SPE/IADC 79918

Real-Time BHA Bending Information Reduces Risk when Drilling Hard

Interbedded Formations
J. Hood, SPE, Baker Hughes INTEQ, J. Hovden, Norsk Hydro, G. Heisig, SPE, K.D. Ernesti, SPE,
Baker Hughes INTEQ, and A. Knipper, SPE, Baker Hughes OASIS
Copyright 2003, SPE/IADC Drilling Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1921 February 2003.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE/IADC Program Committee following
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paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers or the
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Abstract
Exploiting the Troll reservoir in the Norwegian North Sea
requires horizontal drilling through relatively loose sandstone
and local hard calcite-cemented zones. Depending on the
orientation of the calcite interval, and the drilling parameters
when entering or exiting the calcite interval, the bit can be
forced aside to create a potentially severe local dogleg. High
local doglegs introduce significant stresses into the drilling
system that can rapidly accelerate fatigue of the BHA
components and connections. Until recently, the driller could
only identify local doglegs in the vertical plane when a rapid
change of a near-bit inclination measurement was reported to
the surface. No means were available for detecting azimuthal
doglegs in the horizontal plane.
A new downhole dynamics tool, positioned above the
rotary steerable system, is capable of measuring the bending
moments in the BHA generated by side forces at the bit. If
transmitted to the surface while drilling, the BHA bending
information allows early detection and quantification of local
doglegs independent of their orientation.
The paper explains the details of the bending moment
measurement and the bending response of the BHA to local
doglegs. Several field examples demonstrate the sensitivity of
the measurement and the remedial actions initiated in response
to the downhole BHA bending information. In one case
drilling was stopped earlier than planned due to the detection
of an extremely severe local dogleg, and a potentially
catastrophic failure close to TD was avoided.
Introduction
The Troll field is one of the largest offshore gas fields in the
world, extending into four blocks in the Norwegian North Sea
over an area of about 770 square kilometers. It consists of two
main structures, Troll East which is essentially a dry gas

structure, and Troll West which contains a thin but exploitable

oil column (12-26m) below a thick gas column. The Troll
West reservoir consists of the Upper Jurassic Sognefjord
formation, a stacked series of sandstone units lying at a depth
of approximately 1500 m below sea level. These sandstone
units were formed by shoreline development on the
northwestern edge of the Horda Platform during the Upper
Jurassic. Clean medium to coarse-grained target sandstones
alternate with finer, poorer quality non-target intervals. The
shallow depth of burial has preserved good to excellent
reservoir properties that are only locally reduced by calcite
cementation. Calcite nodules and stringers up to several
meters thick, derived from shell material within the sands,
occur throughout the reservoir and can create difficulties for
drilling. Many of the stringers have stratigraphic significance,
but predicting their distribution is difficult as they are only
locally developed. Other calcites are randomly scattered
throughout the reservoir. The photograph of the Bridport
Sands on the Dorset Coast of the UK shown in Figure 1
provides a good impression of the structure of the calcites in
the Troll reservoir.
The oil reservoir is exploited through long horizontal
sections of up to 3,200 m in length. Within the limitations
posed by the thin nature of the oil column, these wells are
geosteered through the reservoir to avoid non-productive
zones and to keep the well path closely (+/- 0.5 m TVD) above
the oil water contact. Fiksdal et al.1 have described in an
earlier paper the work that has led to a better understanding of
the drilling challenges posed by the calcite cemented intervals.
The paper also describes the step change in drilling
performance realized by introducing rotary steerable systems2
(RSS) with PDC bits.
Depending on the dip angle and the orientation of the
calcite stringer surfaces, the condition of the bit and the
drilling parameters when entering or exiting the calcite
stringer, the bit can be forced aside into the more drillable
loose sand. This behaviour can potentially result in high local
doglegs (HLD) as exaggeratedly illustrated in Figure 2. The
figure also shows the well path correction back to the original
vertical depth in order to keep the required distance to the oil
water contact. Depending on their severity, the doglegs in the
well path introduce significant stresses into the BHA that can
rapidly accelerate fatigue of the BHA components and
connections. Several catastrophic downhole BHA failures,
cracked component and mud intrusion events were clearly

