Directional Drilling Training Course

Course Overview

This comprehensive professional development program is designed for Young Engineers who are going to join directional drilling engineering operations at onshore or offshore oil and gas rigs, Top management involved in strategic decision-making regarding directional drilling operations and safety measures and practices for wellbore stability and integrity, Compliance and health and safety officers responsible for ensuring adherence to all standards and benchmarks of drilling engineering and directional drilling engineering, Legal and financial advisors required in times of legal and financial liabilities against the organization involved in directional drilling operations, Vendors and suppliers involved at any stage of drilling operations at onshore and offshore oil and gas rigs, and Any other engineer or professional interested in getting knowledge on directional drilling engineering responsible for implementing directional drilling across ERD wells and multilateral operations and geosteering and complex well-trajectory planning in multi-organizational contexts. The program addresses proven practices in advanced ERD well planning and BHA design and geosteering execution, ERD-specific challenge management including torque and drag and trajectory design and wellbore stability, and multilateral-well geosteering and precise reservoir placement where ADNOC Onshore and Halliburton delivering the first and longest ERD well onshore UAE reaching 32,300 ft total depth with a 20,018-ft lateral section geosteered to precision with 100% reservoir contact and a 29 percent ROP improvement versus field average while completing ahead of the AFE planned well duration, ExxonMobil’s Sakhalin-1 consortium through Rosneft drilling a 15,000-m horizontal ERW from the offshore Orlan gravity-base platform representing the longest ERW well on record with the Sakhalin-1 consortium claiming nine out of the world’s ten longest ERD wells and ERD well in the Upper Zakum field saving the operator the cost of drilling three separate wells amounting to savings of 18 million USD, and Norsk Hydro Produksjon AS and Baker Hughes INTEQ drilling the Starfish multilateral well in Norway’s Troll field in June 2005 with five laterals from a single slot using only six RSS tool strings to drill five laterals providing 13,542 m of contact with reservoir sands.

The curriculum integrates Fundamentals of Directional Drilling and Directional Drilling Technology, Advance Well Planning and Directional Surveying, Downhole Equipment, Well Trajectory Planning, and Wellbore Stability and Drilling Hydraulics to provide comprehensive coverage of directional drilling principles, trajectory planning and BHA design methodologies, and geosteering and multilateral well integration domains for achieving directional drilling excellence.

Why This Course Is Required?

Advanced ERD well planning and BHA design and geosteering execution represent critical competencies where ADNOC Onshore sought to maximize reservoir contact by planning the first ERD well in the company’s history targeted to reach an onshore record of 32,300 ft MD significantly beyond any prior well depths for the operator, with uncertainty in directional response and bit durability and ECD and induced losses being the main areas of concern for the extended lateral section along with friction and torque and drag and overall rig capacity in this unknown environment and significant concerns regarding intermediate sections due to weak formation with high fluid loss potential during drilling and cementing activities. ERD-specific challenge management including torque and drag and trajectory design and wellbore stability demand specialized knowledge where ExxonMobil and Rosneft’s extensive use of ERD at Sakhalin-1 has been pushing the limits of ERD for nearly two decades with innovative technologies and sophisticated well planning, with Rosneft crediting ExxonMobil’s patented Fast Drill drilling optimization process that can increase rates of penetration by up to 400 percent as a significant innovation contributing to the ERD success story, and with ERD wells in the Upper Zakum field drilled from four artificial islands to achieve higher recovery while reducing costs and minimizing the operation’s effects on the environment. Multilateral-well geosteering and precise reservoir placement require professionals with advanced directional drilling expertise where Norsk Hydro initially found that vertical wells would not provide an economically viable means to produce oil from thin C-sands in the Troll field and implemented an oil development strategy using horizontal and multilateral drilling technologies with the Troll field now producing through 106 wells with 149 horizontal branches with total length of wellbore exceeding 350 km and sand layers as thin as 8 m being produced resulting in more than 1.9 billion bbl of expected oil reserves an increase from the initial estimate of 350 million in 1991.

Directional drilling professionals must master fundamental principles including well planning and well positioning and coordinate system of wells and terminologies used in directional drilling and well objectives and well targets and well target issues and applications and limitations of directional drilling, understand comprehensive advance well planning and downhole equipment frameworks including different survey methodologies and anti-collision strategy and multiple survey tools and mud logging and MWD and LWD and downhole directional drilling tools and directional drilling methodologies and BHA design and RSS drilling tools, and apply proper well trajectory planning and wellbore stability methods including well path design and horizontal well calculations and drill string design and shock and vibrations and torque and drag and wellbore stability and downhole cleaning of drilling cuttings and multilateral wells and ERD wells and geosteering tools and methodology to ensure organizations achieve superior ERD well planning and BHA design and geosteering execution, enhanced ERD-specific challenge management, improved multilateral-well geosteering and precise reservoir placement, and competitive advantage through continuous wellbore surveillance and drilling-performance optimization and non-productive-time reduction governance protocols.

