DRILLING OPTIMIZED BY MONITORING BHA DYNAMICS WITH MWD

By measuring the drilling performance of the bottom hole assembly (BHA) in real time, the probability of serious drilling problems can be reduced. A new logging tool and service directly measures bottom hole assembly performance, thus allowing swifter and more accurate corrective measures when necessary. Drilling time savings are realized through improved rates of penetration (ROP), reduced off-bottom time, and increase life of drillstring. Advances in measurement-while-drilling (MWD) technology have facilitated the inclusion of downhole drilling dynamics measurements into the package of MWD data transmitted in real time. Thus, the actual energy input to the bit and the resistance of the formation to drilling can be measured and compared to the surface data. This provides an extremely useful analytical tool for the drilling engineer.