Achieving a New Milestone by Drilling 5,300 ft Lateral Footage a Day of Unconventional Well

An important element to achieve positive returns out of Unconventional fields is optimizing drilling performance to the lowest well delivery durations. One of the main objectives set was matching and exceeding leading field performance of One Mile a Day delivery over the lateral interval which presented many challenges such as drilling through interbedded Carbonate formation, hole cleaning with fast drilling rates, directional control to maintain drilling within narrow target window, and high Bottom Hole Temperature. The complexity of achieving this objective drove the drilling team to further optimize drilling practices to improve drilling performance beyond what was assumed as technical limit without compromising on operational safety with proper risk assessment. Implemented initiatives included pushing drilling parameters higher than offsets maximum, eliminating sweeps while drilling to maintain good rheology of the mud and then positively impact to drilling rate, set the adequate surface rig limits to avoid reducing performance due to lower limits than technical specifications, minimize flat time to the absolute safe minimum, and certainly good communication among the team (drilling and subsurface team). Fit for Basin innovative MWD (Measurement While Drilling) technology was used to allow surveys while drilling and avoid non-drilling time related to surveying and that also allowed implementing a completely new connection procedure cutting weight to weight time to 6 minutes average from offsets 12 minutes average. Operating Parameters window was pushed to higher values based on details offsets wells analysis and automated well on well improvement plans. Rig Top Drive torque limit was also increased within safe specifications for the smoothness of drilling operation without limiting drilling performance. Close discussion and cooperation with subsurface team helped in maintaining most of the lateral inside the sweetest spot with minimal geosteering reactions and then reducing the downlinking time, drilling inside sweet spot resulted in avoiding the dense layer which causing low drilling rate and High vibrations. Performance objective was then achieved and exceeded with 11.3% improvement in longer footage drilled per day than previous record leads to higher ROP (Rate of Penetration) as well. Achieving drilling performance of One Mile a Day was almost concluded to be impossible with our field constraints after many wells and an aggressive learning curve. However, it was successfully delivered on our subject well and proved one more time that Technical Limit is a false concept; a stern yet optimistic mindset is needed to accept that there is always room for improvement.