Research demonstrates training is crucial for success, with Halliburton UAE ERD case showing directional-drilling engineers who understand well planning and BHA design including RSS tools and torque and drag and real-time geosteering can successfully drill very long horizontal sections with high ROP and full reservoir contact with course’s modules on fundamentals and advanced well planning and surveying and downhole tools and trajectory planning giving the knowledge base needed to take on similar high-impact roles, while Sakhalin-1 and other ERD examples in JPT highlighting that engineers who can manage ERD-specific challenges including high MD-to-TVD ratios and torque and drag and friction and complex trajectory design enable operators to access difficult reservoirs while cutting development costs and well count with by studying ERD concepts and drill-string design and shock and vibration and wellbore stability course building capabilities that are in high demand for complex directional and ERD projects worldwide, and Troll Starfish multilateral success showing that geosteering specialists and directional drillers who can use MWD and LWD data and real-time inversion and reservoir mapping tools to keep laterals in thin pay zones add significant value by increasing reservoir contact and recovery.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion, participants will have demonstrated mastery of:

• Complete knowledge and information about all activities involved in directional drilling
• The required experience and confidence to handle directional drilling challenges and take correct timely decisions to drill successfully
• The necessary understanding and knowledge of all required equipment and tools for uninterruptable drilling and directional drilling operations onshore or offshore
• The confidence and knowledge to conduct training for young professionals working or aiming to work in directional drilling
• The ability to introduce smart and advanced directional drilling operational techniques and concepts including technology to make work easier, faster, simpler, and more accurate
• The potential and capability to make operational enhancements and changes in other strategic plans to increase credibility and attract customers from multiple operator companies
• The ability to contribute to organizational growth and development through various avenues
• The complete skillset and capabilities to undertake critical and complex roles and responsibilities in directional drilling teams for onshore and offshore rigs

Master directional drilling excellence and drive ERD well-planning and geosteering optimization success. Enroll today to become a Certified Directional Drilling Professional!

Training Methodology

This collaborative Certificate in Directional Drilling Course comprises the following training methods:

The training framework includes:

• Lectures
• Seminars and Presentations
• Group Discussions
• Assignments
• Case Studies and Functional Exercises
• Workshops developing BHA design and torque-and-drag analysis skills
• Hands-on exercises practicing trajectory calculations and anti-collision strategy
• Practical demonstrations with real-world ERD and multilateral well-planning scenarios and geosteering decision exercises

This immersive approach fosters practical skill development and real-world application of directional drilling principles through comprehensive coverage of well trajectory planning and downhole equipment and BHA design and geosteering and multilateral well domains with emphasis on measurable ROP improvement and reservoir contact maximization and non-productive time reduction.

This program follows the Do-Review-Learn-Apply model, creating a structured learning journey that transforms traditional drilling approaches into professional directional drilling excellence.

Who Should Attend?

This Directional Drilling Training Course is designed for:

• Young engineers who are going to join directional drilling engineering operations at onshore or offshore oil and gas rigs
• Top management involved in strategic decision-making regarding directional drilling operations and safety measures and practices for wellbore stability and integrity
• Compliance and health and safety officers responsible for ensuring adherence to all standards and benchmarks of drilling engineering and directional drilling engineering
• Legal and financial advisors required in times of legal and financial liabilities against the organization involved in directional drilling operations
• Vendors and suppliers involved at any stage of drilling operations at onshore and offshore oil and gas rigs
• Any other engineer or professional interested in getting knowledge on directional drilling engineering

Organizational Benefits

Organizations implementing directional drilling training will benefit through:

