Well Design and Engineering - WDE

Well Design and Engineering integrates all major well design technologies from pre-spud to TD. Participants are actively engaged in every aspect of the technical activities required to deliver a cost-effective well plan while also gaining valuable perspective on how the overall process should be managed in a dynamic team environment. The workshop content is often customized to address technologies and practices that may be specific to a project or operational situation. The course delivery is carefully balanced to integrate technical lectures and group discussion with roughly half of each day allotted for the teams to apply what they have learned on the project well design. The single most important goal of the workshop is to draw the linkages between the design topics and to leave the participants with an understanding that each decision has influence on those that follow. Intensity mounts as the course progresses and each design topic builds on those that came before. Design iterations are commonly required, especially as the course progresses and seemingly unrelated decisions push the teams into situations of uncomfortable operational risk. On the last day, each team presents their completed design before the class and an invited panel of industry professionals. A scientific calculator is required and a laptop computer is strongly recommended.


"Great overview and outline of everything to design a well." - Petroleum Engineer, United States

Drilling engineers, completion engineers, and drilling supervisors involved with drilling operations and well planning.

How To:

• Understand the responsibilities of a well planner as a designer and project manager
• Review offset analysis and data gathering
• Understand the influence of completion design and production requirements on well design
• Identify trajectory design issues and their influence on torque and drag, wellbore stability, and future intervention
• Develop specific casing design skills including casing point selection; design load case development; burst, collapse and tension calculations; controlling load and safety factor determination and select appropriate size, weight and grade
• Perform cement slurry and displacement volume calculations
• Complete drill string and BHA designs and failure prevention assessment for each hole section, and review for directional well applications
• Understand different bit types and applications, and perform calculations to support bit run economics
• Optimize hydraulics for each hole interval based upon wellbore, fluids and drill string configurations
• Compile risks to well delivery, and develop mitigations and contingency plans
• Develop minimum rig capability specifications to deliver well requirements
• Present and defend a well plan to management

• Trajectory design
• Wellbore stability and casing point selection
• Drilling fluids and solids control
• Casing design
• Primary cementing
• Drill string and BHA design
• Bit technology
• Circulating system hydraulics and hole cleaning