11/3/2024

Part 7
Anti-collision and Advanced Well
Planning

Contents
• Anti-well-collision consideration
• Wellbore position uncertainty
• Well trajectory calculation
• Determining a “Lead Angle
• Well Plan Maps
• Exercise

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Anti-well-collision Consideration
• Become a more significant problem in recent years because of directional and
horizontal drilling and spacing increase.
• Collisions can lead to significant downtime, repair costs and significant potential
safety and environmental impacts with consequential liabilities.
• It is paramount to avoid collisions between new infill wells and existing wellbores.
• In mature oil field, involving a dense collection of existing wells with complex well
paths when considered in three dimensions, this can be a challenging task.
• Determining with accuracy the likelihood of collisions for a new well with existing
wellbores in a field (i.e., from each surface site or platform and nearby well sites
or platforms) is essential to manage and mitigate well-collision risks.
• Based on experience with real well planning and execution, we have developed
an efficient and easy-to-apply, anti-collision model that is consistent with
prevailing industry standards (ISCWSA)

Anti-well-collision consideration
• Become a more significant problem in recent years because of directional and horizontal
drilling and spacing increase.
• Collisions can lead to significant downtime, repair costs and significant potential safety
and environmental impacts with consequential liabilities.
• It is paramount to avoid collisions between new infill wells and existing wellbores.
• In mature oil field, involving a dense collection of existing wells with complex well paths
when considered in three dimensions, this can be a challenging task.
• Determining with accuracy the likelihood of collisions for a new well with existing
wellbores in a field (i.e., from each surface site or platform and nearby well sites or
platforms) is essential to manage and mitigate well-collision risks.
• When planning a new wellbore from any surface drilling location or platform, it is
essential to carefully consider the trajectories and subsurface locations of all historical
wells drilled in the vicinity.

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Survey Uncertainty
• Generally, the inclination of a survey is relatively accurate because it is
only affected by depth measurement and the accuracy of the tool
• The direction of the well is more inaccurate due to accuracy of the tools,
magnetic interference, magnetic storms, etc.
• As the inclination of the well increases, the error in the vertical and
horizontal plane increases
• Most survey errors are systematic rather than random which means they
accumulate rather than cancel each other out

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Spider Plot
Spider plot, large scale Spider plot, small scale

While drilling other wells, we try to stay out of the ellipse of uncertainty of other wells to avoid a
collision using a traveling cylinder proximity analysis
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Ellipsoid of Uncertainty
The size of the ellipse of uncertainty Wellbore showing ellipse of
increases with depth uncertainty with depth

Travelling Cylinder
• Computerized Directional Drilling
planning programs usually offer some
form of anti-collision, or proximity
analysis.
• The traveling cylinder shows the
proximity of other wells while drilling
• involves imagining a cylinder with a
given radius enclosing the wellbore from
one depth to another, the zone of
interest

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Uncertainty in 3D
• HawkEye™ software can express the zones of uncertainty not only with
ellipses and the visualized pedal curve, but also with cylinders derived of
the same industry-standard calculation methods

Anti-well-collision calculations
• The analysis of the distances between two wellbores (1) reference
well and (2) object well referred to as proximity analysis.
• Traditionally performed using three distinct methods:
• Normal plane
• Horizontal plane
• 3-D least distance
• The outputs from proximity analysis involve four key measurements
• Center-to-center (CC) distance
• Ellipse of uncertainty (EOU) distance
• Separation factor (SF)
• Alert radii (AR)

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Anti-well-collision calculations

The vertical plane of a horizontal wellbore trajectory Proximity analysis of adjacent wellbore trajectories

Center-to-center distance (CC)

• CC is the actual distance
between the offset well and the
reference well subsurface
borehole positions
• CC points on each wellbore are
assumed to be the center o
ellipses referred to as ellipses (or
ellipsoids) of uncertainty (EOU)

Center-to-center (CC) distance and ellipse of uncertainty

(EOU) distance diagram

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Ellipse of uncertainty (EOU) distance

• Due to uncertainty in subsurface borehole survey
measurements, each survey point along a wellbore is
associated with an uncertainty surrounding that
point.
• Survey data tend to involve more errors in the
horizontal dimensions than vertical dimension
• The accumulated position errors of
about 1% of the total measured depth are not
unusual.
• For long wellbores, error or envelope of uncertainty
can be significant, i.e., in the order 100 ft (30 m).
• This uncertainty is typically expressed as an ellipse or
ellipsoid centered around the survey point
• The EOU is calculated as the CC distance minus the sum of the
EOU semi-major axes of the offset and reference wellbores

Growth cone as the radius of uncertainty about

the wellbore position

What is separation factor?

• It is the ratio of the center to center distance divided by the sum of
the ellipses radii.
• An SF greater than one means that the ellipses are completely
separated, and there is no overlap.
• An SF of one means that the ellipses are touching and a number less
than one means that the ellipses are overlapping one another.
• When the diameters of the well and casings are taken into
consideration, the formula for calculating the SF changes.

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What is separation factor?

• Different operator rule sets impose different approaches
to calculating this number, there is no one way.
• One of the most common methods for measuring the
radii of the ellipses is called the pedal curve method
(PCM).
• It creates a pedal curve around the outside of the ellipse
and radii are measured to that curve, not the ellipse's
edge.

