Dogleg Drilling System - High Build Rate Rotary Steerable System | SLB

PowerDrive Archer

High build rate rotary steerable system

A BHA with PDC bit and PowerDrive Archer RSS curving toward us through a blue computerized tunnel

The PowerDrive Archer RSS delivers complex 3D well profiles while maintaining high ROP and wellbore quality. It minimizes well profile restriction and optimizes attack angle in troublesome formations. The system enables operators to maximize reservoir exposure, increasing hydrocarbon production potential. Increased DLS capability gives control in unconsolidated formations.

Flat time elimination for drilling on plan

Additional advantages of the PowerDrive Archer RSS include the ability to drill complex curves and trajectories and perform openhole sidetracks at any point without requiring a trip out of the hole. It can kick off deeper and land early in the reservoir, maximizing ROP for optimal performance in the vertical section and reducing risk of mechanical sticking while improving wellbore quality. Fast, reliable directional openhole sidetracks can be completed to reduce time spent drilling multilateral wells and enable wells to be placed exactly where required.

Wellbore quality assurance for ease of completion

The PowerDrive Archer RSS produces smooth, high-quality wellbores, reducing stick/slip, torque, and drag as well as making it easier to run casing and wireline logs for trouble-free well completions. Its moving components are internal; its internal pads push against an articulated sleeve pivoted on a universal joint to offset the steering unit from the tools’ axis. This creates a hybrid effect that drives the bit, delivering well profiles previously only possible with motors.

A field technician calibrates a PowerDrive Archer RSS using a laptop plugged into the tool
A simplified side-view rendering of a shortened BHA incorporating a PowerDrive Archer RSS and a PDC bit

Applications

  • High-curvature 3D wells
  • Sidetrack and dogleg severity (DLS) assurance

Advantages

  • High build rates from any inclination
  • Well trajectory previously only possible with positive displacement motors
  • Improved wellbore placement in reservoir's sweet spot
  • Smooth wellbore to ease completion
  • Unique hybrid steering unit for maximum DLS
  • Near-bit continuous inclination and azimuth measurement
  • Near-bit azimuthal gamma ray measurement

Best for building curve sections
Maximum pressure: 20,000 psi
Maximum rpm: 350 rpm
Maximum temperature: 302 degF


Fatigue management for reliability in long runs

Through finite element analysis modeling and bending moment analysis on the PowerDrive Archer BHA, a predicted fatigue life for BHA components was produced for aggressive build rates. The PERFORM Toolkit data optimization and analysis software automatically performs this complex fatigue management and enables real-time monitoring in the field.

Testing the PowerDrive Archer RSS by drilling horizontally through several hundred feet of connected, large stone blocks in a Schlumberger facility
The tests performed at a global drilling center enabled the PowerDrive Archer RSS to be engineered and optimized for multiple scenarios, with multiple bit types, for optimal performance.
PowerDrive Archer
High build rate RSS