Wellbore Path Estimation Using Measurement While Drilling Techniques: A Comparative Study and Suggestions for Improvements

The complexity of wells being drilled has increased over the past few years in order to fulfill the worldwide increase in energy demand. The existing drilling technologies make it possible to construct boreholes with different directions. However, the control of paths and trajectories within the operator requirement is a non-obvious task, because of the data transmission time and the space discretization for measurements. This article aims at reviewing the most common techniques of curvature measurements and data transmission. It also compares them by outlining their advantages and weaknesses.