SPE/IADC 79918

traced back to high local doglegs, as indicated by the near-bit

inclination measurement of the RSS shown in figure 3.
However, there were also cases with similar problems with no
indication of a local dogleg in the vertical plane.
Driven by an initiative to further improve drilling
performance and to better understand the downhole
environment in Troll reservoir drilling, it was decided to
deploy a new drilling dynamics tool along with the RSS. The
concept, functionality and capability of this system have been
described in detail in ref. 3. The downhole tool simultaneously
processes high rate (1000 Hz) measurements from a total of 14
drilling process sensors and further diagnoses the occurrence
and severity of various drilling dynamics phenomena. For the
scope of this paper it is important to mention the capability of
the tool to measure the bending moment in the BHA generated
by side forces at the bit and at other wall contact points of the
BHA. Figure 3 shows the position of the downhole dynamics
tool with the bending moment measurement point in the
bottom hole assembly.
Downhole bending moment data have been published in
the literature earlier by Wolf et al.5 in 1985. However, the
focus of their study as well as of the analysis later presented
by Vandiver et al.6 was on drilling dynamics and the
frequency content of the bending moment signal. Cook et al.7
presented in 1989, for the first time, bending moment data
recorded during directional drilling operations with steerable
motor systems.
This paper presents and discusses application of the
downhole bending moment information with rotary steerable
systems and formation induced well path changes. As the
measurement of bending moment is not yet very common in
the drilling industry, the paper starts with a brief review of
bending moment theory and measurement.
Bending Moment Theory and Measurement
Any bottom hole assembly deviated from vertical is subjected
to bending moments due to side forces acting on the BHA.
Side forces are introduced by gravity, by dynamic effects or at
wall contacts of the BHA in borehole sections with planned or
unplanned doglegs. Figure 4 illustrates the bending moment
distribution along the BHA presented in figure 3. The bending
moment distribution was calculated with a proprietary finiteelement model of the BHA assuming a perfectly straight, ingauge horizontal wellbore. In this case, the side forces in the
lower part of the picture are the wall contact forces calculated
to balance the weight of the BHA and the steering force at the
steerable stabilizer of the RSS. In general, the location of the
BHA wall contact points, the magnitude of the resulting
contact forces as well as distribution and magnitude of the
bending moment, all depend strongly on the geometry of the
wellbore section, i.e. well path, local curvatures, over-gauged
section etc.
Figure 5 schematically shows the bending stress
distribution (y) in a cross section of the BHA introduced by
the bending moment M at that position. The stress in a fiber
with distance y from the center axis is

(y) =

M
y
I

, ..(1)

where M is the bending moment and I is the moment of inertia

of the BHA cross section. The bending stresses (y) act in the
axial direction and can significantly exceed the stresses
introduced by the weight-on-bit (WOB). As shown in figure 5,
the fibers on the outside diameter are subjected to the highest
stresses. Rotation of the BHA leads to cyclic loading of the
material between tension and compression. Depending on the
magnitude of the bending moment, this can rapidly accelerate
fatigue of the material and ultimately introduce cracks into the
BHA components.
The bending stresses in figure 5 shorten the fibers on the
side of the BHA in compression and extend the fibers on the
side of the BHA in tension. As a result, the BHA elastically
deforms it bends. The relationship between the resulting
curvature of the deformed BHA and the bending moment at
any given point in the BHA is

M
EI

, ..(2)

where denotes the curvature and E is the modulus of

elasticity. The term EI is very often referred to as bending
stiffness. Eq. (1) and (2) represent the basic relationships
between bending moment, bending stress and the resulting
elastic deformation in the string. The equations for the full
three-dimensional case are beyond the scope of this paper and
can be found in ref. 8 or in other mechanical engineering
textbooks. The relationships introduced above are not valid for
areas in the BHA with discontinuities in the bending moment
or the bending stiffness. In particular, abrupt changes in BHA
diameter and local features such as pockets or cut-outs in the
BHA lead to local stress concentrations that are more difficult
to analyze.
The bending moment in the BHA can be measured by
applying two strain gauges each on opposite sides of the BHA
and connecting them to a measurement bridge. Strain gauges
change their resistance by a small amount when subjected to
an elastic deformation, resulting in a small output signal from
the measurement bridge. After analog-to-digital conversion
the signal is multiplied by a scale factor determined in
expensive calibration procedures in which each tool is
subjected to pre-defined bending moment cycles. The
downhole tool utilized for the measurements presented in this
paper features two measurement bridges perpendicularly
arranged to measure the bending moment in the rotating BHA.
The total bending moment is then determined as the vector
sum of the individual signals of the two axes,

M total = M x2 + M y2

..(3)

The measurement in the downhole tool is updated every 5

seconds and recorded in the on-board memory. The interval
between MWD transmissions to the surface typically varies
between 90 and 180 seconds depending on selected
transmission format and speed.
It is worthwhile mentioning that the tool also utilizes the
individual bending signals to diagnose detrimental downhole
BHA whirl. This application has shown to be extremely
valuable in field applications4.

