Abstract
Many problems were encountered during the drilling operations in Zubair oilfield. Stuckpipe, wellbore instability, breakouts and washouts, which increased the critical limits problems, were observed in many wells in this field, therefore an extra non-productive time added to the total drilling time, which will lead to an extra cost spent. A 1D Mechanical Earth Model (1D MEM) was built to suggest many solutions to such types of problems. An overpressured zone is noticed and an alternative mud weigh window is predicted depending on the results of the 1D MEM. Results of this study are diagnosed and wellbore instability problems are predicted in an efficient way using the 1D MEM. Suitable alternative solutions are presented ahead to the drilling process commences in the future operations.
Highlights
Zubair Oilfield is located in the southern part of Iraq as shown in Fig. 1 and discovered in 1947
Non-productive time (NPT) is observed almost in most of the wells in Zubair oilfield, especially in the selected wells which is shown in Fig. 3 and almost 80% of the total NPT was due to the wellbore instability problems
Lack of data is always an issue in the process of mechanical earth modeling if not compensated by a robust tool; the process will be a waste of time. (Sirat, et al, 2015) investigated the lack of calibration data on the MEM construction process
Summary
Zubair Oilfield is located in the southern part of Iraq as shown in Fig. 1 and discovered in 1947. (Amani, et al, 2010) utilized different logging data to construct a 1D MEM to a mature oil field They used the constructed MEM to predict the safe mud weight window and possible problems and suggested an alternative drilling program. Ahead of the drilling process started, mechanical earth modeling should be made since it is one of the essential elements in reducing the non-productive time because it assesses and evaluates all the necessary problems and parameters that occurred in nearby wells it enables us to utilize those solutions to drill new wells safely. It is necessary to reduce this value by assessing the root problems that causes time to increase
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