Well Seeker X: Project Ahead Guide
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While a well is being drilled, it is often necessary to project ahead of the most recent survey for the purposes of anti-collision, or to see what is required to get back on plan. The following document is a guide to the Project Ahead and Multi Nudge tools within Well Seeker X.
The Project Ahead tool can be found on the ribbon menu Home>Project Ahead Bit Projection at the top of the screen.
Or searching for the name in the top right corner:
It is important to note that this option is only available when the user is in a Survey. If the user is in a Plan, or the Actual Wellbore, this option will be greyed out and they will be unable to select it.
When in a survey, select the Project Ahead option. This will open the Project Ahead Box.
Note, that Line 1 at the top of the box will be populated with the last survey point. The projection will be made from this point.
The user can now select from the same Planning Tools which are available when creating a well plan, with the exception of the S-Well and Slant-Well tools, as these can only be plotted from surface.
Once the relevant planning tool has been selected and the values entered, the projection is calculated by selecting Calculate.
The projection can then be added to the survey by selecting Append and removed from the survey by selecting Remove.
Two of the more relevant projection options are discussed below.
The Trend Over tool is only available in the Project Ahead dialog and is not displayed in the planning tools when in a well plan. This function allows the user to apply the build and turn trends seen in the previous surveys to the projection.
To select the Trend Over function, the user must select Adjust and then either MD or CL. This function will remain greyed out until these options have been selected.
Select the Measured Depth (MD) or Course Length (CL) of the projection and the number of surveys to model the trend over, then hit the calculate button. The projection will appear in line 2, directly below the last survey in the Project Ahead box.
The tool works by averaging out the Build and Turn rates based on the number of surveys selected.
In the below example, 1 survey has been selected, so the projection just uses the build and turn rate calculated for the last survey.
In the below example, 3 surveys have been selected, so the projection calculates the average build and turn rate values over the last 3 surveys.
Average Build Rate= = 0.08°/100USft Average Turn Rate= = -0.71°/100USft
Using the Optimum Align function, it is possible for the user to project back onto a plan.
Select Optimum Align
In the target details section, select Plan - all the plans below the Well will be available to select from the drop-down menu – Select the relevant plan
In the By MD box, input the Measured Depth on the plan that you want to line up on. On entering the depth, the NS, EW, TVD, Inc and Azi will be automatically populated with the values that correspond to this depth
Select the relevant Optimum Align Parameters
Hit Calculate
NOTE, that once the projection has been calculated, the measured depth in almost all cases will not match the depth entered in the By MD box.
The Multi Nudge Projection tool allows the user to quickly project ahead using additional features which are not available in the standard Project Ahead section of Well Seeker. More importantly, it allows an unlimited number of projection lines to be included.
As with the Project Ahead tool, it is important to note that the Multi Nudge Projection tool is only available when the user is in a Survey. If the user is in a Plan, or the Actual Wellbore, this option will be greyed out and they will be unable to select it.
When in a survey, this tool can be selected from the ribbon menu Home > Multi Nudge Bit Projection or by searching in the top right of the screen.
When the tool first opens, the Tie-On line will be populated with the last survey in the listing. At this point the user can then select from 1 of 6 projection Methods.
The Multi Nudge Projection box can be left open while the user is adding new surveys, and the tie-on line can be updated by selecting the Update Tie On button. Note, that the surveys do not need to be saved for this to happen.
If the box is closed and then reopened, it will automatically tie onto the last survey point. The projection setup will remain populated with whatever setup the user had selected previously, even when the program has been closed and reopened. To remove the input projections, the user can delete the lines one at a time or select Reset to remove all projections.
Projections can be added to the survey by selecting Append to Survey and can be removed by selecting Remove from Survey. The Multi Nudge Projection window can remain open while using other Well Seeker functions, but all projections must be removed from the survey before new survey stations can be entered.
If the user has a slide sheet currently open, Get from Slide Sheet will pull the slide sheet entries in as projections.
Note: If the user has not input the motor yield for their slides in the slide sheet, the motor yield and the DLS will default to 15 in the Multi Nudge Projection.
The five projection methods are described below.
This option allows the user to select Course Length (CL), Dogleg (DLS) and Toolface Orientation (TFO) to calculate the projection. This method assumes a 100% slide. Motor Yield will be automatically populated with the same value input in the DLS column.
This option allows the user to select Course Length (CL), Slide Percentage (%) and Toolface Orientation (TFO) to calculate the projection. The user is also required to add the Motor Yield, as the projected dogleg is calculated based on the slide (%) and the Motor Yield.
In the example above, the slide (%) is 50% and the motor yield is 5°/30m, which results in a 2.5°/30m DLS.
This option allows the user to select Course Length (CL), Slide Distance (Dist) and Toolface Orientation (TFO) to calculate the projection. The user is also required to add the Motor Yield, as the projected dogleg is calculated based on the slide (Dist) and the Motor Yield.
