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The Mechanical Earth Model Concept and Its Application to High-Risk Well
Construction Projects
Richard Plumb, Stephen Edwards, Gary Pidcock, Donald Lee, Brian Stacey, Schlumberger, SPE Members
Abstract
Many of todays well construction projects are technically and
economically challenging.
Examples include deepwater
exploration wells in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore field
development projects such as Hibernia, Newfoundland, Canada
and onshore field development projects in tectonically active
regions such as the Cusiana field in Colombia. Minimizing
non-productive time associated with wellbore instability and
unexpected pore pressure regimes reduces the risk of
dangerous accidents and is required to complete the well on
time and within budget. Minimizing non-productive time is a
complex task that requires thorough pre-spud planning to
identify drilling risks and geological hazards and to develop
contingency plans for handling those risks. Building a
mechanical earth model during the well planning phase and
revising it in real time has proven to be extremely valuable in
delivering complex wells safely while minimizing unplanned
well construction costs. Monitoring and revising the model
while drilling requires geomechanics expertise, teamwork, data
management and excellent communications among service
companies and their client.
This paper defines a mechanical earth model, explains why it is
important, how it is developed and how it is applied to well
construction and field development. We will discuss sources of
information and the multi-disciplinary team approach required
to: generate, revise and maintain an earth model. Three
examples of the application of the earth model concept are
discussed.
Introduction
More of todays well construction and field development
projects are both technically and economically challenging.
Understanding the geomechanics of well construction is
becoming increasing important in order to drill technically and
economically challenging wells on budget.
Wells with hostile pore pressure and fracture gradient
profiles require a good pre-drill pore pressure and fracture
gradient prediction in order to design a suitable casing
program. A casing program designed on a profile significantly
less hostile than that encountered may compromise the
attainable TD of the well. The cost of materials and rig time
spent running extra casing significantly adds to the cost of the
well. The risk of taking kicks which can be both costly and
dangerous can also be reduced by a more rigorous pre-drill
pore pressure prediction coupled with real-time pore pressure
analysis from LWD measurements. In the deepwater Gulf of
Mexico there are examples of wells which require a good
mechanical earth model (MEM) in order to be drilled at all.
Despite decades of industry attention, wellbore instability is
responsible for many costly stuck pipe incidents. Stuck pipe is
responsible for lost BHAs and considerable NPT spent freeing
pipe, performing additional wiper trips and hole cleaning. In
cases where wellbore stability problems are severe, the
economics of developing a field can become challenging, for
example the Cusiana field in Colombia, S.A. Other fields
where lesser wellbore stability problems may still challenge the
field economics are found where the cost of drilling is very
high, e.g. the Hibernia field offshore Canada and or fields in the
North Sea.
Minimizing the risk of pore pressure or wellbore stability
related problems requires an understanding of the fields
geomechanics. To gain this knowledge and to implement it
successfully requires a process for building a mechanical earth
model and using it to provide timely information to decision
makers. Building a mechanical earth model during the well
planning phase and revising it in real time has proven to be
extremely valuable in delivering complex wells safely while
minimizing unplanned well construction costs and accelerating
learning about the field. Information developed and applied
Earth
Stresses,
pore pressure
Rock Failure
Mechanisms
Rock
Mechanical
Parameters
x
x
x
x
Geologic
Structure
Stratigraphy
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
IADC/SPE 59128
IADC/SPE 59128
THE MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO HIGH-RISK WELL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Logs
Mechanical
Stratigraphy
Pore Pressure
(Pp)
Overburden
Bulk density
Stress (v)
Stress Direction
Minimum
Horizontal stress
Oriented multi-arm
calipers, borehole images,
Oriented velocity
anisotropy
Sonic (Vp & Vs), wireline
stress tool,
Other
Cuttings, cavings,
sequence stratigraphy
Interval velocity from
seismic, formation test,
daily drilling reports
Cuttings
Structural maps
3D seismic
Pp , leak-off tests,
extended leak-off test,
microfrac, step-rate
injection tests, database,
daily drilling reports,
modeling
Maximum
Horizontal stress,
( H )
Elastic
Parameters
E, G,
Rock strength
parameters
(UCS, )
Failure
mechanisms
IADC/SPE 59128
weights from distant (20 miles) offset wells. Notice the two
profiles differ by as much as 3 ppg. The drilling program was
based on the more optimistic pressure profile.
Several thousand feet below the mud line, the well took a
kick indicating an error in the pressure profile. A real-time
pore pressure-monitoring project was then initiated to revise
the pressure forecast and to re-evaluate the drilling program. A
real-time pore pressure analysis was performed using sonic
while drilling (LWD) data as input to the pore pressure model
instead of the seismic interval velocities. The real-time
pressure analysis was calibrated using drilling data (kicks,
losses, cavings type etc.) acquired prior to running the LWD
tools.
Back-analysis of the initial earth model showed that the
seismic-based prediction could be calibrated using drilling data
to provide a look-ahead pore pressure prediction (Figure 4).
At half the planned well depth a decision had to be made
whether or not to continue drilling the well. The higher than
anticipated pore pressure resulted in setting several casing
shoes shallower than planned and the question was: could the
target be reached given the remaining casing strings? On the
basis of the revised model the decision was made to continue
drilling using real-time pressure monitoring and evaluation for
the remainder of the well. The real-time monitoring included a
daily evaluation of the current pore pressure forecast using
LWD measurements of p-wave velocity, resistivity, annular
pressure and gamma ray and a continuous evaluation of the
look-ahead prediction. Using this methodology the well
reached the planned TD safely.
