Advanced LWD and Directional Drilling Technologies Overcome Drilling and Completion Challenges in Lateral Wells of Barnett Shale

Abstract The Barnett Shale field of North Texas is the most prolific and fastest growing natural gas field in North America.1 The field has a multi-trillion cubic feet equivalent of upside potential, but efficient extraction of natural gas from the Barnett shale poses drilling and completion challenges.1 Low porosity in the horizontal interval makes hydraulic fracturing essential. Some of the major drilling challenges that affected drilling efficiency were unacceptably low penetration rates, premature bit damage, high torque, and drag. Engineers determined that drillstring buckling, bit whirl, and stick-slip were resulting in inefficient transfer of weight on bit, premature bit damage and reduced ROP. To overcome this challenge, BHA and drill string modeling were used to eliminate buckling and improve transfer of weight to the bit. Additionally, advanced directional drilling technologies were implemented that significantly improved drilling performance. Planning the hydraulic fracturing program requires a precise evaluation of the bedding planes and fracture sets, both natural and induced. In the past, resistivity imaging tools were run on wireline to acquire this information. To obtain this information in horizontal wells, logging while drilling (LWD) tools were tried. The initial runs generated images of low resolution, and as a result, the rate of penetration had to be controlled to improve the image quality. To overcome this challenge, state-of-the art LWD tools were developed to acquire high-resolution resistivity images while drilling, and at twice the rate of penetration previously possible. This strategy has been implemented to drill several wells in the Barnett Shale with excellent results. BHA and drill string modeling, coupled with advanced LWD and directional drilling tools, have significantly improved drilling performance. The rotating hours have reduced from 330 to 165 hours per well. A 48.39% reduction in days required (31.2 to 16.1 days per well) from spud to rig release has been realized.