Drilling Parameters Optimization for Horizontal Wells Based on a Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm to Improve the Rate of Penetration and Reduce Drill String Drag

Abstract

With the development of China’s oil and gas exploration and development to complex oil and gas fields, the drilling efficiency and safety of complex formations with large hardness and strong abrasiveness have become increasingly significant. Optimizing drilling parameters is an effective means to increase the rate of penetration (ROP) and improve drilling efficiency. However, traditional drilling parameter optimization methods with only a single objective of increasing the ROP lack consideration of the drill string’s drag which may also be increased when drilling parameters change. When drilling a horizontal well, increased drag can reduce drilling efficiency. Aiming at this problem, this paper uses the logging data of the oil field as the data source, establishes an intelligent ROP prediction model through the random forest algorithm, and calculates the string drag using the “hard-string” model. Finally, the nondominant sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), which is a domination-based multiobjective optimization algorithm, is used to optimize the drilling parameters to increase the ROP and reduce the drag at the same time. The optimized drilling parameters guide the drilling operations. We used the proposed method to optimize the parameters during the drilling of a new horizontal well. The results show that the ROP of the horizontal section of the new well increases by 10.3%, and the drag reduces by 4.5% on average compared with the adjacent well.

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