Stuck Pipe and Fishing

DIFFERENTIALLY STUCK PIPE

VOLUME OF CHASE MUD REQUIRED (U-TUBE)
 Question will likely give you the length of stuck pipe, or the stuck point.
 Oil will be pumped down annulus with well shut-in (but mud
is allowed to flow out of DP as oil is being pumped in). Shut-
OPTIONS FOR RELIEVING DIFFERENTIAL STICKING in means that oil will not be able to u-tube back automatically.
 With oil in the annulus, there will be P at the choke.
1) Displace mud system to a lighter fluid, usually not practical.  When the choke is opened and differential pressure bled off,
2) Use DST tools to reduce overbalance. mud in the DP will u-tube, causing the mud level in the DP to
3) U-tube well with a volume of oil. drop and forcing out fluid from the annulus, until pressures in
and out are equal.
 In order to ensure that the oil does not come back out of the
PULL REQUIRED annulus, it must be chased with mud, so that the top of the oil
is just at surface after the u-tube effect (will spit chased mud
1) Find weight of drill collars, or use formula: out of annulus).

 
1) Find mud level drop in DP (HDP) after opening choke.
 2
WDC  D  d 2  490 [lb/ft]
4
P
HDP 
2) Find the pull required by…  mud
3) Determine stuck point (use length of stuck pipe and btm hole depth).
If given length of stuck section, use middle. 2) Find volume of air in DP after mud drop (Vair).
4) Determine pressure differential (P) between mud hydrostatic and
formation pressure at the stuck point. Use mid-point of stuck pipe VAIR  HDP  CapDP
length to determine P.
5) Determine differential sticking fore (FDS). 3) The volume of mud chaser will equal the volume of air (Vchase =
Vair).
FDS  P  A , Where A=Contact Area
(if nothing is given, assume 90o circumference and a fixed length of FREE POINT LOCATION
~100ft, ~30m)
 Method #1: Free-point indication tool.
6) Determine the vertical force (FV) required to overcome FDS.  Method #2: Measuring the pipe stretch under tension.

FV  FDS   , Where =Friction Factor

METHOD #2 - PIPE STRETCH

7) Determine air weight (WAIR) of drillstring down to stuck point. Do not 1) Pull just enough to put entire string into tension, F1.
use nominal weight (i.e. 19.5lb/ft), instead, use actual weight from 2) Mark the pipe.
DENB. 3) Pull the pipe still further, F2, and measure the extension.
8) Determine total pull required at surface (FTOT).
NOTE: Do not exceed the max allowable pull.
FTOT=FV + WAIR
K  Wdp  e
9) Compare FTOT to the tensile strength of DP (premium), get from L
DENB. F2  F1
10) Apply a safety factor of 0.85 to the tensile yield strength.
11) If FTOT > 0.85PTensile, at least show this and state what the safety factor
would be (i.e. 0.9). Where:
L = Length of free pipe (m, ft)
Wdp = Dry weight of tubulars (kg/m, lb/ft)
REQUIRED PRESSURE REDUCTION e = Differential stretch (mm, in)
F1, F2 = Pull (kN, lbs)
If the required pull is higher than the allowable pull, calculate the pressure K = Constant (SI: 26.37, Field: 735,294)
reduction required to reduce the needed pull to a value less than the
allowable pull.
BACK-OFF PROCEDURE
FTOT  MaxAllowablePull
P  METHODOLOGY
A
 Determine stuck point.
 Select a tool joint connection that is just above the stuck
OR you will need to reduce the HH to a minimum at the top of the reservoir
point and which has been broken during round trip prior to
by pumping a pill of low weight oil.
the pipe becoming stuck.
 Run string-shot down the DP via wireline (side door entry
sub) so that the string shot sits opposite tool joint.
VOLUME OF OIL REQUIRED
 Apply left hand torque (value = 50-75% of tool joint M/U
torque) and work it down the string to the selected tool joint.
The goal is to achieve the required pressure reduction by pumping oil into
 Apply pull at surface such that the tool joint is in slight
the annulus, thereby reducing the hydrostatic pressure.
tension.
 Fire string-shot.
1) Determine P.
 For safety considerations, see WENB (G-5).
2) Find height of oil required to achieve P.
3) Find volume of oil required (if pump down annulus, use DPxCsg vol).
 Fd = Fishing daily cost
Rd = Rig daily cost

STUCK PIPE

 "Thin splintery" cuttings indicate hole sloughing. It may be

reactive shales, or it may be unstable formation around fault.
BACKING-OFF #1  Key seating does not occur in vertical wells.
 Have pulled stabilizers into collapsed/bridged hole. The
 Procedure (WENB G-5) mechanism is that you are mechanically stuck.
 Tension for back-off (WENB G-6)  You never jar in the direction the string was moving when it
becomes stuck.
a) Common Method (Vertical Well)  What to do now:
i) Work pipe down
Required Pull = ii) Jar down
Hookload  BlockWt  WeightFish inMud iii) Work right hand torque down to stuck point
+ Block Wt iv) Put mechanical energy into the stuck point to
BuoyancyFa ctor overcome the sticking mechanism

Where Hookload is the actual hookload observed by the driller just

before getting stuck. JARRING

b) Without Using Observed Hookload  See WENB (G-17) for specifications on Houston jars.
 For given yield rate, find max detent working load (G-17)
Required Pull = Approximate weight of DP x Length to stuck pt  Limit jar to: (Max Detent Working Load) - (Weight of BHA Below
Hookload = Required pull + block weight Jar)
 …because, if the jarring motion frees the stuck pipe, the jar will
c) Deviated Well suddenly see the weight of the BHA below the jar.
1) Find weight of string in air (WDP x LDP/TVD) + (WDC x LDC/TVD)
2) Observed weight of string = Hookload - Block Weight.
3) Loss of weight = String Weight in Air - Observed Wt of String. IF POTENTIAL FOR STUCK PIPE
NOTE: This is the weight lost due to buoyancy, friction, and wall
support.  If, when drilling, you have trouble with the BHA in soft formation
with high doglegs below last casing string,
LossWt recommendations/precautions for the next BHA:
Percent Weight Loss = i) Incorporate a jar in the BHA
WtofString ii) Use stabilizers that are suitable for reaming in both
directions
4) Hookload for back-off. iii) Make the assembly stiff so that you can work on
eliminating doglegs while going up and down
HL = [Wt string to back-off in air - Wt loss in air] + Block Wt iv) Use full gauge stabilizers and a full gauge bit
v) Consider rotating while POOH.
i.e. if x=20% HL=[2000 - 20%] + Block Wt vi) Run a safety joint (Disadvantage: It does not allow
HL=[2000-400]+Block Wt applying back torque to free the fishing assembly
from the fish).

BACKING-OFF #2

1. Find weight of free pipe in air

2. Go to pg. C43/C39 (DF1.15) to find allowable torque
3. Compare against make-up torque. Choose lowest.
4. Find ‘K’ on pg. G-7.
Torque (N  m)
5. Turns/100m = (SI Units)
K
Torque ( ft  lbs)
Turns/1000ft = (Field Units)
K
6. Multiply by D/100, where D is stuck depth, not back-off depth.
7. This gives the number of turns.

TURNS FOR A GIVEN TORQUE

turns Torque

1000 ft K

Then use length of free pipe to determine actual number of turns

required.
NOTE: Do not include DC's in this length.

FISHING ECONOMICS
When to quit fishing?

v  CS
D
Fd  R d

Where:
D = Maximum days to fish
V = Value of fish
CS = Cost of sidetrack