Design Methodology and Operational

Practices Eliminate Differential Sticking

Fred E. Dupriest, William C. Elks Jr., and Steinar Ottesen, SPE, ExxonMobil Development Company

Summary
This paper discusses a successful initiative begun 6 years ago to
eliminate differential sticking across global operations. In the 5year period from 2004 through 2008, there were only three differential-sticking events in 3,476 wells drilled with the recommended
practices. There were an additional 17 sticking events with designs
that did not conform to recommended practices, and 14 of these
were freed. The drilling environment was diverse. Overbalances
in excess of 1,000 to 2,000 psi were common in multidarcy rock
and at high angle, and depleted reservoirs have been drilled with
overbalance as high as 7,800 psi in vertical wells.
The early focus of the stuck-pipe-avoidance practices was the
elimination of differential sticking. However, some level of sticking occurs routinely in drilling operations, and these events become
problematic only if the force required to initiate pipe movement
exceeds what can be delivered to the stuck point. It is now accepted
that sticking cannot be prevented and that elimination of sticking is
not a proper design objective. The philosophical objective has now
shifted from elimination of sticking to maintaining conditions that
allow the pipe to be pulled free, assuming that it will become differentially stuck. The desire to maintain this ability to move the
pipe has required the implementation of a range of practices, some
of which were not common in the industry.
Changes were made in bottomhole assembly (BHA) design,
fluid design, real-time cake-shear-strength recognition, and realtime cake-remediation practices. A finite-element (FE) model was
also applied to redesign new systems or applications that lie outside
the operators previous experience. The stochastic model predicts
cake growth and sticking force and the probability that it will be
possible to deliver a force that can free the pipe for any given
still-pipe time. The model inputs were calibrated through pullout
tests with a variety of fluids to determine mechanical cake-strength
properties, the rate at which those properties develop, changes in
the pressure transient through the cake as it matures, and the cake
contact areas and geometry at any point in time.
Engineering and operations training also contributed greatly
and allowed relatively uniform implementation to be achieved
across a large, globally diverse operation in less than 1 year.
A small number of noncompliant designs continued to be used,
and these contributed greatly to the incidence of stuck pipe in the
first 3 years. Last year, there was only one incident of stuck pipe
with a noncompliant design.
The paper describes the underlying sticking concepts, the engineering design and field practices used, the modeling capability,
and the field results.
Introduction
Differential sticking occurs when the drillstring, wireline, or
other surfaces are held against the borehole wall by forces that
develop in an area of contact with permeable formations. The
dominant force is usually associated with the pressure differential
between the borehole and formation in the contact area, though
adhesion and cohesion may also contribute some resistance to
pipe movement (Helmick and Longley 1957). Many of the most

Copyright 2011 Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper (SPE 128129) was accepted for presentation at the SPE/IADC Drilling
Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, 24 February 2010, and revised for publication.
Original manuscript received for review 31 January 2010. Revised manuscript received for
review 4 June 2010. Paper peer approved 8 June 2010.

March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

common contemporary practices for combating the problem were

developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s and have been used
successfully for more than 50 years. Examples include rig-crew
training, minimizing still-pipe time, stabilization of the BHA,
management of filter-cake quality, and minimization of overbalance. The reason differential sticking became a major concern was
the increased incident rate of differential sticking as the industry
moved into abnormal pressure and high overbalance in the Gulf
of Mexico. Low-angle, directional drilling from offshore structures
also became common.
The stuck-pipe-incident rate increased again in the late 1990s
as the number of high-angle and extended-reach trajectories in
the operators well mix grew. The high inclination had multiple negative effects. The contact force on the inclined pipe was
higher; higher mud weight (MW) was required for stability, which
increased the overbalance; and the measured footage and contact
surfaces become larger when permeable formations are penetrated
at high angle. Furthermore, the likelihood of successfully freeing
the pipe declined at high angle, and rig time and sophisticated
logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools in the stuck BHA increased
the cost of sidetrack operations.
In response to the increasing frequency of stuck-pipe events,
a comprehensive body of practices was developed in 2002 to
reduce the sticking risk. The stuck-pipe-avoidance practices were
incorporated into various training forums and implemented in
operations during 2003. By 2004, design and operating practices
were fairly uniform across the global organization, and there has
been little modification to date. There are numerous elements in
the practices, none of which are based on new scientific models
or fundamental new research. The mechanism through which
sticking occurs is well described, as is the general morphology
of filter cakes and the manner in which this can be manipulated.
However, the known science has not necessarily been translated
into effective field practices. Furthermore, the practices that are
known to be effective may not be applied uniformly or in the
appropriate situations. The stuck-pipe-avoidance effort has been
successful because of a combination of training, uniform global
expectations, and the development of a few new practices that are
consistent with the fundamental science that is known to control
the sticking process.
Theory and Practices
Helmick and Longley (1957) presented the concept that differential sticking occurred because of the pressure differential across
the contact area between the drill collars and formation. Others
have expanded on the forces that may develop in this contact
area, as well as the manner in which these may create the sticking
resistance. Brief summaries of key early concepts can be found
in Hunter and Adams (1978). The pressure decline that occurs
within the cake when the pipe sits still is shown in Fig. 1. These
data were collected using the operators sticking-test apparatus.
A significant feature of this device is that it allows pressure within
the cake itself to be measured continuously so the development of
cake strength can be studied and understood from direct measurement of effective stress.
When the pipe becomes stationary, the pressure within the
contact area begins to decline immediately. This continues as
long as there is sufficient differential pressure between the cake
and formation to extract filtrate from the cake. When flow from
the cake stops, the pressure within it will be close to that of the
formation. As the fluid pressure declines, the differential force
115

Cake Pressure vs
vs.Time
Time
Pullout Force

Differential
Differential
P
x Area
Pressure
Pressure

CakePressure
Pressure
Pressure
(psi)
(PSI)
(PSI)

Shear

Pcake

600
600

Stationary
Stationary
Pressure
declining,
Differential
technically
stuck
increasing

500
500
400
400

Embedment

Pullout and
repeat

Pull

300
300

Not Stuck force that

Equivalent
be delivered
Totalcan
resistance

200
200

exceeds available pull

Stuck
Pipe
immovable

100
100

00
0

20
20

40
40

60
60

80
80

Time(minutes)
(Minutes)
Time
Time
(Minutes)

100
100

120
120

SPE 105560

Fig. 1Internal pressure of cake after pipe motion stops as measured at the borehole wall. Pipe can be pulled free at any point in
time until the decline in cake pressure creates sufficient effective stress that cake shear strength exceeds the axial and torsional
pullout force that can be delivered to the stuck point.

