High-build RSS drills consistent, in-zone wells in Marcellus

摘要

The Marcellus Shale is emerging as one of the world's most prolific and fastest-growing shale gas plays. Multipad horizontal drilling, tight lease boundaries, complex well profiles, anti-collision considerations and critical landing zones make this a challenging environment. To overcome these challenges, an operator and a service provider used a high build-rate rotary steerable system (RSS) to drill multiple complex 3D well profiles from a single pad. The approach included optimizing the bit for the RSS, enabling the curve and lateral intervals to be drilled in one run. The average number of drilling days per horizontal curve and lateral well were reduced by 51.9%. With more predictable drilling costs and improved well planning measures, the operator drilled 16 wells in the Marcellus.