Optimizing a Drill Center Location

28 February 2013 Hi all, I have been tasked with generating trajectories and cost estimates for a ~30-well dry tree development in Angola.  Of course, one of the precursors for trajectory design is identifying a drill center (DTU) location that is optimized based on targets provided by the subsurface team.  Ideally, I would like to minimize the average measured depth of the wells, however there is no easy way to calculate MD prior to selecting the final drill center location.  Note that the development will involve 3D wells across a range of TVDs, including some near-horizontals. What are your recommendations for determining an optimized drill center location? I am primarily interested Excel-based calculation due to time constraints. Thanks for your input. Best regards, Brian

7 Answer(s)

---