The use of underbalanced drilling (UBD), and more significantly, managed pressure drilling (MPD) is increasing in the industry, based on needs from both the drilling and reservoir perspectives.
UBD/MPD involves complex operations that make the well planning and design more complicated. The challenge is to identify and avoid the potential problems and, simultaneously, make full use of UBD. Drillbench software has been developed to address with this challenge—to identify any potential problem with the design and ease the decision-making process.
From a drilling perspective, UBD/MPD has the advantage of preventing lost circulation, minimizing the risk for differential sticking, extending bit life, increasing penetration rates and reducing rig time. On the reservoir side, UBD can avoid formation damage, increase well productivity, eliminate the need for stimulation prior to production, and evaluate the formation while drilling.
Key features:
Techlog integration
- Predicts how operational conditions and fluid properties influence pressure (ECD) and temperature.
- Includes dynamic temperature calculations in the hydraulic model.
- Allows investigation of both static and dynamic UBD problems.
- Provides a steady-state solution for accurate screening and sensitivity analysis.
