Granted Patent B2

US 12,264,573 · App. 18/351,250 · Granted Apr 1, 2025

Inventors: Scott Gilbert Boone (Houston, TX); Brian Ellis (Spring, TX); Colin Gillan (Houston, TX); Beat Küttel (Spring, TX)

Assignee: NABORS DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES USA, LTD.

E21B44/02E21B7/04

Abstract

Claims (99)

1. A method of using a quill to steer a bit when elongating a wellbore, wherein the quill and the bit are coupled to opposing ends of a drill string, the method comprising:

receiving, by a controller, real-time data associated with being on-bottom of the wellbore before a connection, wherein the real-time data associated with the bit being on-bottom before the connection comprises data associated with:

actual toolface orientation;

surface-measured mud motor ΔP;

surface-measured quill torque;

surface-measured weight-on-bit (“WOB”); and

surface-measured quill position;

learning, based on the real-time data, relationships between:

surface-measured mud motor ΔP and surface-measured quill torque;

changes in surface-measured WOB and surface-measured quill torque;

and

changes in surface-measured quill position and actual toolface orientation;

recording, by the controller and after slips are set around a portion of the drill string but before a connection is made, a first surface-measured quill position;

referencing, by the controller, the first recorded surface-measured quill position to the learned relationships;

recording, by the controller and after the slips are set around the portion of the drill string and after the connection is made, a second surface-measured quill position;

accessing, by the controller and after learning the relationships, a desired toolface orientation;

wherein the desired toolface orientation is associated with the first recorded surface-measured quill position;

affecting, by the controller and based on the first recorded surface-measured quill position, a first change of the quill position to bring the surface-measured quill position to the first recorded surface-measured quill position;

returning, after affecting the first change, the bit to the bottom of the wellbore;

receiving, by the controller and after returning the bit to the bottom, real-time data associated with the bit being on-bottom after the connection, wherein the real-time data associated with the bit being on-bottom after the connection comprises data associated with:

actual toolface orientation;

surface-measured mud motor ΔP;

surface-measured quill torque;

surface-measured weight-on-bit (“WOB”); and

surface-measured quill position;

comparing, by the controller and after receiving the data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, the desired toolface orientation and the actual toolface orientation; and

affecting, by the controller and based on the comparison and the learned relationships, a second change of the quill position and one or more of

mud motor ΔP;

surface-measured quill torque; or

WOB.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

learning, by the controller and based on the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, threshold relationships between variations of surface-measured quill torque and stick-slip behavior of the drill string;

comparing, by the controller and using the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, variations of the surface-measured quill torque to the threshold relationships; and

affecting a third change, by the controller and based on the comparison and the threshold relationships, of a rotations per minute (“RPM”) of the drill string.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the change of the RPM of the drill string comprises an automatic step up or step down of the RPM by a predetermined quantity for a predetermined duration.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second change is sufficient to reduce the difference between the actual and desired toolface orientations.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising affecting a fourth change, by the controller and based on the comparison and the threshold relationships, of the WOB.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the fourth change comprises an automatic reduction of the WOB.

7. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection further comprises data associated with:

rate of penetration; and

a mud weight from a return line; and

wherein the method further comprises:

detecting, by the controller and based on the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, a trend of a downhole parameter while elongating the wellbore;

comparing, by the controller, the trend of the downhole parameter to a predicted trend of the downhole parameter; and

automatically creating, by the controller, a modified drilling path of the wellbore when the trend of the downhole parameter is a reversal of the predicted trend of the downhole parameter.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predicted trend of the downhole parameter is an increase of a d-exponent factor with an increase in depth.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the d-exponent factor is a factor based on the rate of penetration, pressure data, bit diameter, the WOB, and the mud weight.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying on a user-interface at least a portion of the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection.

11. An apparatus configured to use a quill to steer a bit when elongating a wellbore, wherein the quill and the bit are coupled to opposing ends of a drill string, the apparatus comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, wherein the instructions are executed with at least one processor so that the following steps are executed:

receiving, by a controller, real-time data associated with being on-bottom of the wellbore before a connection,

wherein the real-time data associated with the bit being on-bottom before a connection comprises data associated with:

actual toolface orientation;

surface-measured mud motor ΔP;

surface-measured quill torque;

surface-measured weight-on-bit (“WOB”); and

surface-measured quill position;

learning, based on the real-time data, relationships between:

surface-measured mud motor ΔP and surface-measured quill torque;

changes in surface-measured WOB and surface-measured quill torque; and

changes in surface-measured quill position and actual toolface orientation;

recording, by the controller and after slips are set around a portion of the drill string but before a connection is made, a first surface-measured quill position;

referencing, by the controller, the first recorded surface-measured quill position to the learned relationships;

recording, by the controller and after slips are set around the portion of the drill string and after the connection is made, a second surface-measured quill position;

accessing, by the controller and after learning the relationships, a desired toolface orientation;

wherein the desired toolface orientation is associated with the first recorded surface-measured quill position;

affecting, by the controller and based on the first recorded surface-measured quill position, a first change of the quill position to bring the surface-measured quill position to the first recorded surface-measured quill position;

returning, after affecting the first change, the bit to the bottom of the wellbore;

receiving, by the controller and after returning the bit to the bottom, real-time data associated with the bit being on-bottom after the connection, wherein the data associated with the bit being on-bottom of the wellbore after the connection comprises data associated with:

actual toolface orientation;

surface-measured mud motor ΔP;

surface-measured quill torque;

surface-measured weight-on-bit (“WOB”); and

surface-measured quill position;

comparing, by the controller and after receiving the data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, the desired toolface orientation and the actual toolface orientation; and

affecting, by the controller and based on the comparison and the learned relationships, a second change of the quill position and one or more of:

mud motor ΔP;

surface-measured quill torque; or

WOB.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein, when the instructions are executed with at least one processor, the following steps are also executed:

learning, by the controller and based on the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, threshold relationships between variations of surface-measured quill torque and stick-slip behavior of the drill string;

comparing, by the controller and using the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, variations of the surface-measured quill torque to the threshold relationships; and

affecting a third change, by the controller and based on the comparison and the threshold relationships, of a rotations per minute (“RPM”) of the drill string.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the change of the RPM of the drill string comprises an automatic step up or step down of the RPM by a predetermined quantity for a predetermined duration.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the second change is sufficient to reduce the difference between the actual and desired toolface orientations.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising affecting a fourth change, by the controller and based on the comparison and the threshold relationships, of the WOB.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the fourth change comprises an automatic reduction of the WOB.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 ,

wherein the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection further comprises data associated with:

rate of penetration; and

a mud weight from a return line; and

wherein the method further comprises:

detecting, by the controller and based on the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection, a trend of a downhole parameter while elongating the wellbore;

comparing, by the controller, the trend of the downhole parameter to a predicted trend of the downhole parameter; and

automatically creating, by the controller, a modified drilling path of the wellbore when the trend of the downhole parameter is a reversal of the predicted trend of the downhole parameter.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the predicted trend of the downhole parameter is an increase of a d-exponent factor with an increase in depth.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the d-exponent factor is a factor based on the rate of penetration, pressure data, bit diameter, the WOB, and the mud weight.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein, when the instructions are executed with at least one processor, the following step is also executed: displaying on a user-interface at least a portion of the real-time data associated with being on-bottom after the connection.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (222)