SPE/IADC 79918

Field Examples
The data presented in Figures 6-9 were recorded on different
wells on Troll West in 2001 and 2002. Figures 6-8 are depthbased log excerpts of drilling process data recorded at surface
and downhole, along with formation data. Figure 9 is a timebased log excerpt of drilling process data. For the
interpretation of the depth-based logs it is important to keep in
mind that the gamma and density data, the hole caliper and the
bending moment data are plotted at sensor depth while all
other data are plotted at bit depth. This is illustrated in
Figure 6 in which the black dots mark a set of data recorded at
the same point in time. While the bending moment sensors are
located 13.9 m behind the bit, it will be demonstrated in the
examples below that the sensors respond to doglegs in the well
path between bit and sensor position due to the transmission
of the bending signal along the BHA.
The logs presented are based on memory data for
maximum log quality. The equivalent logs available while
drilling, and based on transmitted data, have a data density
which is generally lower and depends on the rate of
penetration (ROP) and the selected data transmission interval.
Example 1: The log excerpt in Figure 6 shows data from the
last 75 m of the reservoir section of well 31/2-N-23A Y1H.
The interval was drilled with an 8 Tungsten Carbide Insert
(TCI) roller cone bit at rotary speeds of 50100 RPM. From
4325 m onwards, the lithology was mostly calcite-cemented
sandstone with short intervals of looser sandstone, as indicated
by the variation in the density data and the corresponding
washouts in the borehole caliper. The ROP varied between
1-2 m/hr in the calcite intervals and about 6-8 m/hr in the
sand. The inclination angle measured in the RSS 1.1 m behind
the bit stayed close at 90; the bending moment varied
between 8-12 kNm in this interval.
At 4345 m the near bit inclination angle started to increase
slightly. In response, an attempt was made to steer the bit
downwards. The WOB was reduced to control the ROP and to
give the bit time to cut into the rock on the low side of the
hole. However, the near bit inclination continued increasing
and finally rose dramatically by 4 over a distance of less than
five meters. The inclination stabilized at 95 and then
decreased slightly while drilling with high WOB and low
ROP. About 8 m after the start of the steep increase of the near
bit inclination the bending moment started to increase
significantly and reached a maximum value of 67 kNm. In the
same interval the gamma ray and resistivity measurements
failed. Alerted by the high bending moment and the sensor
failures, the drilling crew tried for two hours to reduce the
dogleg by reaming the last 20 m of the hole several times.
However, the near bit inclination and bending moment
transmitted to the surface showed that the remedial action had
little effect in this case. Since similar high local doglegs had
earlier led to two catastrophic failures in the Troll field, it was
decided to stop drilling this reservoir section, which was
originally planned to be 300 m longer.
It is assumed that this severe dogleg was created when the
bit hit a calcite nodule at a low dip angle and followed the path
of least resistance into the loose sand. The bit had accumulated
about 25 drilling hours before the high local dogleg occurred.

