The only way to explore the oil and gas from the subsurface is by using drilling

techniques. Drilling is a cutting process that uses a drill bit to cut a hole of circular cross-
section in solid materials. The drill bit is usually a rotary cutting tool, often multipoint. The bit
is pressed against the work piece and rotated at rates from hundreds to thousands
of revolutions per minute. There is three types of drilling which are horizontal, vertical and
directional drilling and both of them have a different process that they work with. The most
important type that will be discussed here is the directional drilling. Directional drilling is an
advance drilling technique which can deviate wellbore to the planned trajectory in order to reach
the reservoir targets. It is defined as the practice of controlling the direction and deviation of a
wellbore to a predetermined underground target or location. This section describes why
directional drilling is required, the sort of well paths that are used, and the tools and methods
employed to drill those wells. Nowadays, directional drilling is widely used around the world
because it has several advantages over a normal vertical well. Oil and gas reservoir shapes has
the lateral length more than vertical length so the directional drilling will have more opportunities
to reach potential sands. Ultimately, hydrocarbon reserves can be extracted with the directional
wells. It has been an integral part of the oil and gas industry since the 1920s. While the
technology has improved over the years, the concept of directional drilling remains the same:
drilling wells at multiple angles, not just vertically, to better reach and produce oil and gas
reserves. Additionally, directional drilling allows for multiple wells from the same vertical well
bore, minimizing the wells' environmental impact. Improvements in drilling sensors and global
positioning technology have helped to make vast improvements in directional drilling
technology. Today, the angle of a drill bit is controlled with intense accuracy through real-time
technologies, providing the industry with multiple solutions to drilling challenges, increasing
efficiency and decreasing costs.

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THE APPLICATION OF DRILLING DIRECTIONAL:
1. SIDE TRACKING:
Sidetracking is one of the primary uses for directional drilling. Sidetracking is an operation which
deflects the borehole by starting a new hole at any point above the bottom of the old hole. The
primary reason for sidetracking is to bypass a fish which has been lost in the hole; however,
there are several other reasons for sidetracking. A sidetrack can be performed so the bottom of
the hole can intersect a producing formation at a more favorable position such as up dip above
the oil-water contact. A well can be sidetracked to alleviate problems associated with water or
gas coning. A sidetrack can be performed in an old well to move the location of the bottom of
the hole from a depleted portion of the reservoir to a portion that is productive, such as, across a
fault or permeability barrier. Most often, a sidetrack is accomplished by setting a cement plug in
the hole and dressing off the plug to a depth at which the sidetrack will commence. The
sidetrack can be either "blind" or "oriented". In a blind sidetrack, the direction of the sidetrack is
not specified and is not considered a directional well. In either case, a deflecting tool is used to
drill out the old hole and start a new hole.

2. STRAIGHT HOLE DRILLING:

Straight hole drilling is a special case of directional drilling where an attempt is made to keep the
hole vertical. Some reasons for wanting to keep the hole vertical are:
a. To keep from crossing lease lines.
b. To stay within the specifications of a drilling contract.
c. To stay within the well spacing requirements in a developed field

3. CONTROLLED DIRECTIONAL DRILLING:

Controlled directional drilling is used when drilling multiple wells from an artificial structure such
as offshore platforms, drilling pads, or man made islands. The economics of building one
offshore platform for each well would be prohibitive in most cases. However, since wells can be
directionally drilled, forty or more wells can be drilled from a single platform. Without controlled
directional drilling, most offshore drilling would not be economical.

4. DRILLING MULTIPLE SANDS WITH A SINGLE WELLBORE:

There are special cases when multiple sands are drilled with a single wellbore. Where steeply
dipping sand zones are sealed by an unconformity, fault, or salt dome overhang, a number of
vertical wells would be required to produce each sand, which are separated by a permeability
barrier. However, all the sand zones can be penetrated with one directionally drilled well thereby
greatly reducing the cost of production.

5. INACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS:
There are times when oil deposits lie under inaccessible locations such as towns, rivers,
shorelines, mountains, or even production facilities. When a location cannot be constructed
directly above the producing formation, the wellbore can be horizontally displaced by directional
drilling. This allows production of an otherwise inaccessible hydrocarbon deposit.

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6. FAULT DRILLING:
Directional drilling is also applicable in fault drilling. It is sometimes difficult to drill a vertical well
in a steeply dipping, inclined fault plane. Often, the bit will deflect when passing through the fault
plane, and sometimes the bit will follow the fault plane. To avoid the problem, the well can be
drilled on the upthrown or downthrown side of the fault and deflected into the producing
formation. The bit will cross the fault at enough of an angle where the direction of the bit cannot
change to follow the fault.

