Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.

Landmark Graphics Corporation

Xiaomin Hu

James Randolph Lovorn

Nancy Suzan Davis

Xinpu Shen

William Bradley Standifird

Jeremy Alexander Greenwood

Sara Shayegi

Syed Aijaz Rizvi

Well pressure control is integrated in real time with geomechanics determinations made during drilling. A well drilling method includes updating determinations of properties of a formation surrounding a wellbore in real time as the wellbore is being drilled; and controlling wellbore pressure in real time as the wellbore is being drilled, in response to the updated determinations of the formation properties. Another well drilling method includes obtaining sensor measurements in a well drilling system in real time as a wellbore is being drilled; transmitting the sensor measurements to a control system in real time; the control system determining in real time properties of a formation surrounding the wellbore based on the sensor measurements, and the control system transmitting in real time a pressure setpoint to a controller; and the controller controlling operation of at least one flow control device, thereby influencing a well pressure toward the pressure setpoint.

Integrated geomechanics determinations and wellbore pressure control

This specification describes systems, methods, and software relating to geomechanical modeling of a subterranean region (). In some aspects, finite difference (FD) grid data () and finite element (FE) mesh data () are received. The FD grid data include FD grid node locations () and FD grid values. The FD grid values include values of a subterranean formation property for each FD grid node location. The FE mesh data include FE mesh node locations () and spatial domains () for each of the FE mesh node locations. Values of the subterranean formation property are generated for each of the FE mesh node locations. The value for a given FE mesh node location is generated based on the FD grid values for FD grid node locations within the spatial domain about the given FE mesh node location. The generated values are assigned to the FE mesh node locations of the FE mesh data () for geomechanical modeling of the subterranean region.

Generating data for geomechanical modeling

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Missouri City, TX, United States of America

Xiaomin Hu