Efficient drilling in horizontal directional drilling by implementing the concept of specific energy

ABSTRACT

The oil and gas industry has successfully used the concept of specific energy (SE) to maximise drill rate and identify inefficient conditions in drilling operations. This paper proposes the idea of implementing the concept of SE in horizontal directional drilling (HDD), a pipeline installation technique which was adopted from horizontal oil well drilling technology. The similarity of the HDD technique with oil well drilling makes SE surveillance a very useful tool in HDD operations. SE monitoring during the drilling stage of HDD can address drilling dysfunctions and maximise the rate of penetration. SE can be calculated in real-time and displayed to the rig personnel during the operation. This paper discusses the concept of SE and how it can be used in HDD projects, and it also illustrates an example application of SE in a case study.

KEYWORDS:

• Specific energy
• drilling efficiency
• HDD
• rate of penetration

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Crossing Company’s technical contribution. The authors would also like to thank Ms. Lauren Wozny and Sheena Moore for editorial assistance of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the Crossing Company’s financial contribution, as well as the Consortium for Engineered Trenchless Technologies and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for providing financial support.