across the pipe is transferred to the solids in the cake. The stress
between the solids is referred to as the effective stress. In very low
permeability, some of the pressure drop may occur in internal cake
within the formation itself so that less stress develops within the
cake (Courteille and Zurdo 1985). However, in higher permeability
where differential sticking is more problematic, virtually all of the
pressure drop and stress may occur across the cake (Isambourg
et al. 1999). The increase in effective stress results in the development of (1) shear strength within the cake and (2) increased contact
force between the cake solids and pipe (Outmans 1958). In order
to move the pipe, it is necessary to apply sufficient force to overcome the shear strength of the cake so that the cake itself fails or
to overcome the frictional resistance between the steel and cake so
that the pipe slides across the surface of the cake.
Whether one believes that the cake shears or that the pipe slides
on the cake is of some operational interest because the techniques
used to reduce these resistances may vary. Despite published
data showing that sliding is possible, the failures that have been
observed in the operators laboratory tests have consistently been
shear failures within the cake. Consequently, the authors believe
shear within the cake to be the dominant mechanism in the field.
If the pullout force is dependent on cake shear strength, the
sticking tendency can be reduced by practices that reduce this
strength. It is useful to apply traditional soil-mechanics concepts
to describe the increase in effective stress, as Outmans did in
1958. However, the conclusion drawn at that time was that this
increased stress acted at the pipes surface, and methods were
studied to reduce the sliding friction (Annis and Monaghan 1962).
Because pullout failure is seen to occur most often within the cake
(Courteille and Zurdo 1985), it is the shear strength of the cake
that is being overcome and the sliding resistance must typically be
a higher value. The Mohr-Coulomb view of cake strength would
suggest that it is dependent on the effective stress acting between
the filter-cake solids and the angle of friction of the solids. It is
interesting to note that when papers are examined that have been
written on factors that effect pullout force, it is seen that the proposed practices to alter the sliding friction would also be expected
to change the internal shear strength by altering the angle of friction (i.e., lubricants, emulsified oil, surface-active agents). Unfortunately, experiments that focused on friction reduction have not
generally reported the point of failure, only the change in pullout
force. When assessing field data and practices, the authors assume
that the angle of friction is the factor that is being modified rather
than sliding friction.
Another significant observation is that the pullout force is time
dependent. The reason for this can be seen in Fig. 1. Because the
pressure decline is time dependent, the effective stress and the
shear strength that develops from this must also be time dependent.
One operational implication is that it is impossible to develop a
very high sticking force (shear strength) the instant the pipe stops
moving. Although some sticking force develops immediately, time
116

is required for sufficient filtrate loss to occur sufficiently for shear

strength and pullout force to become high. An interesting consequence of the relationship between filtrate loss, strength development, and time is that thin cakes may develop shear strength
much faster than thick cakes because they may require less time
to lose their internal pressure. In addition, even though thick cakes
result in more contact area between the dissimilar curvatures of
the borehole and the pipe, they tend to have less shear strength
(Annis and Monaghan 1962; Bushnell-Watson and Panesar 1991).
Another finding with operational implications is that the sticking
force does not tend to be dependent on the formation permeability
(Courteille and Zurdo 1985). With time, the cakes internal pressure will decline to the same level, which will result in the same
shear strength. The permeability will affect only the rate of decline.
Even this influence is minor because cake permeabilties are very
low relative to even tight formations. The safe pipe stationary
time depends primarily on the pressure differential, contact area,
and properties of the cake itself, and not the permeability of the
formation against which it is lying.
Design Principle
When the stuck-pipe-avoidance practices were initially implemented, the stated objective was to avoid differential sticking.
This perspective has changed in an important philosophic sense as
the sticking process has become better understood. As previously
mentioned, Fig. 1 shows that the pressure drop across the contact
area cannot instantly rise to a high value; however, some pressure
drop does occur immediately, which means that there will be some
measurable amount of shear strength. We are technically stuck.
This is seen routinely in operations after connections are made
when a small pull is necessary to initiate pipe movement. Differential sticking occurs in permeable formation in all operations,
each day. As shown in Fig. 1, we are concerned only if we cannot
deliver sufficient force to overcome the shear strength of the cake
in the given well. In recent years, this has translated to a design
principle. The objective of the stuck-pipe-avoidance practices is to
ensure conditions are maintained at all times that allow pulling
force to exceed sticking force.
This would seem to be an ambitious design principle, but field
experience over the 4-year period suggests that it may be feasible
in virtually all operations. A modeling process has been developed
and calibrated to allow design of contact areas and BHAs to ensure
that the sticking force can be overcome. However, this model is
used only in high-risk scenarios with unproven designs or to study
sticking events that have already occurred. The operator does not
use this quantitative tool to design each well. Operational experience has shown that it is not necessary if key design principles
are applied consistently, most of which relate to minimizing the
available contact area. Specific modeling is now carried out only
for extreme conditions, unique fluids, or unique BHA and completions designs such as swell packers.
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

Typical joint of 5-in. drillpipe

31 ft
11 in.

14 in.

Typical joint of 5-in. HWDP

31 ft
27 in.

24 in.

25 in.

Fig. 2Comparison of the upset contact areas in conventional drillpipe (upper) and HWDP (lower).

