A Practical Decision Tool to Evaluate and Rank Potential Solutions for Expected Downhole Drilling Problems During the Well-planning Phase

Abstract

Currently, the main objective of oil operating companies is to increase drilling efficiency and minimize drilling costs; this can be achieved in several ways. One of them is the curtailment of downhole events associated with trouble time by obtaining the key factors that drive the best proactive solutions in terms of cost and effectiveness. From this perspective, the core focus of this paper is to present a detailed description to develop an integrated decision tool that will assist well planner engineers in evaluating multiple solutions considered to address a downhole problem anticipated during the well construction process. The tool presented here provides the means of assessing a particular solution's cost and anticipated effectiveness by generating an evaluation matrix based on two intercorrelated decision-driving indices, technical and monetary. To theoretically validate the concept, an artificial case study was created to find the best solution in mitigating a bit balling problem. The results of the case study reveal that: the concept is indeed theoretically applicable. However, a real life case study must be performed to prove the concept practically.