SPE 69490
HORIZONTAL UNDERBALANCED DRILLING IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL: A FIELD
CASE HISTORY
J. C. Cunha, SPE, Petrobras, Fbio Severo Rosa, Petrobras, Hlio Santos, SPE, Petrobras
Copyright 2001, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2001 SPE Latin American and Caribbean
Petroleum Engineering Conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2528 March 2001.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
Abstract
This paper describes aspects related to planning and execution
of four horizontal wells drilled underbalanced in the Estreito
Field. This field is located in Brazils Northeast Region (Fig.
1) and has its production zones depleted. It was discovered in
1982 and today it has more than 700 wells. Estreito field has
its producing reservoir very shallow and the formation is very
unconsolidated, these poses especial challenge to achieve and
maintain underbalanced condition at all times during the
drilling operation, requiring especial care not only during the
planning, but also for the execution of the well operations. In
order to achieve the required bottomhole pressure (ECD = 6.9
ppg) nitrogen was injected into the water base drilling fluid,
through the standpipe. Since the wells were horizontal, it was
required the use of electromagnetic MWD/GR once the regular
MWD would not work properly on a gasified fluid. In these
wells it was successfully tested a compact vertical gas-liquid
separator with an automated control system and data
acquisition system developed by Petrobras. A skimmer was
used for the solids-drilling fluid-oil separation.
Introduction
The Estreito field produces heavy oil with high viscosity
(>1000 Cp). The average production from the vertical wells is
between 3 and 4 m3/day, the horizontal wells produce 10 to 15
m3/day.
The low productivity of the wells increases the lifting
costs, with the use of special methods of recovery such as
cyclic and continuous steam injection to increase the
production of the wells. The use of UBD technique in this field
had the goal to test both the technical and economical
feasibility of this method to increase the oil production. Also
very important was the fact that this four-well campaign
allowed to field test several new equipment and operational
procedures that shortly will be used offshore, when wells with
aerated fluid will be drilled for the first time from a floater
drilling unit.
The four wells here described had the objective to drain an
area under the Au River. The extension of the horizontal
section was approximately 150 m, drilled with 8 bit. The
reservoir is an unconsolidated sandstone and the original
reservoir pressure was 20 kg/cm2. The estimated depletion is
around 3 kg/cm2 in the area under the river, still not heavily
depleted. The formation fluid is basically oil with no gas
associated.
A 13 3/8 conductor was set at 40 m, and the intermediate
9 5/8 casing was placed at 90 degrees already inside the
reservoir. Finally, the 7 production slotted casing was set in
the horizontal section (Fig. 2). This casing was cemented using
a DV tool, located inside the 9 5/8 casing. An external casing
packer was used to avoid overpressure on the formation during
the cementing job.
Drilling Technique
The 8 horizontal section was drilled underbalanced using a
two-phase fluid constituted by water, xantam guam (1 lb/bbl),
to slightly viscosify the fluid in order to sustain the iron
sponge (3 lb/bbl) used to avoid any problems in case H2S
were present, which did not occur. Anti-corrosion was also
used in a concentration of 2 gal/100 bbl, and the pH was kept
above 10.5. The gas was nitrogen pumped from trucks parked
at the location.
The liquid and gas rates were planned in such a way to
assure an ECD lower than the reservoir pressure, estimated at
7.4 ppg. As the reservoir is unconsolidated, wellbore stability
studies were conducted in order to determine the collapse
pressure. The best estimation was that this collapse pressure
would be equivalent to 6.5 ppg, even though several
uncertainties can affect the accuracy of this value.
Mudlite 2.1 (Maurer), SIDHAM (Petrobras), and
Dynaflow (Rogaland Research) were the hydraulic simulators
used to simulate the well hydraulics and liquid and gas rates.
The flow rates found in the simulators were around 240 gpm
of liquid (with an 8.5 ppg liquid phase density) and 350 SCFM
of gas. In the field, liquid rates of 150 to 200 GPM and gas
rates of 500 to 700 SCFM were used. The difference between
the predicted and actual flow rates was due to the pressure
2 J. C. CUNHA, FBIO SEVERO ROSA, HLIO SANTOS
losses at the surface, greater than originally estimated. The
density of the liquid phase was also higher than the used in the
simulations.
The transient Dynaflow simulator was used to estimate the
effect of pipe connection (adding new pipes to the drill string
as we drill deeper) on the bottomhole pressure (BHP). This
simulation showed that it was going to be very difficult to keep
the BHP between the limits defined by the collapse pressure
(219 psi) and the reservoir pressure (250 psi). What happened
was that when reinitiating circulation, the liquid slug formed
during connection of a new pipe, would provoke an increment
in the bottomhole pressure. On the other hand, when
circulation was stopped, the BHP would gradually dropped
due to the absence of friction loss. This would cause the BHP
to go below collapse pressure, which consequently, would
cause wellbore instability.
Theoretically, solution for this problem was to use a pre-
charge of nitrogen before the connection of a new pipe. In this
case, the liquid injection would be interrupted 90 seconds
before the gas, and the ESD valve located on the flow line
would be closed during the connection, keeping the well
pressurized. The goal of the pre-charge is to add more gas to
the liquid that will remain at the bottom of the well due to gas
segregation. By closing the valve this segregation will be
minimized, keeping the bottomhole pressure above the
collapse pressure. The connection time is also a very important
variable, for simulation purposes it was estimated at 4 min.
An electromagnetic MWD was used to control the
direction of the well. A Gamma Ray (GR) as well as an
annular bottomhole pressure sensor were connected to the
MWD. Both data were recorded in real time at a distance of 14
meters from the bit. These data were recorded at each 96 sec.
Separation and Process System
While the nitrogen was injected through the standpipe using a
nitrogen unit that would gasify the liquid nitrogen coming
from the trucks, the liquid phase was pumped by the mud
pumps. The mixture of both phases occurs in a Y connection at
the ground level, going then up to the standpipe.
On the return, a rotating control head (Williams 9000
model) was used above the regular BOP stack, allowing the
return flow to go to the separation system. The rotating control
head used allows a maximum static pressure of 1000 psi and
500 psi when rotating the string at a maximum of 100 rpm.
During the operation, after the rotating head the flow
passes through a choke manifold specifically designed and
built for the underbalanced operation. Before the choke there
is a safety valve with a remote pneumatic actuator, with a fail
close condition. For this operation, the system was changed to
fail open. The choke with 3000 psi working pressure had three
streams, one full and two with a variable choke pneumatically
controlled. A sample catcher is located after the choke. This is
also a specially designed and built sample catcher, with
screens inside cylindrical reservoirs where the sample is
retained when the flow is forced to pass through them (see
Fig.3).
SPE 69490
Just after the sample catcher the mixture gas-liquid-solids
enters the Petrobras Vertical Two Phase Separator. This
cylindrical separator is 6 meters high, has a 20 in. diameter
and is built with two concentric pipes. The mixture enters the
separator tangentially at its top. From there the flow goes
downward passing through the annular of the two concentric
pipes in a helical trajectory. In this movement, the gas is
separated and goes inside the inner pipe to the top of the
separator and after that to a secondary separator that will retain
any liquid still present into the mixture. After that the gas goes
