The DUG Permian conference in Fort Worth April 2 to 4 drew more than 2,500 attendees, showing just how hot a topic the Permian basin is. How do you drill and complete faster, better, and cheaper wells in the Delaware and Midland basins to tap the Wolf-camp and Cline formations, for example? It is the same question that is asked in every unconventional play worldwide.

Drilling efficiencies have reached the point where improvements are incremental. A panel of industry experts, however, indicated that there is a lot of room for improvement in the technology for unconventionals. The panel featured Mark Sunderland, southern region drilling manager, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; Jeff Meisenhelder, vice president, unconventional resources, Schlumberger; Robin Robinson, vice president, drilling, US land, Baker Hughes; and Danny Williams, vice president, Permian drilling and completions, Pioneer Natural Resources.

“We are drilling 14,000-ft [4,267-m] wells in seven days or less in the Eagle Ford,” Sunderland said. “What we are looking for is reliability in making a lot of hole with existing technology.”

Robinson added that the industry will likely see more pad drilling in the Permian. “With pads there are well-spacing issues, which means more complex pads and bringing in more rotary steerable technology.”

Automation of the rig will be one of the salient technologies moving forward, explained Meisenhelder. “By automation I am not really talking about the safety aspects of it. I am talking about closed-loop feedback systems that control weight on bit or wellbore location. Ultimately, I think we want to control the whole downhole environment.”

Williams agreed that there would likely be as many advances in drilling wells. “What we are looking for is a fluid system that will allow us to eliminate some of the problems we have in our vertical program, which also will impact our horizontal work program because we drill through the same intervals. We want to go beyond the standard wash circulation material, stuckpipe events, and all those challenges. We are looking for ways to tackle these issues without just another casing string. That is a breakthrough we are looking for.”

On the completion side, the industry is focusing on being more efficient and effective. Not just in the Permian but in other areas of the world, a high percentage of perforation clusters do not produce, Meisenhelder said. This is an issue that can be fixed with designed engineering solutions, getting to the point of having 100% of the perforations producing.

Tools have been developed that will let operators see if the horizontal wellbore is being stimulated effectively, Williams continued. “I also agree that steps need to be taken to drive efficiency so that we can do fewer clusters with fewer stages and still achieve the same or even better production.”

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