Why Choose this Training Course

Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) is a technology for drilling longer horizontal wells at a high inclination angle to reach underground oil/natural gas deposits further away from the drilling spot, instead of drilling wells vertically.

In exploration and development of oil and natural gas, we drill wells to reach subsurface deposits where oil/natural gas is likely trapped. However, in the event we are unable to drill wells from directly above these deposits, since mountains, rivers, or town areas overlie them, we drill wells from surface locations at a short distance away, using the directional drilling technology. ERD is an advanced version of the directional drilling technology. More specifically, drilling at a high inclination angle allows for drilling horizontal wells even longer distances.

In recent years, the ERD technology has been increasingly adopted in E&P projects. For instance, using the technology, we are able to locate and produce oil or natural gas from deposits below the seabed by diagonally drilling horizontal wells from the land, rather than constructing offshore platforms directly above these deposits and drilling vertical wells to reach oil/natural gas.

The evolution of extended reach drilling techniques is explained against a background of showing what can go wrong if correct planning or rigsite operational practices are not fully implemented. This is very much an operationally focused course which looks to deliver a knowledge level that can immediately be put to use not just in ERD projects but in improving performance on smaller wells and substantially cutting drilling costs from development projects. The knowledge from this course can be directly applied to ongoing drilling operations or future well planning and will have a dramatic impact on drilling performance.

All the topics are placed in their operational context and an understanding of how each topic is inter-related with the other subject areas in the course is developed throughout the week.
Throughout the course areas in which ERD techniques can adversely impact the well cost or increase the well risk are detailed and the mitigations for these risks are discussed.

Who Should Attend

Drilling engineers and managers handling extended reach drilling projects.

Key Learning Objectives

• How to relate your project to the industry drilling envelope and how to define the correct level of planning resource to allocate to ensure success.
• Why certain vibration types become predominant in ERD wells and how to address these problems.
• When to use high cost technology like rotary steerable systems and when these systems add little value.
• How to mitigate the risks of motor drilling when they are used in high angle drilling.
• How to ensure that once the well is drilled, it is possible to get the casing to bottom and cement it successfully.

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