At the surface, the bit showed severe wear with almost no

teeth left on the heel rows. It is not known whether this
damage occurred prior to drilling the high dogleg, or while
drilling it, or afterwards during the extensive reaming period.
Severe wear at the heel row is known to reduce the side
cutting capability of the bit. As a result, it increases the bits
tendency to be forced aside when encountering a hard stringer
at a low dip angle, and it limits the bits ability to ream off the
high local dogleg.
Example 2: The log excerpt in figure 7 recorded on well 31/2X-14A Y2H shows the transition from a lower quality
sandstone with a higher shale content to the coarsely grained
target sandstone at about 3660 m. Compared to example 1 a
different RSS configuration has been used as sketched in
figure 7. While drilling this reservoir section the rig
instrumentation failed and was not available for two days.
During this period, the drilling process was controlled solely
based on transmitted WOB, torque and RPM. The interval
shown in figure 7 was drilled with a TCI bit at rotary speeds of
120140 RPM. The caliper data, as well as the extremely
small variation in the near bit inclination, demonstrate the
excellent quality of the hole, which was drilled at an
instantaneous ROP of 40-60 m/hr.
The log shows an increase in the bending moment from
4 kNm at 3640 m to a maximum of 30 kNm at 3650 m sensor
depth. As the near bit inclination remained constant during
this depth interval, the increase in bending moment had to be
caused by a curvature of the hole in the horizontal plane. A
survey taken at 3652 m showed a decrease in azimuth by 3.3
and confirmed the existence of a moderate dogleg in the
horizontal plane. At 3672 m a loss in downhole WOB and a
reduction in ROP were observed, most likely due to a
stabilizer above the downhole diagnosis tool passing the local
dogleg. In this case a short trip to ream the hole was successful
in overcoming this weight transfer problem.
It is assumed that the dogleg was introduced in the
transition from the finer sand with the higher shale content to
the less dense production sand.
Example 3: The log excerpt in Figure 8 shows data from a
hole interval on well 31/2-N-21 Y1H drilled with a PDC bit.
The start of the log illustrates the optimization of drilling
performance using the downhole stick-slip analysis. At 2088
m an increase in WOB to about 5 tonnes led to drilling rates of
up to 120 m/hr. However, the increase in WOB also led to an
increase in stick-slip vibrations as indicated by the wider
spread between minimum and maximum RPM on the log.
Over the next 20 meters both WOB and rotary speed are
finetuned in response to the downhole stick-slip diagnostic to
keep the stick-slip vibrations at an acceptable level, while
maintaining an optimum ROP.
At 2107 m the ROP slowed down significantly and the
stick-slip severity also decreased. At 2112 m the rotary speed
was reduced to 100 RPM and the WOB was increased as it
was assumed that a calcite nodule had been encountered.
When the drilling rate picked up again at 2115 m, the near bit
inclination started to decrease from 90 to almost 88. At the
same time an increase in bending moment up to 55 kNm was
measured. At 2121 m a new steering command were sent to

the RSS to steer the bit upward. The rotary speed was kept at
100 RPM until the complete BHA had passed the local dogleg
and the bending moment had decreased to a level of 20 kNm.
After an RPM increase at 2140 m, and a WOB increase at
2143 m, drilling continued with a high instantaneous ROP of
90120 m/hr.
The higher density between 2110 m and 2120 m indicates
that the dogleg was caused by a calcite-cemented zone. While
drilling this interval the transmitted bending moment data was
the only information indicating the severity of the dogleg.
Compared to the example in figure 6 the changes in near bit
inclination were relatively small. The survey data at 2133 m,
however, showed an azimuthal change of 5 in the horizontal
plane, revealing the severity of the dogleg at this depth.
Example 4: The time-based log in figure 9 shows a three hour
period of slow drilling through a calcite stringer on well 31/2N-21 Y1H. Over the two meters drilled during the first hour
on the log excerpt, the bending moment increased from
24 kNm to 36 kNm. In response, the rotary speed was reduced
to minimize the fatigue rate of the BHA components. At
21.25 hours, an attempt was made to remedy the local dogleg
by reaming the last 15 m of the hole. A reduction in the
bending moment by about 2.5 kNm could be achieved.
Discussion
The examples above have demonstrated that several actions
can be taken once a high local dogleg has been detected from
the near bit inclination or the bending moment measurement.
In some cases repeated reaming was successful in
decreasing the bending moment in the BHA. In other cases,
however, reaming made the problem worse by enlarging the
hole in the looser sand in front of a stringer, and ultimately led
to an increase in the bending moment when drilling ahead. All
available information needs to be carefully reviewed prior to
deciding to ream a hole section with a high dogleg.
Reducing the rotary speed helps to minimize the fatigue
rates in the BHA when drilling through a high dogleg. On the
Troll drilling rigs both occurrence and severity of the doglegs
are now recorded on so-called Hole Restriction Forms.
During tripping in and out of the hole, rotation of the BHA is
avoided in the critical sections.
As shown in the first example, the most dramatic action
that might have to be taken in response to an extreme dogleg
is to simply stop drilling.
While the real-time BHA bending information helps to
reduce the risk while drilling, it became obvious in the course
of the problem analysis that doglegs cannot be cured but need
to be prevented. It was decided to investigate changes in the
design of the BHA and drilling program that would eliminate
or at least reduce the occurrence of high local doglegs.
The unique downhole closed-loop mode of the RSS is
designed to actively resist propagation of local doglegs in the
vertical plane. To cope with the extreme contrasts in rock
hardness on Troll, the steering parameters of the closed-loop
mode were altered to react faster and more aggressively to
unwanted direction changes. However, once a dogleg in the
well path has been detected, the RSS is steered less
aggressively back to the target vertical depth.