to the burner. Conversely, the mixture liquid-solids go to the
bottom of the separator and from there to the skimmer. The
separator works with a liquid seal (to avoid gas going to the
skimmer with the liquid-solids mixture). Pneumatic valves
automatically control the level of the liquid seal.
The skimmer, that receives the liquid-solids (drilling fluid,
oil and cuttings) mixture, has 3 tanks (total 280 bbl). The first
one holds the cuttings and the other two separate the oil from
the drilling fluid.
Data Acquisition System
A dedicated fully automated control system has been
developed and used during the operations controlling all the
parameters and also the opening and closing of the control
valves. A typical screen of the data acquisition system is
showed in Fig. 4. In this particular case, the screen is showing
a zero liquid level inside the separator. This was before the
operation. All the equipment and valves are displayed in such
a way that makes very simple for the operator to control the
whole operation from the control cabin. In addition to the
control cabin monitor, there was another one remotely located
at drillers cabin. This monitor allows the driller and the
personnel at the rig floor to follow the operation.
At the same time the data is being showed on time, it is
also being recorded for future analysis. An example of some
data plotted against time is showed in Fig. 5. Contrary to other
standard UBD operations, in this one the data set is much more
complete, including separator levels, pressures and actuation
of the control valves. Also the system was linked to the
MWD/PWD tool. The list of recorded parameters includes
injection liquid and gas flow rates;
injection temperature and pressure;
rotating control head pressure;
separator liquid level;
liquid and gas outlet flow rates;
separator work pressure;
outlet liquid density;
control valves percentage openings;
bottomhole pressure;
well depth.
Therefore, a full control of the operation was in place at all
times, with even the observation of the influence of the surface
equipment on the bottomhole pressure. In many occasions
SPE 69490 HORIZONTAL UNDERBALANCED DRILLING IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL: A FIELD CASE HISTORY
when this is not possible, the bottomhole pressure might be
above the desired value due to mishandling of chokes or
valves at the surface. With this automated control system some
operational practices were changed to avoid overbalanced
conditions. Since the separator and control system were new,
some of the practices implemented were different from current
ones, improving significantly the whole operation.
Alarm sets were in place for liquid injection, separator
liquid level, and separator work pressure, which allowed a
much safer control operation.
Operations
In order to save stand-by time for equipment and personnel
dedicated to the underbalanced operation it was decided to
drill the four wells in batch. Therefore, the horizontal sections
of the wells were drilled only after the four wells have been
drilled and cemented to the intermediate casing string at an
inclination of 90o.
Attempts to avoid the overbalanced condition after the
connection using pre-charge of gas after shutting in the liquid
was not practical, due to the difficulties in coordinating the
mud pumps and nitrogen injection to allow the exact extra time
required for gas injection. This was especially difficult due to
the shallow depth of the wells. On the other hand, closure of
the ESD valve at the surface to avoid the reduction of
bottomhole pressure below the collapse pressure caused a
sudden increment of pressure and big slugs that impaired the
separator performance.
During the first well, it was realized that the actual collapse
pressure was lower than the predicted one. As a consequence,
after the connection the bottomhole pressure was allowed to go
to lower values, just by shutting in the injection, and not doing
any especial procedure. With this procedure, the increase in
pressure after the connection was not as high as the simulator
predicted. Even though an underbalanced condition was not
guaranteed at all times, only during small periods of time the
bottomhole pressure reached values slightly above the
estimated reservoir pressure.
Due to a problem on the nitrogen injection flow rate, which
was indicating a wrong value, the first well was drilled
overbalanced during the majority of the initial part of the
horizontal section. It was first supposed that the PWD was
giving a wrong value, but, after checking everything, it was
concluded that the nitrogen flow meter was wrong. As oil
production was being achieved, and half of the horizontal
section had been already drilled, it was decided to keep the
BHP at the same level to avoid affecting formation stability.
The chart of BHP and estimated collapse and reservoir
pressure can be seen in Fig. 6. In the remaining wells this
problem was solved and the underbalanced condition was
more stable.
Another interesting point to mention was a sudden
unexpected huge slug of nitrogen during the last third portion
of one of the wells. A detailed investigation was carried out
with all the measured and recorded values and no apparent
reason was found. One possible explanation might be the gas
3
accumulation on the upper side of the horizontal section of the
hole. At a certain point, the amount stored can start sudden
movement and the slug of gas reaches the surface. This
phenomenon deserves further investigation as can cause
serious problems during an underbalanced operation.
The total operating drilling time for each well ranged from
8 to 9 hr., except the first well which took 13 hr. In the same
field 4 other horizontal conventional wells have been drilled
recently, and the average drilling time for the horizontal
section was 13 hr.
The oil production achieved during drilling averaged 150
bbl/day. Due to the relatively high viscosity of the oil,
efficiency of the skimmer was poor. Heating up the oil or
addition of some chemicals could have helped the oil/water
separation, but these attempts were not made. Oil content in
the drilling fluid increased to 10% at the end of the well from
the initial value of 0%.
The well was planned to be drilled and completed
underbalanced. In this sense, a great effort was made to change
the original well design, casing and cementing practices, and
cleaning of the casing. After the slotted casing was cemented,
from the intermediate casing shoe to the surface, the remaining
cement plug and the slotted casing was washed and cleaned
with nitrogen fluid with the aim of avoid overpressure on the
formation, and a significant oil production during this period
was observed.
At this time it is not yet possible to check the performance
of the well production in comparison to other ones drilled
conventionally. The idea is to measure not only the oil
production but also the IP, to verify the benefits of having the
wells drilled underbalanced. From the observation of a higher
fluid level inside the wells drilled underbalanced after
finishing the well, it can be concluded that the formation
damage was lower than usual. Quantitative measurements will
be conducted as soon as the production reaches a steady state
condition.
Conclusions and Final Comments
This project was a successful initiative of an integrated team
comprised of personnel from different areas, such as: drilling,
reservoir, geology, research, and service companies. The
integration of the team since the initial stages of planning,
through training, and field operation was a key factor for the
success of the operation.
After this first underbalanced campaign we can conclude
that UBD is a feasible technique even in an unconsolidated
formation. In order to cope with this more aggressive drilling
practice, wellbore stability analysis should incorporate new
failure criteria and methods. The current wellbore stability
simulators are somehow very conservative.
The hydraulic simulators used, both the steady state and
the transient one, were accurate enough compared to the field
data, and were very important during the well planning stage.
The automated data and control acquisition system is
essential to have a safe and successful UBD operation.
The new compact vertical separation was approved and the
4 J. C. CUNHA, FBIO SEVERO ROSA, HLIO SANTOS SPE 69490

