MANAGED PRESSURE DRILLING USING ROTARY

STEERABLE SYSTEM IN DIRECTIONAL WELLS

Aniket Sanyal and Ajay Kumawat;
SPT, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University

Abstract

As per growing interest in Deepwater Development and to minimize the risk of

Formation Damage in directional wells(complex wells) having narrow pressure windows leads
us towards the application of managed pressure drilling technology. Directional drilling in MPD
environment has been proved very effective in Deepwater’s of Gulf of Mexico (GOM), so it can
be termed as a future prospect for the fields like Mumbai High and HPHT well. In recent years,
this technique is used in Bay of Bengal for HPHT wells. As the conventional reservoir is
developed the pore pressure and fracture pressure deviates which results into loss circulation and
pressure influx, which may lead to reservoir damage. The application of MPD in Directional
Drilling helps in remedying the pressure balance complications associated with conventional
method of drilling directional wells using Mud motors/drilling motors, so to overcome such
problems Rotary steerable systems(RSS) can be used along with MPD, which will reduce
NPT(Non productive time),hole cleaning problems and well control issues. The variation of
static and circulating drilling fluid densities(ESD and ECD) can be minimized by MPD.This
technology is very efficient in drilling the well having very narrow pressure windows so that
problem of loss circulation due to fracture of formation and undesirable loss kick. It can be
termed as a +2 advancement of conventional drilling process. This paper outlines the integral
usage of MPD with rotary steerable drilling system and continuous circulation methods. The
BHA includes pressure while drilling(PWD)tool which precedes Rotary steerable system(RSS)
for monitoring Annular pressure and drill pipe pressure variations, which will enable Operator to
effectively balance BHP using RCD(Rotating control device) and power chokes. This paper will
discuss the case studies of deepwater directional drilling in MPD environment and it includes the
Pressure while drilling tool calibration data during testing PWD tool before its on field
application.