7. DRILLING SALT DOME REGION:

Many oil fields are associated with the intrusion of salt domes. Directional drilling has been used
to tap some of the oil which has been trapped by the intrusion of the salt. Instead of drilling
through the salt overhangs, the wells can be directionally drilled adjacent to the salt dome and
into the underlying traps as shown in Figure BELOW. However, since the development of salt
saturated and oil based muds, the amount of directional drilling has decreased. It is difficult to
drill long intervals of salt with fresh water muds. Directionally drilling around the salt, alleviates a
lot of the problems associated with drilling salt.

8. RELIEF WELL:
A highly specialized application for directional drilling is the relief well. If a well blows out and is
no longer accessible from the surface, then a relief well is drilled to intersect the uncontrolled
well near the bottom (Figure). Water or mud are then pumped through the relief well and into the
uncontrolled well. Since it is sometimes required that the relief well intersect the uncontrolled
well, the directional drilling has to be extremely precise and requires special tools. Survey data
is not accurate enough to intersect a wellbore at depth. Proximity logging is required when
drilling relief wells.

9. DRILLING HORIZONTAL WELLS:

Horizontal drilling is another special application of directional drilling and is used to increase the
productivity of various formations (Figure below). One of the first applications for horizontal
drilling was in vertically fractured reservoirs. In fractured reservoirs, a significant quantity of the
production comes from fractures. Unless a vertical well encounters a fracture system,
production rates will be low. Horizontal drilling is used to produce thin oil zones with water or
gas coning problems. The horizontal well is optimally placed in the oil leg of the reservoir. The
oil can then be produced at high rates with much less pressure drawdown because of the
amount of formation exposed to the wellbore. Horizontal wells are used to increase productivity
from low permeability reservoirs by increasing the amount of formation exposed to the wellbore.
Additionally, numerous hydraulic fractures can be placed along a single wellbore to increase
production and reduce the number of vertical wells required to drain the reservoir. Horizontal
wells can be used to maximize production from reservoirs which are not being efficiently drained
by vertical wells.

10. DRILLING MULTILATERAL WELLS:

Directional drilling can also be used to drill multilateral wells. Multilaterals are additional wells
drilled from a parent wellbore. Multilaterals can be as simple as an open hole sidetrack or it can
be more complicated with a junction that is cased and has pressure isolation and reentry
capabilities. Multilaterals are used where production can be incrementally increased with less
capital costs. Multilaterals can be used offshore where the number of slots are limited. It is also
used to place additional horizontal wells in a reservoir.

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11. EXTENDED REACH DRILLING
Another application of directional drilling is what is commonly termed extended reach drilling. As
illustrated in Figure below, extended reach drilling is where wells have high inclinations and
large horizontal displacements for the true vertical depth drilled. Extended reach drilling is used
to develop reservoirs with fewer platforms or smaller sections of a reservoir where an additional
platform cannot be economically justified. Extended reach drilling will become more popular as
the cost of platforms in deeper water and severe environments becomes more expensive.
Advances in technology have allowed operators to drill extended reach wells with very high
HD/TVD ratios (the ratio of the horizontal displacement to true vertical depth).

TOOLS USED IN DIRECTIONAL DRILLING:

1.STREERABLE MOTOR ASSEMBLIES OR PDM:

The most important advancements in trajectory control are the steerable motor assemblies,
which contain PDMs with bent subs or bent housing. The PDM is based on the Moineau
principle. The first commercial PDM was introduced to the petroleum industry in the late 1960s.
Since then, PDM use has been accelerated greatly for directional-drilling applications. Steerable
motor assemblies are versatile and are used in all sections of directional wells, from kicking off
and building angle to drilling tangent sections and providing accurate trajectory control. Among
the PDM assemblies, the most commonly used deviation tool today is the bent-housing mud
motor.

2.MEDIUM-RADIUS APPLICATIOM(6 to 15/100 ft DLS):

The vast majority of medium-radius drilling is undertaken in hole sizes of 12 in. and less with
8-in. (and less) -diameter motors for build rates of 6 to 15/100 ft. There are a number of motor
configurations used to drill medium-radius wells, each with its own meritssingle bent-housing
motor, single bent housing with offset pad, double-bend motor, bent-housing motor with bent
sub positioned on top of the motor and aligned with the bend, and double bent-housing motor.

