IADC/SPE-170473-MS

Novel Integrated Hole-Cleaning Concept Reduces Well Construction By 3

Rig Days
Norbert Heitmann, Schlumberger; Euro Chacinet, Rafael Molero, and Willy Graterol, PDVSA Servicios;
Yazid Ouali, M-I SWACO; Elias Chamat Burgos and Agustin Cisneros, Schlumberger

Copyright 2014, IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, 2527 August 2014.
This paper was selected for presentation by an IADC/SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s).
Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to
correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum
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illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of IADC/SPE copyright.

Abstract
A new hole-cleaning process applied in a PDVSA Servicios Drilling Project, in the Heavy Oil Orinoco
Belt, Bolivarian Republik of Venezuela saved 3 rig days and reduced the stuck-pipe risk and avoided
damage to the MWD/LWD BHA and PDC bit. A long sought solution for effective wellbore cleaning was
validated. Applied the first time, this concept provides a novel integrated solution for hole-cleaning, is
transferrable to other well construction projects, is reducing project costs, lessens lost-in-hole BHAs and
significantly reduces flat drilling time & invisible lost time.
Effective hole-cleaning is the main challenge of any deviated drilling operation, with problems in
cuttings and cuttings beds removal. Even optimized mud flow rates, with reciprocal and rotational pipe
movements physically cannot completely remove cutting beds. The herewith presented solution constitutes to incorporate a non-rotational scraper assembly into the drill string, applied together with an
engineered and optimized hole-cleaning process.
With no access to dedicated casing cleaning tools, the 9 5/8 casing was cleaned from cuttings by
back-reaming inside the casing with the BHA drill string, requiring minimum 2-3 runs and 2 days, and
causing excessive wear on casing, BHA and PDC bit. After drilling the 8 section, the new concept was
to place a non-rotational scraper assembly into the drill string, allowing only minimum POOH of DP
stands as part of the scheduled final openhole wiper trip activity, followed by RIH back to TD and as
such completing the openhole wiper trip without the need of tripping the drill string to surface. The tested
solution eliminated all back-reaming inside casing and ensured a full 360 casing contact cleaning prior
to RIH the liner, guaranteeing the casing is free of cuttings and also eliminating any additional round nose
mill trips. The scraper never moved outside the 9 5/8 casing. This first application of RIH a scraper as
part of the drill string gave outstanding results with 3 rig days been saved and a smooth RIH of the liner.

Introduction
This paper presents a new integrated hole-cleaning process applied in a PDVSA Servicios Integrated
Drilling Services Project for Well Construction, in the Heavy Oil Faja Orinoco Belt, Bolivarian Republik
of Venezuela, resulting in time savings of more than 3 rig days. The operator assigned an Integrated

IADC/SPE-170473-MS

Drilling Services Project to an integrated service company for the delivery of integrated well construction
services - at 2 drilling clusters with an each 24 horizontal wells drilling program. Factory-new rigs were
engaged by the operator and the service company provided an Integrated Services Project Mgr., to
jump-start and support the deployment of critical well construction services with drill bits, directional
drilling and MWD/LWD services, drilling fluids and solids control services, well cementing, well
placement and logging services, when required. Over a period of 21 months the operator and the service
company were advancing the intensive and challenging local drilling operations, as well as introducing
new technologies and innovative processes. Various drilling practices were assessed and enhanced.
This paper addresses an identified drilling insufficiency and provides a new customized solution to
improve integrated hole-cleaning applied the first time, and transferrable to other well construction
projects to reduce drilling time and overall project costs, to avoid lost-in-hole BHAs and to significantly
reduce flat drilling time, non productive time (NPT) and invisible lost time (ILT). The operator
incorporated a specialized non-rotational cleanup scraper tool assembly into the drill string and directional
drilling Bottom-hole Assembly (BHA) and applied an integrated engineered hole-cleaning process, to
reduce additional drill pipe tripping time and to eliminate extra wiper and clean-up trips.