SPE/IADC 79918

Special considerations have been given to bit design and

selection. Historically, medium to heavy set PDC bits with a
short gauge have been used to drill the reservoir sections on
Troll. While these bits provide optimal lateral steering
capability, they are also sensitive to unwanted directional
changes when hitting a calcite-cemented nodule. After the
downhole bending moment measurement had pointed to the
negative impact of the local doglegs on the stresses in the
BHA, it was decided to reduce the side cutting efficiency of
the PDC bits by increasing the gauge length. In order to
compare the directional performance of the short vs. the long
gauge bit, the drilling and formation data over a total distance
of 16,000 m were analyzed to determine the likelihood of
creating a high dogleg when entering or exiting a calcitecemented stringer. For the purpose of this study a high local
dogleg was defined as a change in near bit inclination
exceeding 5/30 m in one direction followed by a similar
change in the opposite direction over a distance of less than 20
m. Figure 10 demonstrates that the longer gauge length on the
PDC bit significantly reduces the risk of creating a high local
dogleg when drilling through the calcite-cemented zones.
Experience has also shown that, as long as their side
cutting capability is not detrimentally influenced by wear, TCI
roller cone bits create less unwanted doglegs due to their
better drilling efficiency in the calcites. Recent improvements
of the TCI bit drilling performance in the clean sandstone have
resulted in an increased utilization of TCI bits in the Troll
field. The decision of TCI vs. PDC bit is now typically based
on the calcite prognosis for the upcoming run.
The improved understanding of the downhole environment
based on the downhole bending moment measurement, the
subsequent implementation of the changes described above
and the ongoing real-time monitoring of near bit inclination
and bending moment while drilling have successfully
eliminated high dogleg related failures as shown in figure 11.
As a result, the average number of runs required to drill the
reservoir sections on Troll has been reduced substantially. The
reduction of high local doglegs has also improved overall hole
quality providing additional benefits such as less torque losses,
reduced drill string wear and less problems during completion.
However, additional studies are required to quantify
these benefits.
Conclusions
1. The downhole bending moment information complements
the near-bit inclination data in detecting high local
doglegs in the well path. In particular, the bending
moment information helps identify the occurrence and
severity of unwanted well path changes in the
horizontal plane.
2. Several field examples have been presented to illustrate
how timely reaction to high local doglegs reduces the risk
of drilling in the difficult environment on Troll.
3. The downhole bending moment information was
instrumental to understand the importance of poor hole
quality as the key limiting factor in system reliability and
drilling performance. Based on this lesson, changes in
drilling practices, bit selection and system design have
been implemented to control the occurrence of high
local doglegs.

SPE/IADC 79918

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Norsk Hydro and Baker
Hughes INTEQ for the support and the permission to publish
this paper. They would also like to thank all individuals from
both Norsk Hydro and INTEQ who were involved in the
successful introduction of the downhole diagnosis system on
the Troll field. In particular, the authors would like to thank
John Dexter with Norsk Hydro and Marianne Stavland, Harald
Fiksdal and Geir Johnson with INTEQ for their contributions
to this paper. Thanks are extended to John Macpherson and Ed
Robnett with INTEQ for the critical review of the paper.
References
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Fiksdal, H., Rayton, C. and Djerfi, Z.: Application of Rotary