In the above example, the Slide Distance is 4m (Course Length is 10m) and the motor yield is 5°/30m, which results in a 2.0°/30m DLS.
This option allows the user to select Inclination (Inc), Azimuth (Azi) and Dogleg (DLS) to calculate the projection. This method assumes a 100% slide. Motor Yield will be automatically populated with the same value input in the DLS column.
This option allows the user to select Course Length (CL). The inclination and azimuth from the tie-on line will be held for the selected distance.
This option allows the user to select Measured Depth (MD). The inclination and azimuth from the tie-on line will be held for the selected depth.
The user can set up the Multi Nudge Projection with as many lines as required.
This section of the Multi Nudge Projection allows the user to project to a landing point and is most useful when landing out a horizontal lateral and functions in a similar way to the Dogleg Toolface - Point planning method.
Note that this section will only work if a principal plan for the well has been assigned. To set a plan as a principal plan, right-click on the plan in the database tree and select Properties. In the Properties window check the Set as principal plan checkbox next to the well name.
The Bit row displays the deepest survey station in the currently opened survey sheet. As this is the most recent survey, to accurately use this projection tool, the user should make a projection to the bit to get the true bit position. To do this the user should make a projection in the top window and append it to the to the survey, as displayed in the image below. The Bit row will update automatically when the projection is added. If for any reason this does not happen, the Update Bit Position button can be used to force an update.
When a MD is entered in the Target row, Well Seeker looks for this MD on the Principal Plan and then populates the rest of the cells in the row with the values from the plan. The Landing Data tool then automatically calculates the constant Tool Face and DLS required to reach that point on the principal plan from the bit position shown in the Bit row.
In the below example, the MD of the curve landing point (15984.76 USft MD) has been entered and the TVD, NS and EW coordinates in the projection match the plan at this depth. The Tool Face and DLS columns show the Tool Face and DLS required to reach this landing point from the current bit position. Note that the plan is open here for demonstration purposes. It does not need to be open for the Landing Data window to work.
The Select Critical Point drop down box can be used to quickly select plan points from the principal plan as the landing target. If the principal plan is changed while the Multi Nudge Projection is opened, the list of plan points can be updated using the Update button.
The user can also enter a target using the Find Landing button. This button will automatically pick the plan point from the principal plan that has the highest inclination. If multiple plan points share the highest inclination, the Find Landing button will pick the shallowest.
The Append to Survey button will add the Target row to the survey list as a projection, while the Remove from survey will delete it. Projections from both the Multi-Nudge section and the Landing Data section can be present on the survey list at the same time.
The landing data calculation should automatically update whenever new input data is added; however, if for any reason this does not happen, it can be updated manually using the Calculate button.
Selecting the Adjust TVD checkbox allows the user to change the TVD of the point selected in the above. The MD stays unchanged as this is what the program is using to determine the local coordinates of the landing point.
Note in the below example how the NS and EW local coordinates are still the same as the landing point line, but because the TVD has been shifted deeper the DLS, Tool Face and Inc have changed. The program is still aiming for a specific point here, only with an adjusted TVD.
This option is only available when Adjust TVD is selected.
This allows the user to enter an Inc, Azi and TVD to project to. The main difference with this selection compared to the previous options is that the user is not projecting to a specific point i.e. the local coordinates are not fixed.
In the example below, the Inc, Azi and TVD are entered for the planned curve landing point. Note that the MD, NS and EW landing points are no longer the same as the landing point in the plan. This setup simply tells the user what dogleg is required to land out at horizontal for a given TVD. When new surveys are added, the bit line updates automatically and so does the landing point line.
NOTE: When you first open this dialogue, there is no requirement to enter a MD. It is possible to just select Adjust TVD and Adjust Inc / Azi and input the values. There is no need to add a MD unless you specifically want to hit an exact point.
The TVD Projection feature can be activated by clicking on the check box in the top right of the Landing Data window. This feature displays two new Target rows that are offset by a user specified TVD from the main Target row.
In the example below, TVD Projection 1 has been set as -10, so its target is the same as the Target row but 10 USft TVD shallower. TVD Projection 2 has been set as 10, so its target is 10 USft TVD deeper.
The TVD projection feature can be used in tandem with the Adjust TVD and the Adjust Inc/Azi functions. TVD projections are for reference only and cannot be appended to the survey list.
After selecting any Critical Point in the dropdown or hitting the calculate button in the Landing data section, a DLS to Land chart is displayed with a visual representation of the Dogleg Severity to Land. This chart will be presented by default in the units previously selected.
A right-click in the chart area will display a context menu with options to edit the chart visualization,. These changes will return to default mode once the Multi Nudge Projection is closed and opened again.
