the issue they tried adjusting the autodriller parameters while rotating, but they were not seeing a change in the outcome. Additionally, they were seeing subpar sliding performance, further reducing their time to target, and as they later found out, a contributor to their increasing motor failures. Both challenges were costing the operator a significant amount of time and money and needed to be remediated as quickly as possible.

Solution

H&P’s Advanced Well Engineering team performed an in-depth post-analysis using existing data to pinpoint what might be causing the motor failures. The H&P data stream was combined with operator-provided downhole data to narrow down the cause. The results showed significant dysfunction while sliding, increasing motor fatigue, and in their case, failure.

Having a diagnosis to the failure allowed the operator to pivot and know exactly what they needed to correct and where they were underutilizing existing technology, like FlexOscillator®. H&P engineers gave the operator’s directional drillers a deep dive into the H&P data stream outputs combined with downhole data from the previous wells that had not been accessible in the past, to help give them a better understanding of how slides could best be executed to increase the rate of penetration (ROP) and decrease disfunction.

Outcome

H&P’s DrillScan Slide Mechanics Analysis technology was able to provide the operator with the data and recommendations they needed to mitigate motor failures and the associated lost time. To test the value delivered from H&P’s technology stack, H&P compared the previous three wells to the following five wells drilled after the DrillScan technology study began. Here is what they discovered:

Time Savings

One run curve/lateral saved 1.75 days of nonproductive time (NPT), equating to approximately $105,000

Reduce Time to Target

Slide ROP increased over 120%*

Reduced BHA Failures and Repair Costs

4 out of the 5 following wells were able to drill the curve and lateral in one run

Seeing the value in the services that the Advanced Well Engineering experts provided, the operator asked that they continue to monitor slide practices for each well and produce new recommendations to further enhance the slide practices as new drilling dysfunction challenges arose.

_{^{Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Any statements regarding past performance are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially. © 11/2021 HPCS015}}