Steerable System/PDC Bits in Hard Interbedded Formations: A
Multidisciplinary
Team
Approach
to
Performance
Improvement, paper IADC/SPE 59110 presented at the 2000
IADC/SPE Drilling Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana,
23-25 February 2000.
Johnstone, J.A. and Allan, D.: Realizing True Value From
Rotary Steerable Drilling Systems, paper SPE 56958, presented
at the 1999 Offshore Europe Conference held in Aberdeen,
Scotland, 7-9 September 1999.
Heisig, G., Sancho, J., Macpherson, J.D.: Downhole Diagnosis
of Drilling Dynamics Data Provides New Level Drilling Process
Control to Driller, paper SPE 49206 prepared for presentation
at the 1998 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in
New Orleans, planned for Sept 27-30, 1998.
Hood, J.A., Leidland, B.T., Haldorsen, H., Heisig, G.:
Aggressive Drilling Parameter Management Based on
Downhole Vibration Diagnostics Boosts Drilling Performance in
Difficult Formation, paper SPE 71391, presented at the 2001
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in New
Orleans, Louisiana, 30 September 3 October 2001.
Wolf, S.F., Zacksenhouse, M., and Arian, A.: Field
Measurements of Downhole Drillstring Vibrations, paper SPE
14330, presented at the 1985 SPE Annual Technical Conference,
Las Vegas, Nevada, September 22-25, 1985.
Vandiver, J.K., Nicholson, J.W., Shyu, R.-J.: Case Studies of
the Bending Vibration and Whirling Motion of Drill Collars,
paper IADC/SPE 18652, presented at the 1989 IADC/SPE
Drilling Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana, February
28 March 3, 1989.
Cook, R.L., Nicholson, J.W., Sheppard, M.C. and Westlake, W.:
First Real Time Measurements of Downhole Vibrations, Forces
and Pressures Used to Monitor Directional Drilling Operations,
paper SPE/IADC 18651 presented at the 1989 SPE/IADC
Drilling Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 28 March 3, 1989.
Timoshenko, S.P., Goodier, J.N.: Theory of Elasticity; 3rd
edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, Toronto, London, 1970.

SI Metric Conversion Factors

m x 3.280840
E+00 = ft
mm x 3.937008 E-02 = in.
N x 2.224808 E-01 = lbf
Nm x 7.375620 E-01 = ft-lbf

SPE/IADC 79918

Major calcite
stringers

Local calcites

Fig. 1 Calcite stringers and nodules observed in the Bridport Sands at the Dorset Coast in the UK

Fig. 2 Artistic illustration of a high local dogleg (HLD) developed at the surface of a calcite cemented stringer

SPE/IADC 79918

Rotary Steerable System (RSS)

Downhole Dynamics
Diagnosis Tool

Gamma Resistivity
1.1 m

LWD tool suite

Density

Near Bit
Inclination

Inclination
Azimuth

Porosity

Bending Moment
Measurement Point

10.2 m
13.9 m
15,8 m
20.9 m

Fig. 3 Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) including Rotary Steerable System (RSS), downhole dynamics tool and LWD tool suite

Bending Moment Color Scale

gravity
bending moment maxima

Minimum

Maximum

Fig. 4 Calculated bending moment and side force distribution in the BHA in Fig 3
assuming a perfectly straight, in-gage horizontal hole

Tension

Material Fiber
y

(y)

M
Compression

Fig. 5 Schematic representation of the bending stress distribution in a BHA cross-section

SPE/IADC 79918

Bending
RPM

DEPTH
DEPTH
Gamma Ray

Bending Moment

( MWD API)

( kN-m)

0.0

150.0 0.0

60.0

Density

Near Bit Inc.

( g/cc)

( degrees)

1.80

2.80 85.0

95.0

Rate of Penetration

Axial Vibration

( m/hr)
1.00 m Average

(g_RMS )

150.0

0.0 0.0

1:500
1:500

Caliper

( rpm)

( inch)
450.0 7.50

Downhole WOB

Downhole Torque

Avg. DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

25.0 0.0

0.0

25.0 -50.00

450.0 0.0

Surface WOB

Surface Torque

Min DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

25.0 0.0

50.0 -50.0

4300

Steep rise in bending moment

after RSS steering unit has
entered high local dogleg

4350

First slight increase

in Near Bit Incl.,
then dramatic rise

450.0

Max DH RPM
-50.0

0.0

5.0

( rpm)

-50.0

METER
METERS
S

Reduced WOB to
control ROP and
dogleg

Fig. 6 Example 1: Depth-based log excerpt with drilling and formation data
showing high local dogleg in vertical plane

450.0 0.0

9.50

Lateral
Vibration II
( g_RMS)

10.0

Lateral
Vibration I
( g_RMS)

10.0

SPE/IADC 79918

Bending
RPM

DEPTH
DEPTH
Gamma Ray

Bending Moment

( MWD API)

( kN-m)

0.0

150.0 0.0

60.0

Density

Near Bit Inc.

