UNIVERSITY of

Available online at [Link] KHARTOUM

UofKEJ Vol. 7 Issue 1 pp. 52-57 (February 2017) ENGINEERING
JOURNAL
(UofKEJ)

Directional Drilling Design Using Computer Model

Mugahid A. Musa, Mosab M. Ahmed, Mohammed A. Yusuf, Hassan B. Nimir

Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Faculty of engineering, University of Khartoum

Khartoum, Sudan (E-mail: [Link])

Abstract: The number of directionally drilled wells in Sudan is progressively increasing. In Sudan many wells are
directionally drilled every year. Directional drilling calculations when done manually or through Microsoft Excel
are tedious, susceptible to mistakes and take long time. The software prescribed in this paper is designed to treat
these problems. This paper describes Software called CDD which stands for Computerized Directional Drilling. It is
employing the minimum curvature method using visual basic ([Link]) as a programming language to achieve
calculations and minimize the uncertainty and risks related to achieve a predetermined target. The Software is
capable of calculating the survey data of the well trajectory for all types of directional drilling wells. In addition, the
CDD computes the actual coordinates along the planned trajectory at regular or irregular intervals and designs plots
to show the well trajectory in 2D charts in top and side views. It also gives 3D graph for more visual representation
of the well trajectory. The CDD enables the user to compare different well trajectories and show them in the same
chart. The input data could be saved in the database section and the output results could be exported into various
formats. Based on applying the CDD on the Case Studies, this Software gives accurate results and can be used in
planning of CDD with error of less than 1%.

Keywords: Drilling Engineering; Directional Drilling; Software; Well Design; Horizontal Wells; Well Trajectory.

1. INTRODUCTION Minimum Curvature Method for well path planning would

help to minimize the stress and time in executing these
Directional Drilling (DD) is the Science and Art of deviating a complex computations. More importantly, such Computer
wellbore along a planned course to a subsurface target whose Software is flexible and can easily be modified and updated at
location is a given lateral distance and direction from the any time to meet the needs of Petroleum industry.
vertical [1].
In this paper the Minimum Curvature Method is used to
DD has become a commonly very important technology in construct well path using computer software to determine its
petroleum industry. Some of the major applications of DD optimum parameters. This would help reduce risks and
are: Inaccessible surface location, salt-dome exploration, uncertainty and prevent deviation from target depth.
multiple target zones and side-tracking [2]. Consequently, it minimizes Non-Productive Time (NPT) and
reduces drilling cost. This would therefore enhance planning
The first step in planning any directional well is to design the process and maximize return on investment.
wellbore path, or trajectory to intersect a given target. The
initial design should propose the various types of paths that This work aims to use Minimum Curvature Method to design
can be drilled economically [3]. Computer Software that is capable of calculating the survey
data of the well trajectory for all DD well types. In addition, it
A major drawback of directional and horizontal well drilling aims to construct plots to show the well trajectory in 2D charts
is the numerous complex computations required to be done in top view and side view as well as 3D view. Furthermore, to
ahead of time before drilling resumes and also during drilling enable the user to compare different well trajectories and
operations. These computations become very tedious and show them in the same charts. Finally, to handle a large
more complex when done manually [4]. The Software amount of data using the means of export and import in
programs available in the market used for these computations various formats as well as saving the input data in the
are usually very expensive to acquire and are subjected to database.
American Sanctions (e.g. COMPASSTM and Hawk Eye™).
Development of a Computer Software which employs the
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2. MATERIAL AND METHODS wellbore penetrates the target at an inclination angle less than
the maximum inclination angle in the holds section.
2.1. Types of Directional wells 2.1.4. Continuous Build
Continuous build pattern is shown in Fig. 1-D. This trajectory
In the following part different types of directional wells as
has a relatively deep initial deflection. It requires the highest
well as known methods will be reviewed:
inclination angle of all the trajectory types to hit the target. In
this case, the inclinations keep increasing right up to or
2.1.1. Build and Hold
through the target. The continuous build pattern is well-suited
This pattern employs a shallow initial deflection and a
for Salt-Dome drilling, Fault drilling and for Side-tracking
straight-angle approach to the target. The wellbore penetrates
[6].
the target at an angle equal to the maximum build-up angle. It
requires the lowest inclination angle to hit the target as shown
on Fig. [Link] Build and Hold model is mostly used for 2.1.5. Horizontal Drilling
Moderate depth wells with no intermediate casing and deeper Is one in which the inclination reaches 90̊ through the
wells without large lateral displacement [6]. reservoir section. It has an important application in improving
production from certain reservoirs that would otherwise be
2.1.2. Build, Hold and Drop (S-shape) uneconomical. There are mainly two types of horizontal
They are made up of a vertical section, a kick- off point, a drilling, either horizontal single curve where deflection to 90˚
build-up section, a tangent section, a drop-off section and a is achieved in one curve as shown in Fig. 1-E, or horizontal
hold section up to target [5]. Fig. 1-B depicts the S- shape double curve where the well course is achieved throw two
which requires high inclination angle to hit the target .For the curves as in Fig. 1-F.
S- shape, the wellbore trajectory penetrates the target
vertically. 2.1.6. Complex Wells (Designer Wells)
There are some directional well designs that do not fit any of
2.1.3. Build, Hold, partial drop and Hold (modified S-shape) the above types, which are wells that with several targets and
This pattern is illustrated in [Link] a relatively shallow the targets are widely spaced as in Fig. 1-G. They require
deflection, this pattern holds angle until the well has reached significant changes in azimuth along with changes in
most of its required horizontal displacement. At this point, the inclination. A highly engineered well plan is required in order
angle is reduced to some degree to reach the target. The to perform such design [7].

