Approaches to directional drilling

Abstract

A method can include generating candidate trajectories for drilling a borehole in a subsurface environment; contextualizing each of the candidate trajectories using data from offset wells in the subsurface environment to assign contexts to portions of each of the candidate trajectories; assigning weights to the contexts; ranking the candidate trajectories utilizing the weights; based on the ranking, selecting one of the candidate trajectories; and issuing control instructions to equipment for drilling at least a portion of the borehole using the selected one of the candidate trajectories.

1 . A method comprising:
 generating candidate trajectories for drilling a borehole in a subsurface environment;   contextualizing each of the candidate trajectories using data from offset wells in the subsurface environment to assign contexts to portions of each of the candidate trajectories;   assigning weights to the contexts;   ranking the candidate trajectories utilizing the weights;   based on the ranking, selecting one of the candidate trajectories; and   issuing control instructions to equipment for drilling at least a portion of the borehole using the selected one of the candidate trajectories.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contexts comprise shape dependent contexts. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contexts comprise a curve context and wherein the at least a portion of the borehole comprises a curved portion. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contexts comprise a landing context and wherein the at least a portion of the borehole comprises a landing portion. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contexts comprise a lateral context and wherein the at least a portion of the borehole comprises a lateral portion. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the data from the offset wells define the lateral context. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contexts comprise a landing context and a lateral context. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the assigning weights to the contexts comprises using property weight definitions. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the contexts comprise a landing context and wherein the property weight definitions comprise property weight definitions for the landing context. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising automatically generating values for the weights using at least a portion of the data from the offset wells. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising automatically generating values for the weights using machine learning. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising assigning weights to the contexts using machine learning that utilizes context as a feature. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the machine learning utilizes at least a portion of the data from the offset wells. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the machine learning utilizes labeled data for the offset wells. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising, using machine learning based on at least a portion of the data from the offset wells, determining drilling difficulty for one or more of the candidate trajectories. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising rendering a graphical user interface to a display, wherein the graphical user interface renders a graphical representation of one of the candidate trajectories. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , comprising rendering a context label to the graphical user interface that labels a portion of the one of the candidate trajectories. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the context label corresponds to one of a curve context, a landing context, and a lateral context. 
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 a processor;
 memory accessible by the processor; 
 processor-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable to instruct the system to:
 generate candidate trajectories for drilling a borehole in a subsurface environment; 
 contextualize each of the candidate trajectories using data from offset wells in the subsurface environment to assign contexts to portions of each of the candidate trajectories; 
 assign weights to the contexts; 
 generate a ranking of the candidate trajectories utilizing the weights; 
 based on the ranking, select one of the candidate trajectories; and 
 issue control instructions to equipment for drilling at least a portion of the borehole using the selected one of the candidate trajectories. 
 
   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer, which includes a processor performs a method, the method comprising:
 generate candidate trajectories for drilling a borehole in a subsurface environment;   contextualize each of the candidate trajectories using data from offset wells in the subsurface environment to assign contexts to portions of each of the candidate trajectories;   assign weights to the contexts;   generate a ranking of the candidate trajectories utilizing the weights;   based on the ranking, select one of the candidate trajectories; and   issue control instructions to equipment for drilling at least a portion of the borehole using the selected one of the candidate trajectories.