( g/cc)
1.80

( degrees)
2.80 85.0

95.0

Rate of Penetration

Axial Vibration

( m/hr)
1.00 m Average

(g_RMS )

150.0

1:500
1:500

0.0 0.0

5.0

Caliper

( rpm)

( inch)
450.0 7.50

Downhole WOB

Downhole Torque

Avg. DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

25.0 0.0

0.0

25.0 -50.00

450.0 0.0

Surface WOB

Surface Torque

Min DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

25.0 0.0

50.0 -50.0

Surface instrumentation
failed, drilling operation was
controlled w/ transmitted
downhole data only

Survey at 3625 m
Inclination 90.2
Azimuth 137.8

3650

450.0

Max DH RPM
-50.0

0.0

3600

( rpm)

-50.0

METER
METERS
S

Survey at 3652 m
Inclination 90.1
Azimuth 134.5

Weight transfer problem

due to stabilizer passing
local dogleg

Transition from low

quality finer sand to
production sand
Fig. 7 Example 2: Depth-based log with drilling and formation data
showing a local dogleg in the horizontal plane

450.0 0.0

9.50

Lateral
Vibration II
( g_RMS)

10.0

Lateral
Vibration I
( g_RMS)

10.0

10

SPE/IADC 79918

Bending
RPM

DEPTH
DEPTH
Gamma Ray

Bending Moment

( MWD API)

( kN-m)

0.0

150.0 0.0

60.0

Density
( g/cc)
1.80

1:500
1:500

Near Bit Inc.

( degrees)
2.80 85.0

95.0

( rpm)

-50.0

METER
METERS
S

450.0

Max DH RPM

Caliper

( rpm)

( inch)

-50.0

450.0 7.50

Downhole WOB

Downhole Torque

Avg. DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

25.0 0.0

0.0

450.0 0.0

25.0 -50.00

Rate of Penetration

Axial Vibration

Surface WOB

Surface Torque

Min DH RPM

( m/hr)
1.00 m Average

(g_RMS )

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

150.0

0.0 0.0

5.0

0.0

Higher density
indicates calcite
cemented zone

25.0 0.0

50.0 -50.0

9.50

Lateral
Vibration II
( g_RMS)

10.0

Lateral
Vibration I

450.0 0.0

( g_RMS)

10.0

2100

Survey at 2105 m
Inclination 90.49
Azimuth 171.12

Bending
Moment
Near-bit
Inclination

ROP Improvement
after RPM increase

Survey at 2133 m
Inclination 90.25
Azimuth 166.08

2150

Fig. 8 Example 3: Depth-based log with drilling and formation data

showing the bending moment response to a high local dogleg

RPM reduction
to drill local
calcite zone

RPM increase
after passing
local dogleg

SPE/IADC 79918

11

Bending
RPM

Time
-50.0

hh:mm

( rpm)

450.0

Max DH RPM
( rpm)
-50.0

Block Position

Bending Moment

-5.0

30.0 0.0

Axial Acceleration

Avg. DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

Near Bit Inc.

5.0 85.0

25.0 0.0

0.0

60.0

( g_RMS)

0.0

Downhole Torque

( kN-m)

( m)

( degrees)
0.0

95.0

450.0

Downhole WOB

25.0 -50.00

450.0 0.0

Surface WOB

Surface Torque

Min DH RPM

( tonnes)

( kN-m)

( rpm)

25.0 0.0

50.0 -50.0

450.0 0.0

Lateral
Vibration II
( g_RMS)

10.0

Lateral
Vibration I
( g_RMS)

10.0

Survey at 3579 m
Inclination 89.91
Azimuth 145.42
3598 m
RPM decreases in response to
high bending moment
3599 m

21:00

3600 m

3601 m

22:00
Reaming of last 15 m
to reduce bending moment

3602 m

23:00

Survey at 3608 m
Inclination 90.89
Azimuth 145.21

Fig. 9 Example 4: Time-based log with drilling process data

showing small effect of reaming on measured bending moment

12

SPE/IADC 79918

Percentage of Stringers Drilled

Causing a High Local Dogleg

35%
30%
25%
20%
33.0%

15%
10%

17.5%

5%
0%
Short Gauge RSS PDC Bit

Longer Gauge PDC Bit

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
Q1 '01

Q2 '01

Q3 '01

Q4 '01

Q1 '02

Q2 '02

Q3 '02

Fig. 11 Reliability and performance improvements on Troll West drilling operation

after introducing changes and procedures to control high local doglegs (HLD)

HLD Related Failures per Quarter

Average Distance Drilled Between

HLD Failures per Quarter [m]

Fig. 10 Effect of bit gauge length on the occurrence of high local doglegs (HLD)