I N NOVATI N G WH I LE DR I LLI N G
LEFT: H&P’s HexGrip 120 automated floor wrench uses six dies to make contact with the drill pipe; that compares with two dies
on a conventional wrenc h. The result is a concentric gripping effect, where the dies grip around the circumference of the drill
pipe. This allows the wrench to better handle the higher torques often seen in extended laterals. RIGHT: H&P has seen a con-
sistent increase in average lateral length for its horizontal wells , with averages for the Midland and Appalachian basins each
surpassing 10,000 ft in 2021.

and even increased emissions and safety risk from the need
to retrieve stuck pipe. H&P introduced its Failure Prevention
Package in mid-2022, comprised of three solutions to better
tackle this issue: FlexB2D 2.0, FlexTorque and StallAssist tech-
nology. The main components of the Failure Prevention Package
work together to counteract problems commonly seen in long
laterals. The FlexB2D 2.0 software automatically and consis-
tently stages drilling set points after tagging bottom; FlexTorque
mitigates stick-slip and bit whirl; and the StallAssist technology
detects, mitigates and recovers from downhole stalls.

According to H&P, over the past six months, rigs in the
Delaware Basin of West Texas running the Failure Prevention
Package experienced 37.1% fewer unplanned vertical trips and
37.3% fewer unplanned lateral trips per rig per month. Those
rigs also saw 9.6% more vertical footage drilled and 17.7% more
lateral footage drilled between unplanned trips.

Improving bit guidance
At Patterson-UTI, a guiding principle while drilling extended
laterals is the value of keeping downhole tools in the hole as long
as possible, as it helps to minimize the number of runs needed.

“The longer you push your footage, the longer you’re going to be
in the hole. You’re going to have an exposed wellbore before you
can get the casing set. The better we can get with managing our
downhole tools, the better we have assurance of getting casing
to bottom in one run,” Mr Millwee said. “We want to try to get as
many one-run laterals as we can, so that we can have less of that
exposed wellbore before we have to change the BHA for the cus-
tomer. Being able to stay longer in the hole mitigates everyone’s
risk.” Recognizing that downhole tools have to stay in the hole for
longer and longer distances, Patterson-UTI has been focusing on
improving the accuracy of horizontal wellbore placement in the
wells it drills. In extended laterals, the risk of missing the target
zone increases as the BHA moves further downhole; the risk is
even higher if the target is thin and the subsurface varies greatly
within a short distance. If drillers have to course-correct with the
16 BHA, well productivity may be reduced. “When you go from 10,000
to 15,000 feet, that window of uncertainty may stretch a multitude
of feet. When we’re being told to hold the pay zones in narrow
windows at extended depths, the uncertainties can be more con-
cerning and impactful,” Mr Millwee said.

Over the past five years, Patterson-UTI and two of its subsidiar-
ies – Superior QC and MS Directional – have worked to develop
HiFi Guidance, a software program that utilizes proprietary AI
algorithms to refine the calculation of rotational tendencies and
motor yields in real time, allowing for forward projections and
optimized slide scheduling through each well section. When
combining this cloud-based software with rotary steerable sys-
tems, it can enhance and reduce change sequencing, thus reduc-
ing overall downlinking times.

The forward projections provided by the software enable
the system to maximize footage placed within the window, Mr
Millwee said. “When you’re drilling these long laterals, you need
to be as efficient as possible. If I go off in the opposite direction
from the plan, I could be leaving hydrocarbons in the wellbore,”
he said. “When you can accurately place and reduce the risk of
uncertainty with the well, we get better at drilling the well.”
The technology development was enabled by Patterson-UTI’s
2018 acquisition of Superior QC, a provider of software focused on
wellbore placement and data analytics .

“We’re seeing dramatic increases
in lateral levels in many of the areas
where we’re working. The 7,500-ft
laterals are kind of going away,
and we’re seeing more of a 10,000-ft
standard, with some companies
pushing 12,000 or 15,000 ft.”
- David Millwee, Patterson-UTI
M A R C H/A P R I L 2023 • D R I L L I N G C O N T R AC T O R