| Popis: |
Arrow Energy has engaged in drilling production Coal Bed Methane (CBM) wells in the Bowen Basin. As part of its field development strategy, varied styles of horizontal wells have been planned and executed along the coal targets of Moranbah Coal Measures (MCM). Some of the recently drilled multi-branch lateral and horizontal wells experienced different drilling challenges and production performance. Potential geomechanical issues such as borehole conditions and fines/solid production are directly related to wellbore stability during and post drilling.As part of Arrow subsurface modeling strategy, the project has embarked a detailed Geomechanics study in Moranbah Gas field. The main objectives were aiming to: (i) optimize the mud weight that is required to stabilize the borehole, (ii) understand how specific coal targets respond to the induced stress concentration around the wellbore during drilling and, (iii) capture the vertical and lateral mechanical heterogeneity within specific coal seams. This paper focuses on practical solutions to model the borehole stability, in particular of the uncertainties in the rock strength modeling and coal heterogeneity.This innovative workflow coupled with geostatistical approach of rock strength and insitu stress with depth-of-damage is first of its kind in CBM environment. Borehole collapse depth-of-damage (DoD) concept is then used to assess risk associated to the volume of yielded rock as a percent of borehole size. The higher the percentage of DoD, the higher the risk of producing excessive cavings. It provides more confidence in optimizing drilling mud weight for CBM horizontal wells by allowing a more scientifically-sound and practical solution to address rock failure mechanisms associated with borehole instability. |
