Drill pipe oscillation regime for slide drilling

• US 10,094,209 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2014
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nabors Drillling Technologies USA, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nabors Drillling Technologies USA, Inc.
• Inventors: Gillan, Colin, Rolong, Carlos, Hadi, Mahmoud, Groover, Austin, Venugopal, Suresh
• Primary Examiner(s): Butcher, Caroline N
• Application Number:
  US14/555,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20160145993A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 23/14 for displacing a cable or a cable-operated tool, e.g. for logging or perforating operations in deviated wells
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 44/00 Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/067 with means for locking sections of a pipe or of a guide for a shaft in angular relation, e.g. adjustable bent sub
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/24 Drilling using vibrating or oscillating means, e.g. out-of-balance masses percussion drilling E21B1/00

Abstract

Apparatuses, methods, and systems include rotary drilling a first segment of a wellbore by rotating a drill string with a top drive forming a part of a drilling rig apparatus for a first period of time; obtaining data from a sensor disposed about the drilling rig apparatus while rotary drilling for at least a part of the first period of time; and based on the data from the sensor, determining a proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string to reduce friction of the drill string in the downhole bore without changing the direction of a bottom hole assembly while slide drilling.

Claims

1. A drilling method, comprising:

rotary drilling a first segment of a wellbore by rotating a drill string with a top drive forming a part of a drilling rig apparatus for a first period of time;

obtaining data from a sensor disposed about the drilling rig apparatus while rotary drilling for at least a part of the first period of time to obtain historical information taken over the at least a part of the first period of time;

based on the obtained historical information from the sensor, determining a proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string to reduce friction of the drill string in the wellbore without changing a direction of drilling of a bottom hole assembly on the drill string; and

slide drilling a second segment of the wellbore while oscillating the drill string using the proposed oscillation revolution amount during a second period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising automatically assigning the proposed oscillation revolution amount to a control system of the top drive so that the slide drilling is performed while oscillating at the proposed oscillation revolution amount.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data from the sensor comprises:

obtaining data from multiple sensors measuring multiple different parameters about the drilling rig; and

combining the data to create a drilling resistance function representative of the data from the multiple sensors,

wherein determining the proposed oscillation revolution amount is based on the drilling resistance function.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second segment of the wellbore immediately follows the first segment of the wellbore.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data from the sensor includes obtaining data relating to rotary torque from a torque sensor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining data from the sensor includes obtaining data relating to at least one of:

weight on bit from a weight on bit sensor, differential pressure from a mud motor differential pressure sensor, hook load from a hook load sensor, pump pressure from a pump pressure sensor, mechanical specific energy from an MSE sensor, rotary RPM from a rotary RPM sensor, or a tool face orientation from a tool face sensor.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving data from a user and wherein determining the proposed oscillation revolution amount comprises taking into account the received data from the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the received data from the user comprises at least one of bit type, drill pipe size, or borehole depth.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising presenting the determined proposed oscillation revolution amount to a user as a recommended setting so that the user can accept the recommendation.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising obtaining data from the sensor disposed about the drilling rig apparatus while oscillating the drill string during the slide drilling, and

based on the data from the sensor during the slide drilling and based on the data obtained during rotary drilling, determining an updated proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string to reduce friction of the drill string in the wellbore usable during a subsequent slide drilling procedure.

11. A drilling rig apparatus comprising:

a top drive controllable to rotate a drill string in a first rotational direction during a rotary drilling operation and to oscillate the drill string in the first rotational direction and an opposite second rotational direction during a slide drilling operation;

a sensor configured to detect a measurable parameter of the drilling rig apparatus when the top drive rotates the drill string in the first rotational direction during the rotary drilling operation; and

a controller configured to receive information representing the detected measurable parameter from the sensor over a period of time during the rotary drilling operation to obtain historical data taken over the period of time and based on the obtained historical data, determine a proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string to reduce friction between the drill string and a wall of a borehole while not impacting a direction of slide drilling.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller is in communication with the top drive and configured to output control signals to the top drive to oscillate the drill string at the proposed oscillation revolution amount during the slide drilling operation.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to determine a proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string in the first rotational direction and in the second rotational direction to reduce friction between the drill string and the wall of a borehole while not impacting the direction of slide drilling.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sensor is a torque sensor configured to measure torque during the rotary drilling operation.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the sensor comprises at least one of:

a weight on bit sensor configured to detect a weight on bit, a mud motor differential pressure sensor configured to detect differential pressure, a hook load sensor configured to detect a hook load, a pump pressure sensor configured to detect a pump pressure, a mechanical specific energy sensor configured to detect mechanical specific energy, a rotary RPM sensor configured to detect a rotary RPM, or a tool face sensor configured to detect a tool face orientation.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an interface configured to receive data relating to a configuration of the drill string.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the data relating to the configuration of the drill string comprises at least one of bit type, drill pipe size, or borehole depth.

18. A drilling method, comprising:

rotary drilling a first segment of a wellbore by rotating a drill string with a top drive forming a part of a drilling rig apparatus for a first period of time;

obtaining data from a plurality of sensors disposed about the drilling rig apparatus while rotary drilling for at least a part of the first period of time to obtain historical information taken over the at least a part of the first period of time, wherein obtaining data from the plurality of sensors comprises obtaining data relating to rotary torque from a torque sensor and relating to at least one of;

weight on bit from a weight on bit sensor, differential pressure from a mud motor differential pressure sensor, hook load from a hook load sensor, pump pressure from a pump pressure sensor, mechanical specific energy from a MSE sensor, rotary RPM from a rotary RPM sensor, or a tool face orientation from a tool face sensor; and

based on the obtained historical information from the plurality of sensors, determining a proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string in a clockwise direction to reduce friction of the drill string in the wellbore while not impacting a direction of slide drilling;

based on the obtained historical information from the plurality of sensors, determining a proposed oscillation revolution amount for the drill string in a counterclockwise direction to reduce friction of the drill string in the wellbore while not impacting the direction of slide drilling, wherein the proposed oscillation revolution amount in the counterclockwise direction and the proposed oscillation revolution amount in the clockwise direction are different; and

slide drilling while oscillating the drill string at the determined proposed oscillation revolution amount.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising slide drilling a second segment of the wellbore while oscillating the drill string with the top drive at the proposed oscillation revolution amount during a second period of time.

20. The method of claim 18, comprising receiving data from a user and wherein determining the proposed oscillation revolution amount for both right and left directions comprises taking into account the received data from the user.

21. A drilling method, comprising:

rotary drilling a first segment of a wellbore by rotating a drill string with a top drive forming a part of a drilling rig apparatus for a first period of time;

obtaining data from a sensor disposed about the drilling rig apparatus while rotary drilling for at least a part of the first period of time to obtain historical information taken over the at least a part of the first period of time;

based on the obtained historical information from the sensor, determining a proposed oscillation regime target for the drill string to reduce friction of the drill string in the wellbore without changing a direction of drilling of a bottom hole assembly on the drill string; and

slide drilling a second segment of the wellbore while oscillating the drill string using the proposed oscillation regime target during a second period of time.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the oscillation regime target is an oscillation revolution amount.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the oscillation regime target is a target torque limit for a clockwise revolution and a counterclockwise revolution.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising automatically setting the oscillation regime target in a control system and automatically oscillating the drill string while slide drilling the second segment in a manner corresponding to the oscillation regime target.