TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Multilateral/Extended-Reach Wells
Bernt S. Aadnøy, SPE, Professor of Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger

The development of multilateral wells
and long-reach wells has become impor-
tant to maximizing recovery for many
fields. These technologies are often
applied in offshore environments, where
large reservoir areas are drained from
one or more platforms.
In the late 1980s, long-reach wells
started to use existing infrastructure
better by drilling beyond the design lim-
its of that time. Several major operators
were extending their limits, and, in the
late 1990s, BP Wytch Farm showed that
a horizontal departure exceeding 10 km
was feasible. This had a significant effect
on the industry because offshore plat-
forms now could be designed for up to
10-km reach, as opposed to the early
1980s when 3-km reach was common.
A field could now be developed with one
platform instead of three, resulting in
enormous savings.
Multilateral-well technology also
matured during the past 2 decades.
The main benefit from
directional drilling is the
maximizing of reservoir
recovery. From this
perspective, multilateral/
extended-reach wells may
be considered one of the
more important means of
improved oil recovery.
There were many drivers for this devel-
opment. One of the more important was
the desire to increase production in tight
reservoirs. Another advantage is direc-
tional control. Well stimulation with
fracturing has the drawback that the
fracture direction is controlled by the
in-situ stresses in the rock. Multilater-
al branches, on the other hand, can be
drilled in any direction.
There has been considerable develop-
ment around these technologies. Those
that help clear the challenges, such as
those related to wellbore stability, well-
bore friction, equipment limitations,
and operational aspects, can be consid-
ered mature technologies today.
The main benefit from directional
drilling is the maximizing of reservoir
recovery. From this perspective, mul-
tilateral/extended-reach wells may be
considered one of the more important
means of improved oil recovery.
Although these directional-well con-
cepts have been used for some years,
they were initially costly with a high eco-
nomic risk. There is a continuous tech-
nology development at many levels that
leads to improvements. These result in
more-efficient processes, with increased
field recoveries as a consequence. There-
fore, multilaterals and extended-reach
wells are now common and will be very
important for future cost-effective oil
and gas production. JPT

Bernt S. Aadnøy, SPE, is a professor of petroleum engineering

at the University of Stavanger, specializing in all aspects of well
engineering, including geomechanics. He worked for major Recommended additional reading
operators in the oil industry from 1978 until 1994, when he tran- at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
sitioned to academia. Aadnøy has published more than SPE 174035 Technology Qualification
150  papers, holds several patents, and has authored or and Installation Plan of Efficient and
coauthored five books, among them Modern Well Design, Accurate Multilaterals Drilling Stimulation
Petroleum Rock Mechanics, and Mechanics of Drilling. He was Technology for Sandstone Oil Application
also one of the editors of the SPE book Advanced Drilling and Well Technology. by Kevin Rice, Fishbones, et al.
Aadnøy holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of SPE/IADC 168055 Expanding the
Wyoming, an MS degree in control engineering from The University of Texas at Extended-Reach Envelope at Chayvo
Austin, and a PhD degree in petroleum rock mechanics from the Norwegian Institute Field, Sakhlin Island by Vishwas P. Gupta,
of Technology. He was the recipient of the 1999 SPE International Drilling Engineering ExxonMobil, et al.
Award and is also a 2015 SPE/AIME Honorary Member and a 2015 SPE Distinguished SPE 168235 CT Extended Reach: Can We
Member. Aadnøy is a member of the JPT Editorial Committee and can be reached at Reach Farther? by Ken Newman, KNewman
bernt.aadnoy@uis.no. Engineering, et al.

JPT • MAY 2016 79