Experimental Study of Different Radial Jet Drilling Parameters and Operation Regimes for Effective Well Stimulation

Abstract

Radial waterjet drilling technology presents a modern solution to enhance oil recovery. This technology has already established itself at a number of oilfields, but selecting the best operational and technical parameters for radial waterjet drilling channels remains an open and poorly studied question. The purpose of this work is to study the process of radial channel drilling in detail by means of bench tests in laboratory conditions. The study models static and dynamic waterjet stimulation and determines the optimum values of operating parameters affecting waterjet nozzle speed in the channel that is being drilled. As a result of the conducted experiments, it was found that the dynamic mode of stimulation is more effective than the static mode. Therefore, development and introduction of additional modules to the equipment arrangement to ensure constant forced linear reciprocating motion of the waterjet nozzle will significantly improve the efficiency and speed of waterjet drilling. Further design and practical application of the aforementioned novel technical solution will significantly improve the performance of radial drilling technology in enhanced oil recovery.

Keywords

• oil recovery improvement
• radial drilling
• waterjet stimulation
• small-diameter radial channels
• oil-producing wells