• Significantly enhanced ERD well planning and BHA design and geosteering execution through comprehensive training delivering measurable returns where the integrated Halliburton approach yielded complementary solutions across drilling services with a focus on reducing risk and optimizing performance from a total well perspective including customized GeoTech drill bits via the Design at the Customer Interface process ensuring high impact and abrasion resistance and iCruise intelligent RSS and LOGIX automated drilling solution for precise directional drilling and DrillDOC drilling downhole optimization collar and combined MRI/XBAT LWD tools to support geosteering requirements resulting in the 20,018-ft lateral section geosteered to precision with 100% reservoir contact and custom-designed bits achieving the footage record with a 29 percent improvement in ROP versus field average exactly what training teaches​
• Better ERD-specific challenge management through JPT ERD article confirming that Mubadala drilled research Well X in the challenging thick gas cap and thin-oil-column reservoirs of the Jasmine field with a total depth of 13,052-ft MD achieving a new ERD record with ERD ratio of 3.26 and directional difficulty index of 6.95 and that the ERD well in the Upper Zakum field saved the operator the cost of drilling three separate wells amounting to savings of 18 million USD demonstrating how ERD well planning and trajectory design and torque-and-drag management enable operators to access difficult reservoirs while cutting development costs as organizational benefits highlighted in training​
• Improved multilateral-well geosteering and precise reservoir placement through Troll Starfish case confirming that aggressive technology development enabled Norsk Hydro to produce more than a billion barrels from what was once termed an economically unfeasible oil field because of its thin productive reservoir sands, with the longest Troll well at 7,703 m MD drilled at the rate of 240 m per day and only six RSS tool strings needed to drill five laterals providing 13,542 m of contact with the reservoir sands and up to three junctions installed in the same well to expose up to 16,000 m of reservoir validating course content
• Strengthened competitive advantage through efficient onshore and offshore directional drilling operations because of trained and experienced professionals overseeing technical drilling challenges and regular maintenance of directional drilling tools to prevent early damage and application of modern technology to speed up the exploration process and adherence to all required standards of operation and safety and reduced costs and maintenance of directional drilling tools and closest prediction of possible drilling risks and problems with effective management and prevention to reduce non-productive time

Studies show that organizations implementing comprehensive directional drilling training achieve significantly enhanced delivery outcomes as research confirms the Halliburton UAE ERD case showing the iCem-modeled cement job utilizing the mechanically robust NeoCem lead slurry and flexible expandable tail slurry for casing cement jobs enabled zonal isolation against traditionally weak formations resulting in cement to surface while maintaining shoe integrity and successful zonal isolation of the 9⅝-in. cement job through utilization of tailored cement slurries resulting in excellent cement bond logs setting up critical support for extended 8½-in. lateral drilling with ADNOC now confident in the ability of Halliburton to execute such challenging wells and looking toward additional wells to expand the ERD campaign reinforcing course’s emphasis on BHA design and well-trajectory planning and geosteering, better organizational outcomes through ERD evidence demonstrating that ExxonMobil’s patented Fast Drill drilling optimization process that can increase rates of penetration by up to 400 percent was a significant innovation contributing to the ERD success story at Sakhalin-1 with the consortium claiming nine out of the world’s ten longest ERD wells proving the organizational value of consistently training professionals in advanced ERD planning and execution, and improved competitive positioning as multilateral geosteering approach enables better recovery from thin-pay reservoirs while organizations benefit from their staff understanding how to design integrated BHAs and interpret real-time MWD and LWD data and maintain precise well placement in complex geological settings.

Empower your organization with directional drilling expertise. Enroll your team today and see the transformation in ERD well planning and geosteering optimization excellence!

Personal Benefits

Professionals implementing directional drilling training will benefit through:

• Deeper understanding of BHA-design mastery and ERD-well geosteering contribution through Halliburton UAE ERD case showing directional-drilling engineers who understand well planning and BHA design including RSS tools and torque and drag and real-time geosteering can successfully drill very long horizontal sections with high ROP and full reservoir contact, with course’s modules on fundamentals and advanced well planning and surveying and downhole tools and trajectory planning giving the knowledge base needed to take on similar high-impact roles​
• Enhanced ERD-trajectory mastery and complex-well execution capability through Sakhalin-1 and other ERD examples in JPT highlighting that engineers who can manage ERD-specific challenges including high MD-to-TVD ratios and torque and drag and friction and complex trajectory design enable operators to access difficult reservoirs while cutting development costs and well count, with by studying ERD concepts and drill-string design and shock and vibration and wellbore stability course building capabilities that are in high demand for complex directional and ERD projects worldwide​
• Stronger MWD-and-LWD mastery and real-time geosteering value-addition through Troll Starfish multilateral success showing that geosteering specialists and directional drillers who can use MWD and LWD data and real-time inversion and reservoir mapping tools to keep laterals in thin pay zones add significant value by increasing reservoir contact and recovery, with course’s emphasis on MWD and LWD and geosteering tools and methodology and multilateral wells and ERD wells strengthening those skills and preparing professionals to participate in or lead similar geosteering-intensive operations
• Advanced expertise in directional drilling principles, trajectory-planning and BHA-design methodologies, and geosteering and multilateral well integration domains
• Enhanced career prospects and marketability in drilling engineering, ERD operations, geosteering, and wellbore stability sectors with professionals gaining skills in RSS BHA design, anti-collision strategy, torque-and-drag analysis, and multilateral-well planning
• Complete knowledge and experience of directional drilling operations and greater experience and confidence to handle directional drilling challenges and problems and risks and emergency situations on rigs
• Increased potential and ability to successfully undertake higher roles and responsibilities related to overseeing end-to-end directional drilling operations at drilling rigs
• Enhanced skillset and knowledge to provide strategic inputs to drilling rig operations in HPHT wells and ERD wells