Stuck-Pipe-Avoidance Practices
Practices That Minimize Contact Area. The earliest publications
recognized the importance of contact area in differential sticking.
For example, operators understood the value of stabilizing drill
collars (DCs) in the 1950s, even before the first differential-sticking concepts were published. As each technique for minimizing
contact area was developed, opposing arguments were made
that it compromised other drilling priorities. Generally speaking,
when the BHA is changed, we have to change something else to
address the risk that the new configuration creates. This has been
a recurring theme over the last 50 years, and it is true of many of
the practices presented in this paper. Consequently, in addition to
describing the practices, some discussion of the concerns is provided as well as the mitigations for those concerns.
Use Heavyweight Drillpipe (HWDP) To Apply Weight on Bit
(WOB). Stiff, large-diameter DCs have traditionally been used to
apply weight to the bit. Their stiffness is desired because it prevents
buckling. In addition, because they are thick-walled, their weight
per foot is high, and very little length must be put into compression
to achieve the desired WOB. Unfortunately, conventional collars
exposed significant contact area to differential sticking. This has
been recognized from the earliest research, so much so that studies
of the phenomena have uniformly focused on this area of the BHA
(as will be discussed later, new practices have moved the concern
to a new area). The collars are prone to sticking for two reasons:
(1) The ratio of the curvature of their outside diameter (OD) may
be close to the curvature of the borehole wall so that as cake thickness increases, the cake contact area goes up rapidly; and (2) they
make contact along their entire length (30 ft) because their OD is
uniform and flush with the borehole.
An option that greatly reduces the contact area is the use of
HWDP in compression to apply WOB. Typical joints of conventional and HWDP are shown in Fig. 2. The wellbore contact area
is reduced from 30 ft with drill collars to approximately 6 ft per
joint with HWDP. The wear pad section in the middle of the tube
also helps to prevent contact along the tube body. By convention,
the tube OD of HWDP is the same as that of conventional drillpipe,
but the inside diameter is reduced so the tube body is thick walled.
This increases the weight per foot and the buckling resistance so
that it can be used in high compression to apply WOB. It is not as
stiff as a DC but may be adequate for most applications.
The use of HWDP in compression to provide WOB became
common in directional wells in the 1980s, and by the mid-1990s
operators had eliminated the majority of the collars above the top
stabilizer. However, directional drillers often continued to request
that a small number of unsupported DCs be run between the top
stabilizers and the HWDP (usually three to four). It was also felt
that transition members were required above the top stabilizer.
This design persisted to the time when the stuck-pipe-avoidance
practices were implemented in 2003 and the operator prohibited
the use of any unsupported DCs in directional wells. The reason
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

was that the contact area in only one of these unsupported DCs
may easily be sufficient to prevent the pipe from being pulled free
in many situations. Because a collar has five times the contact area
of a joint of HWDP, the sticking event that would require only
40,000 lbf of pullout force per joint might require 200,000 lbf per
DC. In directional wells, and especially high-angle wells, it may
not be possible to deliver the required force to the stuck point if
even a small amount of DC contact is allowed, regardless of the
tensile pull capability at the surface.
In addition, there was no particular value found in having
the unsupported collars in the assembly for directional steering,
vibrational stability, or stress-fatigue reduction. The current practice in directional wells with low-to-intermediate angles is to run
sufficient HWDP above the stabilized BHA to provide the required
WOB, and to make the HWDP up directly to the top stabilizer so
there are no unsupported DCs. At higher angles, there are new
issues that have been identified with even the contact area in the
HWDP, which is discussed in a separate section.
The industry did not move as quickly to replace DCs with HWDP
in vertical wells as it did in directional wells. The operator began this
practice in the mid-1990s and achieved a major, immediate reduction
in stuck-pipe events. The pipe manufacturers provide guidelines for
the use of HWDP in vertical wells in various combinations of pipe
and hole sizes. Sinusoidal buckling will occur, but field experience
suggests that the associated stress levels are acceptable. The guidelines
do not explicitly account for operating conditions, actual vibrational
fatigue, or the level of buckling stress over the life of the pipe. And
yet, over the last decade, the failure of HWDP used in compression
in vertical wells based on these guidelines has been rare. From field
experience, the notional guidelines appear to be conservative.
Another factor that has probably affected the failure rate of
HWDP in compression is that polycrystalline-diamond bits are
often run at low WOB. A typical BHA used by the operator has
90120 ft of stabilized DCs, with HWDP above. As the driller lowers the string to apply WOB, the first 15,000 to 25,000 lbf of WOB
would come from placing the DCs, LWD tool, or other stabilized
members in compression before further slackoff would place the
HWDP into compression. Bit weights in soft formations tend to
range from 5,000 to 20,000 lbm, in which case the HWDP is never
actually compressed. While some teams have been running HWDP
far into compression in vertical wells with 35,000- to 40,000-lbf
WOB, the majority of the operators statistical experience is at
lighter weight with low levels of sinusoidal buckling in the HWDP.
On the basis of the low historical failure rate and large impact on
differential sticking, the design practice for both low-angle and
vertical wells is to use a minimal number of stabilized DCs and run
compression in the HWDP up to the point of helical buckling.
Use Stabilized BHAs. Slick assemblies are not recommended
for any application. All BHAs are fully stabilized, meaning that
stabilizers are used and their number and spacing ensure that there
is no wall contact between the DCs and the formation. The initial
117

The current recommended practice for intermediate and highangle wells is to use only one to three joints of HWDP above the
top stabilizer. If a jar is used above this, the stiff HWDP allows the
jarring force to be transmitted to the BHA should it become stuck.
This stiffness could also be achieved by putting the jars within the
collars, but the presence of the HWDP provides tool joints below
the jars with lower makeup torque, should it become necessary to
back off with a string shot charge to retrieve and replace the jar.

Wear Groove

Potential Contact Area

Fig. 3Example of wear groove that frequently appears in the

3D images processed from high-angle wells.

guidelines allowed only one to two DCs above the top stabilizer for
vertical holes. It was assumed that the flex would be limited to the
point that there is no significant wall contact in the first 60 ft above
the top stabilizers. However, sticking events still occurred, and in
recent years, this allowance has been reduced to zero to one DC.
In directional wells, it is recommended that the HWDP be made up
directly to the top stabilizer so there are no unsupported DCs.
Slick assemblies are common in the industry, particularly in
hard formations drilled with bent-housing motors. There are various reasons why directional drillers prefer slick assemblies: (1)
They believe the stabilizers hang up and reduce the ability to slide
the motor when steering, and (2) the build rate (bit tilt) with a slick
assembly can be adjusted by changing the WOB. The build rate
of any steering system is determined by the geometry of the first
three contact points because the three points define the radius of
curvature. In a stabilized assembly, these three points are the bit,
sleeve stabilizers at the bottom of the motor, and the top stabilizer
above the motor. In a slick assembly, these points are the bit, the
sleeve stabilizer, and the first contact point between the BHA and
borehole. By adjusting WOB, the directional driller can flex the
slick BHA and move the contact point in the collars downward or
upward. This provides them some flexibility if needed to catch up
with the planned trajectory if they get behind the desired build rate,
or to slow down if the build rate is greater than desired.
Unfortunately, this variability also translates to rougher holes
with larger doglegs and increased bit whirl because of variability
in WOB. The slick assembly then slides more easily in this rough
hole with vibrationally induced trajectory patterns. In some sense,
the slick assembly becomes essential only because of the patterns
it creates in the borehole in the first place. In each field area where
slick assemblies have been replaced by stabilized assemblies, steering objectives have been achieved and overall borehole quality
has been improved. The most significant gains are that it becomes
possible to run low-clearance casing through high build rates, the
certainty of any casing being run to bottom is improved, and differential sticking has been reduced.
Eliminate HWDP at Higher Angles and Extended-Reach Sections. Though HWDP has significantly less contact area than a
DC, a further reduction can be achieved in higher-angle wells by
using conventional drillpipe with shorter tool joints. Conventional
drillpipe can be used at low angles but only to a limited extent
because of the low force at which it buckles helically. However, at
intermediate and higher angles, buckling is suppressed and a significantly greater compression can be put into the thinner tube body
of the conventional pipe, as documented by Dawson and Paslay
(1984). The use of conventional drillpipe with shorter tool joints
reduces the contact length with the borehole from approximately
6 ft with HWDP to less than 3 ft per joint, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
This results in a significant reduction in pullout force required to
overcome the shear strength in the contact area. This further reduction becomes important at high angle because the measured depth
required to traverse even thin sands becomes large at high angles.
Wells are now being drilled routinely with tool joints lying on 300
to 3000 m of sand with more than 2,000 psi of overbalance.
118

