Abstract

Considering the special wellbore configuration and operating environment of deep-water drilling, a comprehensive model for circulating pressure loss of deep-water drilling is established. Based on fluid mechanics theory and heat transfer theory, wellbore temperature and pressure of riser section are calculated and a coupling approach is proposed. Comprehensive factors that affect circulating pressure loss of deep-water drilling are considered in this study. These factors are mud properties, flow regime, drill pipe rotation, drill pipe eccentricity, cuttings bed, tool joints, BHA (Bottom Hole Assembly), drill bit and surface pipeline. The model is applied to Liwan gas field of China. The results show that the data calculated by this model match the field data very well and the model can provide references for designing deep-water drilling hydraulic parameters.

Keywords:

Application, circulating pressure loss, deep-water drilling, liwan gas field,

References

1. Cartalos, U. and D. Dupuis, 1993. An analysis accounting for the combined effect of drillstring rotation and eccentricity on pressure losses in slimhole drilling. Proceeding of SPE/IADC Drilling Conference. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Feb. 23-25.
   CrossRef    
2. Demirdal, B. and J.C. Cunha, 2007. Pressure losses of non-Newtonian fluids in drilling operations. Proceeding of International Oil Conference and Exhibition. Veracruz, Mexico, June 27-30.
   CrossRef    
3. Dodge, D.W. and A.B. Metzner, 1959. Turbulent flow of non-Newtonian systems. AlChE J., 5(2): 189-204.
   CrossRef    
4. Fredrickson, A.G. and R.B. Bird, 1958. Flow of non-Newtonian fluid in annuli. Ind. Eng. Chem., 50: 347.
   CrossRef    
5. Guo, X.L. and Z.M. Wang, 2008. Precise method of calculating circulating pressure loss in extended reach wells. J. Oil Gas Technol., 30(5): 99-102.
   
6. Haciislamoglu, M. and U. Cartalos, 1994. Practical pressure loss predictions in realistics annular. Proceeding of the SPE 69th Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. New Orleans, U.S.A., pp: 25-28.
   CrossRef    
7. Hanks, R.W., 1963. The laminar-turbulent transition for fluids with a yield stress. AlChE J., 9(3): 306-309.
   CrossRef    
8. Hansen, S.A. and N. Sterri, 1995. Drill pipe rotation effects on frictional pressure losses in slim annuli. Proceeding of the SPE Annular Conference and Exhibition. Dallas, U.S.A., pp: 22-25.
   CrossRef    
9. Hemphill, T., P. Bern, J.C. Rojas and K. Ravi, 2007. Field validation of drillpipe rotation effects on equivalent circulating density. Proceeding of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Anaheim, U.S.A., pp: 11-14.
   CrossRef    
10. Kelessidis, V.C., P. Dalamarinis and R. Maglione, 2011. Experimental study and predictions of pressure losses of fluids modelled as Herschek-Bulkley in concentric and eccentric annuli in laminar, transitional and turbulent flows. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng., 77: 305-312.
    CrossRef    
11. McCann, R.C., M.S. Quigley, M. Zamora and K.S. Slater, 1995. Effect of high-speed pipe rotation on pressure in narrow annuli. SPE Drill. Completion, 10(2): 96-103.
    CrossRef    
12. Ooms, G. and B.E. Kampman-Reinhartz, 2000. Influence of drillpipe rotation and eccentricity on pressure drop over borehole with Newtonian liquid during drilling. SPE Drill. Completion, 15(4): 249-253.
    CrossRef    
13. Ozbayoglu, E.M. and M. Sorgun, 2010. Frictional pressure loss estimation of non-Newtonian fluids in realistic annulus with pipe rotation. J. Can. Petrol. Technol., 49(12): 57-64.
    CrossRef    
14. Wang, Z.M., 2008. Fluid Mechanics in Petroleum Engineering. Petroleum Industry Press, Beijing, pp: 31.
    
15. Wang, Z.M., X.M. Hao and X.L. Guo, 2011. A study on the thickness of a cutting bed monitor and control in an extended reach well. Petrol. Sci. Technol., 29(13): 1397-1406.
    CrossRef    
16. Wang, Z.M., X.N. Hao and X.Q. Wang, 2010a. Numerical simulation on deepwater drilling wellbore temperature and pressure distribution. Petrol. Sci. Technol., 28: 911-919.
    CrossRef    
17. Wang, Z.M., Y.J. Zhai and X.N. Hao, 2010b. Numerical simulation on three layer dynamic cutting transport model and its application on extended well drilling. Proceeding of the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, pp: 1-3.
    CrossRef    
18. Zamora, M. and D.L. Lord, 1974. Practical analysis of drilling mud flow in pipes and annuli. Proceeding of the 49th Annual Fall Meeting of Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME. Houston, Texas, October 6-9.
    CrossRef    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.