Course Outline

Module 1: Fundamentals of Directional Drilling and Directional Drilling Technology

• Well planning
• Well positioning
• Coordinate system of wells
• Terminologies used in Directional drilling
• Well objectives
• Well targets
• Well target issues
• Applications of directional drilling
• Limitations of directional drilling
• Types of directional wells (S‑shape, J‑shape, horizontal, multilateral)
• Regulatory and anti‑collision requirements for well positioning

Module 2: Advance Well Planning and Directional Surveying

• Different Survey Methodologies
• Anti-collision strategy
• Multiple survey tools
• Mud logging
• Measurement while drilling (MWD)
• Logging while drilling (LWD)
• Survey quality control, uncertainty, and separation rules
• Real‑time survey updates and well‑path corrections while drilling

Module 3: Downhole Equipment

• Downhole directional drilling tools
• Directional drilling methodologies
• Design of Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA)
• RSS drilling tool
• Motor vs. RSS BHAs – selection guidelines
• Placing stabilizers, jars, and agitators to manage torque and drag

Module 4: Well Trajectory Planning

• Well path design for directional drilling
• Calculations of Horizontal well
• Drill string design for directional drilling
• Shock and vibrations
• Torque and drag in directional drilling
• Dogleg severity limits and build/turn rate capabilities
• Use of torque‑and‑drag models for ERD planning

Module 5: Wellbore Stability and Drilling Hydraulics

• Wellbore stability in directional drilling
• Downhole cleaning of drilling cuttings
• Multilateral wells and ERD Wells
• Geosteering tools and methodology
• Problems in directional drilling
• Mud‑weight window, ECD management, and lost‑circulation risks
• Real‑time monitoring of cuttings load, ROP, and downhole shocks

Real World Examples

Halliburton – Record ERD well onshore UAE

Implementation: ADNOC Onshore sought to maximize reservoir contact by planning the first ERD well in the company’s history targeted to reach an onshore record of 32,300 ft MD with a greater than 20,000-ft lateral drain, with Halliburton Abu Dhabi entrusted to provide integrated drilling services for this critical first well harnessing experience in ERD operations in the area, and a multidiscipline Halliburton team comprising personnel from multiple Halliburton product service lines collaborating with ADNOC Onshore to engineer an optimum well design. The engineered solution included customized GeoTech drill bits via the Design at the Customer Interface process ensuring high impact and abrasion resistance along with RSS compatibility, with the drilling BHA utilizing the iCruise intelligent RSS and the LOGIX automated drilling solution for precise directional drilling along with the DrillDOC drilling downhole optimization collar and the combined MRIL/XBAT LWD tools to support geosteering requirements while also reducing risk, with specially formulated BaraXcel drill-in fluids and BaraLube drilling fluid additives supported by DFG modeling software for optimized hole stability. The well planning process included technology tool selections based on specific objectives and cost benefit analysis and the Drill Well on Paper process and peer reviews for the final drilling program and pre-spud meetings in the office and spud meetings in the field, with the Halliburton team using the ADT drilling optimization service along with the HalVue real-time viewer providing 24/7 access to drilling data.​

Results: The first ERD well in the field was drilled successfully and significantly ahead of plan achieving a record as the fastest and longest 12¼-in. hole and 8½-in. well sections drilled in the field to date along with the record of the longest onshore well at 32,300 ft MD, with the 20,018-ft lateral section geosteered to precision with 100% reservoir contact and seamless correlation between source and sourceless BHA runs and the custom-designed bits standing up to the extended drilling achieving the footage record with a 29 percent improvement in ROP versus the field average. Due to these outstanding results ADNOC is confident in the ability of Halliburton to execute such challenging wells in the onshore environment and is looking toward additional wells to expand the ERD campaign, illustrating how advanced directional-drilling planning and execution including BHA design and geosteering and torque-and-drag management can reduce risk and non-productive time exactly what this course prepares professionals for.​