Use Standoff Subs With Jars. In terms of its differential-sticking potential, a drilling jar poses the same risk as an unsupported
DC. A single jar has been found to be the root cause in several
sticking events. Consequently, standoff subs are recommended on
all jars to prevent wall contact. The design of these subs varies
with vendor.
Manage Risks Associated With the Groove in High-Angle
Boreholes. During fishing operations to free differentially stuck
pipe at high angle, the stuck point is occasionally found to be in
the drillpipe above the BHA. It is often assumed this is caused by
the progressive sticking of the tool joints during the extensive time
in which the pipe has not been moved. However, the speed with
which some sticking events have occurred, and the fact that the
contact area in the fully stabilized BHA should not have provided
the resistance observed, has led to continued study of the fundamental mechanism. There are two issues that may be contributing
to sticking in the tool joints, one of which has not been discussed
previously.
The high-resolution, 3D borehole images that are now available
show the development of a groove in the bottom of high-angle
wells. An example image is shown in Fig. 3. The groove is created by the rotation of the tool joints or tube body against the
bottom of the hole, and some level of this feature appears to be
present in most high-angle wells. The severity would presumably
depend on the rock hardness, normal force, string rotations, and
roughness of hardbanding on the tool joints. It is unlikely that it
can be prevented entirely. (This bears similarities to key seating,
but that term already has another common use in the oil industry
and refers to a mechanical wedging process in doglegs or ledges).
The groove persists for thousands of feet and offers no mechanical
resistance that has been noted. However, it creates a significant
differential-sticking risk because its curvature will be very close
to that of the tool joints that created it, and the increase in contact
area dramatically increases the pullout force. A 5-in. tool joint
with a common 7-in. OD might normally have a contact arc of
1 to 2 in. If the tool joint is lying in the groove and has 60 of
contact, which might be the situation in Fig. 3, the arc increases
to more than 6 in.
Differential sticking may also occur more quickly, and the shear
strength of the cake may be higher. It has been demonstrated that,
all other things being equal, thinner cakes develop shear strength
more quickly because they require less time to lose their filtrate, so
that the effective stress and shear strength increase more quickly.
Also, thinner cakes have been shown to achieve higher levels of
shear strength, presumably because the angle of friction exhibited
by the solids is not reduced by high fluid content within the cake
(Annis and Monaghan 1962). If pipe is rotated without axial movement, the tool joint may wear the cake down so that it is thin, or
even so that it does not exist at all. It is also common to ream
each stand of new hole, which may allow the tool joints above the
BHA to wear down the cake within the groove just before stopping
pipe movement to make a connection. This is certainly speculation
and unproved, but it is one model that may explain (1) the speed
at which sticking shear strength has been observed to develop in
the field (cakes should not lose filtrate that quickly) and (2) the
high pullout force seen from calculated contact areas that should
be quite small.
Another potential contributing factor is suggested by research
conducted by Haden and Welch (1961). They found that the pullout
force for DCs having upset bands to prevent wall contact exceeded
the theoretical resistance of the contact area. They also found that
the force required to move the pipe exceeded the force required to
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

move a conventional DC with the same contact area by 60%. Mud

cake was observed above and below each band. The tool joints on
drillpipe that become differentially stuck might be viewed as being
similar to these standoff bands. The tool joint is held by the shear
strength of the cake in the contact area, but to move the pipe vertically, the mechanical shear strength in the wall cake that may have
grown immediately above the tool joint must also be overcome.
The authors view this as a combination of differential and mechanical sticking. The significant issue is that when collars are stuck,
there is only one upset at which the mechanical strength of the
cake must be overcome. When multiple tool joints are stuck, this
additional resistance is present at the top of each upset. This would
explain the observation that the multiple standoff bands required
60% higher pullout force than a collar with the same area.
The groove cannot be eliminated, but its impact can be minimized. As previously mentioned, HWDP has been replaced with
conventional pipe at intermediate and high angles. This reduces
the vertical load and wear on the bottom of the hole and the rate
at which the groove may develop. The shorter tool joints also
reduce the contact area along the groove by approximately 50
to 70%. Other changes in practices have occurred as a result of
the operators performance-management processes that tend to
reduce the wear created by the tool joints in any given increment
of hole. These include higher drill rates, reduced backreaming on
connections, and significantly lower whirl levels, both on and off
bottom.
Minimize Still-Pipe Time
The time dependence of differential sticking is well known and
has been reported by many researchers. As shown in Fig. 1, high
pullout resistance cannot occur instantly because the cake has little
shear strength until fluid is lost and its internal pressure drops.
There are several factors that have been identified that determine
the rate of filtrate loss and strength development. While these
factors are understood, the actual strength development vs. time
cannot be predicted. Field test methods have been developed to
alert the crew when changes in fluid properties are increasing
the risk of sticking (Reid et al. 1996). These do not incorporate
other factors that determine whether a stuck-pipe event is actually
imminent. A real-time surveillance process has been developed to
address this.
The operator refers to this as a progressive sticking test, and it
is conducted before making a connection if the risks are believed
to be high. The pipe is allowed to sit still for a relatively short and
safe period of time, and the force required to initiate movement
is measured. The still-pipe time is increased progressively to that
which is required to make a connection, which is typically 5 to 10
minutes. If the trend in the pullout force is acceptable, the crew
proceeds to make the connection.
The progressive sticking test is most likely required when there
is potential for tool-joint sticking because of contact with very
long sections of permeable rock at high angle, and potential for
a wear groove in the bottom of the hole. In the absence of these
conditions, the recommended BHA design rarely offers sufficient
contact area to provide a sticking resistance greater than the pull
force. Consequently, if the pullout force is seen to increase during the progressive sticking test, it is assumed to be because of
increasing engagement of tool-joint contact area above the BHA,
including the possible presence of a wear groove.
Cake Morphology and Fluids Design
Desired Cake Morphology. The desired filter cake would be (1)
thin to minimize contact area and (2) have a slow rate of filtrate
loss from the cake to the formation so the rise of effective stress
and shear strength would allow greater still-pipe time. Effective
cakes have both blocking solids to prevent other solids from entering the formation pore throats and filtration control to prevent the
fluid phase from passing through the blocking solids. Barite is the
primary blocking solid in the majority of fluids. However, at higher
permeability, the barite particles may be too small to effectively
block the pore-throat openings and both solids and filtrate may
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

