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ICMERE2011-PI-112
Time Dependent Mechanical Borehole Stability Analysis Using PBORE-3D
Di pankar Chowdhury1 and Pl Skalle1
1
Abstract- Borehole instability, commonly referred to as tight hole or stuck pipe, can either be
mechanical or chemical depending on the source of the problem. Mechanical borehole instability occurs as
soon as the new formation is drilled due to either too low or too high mud weight compared to in -situ rock
strength. Due to consolidation effect, a time dependent mechanical borehole stability analysis needs to be
performed if the borehole is left open for a period of time. A poromechanics stability simulator, PBORE-3D,
is used for time dependent mechanical borehole stability analysis of a virtual 12 horizontal borehole
drilled in Eocene shale, Cardium sandstone and Cardium interbedded sandstone/shale using modified
Lade criterion.
Drilling at near balanced condition in Eocene shale (isotropic in -situ horizontal stress) will initially
produce collapse region around the borehole which does not increase much with time. A horizontal
borehole drilled in the direction of minimum horizontal stress in Cardium sandstone (anisotropic in -situ
horizontal stress) is found more stable than that drilled in the maximum horizontal stress direction for near
balanced drilling condition. The stable mud window for Cardium interbedded sandstone/shale is observed
not to change appreciably with time for a horizontal well drilled in the direction of minimum princi pal
horizontal stress.
Based on the analysis results, a horizontal borehole drilled in the direction of minimum horizontal stress
(for an anisotropic horizontal stress field) with near balanced drilling condition is found mechanically
more stable than that drilled overbalanced.
Keywords : Mechanical borehole stability, Consolidation, PBORE-3D, Near balanced drilling condition
1. INTRODUCTION
Wellbore instability is the major cause of
nonproductive time during drilling operation 1 and hence
a major concern during drilling. It costs the petroleum
industry more than six b illion USD worldwide every
year1 . Therefore, the petroleu m industry is keen to
improve their understanding of borehole instability.
The formation at a given depth is subjected to three
in-situ principal stresses one vertical stress and two
horizontal stresses. When a borehole is drilled, the
surrounding rock needs to carry the load which was
previously carried by the removed rock. Th is causes
stress redistribution in the vicinity of the borehole. The
surrounding rock will fail, if the redistributed stress state
exceeds the rock strength.
Borehole instability leads to operational problems,
such as tight hole or stuck pipe. Mostly encountered
in shale and mudstone2 , borehole instability related
incidents result in loss of time (and occasionally
equipment) wh ich account for at least 10% of the drilling
costs3 .
Wellbore instability can either be mechanical or
chemical depending on the source of the prob lem4 .
Mechanical instability occurs due to either too low or too
high mud weight compared to the rock strength. On the
other hand, chemical instability (also referred to as shale
Parameter
Eocene shale
TVD
v
H
h
p
Co
F
E
To
2051 m
20 KPa/ m
18.04 KPa/ m
18.04 KPa/ m
15.6 KPa/ m
3.85 MPa
1o
800 M Pa
0.40
0 MPa
0.001 mD
(assumed)
0o (assumed)
0o
90o
Z(H )
Z(well)
well
2400 m
24 KPa/ m
24 KPa/ m
18.6 KPa/ m
10 KPa/ m
13 MPa
35o
15000 MPa
0.25
0 MPa
Card iu m
interbedded
sandstone/shale
2400 m
24 KPa/ m
24 KPa/ m
18.6 KPa/ m
10 KPa/ m
5 MPa
35o
4000 MPa
0.30
0 MPa
0.5 mD
0.1 mD
45o
135o
90o
45o
135o
90o
Card iu m
sandstone
Fig.2: The change in stable mud weight with borehole inclination for
different time intervals (60o breakout
angle)
ICMERE2011
Fig.3: Critical regions for near balanced condition after 1.15 minutes (left)
and 1.0 day (right)
Figure 3 shows the critical co llapse reg ions in the
Eocoene shale for a near balanced situation. It can be
seen that the critical regions in the shale do not change
much with t ime for near balanced condition. 1600 kg/ m3
results in a static wellbore pressure of 32.2 MPa which is
just a little over the pore pressure (32 MPa). If the
cavings are efficiently circulated out of the borehole
before proceeding further, there will be no more cavings
falling into the bore hole afterwards. Simu lation also has
been performed for a t ime interval of one month and it is
found that the critical collapse regions do not change
considerably.
Fig.4: The critical fracturing (left) and collapse (right) regions for
overbalanced condition
borehole.
useful option2 .
It is to be noted that the in-situ horizontal stresses are
isotropic. Therefore, mechanical wellbore stability is
unaffected by the choice of wellbore azimuth.