Methods
The Need of an Integrated Hole-Cleaning Concept
Hole-cleaning and removal of drill cuttings out of vertical wells is a reasonable manageable challenge
and is governed by the engineering of proper application of physics, dynamics, hydraulics and the proper
availability and functioning of surface cleaning equipment (effective shakers, mud cleaners and centrifuges). However, in directional wells, hole-cleaning becomes indeed a real challenge, as physical
impossibilities are hindering results we generally do expect. As such, new processes and integration of
engineering and rig-site resources are sought. The achievable results, such as less tripping times are
overwhelming and bring significant time savings and value to operators and drilling contractors, and to
the BHA tool performances. Inadequate hole-cleaning can lead to stuck pipe, wear of BHA tools and bit,
increased formation damage and costive drilling under-performance.
Drilling at inclination angles greater than 30 increases problems in drill cuttings removal and the
formation of moving and stationary cuttings beds; even optimized mud flow rates and rheologies,
reciprocal and rotational pipe movements often physically cannot remove completely sedimented and
frequently compacted cutting beds from the lower sides of the deviated/horizontal open-hole sections and
casing/well completions.
This challenge requires an integrated engineering and operational approach to address the entire
hole-cleaning process, from the generation of the drill cuttings up to the transport inside the openhole and
cased holes, to the re-suspension and transportation of cuttings out of the well, to ultimately the separation
from the drilling fluid at surface over the shakers and by the mud cleaners. Generally, it is evident that
applied standard procedures, such as wiper trips, viscous single and tandem multi-rheology mud pills,
selection of customized bits and applied optimized hydraulics, rotation & reciprocation of drill pipe, etc.,
play all an important role, but cannot ensure efficient hole-cleaning on a stand-alone application.
Hydraulic software tools and procedures help to simulate and recommend on hole-cleaning effectiveness,
however, limited integration of both surface and downhole processes, and lack of accurate hole status
information during the drilling and hole-cleaning processes can prevent what we need to achieve, which
is efficient hole-cleaning and hole condition while drilling and pulling drill pipe out of hole, without
needing to perform additional wiper trips and extended mud circulation times. Ineffective hole-cleaning
affects every drilling project and is often the single largest source of non-productive flat drilling times.

IADC/SPE-170473-MS

Figure 1Figure 1-3: After drilling the 8 horizontal section, the bit was POOH to 1714 ft MD. The new concept was to place now the non-rotational
scraper assembly into the DP string, to allow only minimum POOH of DP stands as part of the scheduled openhole wiper trip activity, and to assemble
the scraper assembly consisting of scrapers, brushes and magnets, followed by RIH back to TD at 5929 ft MD and as such completing the openhole
wiper trip. The selected specialized scraper tool assembly was active at all times during RIH and POOH. The non-rotational scraper feature allowed
DP rotation without blades rotating and potentially impairing the scraper blades integrity. The scraper was never moved outside the 9 5/8 casing.
The scraper successfully re-suspended the cutting beds and sedimented drill cuttings, allowing effective hole-cleaning and optimized RIH liner
operations. Figure 2 shows mounting the scraper assembly into the drill string prior RIH. Figure 3 shows the scraper assembly recoverded from the
wellbore cleaning trip with all brushes and blades fully intact.

Background and Situation

The operator, as many others worldwide, had no access to dedicated casing cleaning tools and adopted a
drilling insufficiency to clean the inside of the 9 5/8 casing, from casing shoe depth at 4,300 ft MD to
the vertical section at 1,000 ft measured depth (MD), by back-reaming inside the casing with the
directional BHA drill string. At least 2-3 such runs were needed to remove the drill cutting from the well,
adding up often 5,000-9,000 ft of back-reaming inside the casing, which had a very detrimental impact
on rig time, on wear on drillstring tools and on casing wear. Negative impact and extra costs generated
as follows:

2 days of lost time due to back-reaming trips inside the 9 5/8 casing
1 day of extra time for an additional dedicated run of a Round Nose Mill
wear and weakening on 9 5/8 casing inner surfaces
excessive wear on PDC bit gauge up to the destruction of the bit

IADC/SPE-170473-MS

high circulation flow rate resulted in high bit

revolutions - provided by the mud motor and excessive bit shoulder wear up to
destruction of the bit
string rotation inside the casing wears the
directional BHA, including especially wear
of the mud motor due to the bent housing
and hydraulic imbalance damaging the bearings section
additional time exposure to the reservoir increases Skin damage and may impair
production.