begin to enter the formation. Also, low-weight fluids may have

very little barite present. In either case, the cake thickens and the
sticking risk increases. Cake quality is then dependent on both
blocking-solids and filtration-control design (Fisk et al. 1990).
The American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practices 13B1 and 13B2 describe testing protocols for fluid loss (FL)
in water-based and oil-based fluid. These include low-pressure FL
tests, high-temperature/high-pressure (HT/HP) tests, and particleplugging tests (PPTs). The proscribed filtration paper for the FL
and HT/HP tests has openings of 1 to 2 m in size. The typical
sandstone with pore throats of this size would have less than 5
md of permeability. These are truly filtration tests in the sense
that low values can be achieved with filtration material alone and
very little blocking solids in the mud. In contrast, the majority of
the operators differential-sticking risk is in higher permeability,
often in the 500- to 7,000-md range, and the differential pressure is
routinely 1,000 to 2,000 psi overbalanced. The FL and HT/HP tests
do not reflect the actual downhole conditions. Reliance on these
tests has resulted in high treatment costs because field personnel
who continue to experience pulls on connections or high drag while
tripping through sands may continue to add filtration control material to drive down the FL values when the actual issue is lack of
blocking solids, which does not show up in FL or HT/HP tests.
Consequently, the recommended process for managing differential sticking includes a recommendation to use API PPTs, which
use a filtration medium that simulates the local permeability, as
well as the expected differential pressure and temperature. The
majority of cake problems have been resolved through blockingsolids design and not changes in the level of filtration control as
reflected in HT/HP tests. More specifically, HT/HP values have
not been reduced from those that were common before the implementation of the stuck-pipe-avoidance practices.
Barite is an effective blocking solid in most wells. Additional
blocking solids may be required to achieve low PPT values (1)
in low-weight muds that have little barite, (2) with permeability
above 1 to 2 darcies, or (3) when field experience shows that cake
regrowth is occurring, regardless of the estimated permeability. In
these situations, API PPTs are conducted to study the effects of
various combinations of blocking solids and particle-size distributions. The most common blocking solid used is calcium carbonate, and the D50 of the size distribution typically ranges from 5 to
50 m, depending on the permeability or the results of PPTs. In
addition to sizing material to block pore throats, a distribution of
smaller particles is often required to block the interstitial spaces
in the cake itself.
Stabilizers and Cake Remediation. Slick assemblies are avoided
to minimize contact area, but the stabilizers also serve an important
role in cake conditioning. The distribution of solids in the cake that
is formed instantaneously at the bit is the same as that in the fluid. In
a lightweight fluid and high drill rate, the initial cake will be largely
made up of drill solids. Conversely, in high MW and low drill rate, it
will be built primarily from barite. Under the best of circumstances,
the cake will contain some quantity of undesirable drill solids, or
low-gravity solids that are being carried in the system. In either case,
the initial cake quality may be very poor, and filter cakes observed
in API tests may bear little resemblance to the downhole cake. As
the stabilizers are rotated, they shear the cake to a point equal to
the diameter of the stabilizer, which is very nearly that of the hole
diameter. Much of the original cake may be removed.
Research on dynamic filter cakes has shown that cakes tend
to capture only those particles that fit within the gaps between
particles in the exposed surface. Larger material is removed by
fluid shear. The result is that over time, the size of the blocking
solids in the surface becomes finer so the remaining gaps are more
easily sealed by filtration-control material (Fisk et al. 1990). Stabilizers are assumed to work on the same principle. Each time a
stabilizer blade shears through and wipes the surface of the cake,
small particles are captured in the re-exposed surface preferentially
to larger particles and the permeability of the surface of the cake
declines. Even though larger drill solids continue to be present
in the mud during the stabilizer action, these are not captured as
119

readily as smaller material, and the surface permeability of the

cake continues to decline.
The degree of conditioning achieved by rotating stabilizers would
logically depend on a variety of factors. As drill rate increases, any
given foot will be wiped fewer times. For example, assume that
three, three-bladed stabilizers are being used, each of which is 2 ft
long. The rotational speed is 60 rev/min and the drill rate is 60 ft/hr.
In this scenario, every point in the wellbore will be wiped 2,160
times. Even at 500 ft/hr, the filter cake is wiped 260 times. If fewer
stabilizers are used, the conditioning declines, and if slick assemblies
are run, the only conditioning provided is that achieved by the gauge
area of the polycrystalline-diamond-compact bit.
Another key factor in the effectiveness of the stabilizers is the
fluid. Filter cakes built from lightweight fluids require more conditioning because of the absence of barite in the mud. As previously
discussed, it may be necessary to add an appropriate particle-size
distribution of blocking solids, and this in turn allows the stabilizer
conditioning process to be more effective. In unfavorable conditions, or where there has been a history of cake regrowth (e.g.,
tight hole on trips), the interval may be reamed while clean mud
is circulated before making each connection.
Drill-and-Seal (D&S) Procedure. When gas prices increased
in the mid-1990s, deeper reservoirs became economic and an
increased number of wells were drilled by the operator through the
severely depleted reservoirs. In south Texas and the Gulf of Mexico,
overbalances of 2,000 to 5,000 psi were common, with some ranging to 8,000 psi. It was also necessary to obtain pressure tests, and
wireline sticking across depleted sands became a chronic problem.
The D&S process was originally developed in the mid-1990s to
reduce the incidence of differential sticking of the wireline, but its
use expanded immediately to eliminate drillstring sticking. It has
also been used to remediate the cake created by a very-high-filtration water-based mud used to continuously build integrity at the bit
in severe-lost-returns intervals (Dupriest et al. 2008).
In the D&S process, the stabilizers are used to ream the original
cake in the presence of a pill that is rich in the appropriate blocking
solids for the given formation, as well as filtration-control material.
The pill is pumped and timed to arrive at the bit as the next stand
of drillpipe is drilled down. As the pill enters the annulus, the pump
rate is reduced to a very slow rate, and the string is reciprocated
and rotated as the pill is pumped up the annulus. As the stabilizers are rotated, they strip the original cake and the rich content of
the D&S pill accelerates the fine-particle-selection process at the
re-exposed cake face. A low-porosity, low-permeability cake is
formed in a short period of time. After the small pill has passed
across the BHA, the connection is made and drilling resumes. One
pill can treat the length of the stabilized BHA plus the stroke in the
derrick while reciprocating. This is often 150 to 180 ft.
After the D&S process was implemented in the first field in
1995, there were over 600 wireline formation tests run without a
sticking incident. Caliper logs typically showed very little detectable cake after 5 days of exposure in water-based mud at 280F and
3,000 to 4,000 psi of differential pressure. The process has been
used for 14 years and is now routine across the global organization
when overbalance is expected to exceed 2,000 psi or where there
has been a history of chronic cake regrowth. It is also used in some
situations where it is more economic to treat a short interval with
D&S than to treat the entire mud system with blocking solids and
higher concentrations of filtration-control additives.
In the rare cases that the D&S process has not prevented sticking, the stuck point has been found in the HWDP above the stabilized BHA, and it is suspected that a wear groove has been present.
Recall that the purpose of the D&S is to create a thin, low-fluidloss cake. The thin cake is usually desirable because it minimizes
contact area between the dissimilar curvatures of the pipe and
borehole wall. However, if a groove is present, there is significant
contact area without cake growth, and a thin cake may depressurize
faster so that its shear strength develops very rapidly.
Fluid Selection and Design. The use of nonaqueous fluids (NAF),
also referred to as oil-based mud, is known to reduce the sticking
120

