Systems and methods for drilling a well

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12572986-B2
Application number	US-202519092971-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2025
Priority date	Jun 26, 2013
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

A drilling system may have a drilling rig with a drill string including a BHA with a drill bit. The method may include determining a current BHA location and a future BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA and comparing the future BHA location to a target drilling path. When the future BHA location is a predetermined distance from the target drilling path, then a plurality of geometric convergence paths may be generated, each providing a convergence solution from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path. The method may include determining (i) a distance to drill, (ii) an overall curvature, and (iii) a time required for drilling, of each of the geometric convergence paths and selecting a geometric convergence path responsive to the above. The wellbore may be drilled in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for drilling a wellbore, the system comprising:
a memory coupled to a processor and storing a plurality of instructions executable by the processor, the plurality of instructions executable by the processor including instructions for:
receiving measurement while drilling (MWD) information from a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a wellbore;
responsive to the MWD information, determining a current BHA location;
determining a projected BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA;
comparing the projected BHA location to a target drilling path for the wellbore, and when the projected BHA location exceeds a predetermined distance from the target drilling path then generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths, wherein each geometric convergence path provides a convergence path from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path, and wherein each of the geometric convergence paths comprises at least one slide drilling segment and at least one a rotary drilling segment;
determining an overall curvature of the at least one slide drilling segment of the geometric convergence paths;
determining a time required for drilling each slide drilling segment and each rotary drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths;
selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to: the overall curvature of the at least one slide drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths, the time required for drilling each slide drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths, and the time required for drilling each rotary drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths;
providing the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a controller device coupled to a control system of a drilling rig, wherein the controller device provides one or more control signals to the control system, thereby causing the drilling rig to drill the wellbore in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
obtaining drill plan information relating to a well plan, the drill plan information including at least one of the well plan, the target drill path, seismic data, BHA rate of penetration (ROP), and drift information; and identifying the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to at least one of drill plan information.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
limiting the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a predetermined number of convergence paths.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
determining a plurality of slide drilling segments and a plurality of rotary drilling segments for each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
comparing the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a predetermined rule set.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the instructions for generating a plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
removing one or more geometric convergence path from further consideration for violating rules of the predetermined rule set.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the rules of the predetermined rule set include one or more rules that define at least one of: a threshold for maximum allowable dogleg severity, a threshold for a maximum allowable overall curvature; a threshold for maximum length of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths; a threshold for a minimum length of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to geometric drift associated with the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for selecting one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
normalizing each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths against a longest convergence path.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for determining an overall curvature of each of the geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
determining a peak drill path curvature associated with drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for determining the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
determining a time required to for drilling a plurality of segments making up a geometric convergence path of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions for determining the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths further include instructions for:
determining the time required for drilling each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths is responsive to a rate of penetration (ROP) for a slide, a slide distance, an ROP for rotation, a rotation distance and a setup time for the slide.

13 . A method for drilling a well, the method comprising:
determining, by a control system, a current bottom hole assembly (BHA) location in a wellbore; determining, by the control system, a projected BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA; comparing, by the control system, the projected BHA location to a target drilling path for the wellbore, and when the projected BHA location exceeds a predetermined distance from the target drilling path then generating, by the control system, a plurality of geometric convergence paths, wherein each geometric convergence path provides a convergence path from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path, and wherein each of the geometric convergence paths comprises at least one slide drilling segment and at least one a rotary drilling segment; determining, by the control system, an overall curvature of the at least one slide drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths; determining, by the control system, a time required for drilling each slide drilling and each rotary drilling segment of each of the plurality of the geometric convergence paths; selecting, by the control system, one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths responsive to: the overall curvature of the at least one slide drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths, the time required for drilling each slide drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths, and the time required for drilling each rotary drilling segment of each of the plurality of geometric convergence paths; providing, by the control system, the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths to a drilling control system of a drilling rig; and drilling, by the drilling control system, a wellbore in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

Assignees

• Motive Drilling Tech Inc

Inventors

• Benson Todd
• Burkhart John
• Chen Teddy C

Classifications

• G06Q10/06375

  Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change · CPC title

• E21B7/04

  Directional drilling · CPC title

• G06Q10/063

  Operations research, analysis or management · CPC title

• E21B41/00

  Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00 · CPC title

• E21B7/00

  Special methods or apparatus for drilling · CPC title