Hydraulics Analysis System for Extended Reach Drilling in China and its Application

The extended reach drilling (ERD) is being adopted widely as an effective and economical way of developing oilfields in China. But it also brought a series of technical difficulties because of its own characteristics. Some progresses were made after several years of hard work in China about Hydraulics for extended reach drilling, which included cuttings transport models and rules, precise model of circulating system pressure loss calculation, hole cleaning calculating models and monitoring method, hydraulic extended limit calculation model and analysis, hydraulics design and optimization method for ERD. Based on the above studies, the author finally developed a system of hole cleaning monitoring and hydraulics design and its risk analysis which could provide theoretical support and useful tool for engineering design and risk assess before drilling. These researches are helpful to ERD and have enriched the hydraulic theory of ERD.