risk significantly (Simpson 1962). NAF filter cakes are thin so

that contact areas are minimized, and they also have relatively
low shear strength under a given effective stress. In the period,
since the stuck-pipe-avoidance practices were implemented, there
have actually been no differential-sticking events in water-based
mud when the recommended practices for contact areas were followed. Interestingly, all of the sticking events with compliant BHA
designs have been in NAF. While NAF reduces the pullout force
for given contact area, it does not prevent sticking should the area
become large. In each case of sticking in NAF, the stuck point was
found to be in the HWDP, and the cumulative-contact-area wear
groove may have been the root cause.
NAFs was not common in the early 1960s when much of the
early research on differential sticking was conducted. However,
there were many studies of the pullout force associated with
various water-based muds (Bushnell-Watson and Panesar 1991).
The effect of additives such as surface-active agents, polymers,
and emulsified oil was also reported (Monaghan and Annis 1963;
Hunter and Adams 1978). Significant differences were observed
between fluid types and additives. However, none of these results
has been incorporated as a standard component in the stickingavoidance practices. Wells with the highest sticking risk are usually drilled with NAF. Otherwise, the challenges in water-based
mud have generally been met with the combination of minimized
contact area, the use of appropriate blocking solids, and D&S
operations in specific sands with severe overbalance.
Mitigation of Mechanical Cake Sticking. It is necessary to distinguish between differential sticking and mechanical sticking in
a high-strength filter cake because the mitigations differ. After a
cake is established and drilling continues, the thickness continues
to grow and the shear strength increases as the cake loses fluid
and the effective stress increases. If this high-strength cake has
significant thickness, drag will be observed when the top stabilizer
in the BHA arrives at the permeable formation while tripping out
of hole. If the driller continues to increase the pull, the stabilizer
will shear farther into the cake and become stuck. Because the
stabilizers diameter is close to that of the borehole, it may be
shearing into a very low-pressure area of the cake with high shear
strength. While the stabilizer eventually becomes differentially
stuck, the event is initially caused by the mechanical resistance of
the high shear strength cake.
Both differential and mechanical cake sticking are affected
by cake and fluid design, and any practice that reduces the cake
thickness and shear strength will be beneficial; however, other
mitigations may differ. Mechanical sticking occurs while the pipe
is moving, and differential sticking occurs while it is sitting still.
Mechanical sticking is easily avoided by stopping when only a low
level of drag is seen, lowering the string and engaging the top drive,
and reaming slowly up through the sand to remove and condition
the filter cake. Training is essential to ensure that the driller does
not pull too far into the cake before stopping, and a tripping map
may be useful so the team is aware of potential trouble zones relative to the top stabilizer. If drag is seen, this is referred to as cake
regrowth because the cake was not there after the initial drilling.
Regrowth suggests that the blocking solids or filtration control is
not designed properly. The full fluid system may be modified, or
if only one area is problematic, a D&S treatment may be used to
minimize regrowth.
Reduce Overbalance. As overbalance is reduced, the effective
stress in the contact area declines and the shear strength declines.
If the total shear resistance can be reduced to below the force that
can be delivered to the stuck point, the pipe may be pulled free.
An important observation is that the effect of reducing the MW
on success is not linear. For example, if the pull out resistance is
200,000 lbf and it is only possible to deliver 195,000 lbf of force
to the stuck point, the pipe cannot be freed. However, in this
hypothetical case, it is only necessary to reduce the overbalance
by 3% to free the pipe. In another example, it might be necessary
to reduce the overbalance by a much greater value. There is no
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

Centralizer at Midpoint
100

90

90

80

80

Probability of Success %

Probability of Success %

Centralizer at Coupling
100

70
60
50
40
30

70
60
50
40
30

20

20

10

10

Fig. 5Schematic of apparatus used to characterize filter-cake

growth and pullout force.

0
10

12

14

16

18

20

Mud
MudWeight
Weight(lbm/gal)
(ppg)

10

12

14

16

18

20

Mud
MudWeight
Weight(lbm/gal)
(ppg)

Fig. 4Example output from stochastic model, showing the

probability of success improving from 75 to 100% if centralizers
are moved from being adjacent to a coupling to the midpoint
of the casing joint.