ExxonMobil Sakhalin-1 and other ERD projects – Long-reach directional wells

Implementation: ExxonMobil’s Sakhalin-1 operation through its subsidiary Exxon Neftegas Limited has been pushing the limits of ERD for nearly two decades at the Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun-Dagi fields offshore Russia’s Sakhalin Island, with Rosneft announcing in November 2017 it had drilled a 15,000-m horizontal ERW from the offshore Orlan gravity-base platform at Chayvo field setting five world records for measured depth of wells between 2013 and 2017 and the Sakhalin-1 consortium claiming nine out of the world’s ten longest ERD wells. Parker Drilling engineered and built the Yastreb rig exclusively for Sakhalin-1 to drill ERWs to offshore targets from land, with drillers first targeting the Chayvo oil rim using ERD techniques including horizontal completions up to approximately 3,700 m in length and ExxonMobil crediting its patented Fast Drill drilling optimization process that can increase rates of penetration by up to 400 percent as a significant innovation contributing to the ERD success story. In the Upper Zakum field offshore Abu Dhabi, ExxonMobil and ADNOC Offshore implemented a development plan including the drilling of extended reach wells of up to six miles long drilled from four artificial islands to achieve higher recovery while reducing costs and minimizing the operation’s effects on the environment, with an ERD well drilling to a total measured depth of 27,352 ft with a horizontal hole of 11,300 ft reservoir contact and a directional difficulty index of 7.208 using a light and slim casing design saving the operator the cost of drilling three separate wells amounting to savings of 18 million USD.​

Results: ERD wells across Sakhalin-1 and Gulf of Thailand and offshore Brazil and the Arab Gulf demonstrated that sophisticated well-trajectory design and mud and hydraulics management and torque and drag control and wellbore-stability analysis enable ERD wells that can replace multiple conventional wells and access difficult reservoirs while cutting development costs, with Mubadala achieving a new ERD record in the Gulf of Thailand with ERD ratio of 3.26 and DDI of 6.95 and Equinor completing what was then Brazil’s longest horizontal section of 2,268 m inside a depleted reservoir. Results mirrored the advanced planning and ERD and multilateral concepts and drilling-hydraulics topics covered in this directional-drilling course, confirming that engineers who can manage ERD-specific challenges including high MD-to-TVD ratios and torque and drag and friction and complex trajectory design enable operators to access difficult reservoirs while cutting development costs and well count.​

Norsk Hydro / Equinor and Baker Hughes – Starfish multilateral in Troll field

Implementation: In Norway’s Troll field located approximately 80 km west of Bergen at a water depth of about 335 m covering 700 sq km, Norsk Hydro Produksjon AS and its service partners including Baker Hughes INTEQ and Hughes Christensen and Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids and Baker Oil Tools and Halliburton Energy Service performed detailed engineering and modeling to plan the complex Starfish well trajectories and drilling and completion procedures in June 2005 targeting thin oil layers beneath a gas cap. The integrated drilling BHA included the AutoTrak G3.0 RSS and LithoTrak LWD system and CoPilot drilling dynamics system and Genesis PDC bits with PerFLOW CM CaCO3 polymer drilling and completion fluids used with Lube 622 lubricating additive and drilling team staff monitoring drilling progress and providing guidance to the crew in real time from the BEACON remote operations center in Stavanger, with the longest Troll well at 7,703 m MD drilled at the rate of 240 m per day. Only six RSS tool strings were needed to drill the five laterals providing 13,542 m of contact with the reservoir sands, with two of the laterals completed with Exclude2 2000 screens and gas lift valves and a Halliburton FlexRite MLT system installed to create a sand-free and gastight junction between the two branches completed with sand screens creating a TAML level 5 junction that was both gas and sand tight.

Results: Aggressive technology development enabled Norsk Hydro to produce more than a billion barrels from what was once termed an economically unfeasible oil field because of its thin productive reservoir sands, with the oil development strategy resulting in more than 1.9 billion bbl of expected oil reserves an increase from the initial estimate of 350 million in 1991 and Norsk Hydro planning to reach Troll 300 to produce a total of 300 million standard cu m of oil from Troll. Results provided a concrete example of the multilateral and geosteering and complex-trajectory planning techniques that this course teaches for modern directional-drilling operations, confirming that geosteering specialists and directional drillers who can use MWD and LWD data and real-time inversion and reservoir mapping tools to keep laterals in thin pay zones add significant value by increasing reservoir contact and recovery.

Be inspired by leading directional drilling achievements. Register now to build the skills your organization needs for ERD well planning and geosteering optimization excellence!