Fig. 1. Directional Drilling well types

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2.2 Minimum curvature method

Minimum curvature method is illustrated in Fig. 2. It is one

of the methods used for calculating wellbore trajectory using
the principle of minimizing the total curvature within the
constraints of the wellbore in order to produce a smooth
circular arc. The surveys at the two stations define vectors
which are tangent to the wellbore at the survey points. A Ratio
Factor (RF) is used to smooth the vectors on to the wellbore
curve [6]. This method involves very complex calculations but
with the advent of computers, it has become the most common
and acceptable method for the industry [7].
The ratio factor (RF)is calculated using Eq. (1).

𝟐×𝟏𝟖𝟎 𝑫𝑳
𝑹𝑭 = × 𝒕𝒂𝒏 (1)
𝑫𝑳×𝝅 𝟐
Fig. 2. Minimum curvature method [8]
where, RF = Ration Factor, DL = dogleg angle in degree; and
where, ∆TVD=Change in True Vertical Depth, ∆MD=Change
𝒄𝒐𝒔𝑫𝑳 = 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝑰𝟐 – 𝑰𝟏 ) – 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑰𝟏 × 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝟐 × (𝟏 − 𝒄𝒐𝒔(𝑨𝟐 − 𝑨𝟏 )) (2) in Measured Depth, ∆N=Change in Northing ∆E=Change in
∆𝑴𝑫
∆𝑻𝑽𝑫 = (𝒄𝒐𝒔𝑰𝟏 + 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝑰𝟐 ) × 𝑹𝑭 (3) Easting.
𝟐

∆𝑴𝑫 2.3. Methodology

∆𝑵 = × (𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑰𝟏 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝑨𝟏 + 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑰𝟐 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝑨𝟐 ) × 𝑹𝑭 (4)
𝟐
The first step is to construct a flow diagram for the software
∆𝑴𝑫 shown in Fig. 3.
∆𝑬 = (𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑰𝟏 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑨𝟏 + 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑰𝟐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝑨𝟐 ) × 𝑹𝑭
𝟐
(5)

Fig.3. The Software flow diagram

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The second step includes choosing suitable equations that followed by coding and equations entry. The coding enables
would result in accurate calculations of the well trajectory. data import and export and plots of well trajectory
The most common types of survey calculations used in the presentation. In addition to that a 3-D library was used to plot
industry are: Tangential, Balanced Tangential, Average the trajectory. Finally, three case studies with different types
Angle, Radius of Curvature and Minimum Curvature of well trajectory were reviewed to determine the accuracy of
methods. Each method assumes that the survey trajectory has the CDD.3.
a specific shape which results in certain error and hence some
methods are more accurate than others. 3. RESULTS AND DICUSSION

In this work, the minimum curvature method was used in the 3.1. The CDD Program
calculations since it has demonstrated conservative results
while determining the position of the wellbore. The accuracy The CDD has four windows with different features, but the
of the common methods of survey calculations are shown in most important window is the well mode window, which
Table 1 [9]. consists of many sections. Those sections are numbered in
Fig. 4. In the figure the numbers are divided in to data input
As seen from the table, the tangential method has the highest Sections 1-3, the output Sections 4-6and the export Section7
error for TVD and displacement, while the other methods has as illustrated in Table 2.
small differences , therefore, any of them can be used for the
calculations of the trajectory. However, the minimum The chart section has three more tabs, the 3D view (Fig.5-A),
curvature method presents the most accurate results and hence the side view (Fig.5-B) and the top view (Fig.5-C), beside the
it’s the most preferred method in the oil industry. “side and top view” tab shown in Fig.4.
Accordingly, it was utilized in this work also.