3.INTERMEDIATE- AND SHORT RADIUS APPLICATIONS:

Intermediate-radius drilling systems are used to achieve build rates from 15 to 65/100 ft. The
build and lateral sections are drilled with a short-bearing pack motor. When the build rate
exceeds 45/100 ft, an articulated motor and flexed measurement while drilling (MWD} tool
should be used. Both system types can be used for new or re-entry wells. Two types of motors
are used to drill the short-radius wells with build rates ranging from 65 to 125/100 ft: a build
articulated motor used to drill the build section and a hybrid lateral motor for the horizontal
lateral section. The articulated MWD tool is used on both the build and lateral sections.

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4.ROTARY STEERABLE SYSTEM(RSS):
The RSS is an evolution in directional-drilling technology that overcomes the drawbacks in
steerable motors and in conventional rotary assemblies. To initiate a change in the wellbore
trajectory with steerable motors, the drilling rotation is halted in such a position that the bend in
the motor points in the direction of the new trajectory. This mode, known as the sliding mode,
typically creates higher frictional forces on the drill string. In extreme extended reach drilling
(ERD), the frictional force builds to the point at which no axial weight is available to overcome
the drag of the drill string against the wellbore, and, thus, further drilling is not possible. To
overcome this limitation in steerable motor assemblies, the RSS was developed in the early
1990s to respond to this need from ERD. The first RSS was used in BP plcs Wytch Farm (U.K.)
extended-reach wells.

5.ADJUST-GUAGE STABILIZERS(AGSs):
In the late 1980s, the industry developed AGSs, the effective blade outer diameter (OD) of
which could be changed while the tool was downhole. With AGSs, the drillers could change the
stabilizer OD without making time-consuming and costly trips out of the hole. AGSs run in rotary
assemblies were often placed near the bit or positioned approximately 15 to 30 ft from the bit. In
these positions, changes in their gauge could effectively control the build or drop tendency of
the assembly. Because they could control inclination while in the rotary mode, these assemblies
became known as 2D rotary systems. AGSs can also be run with steerable motor systems.
Running AGSs with the steerable motor assemblies makes it possible to control inclination with
the stabilizer while drilling in the rotary mode. If the wellbore requires a change in azimuth, one
would have to revert to a sliding mode.

6.TURBINES:
Turbines, commonly known as turbodrills, are powered by a turbine motor, which has a series of
rotors/stators (stages) connected to a shaft. As the drilling fluid is pumped through the turbine,
the stators deflect the fluid against the rotors, forcing the rotors to rotate the drive shaft to which
they are connected. Turbines are designed to run on high speed and low torque; thus, they are
suited for running with diamond or polycrystalline-diamond compact bits. Turbines are not only
less flexible and efficient than PDMs but are also more expensive, so they are not as widely
used, except in Russia.

7.JETTING BITS:
Jetting bits can be used to change the trajectory of a borehole, with the hydraulic energy of the
drilling fluid used to erode a pocket out of the bottom of the borehole. The tricone bit with one
large nozzle is oriented to the desired hole direction to create a pocket. The drilling assembly is
forced into the jetted pocket for a short distance. This procedure continues until the desired
trajectory change is achieved. Jetting is seldom used today because of its slow penetration rate
and its limitations in soft formations.

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CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, directional drilling is the science of deviating a wellbore along a planned path to a
target located at a given lateral distance and direction from vertical. This includes drilling as
vertically as possible from a given TVD. There is around (11) Applications of the Directional
Drilling which each one of these application has a different process such as SIDE TRACKING,
STRAIGHT HOLE DRILLING and DRILLING MULTILATERAL WELLS, elc. However, there is
also many different tools which also use during the directional drilling process such as
Adjustable-gauge stabilizers and Rotary steerable systems, elc. The using of the directional
drilling has many advantages and disadvantages for the well itself.

REFRENCES:
1. Sener, E.M. & Stein, R. (1995). Mini-Horizontal Directional Drilling Manual, North American
Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT), Reston, Virginia.
2. Horizontal Directional Drilling Good Practices Guidelines, North American Society for
Trenchless Technology (NASTT),Reston, Virginia.
3. Safety Manual: Directional Drilling Tracking Equipment, Equipment Manufacturers Institute
(EMI).
4. ASTM F1962, Guide for Use of Maxi-Horizontal Directional Drilling for Placement of
Polyethylene Pipe or Conduit Under
Obstacles, Including River Crossings, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA.
5. Ariaratnam, S.T. (2001). Evaluation of the Annular Space Region in Horizontal Directional
Drilling Installations, Arizona State University.