Innovative Integrated and

Engineered Hole-Cleaning Concept
An assessment and observation of the hole-cleaning
and conditioning challenges and risks were performed. The result identified the need of an integral
engineering solution. Making this innovation a success, nine critical objectives were identified as a
continuous process to be followed:
1. Best reasonably achievable hydraulic holecleaning with frequent deployment of opti- Figure 2
mized engineered tandem pill trains, deployed by a multi-cycle ported sub to be
installed above the BHA, to create short turbulent flow regimes in the annulus above the BHA.
2. Best reasonable mechanical drill cuttings removal at surface during drilling of highly deviated/
horizontal sections by high performance shakers and mud cleaners and performance monitoring
with a purpose-built and installed Cuttings Flow Meter device, to quantify the achieved cuttings
removal efficiency and to be reconsiliated with the drilled hole volumes generated.
3. Effective Hole Cleaning Management to reduce risks of stuck pipe. This is to be done through
monitoring, visualization, calibration and managing of Equivalent Circulating Densities (ECD),
Torque and Drag forces and friction factors.
4. Elimination of time consuming and detrimental wiper trips inside the casing (inside casing
back-reaming during drilling).
5. Elimination of dedicated cleaning trips with substitute tools (in-effective round nose mills or
equivalent) to clean the casing prior Run-In-Hole (RIH) of the liner hanger and liner joints.
6. Introduction of an integrated and engineered hole-cleaning process and a fit-for-purpose nonrotational scraper assembly incorporated into the drill string to achieve above described objectives.
7. Optimization of well & Rate-of-Penetration (ROP) planning and provision of drilling guidance to
enable and foster and support best possible hole-cleaning practice.
8. Elimination of forced re-running the liner due to excessive drag forces or built-up of non-removed
cutting beds preventing landing the liner at the designed and pre-determined depth.
9. Allowing setting the liner hanger deeper in the horizontal casing section, saving substantial
numbers of liner joints.

IADC/SPE-170473-MS

Problem Description and Solution

This manuscript describes specifically the successful placement of a dedicated non-rotational scraper
casing clean-up assembly into the drill string and
BHA after reaching total depth (TD) and just prior
to Pull-Out-Of-Hole (POOH) the directional BHA
and Run-In-Hole (RIH) liner with the liner hanger
packer.
Drilling reports read often circulate bottoms-up
to clean hole prior to tripping or RIH casing. The
implication is that after such actions, the hole is
considered as sufficiently clean. Reality is that often
high drag forces and tight spots are occurring during
tripping and RIH casing/liners suggesting presence
of non-removed cutting beds, fill and other irregularities caused by incomplete drill solids removal.
This increases with the hole angle and can cause
stuck pipe, the need of unscheduled additional
wiper trips, erosion damage to the BHA and drill
collars and generally high amounts of flat drilling
times and red money. Even increased circulating
times may not overcome the limitations of holecleaning physics. Clean shaker returns can be Figure 3
deceiving. Cuttings beds in highly deviated or horizontal sections are easy to create but difficult to
remove with standard practises.
Effective hole-cleaning requires integrated, engineered and focused solutions, customized and specific
to both open-hole and cased-hole sections. Preventive measures, rig-site monitoring and warnings play all
a major role to reduce flat drilling times. However, pump capacities, hole instabilities, BHA pressure
losses and cutting transport physics, and other operational limitations, require novel approaches to reach
acceptable hole-cleaning to reduce well construction times.