same concept will be used offshore during the field test of the
Offshore Drilling with Light-weight Fluids project.
Preliminary results indicate an increase in productivity of
the wells drilled underbalanced, compared with the
conventional ones
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Petrobras for permission of
publishing this paper. The following professionals made great
contribution for the project: Ivo Martins, Jose Feliciano, Jose
Arias, Sara Shayegy, Paulo Roberto Silva, Carlos Fernando
Fonseca (in memorium), Jos Luis Falco, Gladston Paolucci,
Ricardo Allan, Ricardo Eugenio, Angela Vargas, and Roberto
Rodrigano.

References
1. Cunha. J. C., Rosa, F. S. N. Underbalanced drilling
technique to improve drilling performance a practical
example, Rio Oil & Gas Conference, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, 5-8 October 1998 (in Portuguese).
2. Borba, G. L., Paula, A. L., Almeida, E. C., and Brito, E.
E. Horizontal drilling in shallow sandstones,
unconsolidated, and with heavy oil, 1st Petrobras Well
Engineering Seminar, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 25-29
November, 1996 (in Portuguese).
3. Falcao, J. L. and Fonseca, C. F. Underbalanced
horizontal drilling: A field study of wellbore stability in
Brazil, SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and
Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, 16-18 October 2000.
4. Nakagawa, E., Santos, H. and Cunha, J. C. Application
of Aerated-Fluid Drilling in Deep Water, World Oil,
June 1999.
5. Nakagawa, E., Santos, H. and Cunha, J. C. JIPs Work Brightens
Outlook for UBD in Deep Waters, The American Oil & Gas
Reporter, April 1999.

