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
I N NOVATI N G WH I LE DR I LLI N G
or an f a list o
Sc Upon its launch in 2022, HiFi helped Patterson-UTI see a 27.8%
increase in the amount of lateral footage placed in the drilling
window compared with its average in the previous year. After the
system was rolled out to the company’s APEX rigs, it saw an 8%
increase in average daily footage drilled from 2021 to 2022, and
an average well depth increase of 500 ft in the same time span.
In one Eagle Ford project, Patterson-UTI deployed the software
system in an area where high ROP was common, so there was an
increased need for precise lateral targeting and deliberate steer-
ing decisions. The company determined that reducing the sliding
percentage and the overall number of slides could yield a reduc-
tion in drilling time, resulting in a smoother wellbore.
A pre-job analysis of directional drilling in offset wells revealed
an average of four slides per 1,000 ft, with a 35% variance between
the day and night directional driller. For this project, the operator
had the directional drillers follow their standard operating proce-
dure for four offset wells on the pad, and a fifth well would utilize
the HiFi Guidance system to make all steering decisions in the
lateral. Results showed the four offset wells had an 8.6% average
slide percentage, compared with just 3.3% for the fifth well – this
marked a 62% reduction in sliding percentage in the lateral.
Additionally, the number of slides was reduced by 46% when
comparing the directional drillers versus the HiFi Guidance sys-
tem in the lateral. Drilling time was reduced by 17 hours, resulting
in a direct savings of $35,000. DC
Algorithms built into Patterson-UTI’s HiFi Guidance system
refine the calculation of rotational tendencies and motor
yield in real time, optimizing slide schedulin g. The company
says it has seen a 27.8% increase in lateral footage placed in
the drilling window since launching the technology last year.
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