Solution Objectives
The proposed engineered solution focuses on the following objectives:

Replace the current time consuming practice to clean the 9 5/8 casing through back-reaming
inside the casing with the drill BHA and PDC drill bit during additionally scheduled wiper trips
Ensure full 360 casing surface contact cleaning prior to RIH the liner hanger, to guarantee the
casing is free of debris and accumulated drill solids and emulsified cuttings at the casings lower
side in the tangent and horizontal sections - to ensure trouble-free RIH liner and to secure an
adequate hydraulic seal across the liner hanger packer elements
Reduce openhole time exposure and surge pressures and Skin damage by eliminating a dedicated
Round Nose Mill cleaning trip (elimination of 1 rig day tripping time)
Eliminate casing wear and destruction of the PDC bit and excessive wear on the directional BHA
(several 100 thousands of USD of repair costs)
Allow the liner hanger to be placed deeper in the horizontal casing section; reducing costs and
amount of required liner joints

IADC/SPE-170473-MS

Operational Details
After drilling the 8 horizontal section from 4254 ft to 5929 ft with the directional BHA and a PDC
bit, a weighted viscous pill was pumped, displaced out of the hole and circulated the well clean. The bit
was POOH from TD in back-reaming 50 ft above the casing shoe at 4204 ft. After another pill pumped,
the drill pipe was further POOH with the bit at 1714 ft MD, soley to allow the scraper assembly to be
mounted at the rigfloor into the drill string. The concept was to place now the non-rotational scraper
assembly into the DP string (Figure 13), to allow only minimum POOH of DP stands as part of the
scheduled openhole wiper trip activity, and to assemble the scraper assembly consisting of modular
scrapers elements, brushes and magnets, followed by RIH back to TD at 5929 ft MD and as such
completing the openhole wiper trip cycle. The selected specialized scraper tool assembly was active at all
times during RIH and POOH. The exclusive non-rotational scraper feature allowed DP rotation without
blades rotating and potentially impairing the scraper blades integrity. The scraper was never moved
outside the 9 5/8 casing.

RESULTS
This first application of running the Scraper/Brush/Magnet assembly as part of the drill string has been
conducted as planned with outstanding results. A minimum of 3 days have been saved as no back-reaming
trips inside the casing were needed, and as now previous dedicated Round Nose Mill trips were
eliminated. In addition, further time savings materialized, as the non-rotational scraper assembly was
integrated as part of the drill string during the regular wiper trip activity, eliminating extra time for a
dedicated cleaning trip. No erosion was observed at the BHA tools and the PDC bit. The superior casing
cleaning activity is a combined result of complete cutting beds removal and hydraulic solids re-suspension
and transport out of the wellbore. Additionally, the magnet assembly collected and removed a total of 6
kgs of harmful ferrous and swarf debris. The followed liner run was very smooth, without elevated drag
never experienced before. The liner hanger was set 500 ft deeper in the horizontal section of the casing
just 200 ft above shoe. This saved the operator minimum 500 feet of liner joints, a substantial cost saving.
The clean casing surfaces allowed higher RIH speeds, and setting the liner hanger packer was totally
trouble-free. Lower piston effects result in lower Skin damage and higher sustained production.

CONCLUSIONS
The operator clearly saw the significant benefit using an integrated hole-cleaning solution and the
specialized scraper/brush/magnet assembly placed into the drilling BHA. Cutting beds and sedimented
drill cuttings were successfully re-suspended and removed from the tangent and horizontal sections, never
achievable before.
The described benefits materialized as an engineered process was applied, with all tasks integrated and
optimized. Risks of stuck-pipe and mud losses were averted through close rig-site collaboration. Further
significant time savings and operational streamlining can be achieved by selecting a new generation
scraper type with fully dormant blade pads, allowing total integration of the scraper assembly into the
drilling BHA, right from the start of drilling the deviated sections; with multiple blade activations, and
de-activations when desired, after reaching TD and POOH drillpipe, or even earlier, whenever required
totally eliminating any additional tripping or dedicated scraper runs, resulting in saving of several days
of well construction time. Mud circulations times or bottoms-up and mud circulation volumes/times can
futher be optimized when Cutting Flow Meters and reconciliation of the drilled hole volume with removed
cutting volumes are integrated in the hole cleaning process.