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Separation Factor

3D Least Distance Proximity Method

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Pedal Curve

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Pedal Curve

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Pedal Curve in 3D

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Separation factor (SF)

• SF is a decision metric that involves both of the separation measures defined
between two wellbores at specific points on each wellbore, i.e., CC and EOU.
• The separation factor is calculated by

• The SF value readily distinguishes the relative proximity of the EOU on the
reference and offset wells, thereby highlighting the collision risks:
• SF > 1 => two ellipses do not overlap
• SF = 1 => two ellipses just touch
• SF < 1 => two ellipses overlap
• Anti-collision, well-design optimization model proposed uses a limiting SF value
of 1.5
• Well designs with SF values of < 1.5 should be rejected because their collision
risks are too high.
• To calculate a meaningful suite of SF values, it is necessary to determine multiple
EOU values along the wellbore trajectories of both reference and offset wells.

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Oriented Separation Factor (OSF)

• OSF provides a more accurate method for quantifying the separation
between the wells and the EOR separation by taking into consideration
the fixed probability of collision as described
by SF equal to one.
• OSF considers the shape and geometry of the EOU resulting that all
scenarios with the same SF have the same probability or chance of
collision.
• Mathematically, describes as in the equation

OSF=Clearance/(Relative Positional Uncertainty)

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Alert radii (AR)

• Warn of nearby wells that are potential collision hazards as the separation
distances to nearby wells fall within a specified area
around the well being drilled
• The specified areal distance that establishes the collision-hazard region
• That collision hazard region progressively increases with depth according
to a growth-rate relationship linked to true vertical depth (TVD) as the well
drills deeper, thereby defining a growth cone
• The growth cone’s areal dimensions are typically defined in a well’s drilling
plan according to the operator’s anti-collision policies or rules
• influenced by the magnitude of uncertainty (increasing with depth)
associated with the subsurface location-survey data.

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Anti-collision rules used based on proximity

calculations

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Distances Definitions
Between Centers:
• The minimum 3D distance between the reference well and the offset well.
Between Ellipses:
• The distance between the ellipses.
Minimum Separation:
• The minimum allowable separation distance.
• This is generally calculated according the rule set being used.
• The default rule is that the minimum separation is the sum of the ellipses radii.
• With a pedal curve calculation, that means the distance to the pedal curves.
Semi-Major Axes
Reference:
• Length of the Semi-Major Axis of the projected 2D ellipse onto the TVD plane of the reference
well.
Offset:
• Length of the Semi-Major Axis of the projected 2D ellipse onto the TVD plane of the offset
well. 24

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Distances Definitions
Proximity
Highside Toolface :
• This is the tool face angle on the normal plane of the reference well that
lines up with the offset well.
+/- N-Plane:
• This is the distance the center of the offset well is behind or in front of
the reference well.
• This is included so that one can determine whether or not the well is in
front or behind the reference point.
Separation Factor: (as described above)

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Distances Definitions
Criticality/Warning:
• The Levels 1-5 indicate warning levels.
• Level 1 is the lowest and level 5 is the highest warning level.
• Rule sets defined by different oil companies will define different levels of warning,
generally based upon the value of the separation factor.
• The lowest level generally means proceed ahead as planned, continuing the quality
control (QC) procedures defined for the well.
• Level 5, or whatever the highest level the company has defined, generally means stop
dead in your tracks and wake up all the bosses so they can decide what to do.
• SF – Indicates svy has the minimum Separation factor for the current offset well.
• ES –Indicates svy has the minimum Separation between ellipses for the current offset
well.
• CC –Indicates svy has the minimum center to center distance for the current offset well.
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Example Well Planning

• provides an example of a planned well
profile, from a plane view and a vertical
view. This is a relatively simple directional
well, which is designed to hit two targets,
as shown by the boxes on the plan view.
• The easiest type of directional well profile
is a so-called “J-shaped profile”, which is a
build and hold to the target.
• The target in this case is an area, rather
than a single point, and the well need not
therefore hit the center of the target.
Although it is possible to hit small targets,
this increase in accuracy comes with a
higher financial cost.
• In Figure 6, the lower target will be hit on
the edge nearest to the surface location.

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Bit Walk
• Right and left hand walk is controlled by the rotary speed and the location
of stabilizers.
• The normal tendency for a BHA is to walk right.
• At lower rotary speeds the tendency is for the BHA to climb the right
hand side of the hole and drag the bit to the right, and will do so until the
BHA begins to whirl at higher rotaty speeds.
• Most BHA s will begin to whirl at a rotary speeds of about 90 to 100 rpm
in 45 degrees directional holes.
• Sketch shows this progression
• Once the bit and the BHA begins to whirl, the bit drills straight ahead.
• Left hand walk is difficult to achieve with a right hand drill string. In order
to produce left hand walk the near bit stabilizer and the bit must be raised
to the top of the hole and rotated below whirling speed. The BHA in the
sketch shows this.
• Although the directional BHA is designed by trial and error, an
experienced directional driller can call on this experience to locate
stabilizers and select weight on bit and rotary speeds, which will cause the
hole to intersect the target at a viable cost.

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Lead Angle
• Directional Wells which are drilled with rotary
assemblies often have a tendency to turn
or "walk" during the drilling process
• Anticipated Geological features such as
formation bedding planes and contact lines,
should also be used as guidelines for expected
bit walk but cannot be relied upon as an
accurate means of predicting it either
• The use of steerable systems, while more costly,
removes a lot of the guesswork and allow a
straighter, more accurate hole to be drilled.
• If the direction is not critical, then the
lead angle can be estimated and put to tes

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Well Plan Maps

• Once a Directional well has been planned, it
is usually depicted graphically as a Well
• Plan Map. This is used to plot the progress of
the well while it is being drilled.
• The map is plotted on gridded paper so that
the survey points can be entered manually
and is presented as a Vertical projection and
a Horizontal projection.
• The vertical projection of the actual well is
plotted using the TVD and Vertical Section
values from the survey calculations.
• The Horizontal projection is plotted using the
North/South and East/West coordinates

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End

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