SI Metric Conversion Factors

bbl x 1.589 873 E-01 = m3
ft x 3.048 E-01 = m
gal x 3.785 412 E-03 = m3
in x 2.54 E+00 = cm
lbm x 4.535 924 E-01 = kg
psi x 6.894 757 E+00 = kPa
SPE 69490 HORIZONTAL UNDERBALANCED DRILLING IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL: A FIELD CASE HISTORY 5

Figure 1: Estreito Field, Brazils Northeast Region

CEMENT

Figure 2: Estreito UBD Horizontal Project Typical Wellbore

6 J. C. CUNHA, FBIO SEVERO ROSA, HLIO SANTOS SPE 69490

Figure 3: Surface Equipment Layout

SPE 69490 HORIZONTAL UNDERBALANCED DRILLING IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL: A FIELD CASE HISTORY 7

Figure 4: Data Acquisition Screen

Pinj (psi) Pretorno (psi)

BHP (psi) Bit Depth (m)
7-ET-765H-RN
600 600

500 500
Pressure (psi)

Bit Depth (m)

400 400

300 300

200 200

100 100

0 0
18:00 20:00 Time 22:00 0:00

Figure 5: Data Acquisition Pressure Data vs. Time

8 J. C. CUNHA, FBIO SEVERO ROSA, HLIO SANTOS SPE 69490

00:00 00:00
Lower
Lower
Collapse
Collapse
01:00 01:00 Bottomhole
Pressure

02:00 02:00
Reservoir
Pressure

03:00 03:00

04:00 04:00
Reservoir
Pressure

05:00 05:00
Bottomhole
Pressure

06:00 06:00
Time (h)

Time (h)

07:00 07:00

08:00 08:00

09:00 09:00

10:00 10:00

11:00 11:00

12:00 12:00

13:00 13:00
100 200 300 400 500 100 200 300 400 500
Bottomhole Pressure (psi) Bottomhole Pressure (psi)

Figure 6: BHP, Collapse and Reservoir Pressure