Comparison of the look ahead prediction (shown in Figure
4) with the actual ECD from this well (Figure 5) shows that
the look-ahead was accurate over the 8000 ft between the depth
at which it was made and TD. The above example illustrates the
process shown in Figure 2. This process:
IADC/SPE 59128
THE MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO HIGH-RISK WELL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Yes
1260
Comments
No WBS Model
B-16 2
No
1230
No WBS Model
B-16 3
Yes
1180
No WBS Model
B-16 4
No
1200
B-16 4Z
No
1200
No WBS used
B-16 7
No
1245
No WBS used
B-16 6
Yes
1270
No WBS used
B-16 5
Yes
1340
W B S u s e d
B-16 9
Yes
1280
W B S u s e d
B-16 10Z
Yes
1320
W B S u s e d
B-16 11
Yes
1320
W B S u s e d
B-16 14
Yes
1320
W B S u s e d
B-16 15Z
No
1320
WBS challenged
B-16 16
Yes
1320
W B S u s e d
IADC/SPE 59128
Summary
Figure 11 shows other locations where we have developed
Mechanical earth models in the past three years. In all cases the
focus of the modeling has been to reduce the risk of nonproductive time due to wellbore instability. The majority of
the cases involve wells that cost more than $10 million. In
such cases the return on investment in the MEM to well
construction projects alone has typically been about 10:1 for
the drilling phase alone. The added value of developing an earth
model for life of field application has not been widely
explored. However, as example 3 suggests, the potential
impact of the MEM on field development planning can be
dramatic.
Conclusions
1. The mechanical earth model concept has been defined
2. Mechanical earth models can be built and refined while
drilling exploration wells.
3. Mechanical earth models are valuable for reducing nonproductive time on high-risk drilling projects. When state of
the art communication and data management techniques are
implemented, information from the MEM can be delivered on
short notice to support real-time decisions on the rig.
4. Mechanical earth models have greatest value to well
construction and field development when they are integrated
into a plan-execute-evaluate and revise process.
5. Geomechanics information developed early in the phases
of field development is valuable for optimizing reservoir
development for the life of the field.
Nomenclature
E = Youngs Modulus
G = Shear Modulus
= Friction Angle
= Poissons Ratio
h= Minimum Horizontal Stress
H= Maximum Horizontal Stress
v= Vertical Stress
Pp = Pore Pressure
Vp = Compressional wave speed
Vs = Shear wave speed
UCS = Unconfined Compressive Strength
MEM = Mechanical Earth Model
ROP = Rate of Penetration
LWD = Logging While Drilling
NPT = Non Productive Time
References
IADC/SPE 59128
THE MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO HIGH-RISK WELL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Anderson,
R.A., Ingram, D.S., and Zanier,
A.M.:Determining Fracture Pressure Gradients From
Well Logs, JPT, 1259, (Nov. 1973)
7.
8.
9.
Bradford, I.D.R. and Cook, J.M., A semi-analytic Elastoplastic Model for Wellbore Stability with Applications to
Sanding SPE ISRM Eurock (Aug 1994)
10. Last, N., Plumb, R.A., Harkness, R., Charlez, P., Alsen, J.,
McLean, M., An Integrated Approach to Managing
Wellbore Instability in the Cusiana Field, Columbia, South
America SPE 30464, Dallas 22-25 (Oct 1995)
11. Traugott, M., Pore/fracture pressure determinations in
deep water Deepwater Technology supplement to World
Oil, August 1997.
12. Plumb, R.A., Papanastasiou, P., Last, N., Constraining
the state of stress in tectonically active settings Eurock,
179 189, SPE/ISRM 47240 (1998)
13. Brett, J.F., and Milheim, K.K., The drilling performance
curve: A yardstick for judging drilling performance SPE
15362, 1986.
Strength
Elastic
Stratigraphy
10
0
Youngs
100 0 F.Angle ()
Modulus (E)
Poissons
Ratio ()
20
Stress Direction h
400
UCS
70
Stress
200
MPa
1.0
Grain
Support
Facies
Clay
Support
Facies
fault ?
UCS
Pp
h H
Regional
Trend
IADC/SPE 59128
IADC/SPE 59128 THE MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO HIGH-RISK WELL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
X1000
X2000
X3000
X4000
X5000
X6000
X4500
X8000
X11500
X15000
X18500
10
X1000
X4500
X8000
X11500
X15000
X18000
IADC/SPE 59128
IADC/SPE 59128 THE MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO HIGH-RISK WELL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Plasticity effect
Start of Project
0
2 0
4 0
6 0
8 0
1 0 0
1 2 0
1 4 0
1 6 0
1 8 0
2 0 0
Trajectory Analysis
Pp Forecast
2 0 0 0
Pp forecast
4 0 0 0
Wellbore
Stability Forecast
Alert, 9000 ft +,
6 0 0 0
Logs
possible instability
Wellbore Stability
Forecast-Reservoir
1 0 0 0 0
Pp & Wellbore
Stability Forecasts
Logs
8 0 0 0
Trajectory Analysis
Wellbore Stability
Forecast-Reservoir
Model Pp scenarios
Wellbore Stability
Forecast -Reservoir
1 2 0 0 0
Logs
Logs
1 4 0 0 0
1 6 0 0 0
Logs
Logs
Logs
Logs
Logs
Logs
1 8 0 0 0
Figure 8 - Time depth curves showing key input from the geomechanics
team. Note that the MEM was supporting two wells that were being
drilled simultaneously. Two-way communication between the field and the
planning team can not be adequately shown in this figure.
11
Well 2X
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
Well 3X
-0.7
-0.8
-0.9
0
0.5
1.5
12
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1
Sequence Drilled
IADC/SPE 59128
IADC/SPE 59128 THE MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO HIGH-RISK WELL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Geomechanics Projects
13