The third step starts from choosing the programming

language. The choice was for visual basic ([Link]) because
it is powerful, flexible and relatively easy to learn [10]. The
2013 version of visual studio was used as software
environment. Then, the user interface (UI) was designed

Table [Link] between common trajectory methods of

calculation
Results % Difference From Actual
Methods TVD NORTH EAST TVD NORTH EAST
Feet Feet Feet % % %
Tangential

4364.4 1565.23 648.4 0.144 -0.507 -0.197

Fig. [Link] Well Mode main sections

Tangential
Balanced

4370.46 1542.98 639.77 -0.005 0.002 0.001 Table 2. Well Mode window main sections

Sections Sub-Sections Data

1- Target TVD, North or South, East or
Average
Angle

coordinates West
4370.8 1543.28 639.32 -0.002 -0.005 0.011 The data
input ection 2- Well type BAH , continues build, … etc
3-Well input data KOP, Delta MD, BUR…etc
4- The output Azimuth, max angle, TVD
BUS …etc
Curvature
Radius of

results
4370.69 1543.22 639.3 0 -0.004 0.011 The output 5-The output
MD , Inclination , HD …etc
section table
top view , side view , 3D
6- Charts
view
Minimum
Curvature

The export
4370.7 1543.05 639.8 0 0 0 Excel, PDF or Print out
section

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Fig. 5. The chart section tabs

-200 -150 -100 -50 0 50
3.2. Case Study 0
(E / W vs N / S) SES
This case study is from Sudanese well in which directional (E / W vs N / S) CDD -20
drilling was used due to small reservoir thickness. This case
study was used to validate the accuracy of the CDD. The -40
comparison was done between the CDD and Software called
Stoner Engineering Software V5.11 (SES) which is American -60
leading software in directional drilling design and is being
used by famous petroleum companies [11]. -80

From the studied case, Table 4 shows maximum error of -100

0.087% between the compared results obtained from SES and
CDD. Using excel sheet the results from Table 3 are plotted -120
in Fig. 6tocompare Vertical Section (VS) and True Vertical Fig. 7. Excel comparison between CDD and SES in top view
Depth (TVD) inside view. Fig. 7 compares between
East/West and North/South in top view of the well trajectory. 5. CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 6 and 7 show the overlay between the results from CDD
and SES. The following conclusions are drawn:
− The major advantages of this Software are that it doesn't
-50 0 50 100 150 200 need high computer requirements to install and doesn't
0 require large computer space or speed to run.
200
(VS vs TVD) SES − The CDD is simple, friendly, and easy to learn. It can
(VS vs TVD) CDD provide graphical view in side view, top view and 3D
400 view.
600 − It gives accurate results with an error of less than 1%and
can be used in planning for drilling operations.
800 − The case study shows that the Software can produce
1000 matching results as the ones obtained from the SES, thus
it can be used for designing directional drilling in real
1200 field with minimum cost when compared to the
1400 commercial available software.
− This work may be improved with more data from
1600 Sudanese oil fields.
Fig . 6. Excel comparison between CDD and SES in side view
REFERENCES

[1] Osisanya O. Samuel (2009) Advanced Drilling

Engineering Lecture Material. Abuja-Nigeria: African
University of Science and Technology.

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Exhibition, Denver. Colorado.

[2] [Link]/Directional_drilling.
[3] Bourgoyne, Millheim, Chenvert, Young: Applied
Drilling Engineering, SPE Textbook Series, Vol. 2,
1991.
[4] Sawaryn S.J., SPE, and J.L. Thorogood, ''A
Compendium of Directional Calculations Based on the
Minimum Curvature Method'', SPE 84246-PA, 2005,
1st presented at the 2003 SPE Annual Technical
Conference and
[5] Directional Drilling Technology, (July 6, 2011).
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[Link]
[Link]
[6] H. Rabia.(2001).Well engineering and construction.
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[7] R. Amorin. (2009). Application of Minimum Curvature
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[8] [Link]. Retrieved from
[Link]
method/
[9] Richard S. Carden, Robert D .Grace.(2007).Horizontal
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