FAST, SAFE, AUTOMATIC DIRECTIONAL DRILLING TO PLANNED OR DETECTED TARGETS

THIS PROJECT CONSISTS OF DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF A SYSTEM FOR FAST, SAFE, AUTOMATIC DRILLING OF A HIGH QUALITY (I.E., SMOOTH BORE, MINIMUM DOGLEG, LOW TORQUE AND DRAG, MINIMUM FORMATION DAMAGE) BOREHOLE ALONG A PREPLANNED PROFILE TO A PREPLANNED AND/OR REAL-TIME DOWNHOLE SELECTED TARGET. IN ADDITION TO A POINT IN SPACE, THE TARGET INCLUDES MULTIPLE POINTS ALONG A PATH, SUCH AS WITHIN A PRODUCING FORMATION, OR AT THE INTERSECTION OF MULTIPLE FRACTURES. THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL DIRECTIONALLY CONTROLLED DRILLING SYSTEM MAY BE POWERED BY EITHER DOWNHOLE MOTORS OR STANDARD ROTARY MEANS. THE SYSTEM IS CAPABLE OF DRILLING FROM SPUD TO TARGET WITH NO ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS OR ADJUSTMENTS AND WITH NO RESTRICTIONS ON DESIRED DRILLING PARAMETERS OR CONTROLS, SUCH AS WEIGHT-ON-BIT AND ROTARY SPEED. INCLUDED ARE SENSORS AND MEANS FOR TARGET DETECTION AND SELECTION; FOR OPTIMAL, NEAR BALANCED PRESSURE DRILLING;AND FOR BLOWOUT DETECTION AND PREVENTION. ADDITIONALLY, STANDARD OR IMPROVED MEASUREMENTS- WHILE-DRILLING (MWD) SENSORS ARE AVAILABLE, ALONG WITH REAL-TIME TWO-WAY COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE SURFACE AND DOWNHOLE. THIS PHASEI EFFORT INCLUDES CONFIGURING AND BROADLY SPECIFYING A PROTOTYPE CONTROLLED DIRECTIONAL DRILLING MODULE TO BE USED WITH A MODIFIED MWD SYSTEM IN THE PHASE II DRILLING TEST.