value in reducing the MW unless it can be reduced to the critical

level required.
It is usually more practical to reduce contact area than to drill
with a lighter MW. Overbalance is often required to control pore
pressure or borehole stability. By drilling with a lower MW, the risk
is being shifted from one problem to another. Contact area is more
easily manipulated with very little shifting of risk. For example,
a DC has five times more contact area than HWDP. If DCs are
replaced with HWDP, the sticking resistance may be reduced dramatically. It may be impractical to achieve a similar effect from
reducing MW. A typical, high-angle well in low-strength formations requires 2 to 3 lbm/gal of overbalance to maintain stability.
It might be necessary to reduce MW by more than 2 lbm/gal to
obtain the same effect as elimination of the unsupported DCs found
in many of the industrys assemblies.
The best result is achieved with the absolute minimum contact
area. If the pipe does become stuck, then very little reduction in
MW may be required to reduce the pullout force to below the
required critical level. The greater the contact area, the more the
reduction in MW required to allow the pipe to be freed.
Modeling. A numerical model was developed to better understand the influence of different variables on differential-pressure
sticking and to enable prediction of sticking force for a particular
drillstring configuration and wellbore condition. This dynamic
FE model incorporates coupled deformation and fluid-flow elastoplastic filter-cake behavior, BHA and drillstring bending, and
torque and drag. In the FE procedure, the pipe is embedded into
the filter cake and the contact area, fluid flow, and pressure-drop
and shear-strength development of the filter cake are modeled.
Then, incremental axial displacements are applied at the pipe
wall to calculate the force per unit length of embedded pipe
required to free the drillstring. The BHA and drillstring-bending
model is used to estimate potential contact area across permeable
formations including tube-body contact, and the torque-and-drag
model is used to estimate available downhole pulling force at the
stuck point. This model is used to generate the stochastic input to
a quantitative risk-analysis routine that incorporates uncertainty
in input parameters and downhole conditions. The results from
the analysis are presented as probability of success as a function
of MW (i.e., available pulling force allows the pipe to be pulled
free after being stationary for a given time on a connection, etc.).
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

A typical model output is presented in Fig. 4. In this example,

the centralizer position on a completion assembly is evaluated. In
this case, moving the centralizer from a position adjacent to the
coupling to the midpoint of the pipe improves the probability of
success of not getting differentially stuck while making a connection from 75 to 99%.
Small-scale differential-pressure sticking and pullout tests are
conducted in an apparatus designed to define the mechanical properties and time-dependent behaviors of various fluids for use in the
FE model. The test apparatus consists of a chamber that accommodates a 4-in.-diameter cylindrical core with a 2-in. hole made
from sandstone or ceramic of known permeability. A schematic of
the apparatus is presented in Fig. 5.
The tests are begun by circulating through the system at a
maximum pressure differential of 500 psi to deposit a dynamic
cake. The filtrate-flow rate is measured to allow the permeability
of the filter cake to be estimated. Once a steady-state filter cake has
been established, the aluminum rod situated within the simulated
wellbore is embedded into the filter cake and the differentialpressure sticking force is allowed to develop. After the desired
stationary time, the force required to pull the rod free is recorded.
Pressure transducers on the rod allow the pressure drop in the
filter cake between the rod and the wellbore wall to be monitored
and recorded so that the relationship between effective stress and
strength development can be characterized as an input to the FE
model. After completion of the test, the thickness of the filter cake
and the location of the shear failure within the cake are determined.
Fig. 6 shows a comparison of FE-model-predicted pullout force
vs. actual tests performed using 13.0-lbm/gal water-based and NAF
mud. In these tests, the geometry of the test apparatus was modeled, where as in real application, the dimensions and boundary
conditions for the actual wellbore are used.
Fig. 6 also shows the results of a triaxial test on filter-cake material. The triaxial tests were performed to determine the mechanical
properties of cakes built from various fluids for input into the FE
model. The percentage of the axial and radial strain to the differential axial stress illustrates the elastoplastic behavior of the filter
cake that must be modeled.
Results
In the 5-year period from 2004 through 2008, the operator drilled
3,476 wells. The differential sticking statistics for the same period
are presented in Table 1. During this period, there were 20 geographically independent drill teams operating. Training in the
stuck-pipe-avoidance practices was begun in 2003, and by 2004,
the majority of global operations were practicing the key elements.
However, occasional exceptions have been taken, and many of these
have led to additional sticking events. Consequently, the sticking
events that were caused by noncompliance are distinguished from
those that occurred when the practices were applied. Also, those
121

1.2

250
250
Pull-Out Force (lbf)

Pullout Force (lbf)

300
300

200
200

150
150

100
100

13.0
ppg WBM
13.0
13.0
lbm/gal
ppg
WBM
WBM
DPS Model
- WBM
Modeled
Modeled
pullout
pullout
13.0
ppg OBM
13.0
13.0
lbm/gal
ppg
NAF
NAF
DPS Model
- OBM
Modeled
Modeled
pullout
pullout

5050
00
0

30

60

120

90

180

150

Differential Axial Stress (Ksi)

350
350

1.0
0.8

0.6
0.4

0.2

0.0
2.0 1.0 0.0 1.0

Embedment Time (min)

2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0

% Axial & Radial Strain

Fig. 6Pullout force predicted by FE modeling vs. laboratory measurements, and an example triaxial test showing the elastoplastic behavior of a filter cake.

TABLE 1SUMMARY OF DIFFERENTIAL-STICKING EVENTS FROM 2004 THROUGH 2008

Compliant BHAs

Number of
Events

Stuck But
Freed

Stuck Not
Freed

Stuck But
Freed

Stuck Not
Freed

14

Number of Differential Sticking Events

events where it was possible to free the pipe with spotting fluids
or reduction in MW are distinguished from those where the pipe
and BHA were not recovered successfully.
Altogether, there were only three stuck-pipe events in wells with
BHA designs that complied with the stuck-pipe-avoidance practices. Many practices, such as D&S, are critical to success but are
applied only when appropriate for the specific situation. In contrast,
recommendations for the allowed length of unsupported DCs apply
to all wells because this is believed to be the dominant risk factor.
Consequently, wells were classified as noncompliant only on the
basis of whether they contained more than the allowed length of

10
9

Compliant BHAs
Noncompliant BHAs

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2004

2005

2006

2007

Year
Fig. 7Differential-sticking events by year.
122

Noncompliant BHAs

2008

unsupported DCs and not on the basis of the application of other

practices. There were 17 incidents of pipe sticking with noncompliant BHAs, all but three of which resulted in freed pipe.
The noncompliant BHAs tended to have only one to two
unsupported collars beyond what was recommended. This limited
contact area is believed to have contributed to the high percentage
of events in which the pipe was eventually freed. Many were also
in water-based mud, where spotting fluids are effective. None of
the three compliant designs that became stuck were freed. All were,
in NAF and the stuck pipe was found well into the HWDP, which
suggests that the wear groove may have been a significant factor.
Fig. 7 shows the variation in stuck-pipe events over the 5-year
period. The current low incident rate reflects increased operational
awareness of the risks associated with even small increases in the
length of unsupported DCs.
Conclusions
Some sticking potential exists in the great majority of wells, but
not all. For example, wells drilled with clear water in hard formations do not form a filter cake. Stuck-pipe-avoidance practices
have been developed and implemented in all wells that do have
filtration control and solids for more than 4 years. The objective
is not to eliminate differential sticking, which is impossible, but
to maintain conditions in which the required pullout force can be
delivered to the stuck point should the pipe become differentially
stuck. While this is ambitious, statistical experience suggests that
this is achievable in most circumstances.
The majority of the recommended practices are common in
the industry but are not applied uniformly. Some of the practices,
such as D&S, are unique, but they have developed more from new
operational perspectives than from new science.
The recommended practices that have proved effective are
Minimize contact area, particularly that of DCs.
Do not use slick assemblies. The desired objectives can be achieved
by other means.
Minimize overbalance, but only in cases where the risk of borehole instability is not increased.
March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

