Interactive computer graphics system improves planning of directionally drilled wells in the East Wilmington field

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drill. Eng.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/16173-PA· OSTI ID:6902174

Lutz, T S; Kendle, D W

The Long Beach Unit of the East Wilmington field contains more than 1,200 wells directionally drilled from four manmade islands and five land-based drilling sites. Planning new wells that avoid interference with existing wells becomes more difficult and time-consuming as the density of wells in the Unit increases. Improvements and modifications in design procedures have culminated in the interactive computer graphics system now in use. The interactive computer-graphics system (ICGS) permits the viewing of a proposed new well or redrill well course, together with all existing well surveys and other proposed well courses in the area of interest. Plan, section, and traveling cylinder views can be displayed to allow the identification of design problems. The significance of the problems is then minimized by use of the interactive features of the system to refine the design parameters. The system's interactive features are also used to create, edit, and plot the finalized design. Reductions in design and drilling costs and many other less-direct benefits have been realized as a result of the system's use. The step-by-step use of the system from the user's point of view is described and examples of its graphic output are presented. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most advanced system of its kind in use today.

• Research Organization: Thums Long Beach Co. (US)
• OSTI ID: 6902174
• Journal Information: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drill. Eng.; (United States), Vol. 3:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
58 GEOSCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
DIRECTIONAL DRILLING
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
OIL WELLS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
DESIGN
GEOLOGIC SURVEYS
OIL FIELDS
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PLANNING
DRILLING
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
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