Location
Niobrara Shale, DJ Basin, United States, North America, Onshore
Details
Colorado, USA
Wattenberg Field
Well
Bernhardt 6K-243
Basin
Denver-Julesburg (DJ) basin
Lithology
Soft sandstone, shale
Sliding footage, ft
275.3
Average on-bottom sliding ROP, ft/h
21.4
Background
In the Niobrara Shale, an operator sought to increase ROP in the 83/4-in intermediate (vertical and curve) interval while maintaining sufcient toolface control to drill the curve at a planned build rate of 8°/100 ft. The interval was drilled in one run on a steerable positive displacement motor BHA. Compared with the performance of a baseline SDi519 bit in the same interval in a similar well on the same pad, the new bit increased overall on-bottom ROP 39.2%, and average on-bottom ROP while rotating increased 22.6%. Additionally, average footage required to slide per well decreased 30.6%, and average on-bottom ROP while sliding increased 23.9%.