 Use HWDP in compression for bit weight in vertical and lowangle wells within the limits specified by the manufacturer.
Use conventional drillpipe in compression in intermediate and
high-angle wells within its helical-buckling limits.
Use standoff subs on drilling jars run above the stabilized BHA.
Conduct progressive pipe-sticking tests before making connections in wells with high sticking potential.
Do not use API FL or API HT/HP tests as an indicator of cake
quality except in very-low-permeability formations.
Conduct API PPTs and use appropriate blocking solids to
improve cake quality.
Conduct D&S treatments to enhance cake quality in intervals of
high differential pressure or chronic cake growth.
Model the differential-sticking risk quantitatively when planning operations that lie outside of previous experience.
When planning mitigations, consider the sticking risk associated
with a wear groove in high-angle wells. Additional mitigations
may be required, even when NAF is used and all DCs are supported.
When the design and practices comply with the stuck-pipeavoidance recommendations, the likelihood of differential sticking
is statistically very low. However, some sticking events (three in 5
years) continue to occur in the drillpipe above the BHA. The most
common cause is believed to be the high contact area between tool
joints and a wear groove that exists in most high-angle wells. Also,
the increasing length of high-angle penetrations in the operators
well mix is resulting in a greater number of tool joints in contact
with permeable formations.
References
Annis, M.R. and Monaghan, P.H. 1962. Differential Pressure Sticking
Laboratory Studies of Friction Between Steel and Mud Filter Cake.
J Pet Technol 14 (5): 537543. SPE-151-PA. doi: 10.2118/151-PA.
Bushnell-Watson, M. and Panesar, S.S. 1991. Differential Sticking Laboratory Tests Can Improve Mud Design. Paper SPE 22549 presented at
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, 69 October.
doi: 10.2118/22549-MS.
Courteille, J.M. and Zurdo, C.A. 1985. New Approach to Differential
Sticking. Paper SPE 14244 Presented at SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 2226 September. doi:
10.2118/14244-MS.
Dawson, R. and Paslay, P.R. 1984. Drill Pipe Buckling in Inclined Holes. J Pet
Technol 36 (10): 17341738. SPE-11167-PA. doi: 10.2118/11167-PA.
Desai, C.S. 2001. Mechanics of Materials and Interfaces: The Disturbed
State Concept. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.
Dupriest, F.E., Smith, M.V., and Zielinger, S.C. 2008. Method to Eliminate
Lost Returns and Build Integrity Continuously with High-FiltrationRate Fluid. Paper SPE 112656 presented at IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Orlando, Florida, USA, 46 March. doi: 10.2118/112656-MS.

March 2011 SPE Drilling & Completion

Fisk, J.V., Shaffer, S.S., and Helmy, S. 1990. The Use of Filtration Theory
in Developing a Mechanism for Filter-Cake Deposition by Drilling
Fluids in Laminar Flow. Paper SPE 20438 presented at the SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, 2326 September.
doi: 10.2118/20438-PA.
Haden, E.L. and Welch, G.R. 1961. Techniques for Preventing DifferentialPressure Sticking of Drillpipe, A Laboratory Study. Oil & Gas Journal
(April 3, 1961) 59 (14): 24.
Helmick, W.E. and Longley, A.J. 1957. Pressure-Differential Sticking of
Drillpipe and How It Can Be Avoided or Relieved. Oil & Gas Journal
55 (17 June): 132.
Hunter, D. and Adams, N. 1978. Laboratory and Field Data Indicate Water
Based Drilling Fluids That Resist Differential-Pressure Pipe Sticking.
Paper OTC 3239 presented at the Offshore Technology Conference,
Houston, 811 May.
Isambourg, P., Ottesen, S., Benaissa, S., and Marti, J. 1999. Down-Hole
Simulation Cell for Measurement of Lubricity and Differential Pressure
Sticking. Paper SPE 52816 presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Amsterdam, 911 March. doi: 10.2118/52816-MS.
Monaghan, P.H. and Annis, M.R. 1962. Differential-Pressure Sticking
Laboratory Studies of Friction Between Steel and Mud Filter Cake.
J Pet Technol 14 (5): 537-543: SPE-151-PA.
Outmans, H.D. 1958. Mechanics of Differential-Pressure Sticking of Drill
Collars. SPE-963-G. Trans., AIME, 213: 265274.
Reid, P.I., Meeten, G.H., Way, P.W., Clark, P., Chambers, B.D., and Glimour, A. 1996. Mechanisms Of Differential Sticking And A Simple Well
Site Test For Monitoring And Optimizing Drilling Mud Properties.
Paper SPE 35100 presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,
New Orleans, 1215 March. doi: 10.2118/35100-MS.
Simpson, J.P. 1962. The Role of Oil Mud In Controlling DifferentialPressure Sticking of Drill Pipe. Paper SPE 361 presented at the SPE
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Fred Dupriest is currently Chief Drilling Engineer at ExxonMobil.
He graduated from Texas A&M in 1977 with a BS in mechanical
engineering. Dupriest provides global support in the implementation of programmatic initiatives to enhance well design, drilling
performance, and new technology development. William Elks
is currently a technical advisor in Drilling Technical Operations
Support at ExxonMobil. He graduated with a BS in chemical
engineering from the University of South Carolina in 1978. Elks is
the companys lead subject matter expert and provides global
support in directional drilling operations, extended reach practices, drillstring design, and well path surveying. Steinar Ottesen
is currently a technical advisor in Drilling Technical Operations
Support at ExxonMobil. He graduated from the University of
Aston, Birmingham in 1981 with a BS in chemical engineering.
Ottesen is the companys lead subject matter expert and provides global support in wellbore stability, hydraulic modeling,
hole cleaning, and quantitative risk assessment.

123