6.2 Cardium Sandstone
It is conventional to drill a horizontal borehole in the
direction of min imu m horizontal principal stress in case
of anisotropic horizontal stress field 12 . This is because
the difference between the principal stresses
perpendicular to the borehole is reduced and results in a
minimu m stress concentration around the borehole. Fjr
et al2 performed an analysis and showed that horizontal
well drilled in the direction of minimu m horizontal stress
for anisotropic in-situ horizontal stress field, exhib its
improved borehole stability. Hence the horizontal well
azimuth for the Cardiu m sandstone is considered to be
same as that of the minimu m horizontal stress to begin
with.
The Cardiu m sandstone has high cohesion and angle
of internal frict ion. These indicate that the formation has
high shear strength. Hence the stable mud window for a
horizontal well drilled in Cardiu m sandstone is
considerably wide upto one day after drilling as showed
in Figure 8. Ho wever, the stable mud window narrows
down considerably for time intervals beyond five days.
The plot (right) in the bottom row of Figure 8 shows that
the stable mud window not only narro ws down, but also
reduces in magnitude considerably after 10 days.
Figure 9 shows a sensitivity analysis for time
dependent borehole collapse for two different borehole
azimuths one in the direction of minimu m horizontal
stress and the other in the d irection o f maximu m
horizontal stress. It is observed that a horizontal borehole
drilled in the direction of minimu m horizontal stress is
more stable co mpared to that drilled in the maximu m
horizontal stress direction for near balanced drilling
conditions. This is in agreement with Fjr et al2 .
For well azimuth in the direction of minimu m
horizontal stress, the borehole is always stable for the
balanced drilling condition. But for the well azimuth
parallel to maximu m horizontal stress, the collapse
region appears immediately after drillout and it continues
to increase with time leading to an unstable borehole
condition.
For the Cardiu m sandstone, a stable horizontal
borehole can be drilled at balanced drilling condition
provided that the wellbore azimuth is parallel to the
minimu m horizontal stress. Further analysis showed that
underbalanced drilling is also a viable option for this
formation as it is quite strong. Underbalanced drilling is
advantageous as it provides higher ROP and avoids
formation damage caused by the invasion of drilling flu id
into the formation due to overbalance.
6.3 Cardium Interbedded Sandstone/Shale
The stable mud window for a horizontal hole drilled
in the direction of minimu m horizontal direction in
Card iu m interbedded sandstone/shale is found not to
change appreciably for a time interval varied between
1.15 minutes and 1 day. Like the Eocene shale, it is
observed from simulat ion that more cavings will be
ICMERE2011
Fig.8: Change in stable mud window with borehole inclination for different time intervals (no breakout angle)
for Card iu m sandstone
Fig.9: Critical collapse region for well azimuth parallel to min imu m horizontal stress (first row) and parallel to
maximu m horizontal stress (second and third row) at d ifferent time intervals
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Fig.10: Critical collapse regions for 2000 kg/ m3 (top row) and 1100 kg/m3 (bottom row)
due to diffusion of the borehole fluid into the formation
(Figure 10). Depending on the formation permeability,
the time for pressure equilib ration will vary. In the figure,
the pressure equilibration is considered to be attained
after one day and the equilib rating pressure is assumed to
correspond to a mud weight of 1100 kg/ m3 . It can be
observed fro m the simulat ion that the amount of cavings
will not change much for the present case after one day at
the mud weight of 1100 kg/ m3 .
7. Conclusion
In the present work, simulat ion results obtained for
time-dependent mechanical borehole stability analysis
presented using a poromechanics simulator PBORE-3D.
The poroelasticity theory is used along with
consolidation effect to simulate borehole conditions with
time under varying drilling conditions for a virtual
12-1/ 4 horizontal borehole drilled in Eocene shale,
Card iu m sandstone and Cardiu m interbedded
sandstone/shale.
Based on the analysis presented in the previous
section, it is realized that stable mud window depends on
time as the stress state of the formation surrounding a
borehole changes with time. Use of an overbalanced mud
weight reduces the amount of cavings generated during
drilling. It is worth noting that drilling in near balanced
condition improves time dependent borehole stability for
the three cases presented earlier. A mount of cavings
generated initially is much higher in near balanced
condition compared to overbalanced drilling. Ho wever,
the collapse region is not seen to change much with time
which indicates that less or no more caving will be
generated afterwards under near balanced drilling
condition.
Only one of the four sources of time dependent
borehole failure is considered in the present work.
Simu lation work to be performed incorporating the other
three sources of time dependent borehole failure is
10. NOMENCLATURE
Symbol
1
2
Meaning
Major in-situ principal stress
Intermediate in -situ principal
stress
Minor in -situ principal stress
SI Unit
(Pa)
(Pa)
TVD
v
H
h
P
Co
F
(m)
(Pa)
(Pa)
(Pa)
(Pa)
(Pa)
(o )
To
Z(H )
Youngs modulus
Poissons ratio
Tensile strength
Permeability
Azimuth of H
(Pa)
(Pa)
(Darcy)
(o )
Z(well)
well
Well azimuth
Well Inclination
(o )
(o )
(Pa)
ICMERE2011