Claims
- 1. An apparatus for drilling a wellbore, comprising:(a) a liner for casing the wellbore; (b) a drill bit at a first end of a drilling assembly for drilling a pilot wellbore; (c) at least one set of a plurality of force application devices on a nonrotating sleeve of the drilling assembly, each said force application device independently operable to exert force on the pilot wellbore for controlling direction of drilling of the wellbore; and (d) an underreamer disposed uphole of the at least one set of the force application devices adapted to enlarge the pilot wellbore to produce said wellbore when rotated.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said drilling assembly is conveyed on a drilling tubular selected from a group consisting of (i) a drill string, and, (ii) a coiled tubing.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of a plurality of force application devices further comprises two spaced-apart sets of a plurality of force application devices.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liner is expandable, the apparatus further comprising a liner expansion device that expands the liner when said drilling assembly is retrieved from said wellbore.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the drilling assembly further comprises a drilling motor for rotating the drill bit.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a control unit that controls the force application devices to exert desired force on the pilot wellbore.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a program associated with said control unit that includes a prescribed wellbore path and wherein the control unit controls the force application devices to maintain drilling along the prescribed wellbore path.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a sensor providing a measure of a parameter of interest and wherein the control unit adjusts the force applied by the force application devices in response to the measure of the parameter of interest.
- 9. A method of drilling a wellbore comprising:(a) conveying a drilling assembly on a drilling tubular into the borehole; (b) using a drill bit conveyed on a first end of the drilling assembly for drilling a pilot wellbore; (c) using a plurality of force application devices on a non-rotating sleeve of the drilling assembly for independently exerting a force on the pilot wellbore and controlling the direction thereof; (d) using an underreamer disposed near a second end of the drilling assembly and enlarging the pilot wellbore to produce said wellbore; and (e) using a liner coupled to the underreamer for lining said borehole.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the drilling tubular is selected from a group consisting of (i) a drill string, and, (ii) a coiled tubing.
- 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the liner is expandable, the method further comprising retrieving the drilling assembly from the wellbore, the method further comprising using a liner expansion device on the drilling assembly for expanding the liner during said retrieval.
- 12. The method of claim 10 further comprising using a drilling motor in the drilling assembly for rotating the drill bit.
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/170,108 filed on Dec. 10, 1999.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (5)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2077811 |
Dec 1981 |
GB |
WO9325799 |
Dec 1993 |
WO |
WO9834003 |
Aug 1998 |
WO |
WO8858807 |
Nov 1999 |
WO |
WO0028188 |
May 2000 |
WO |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/170108 |
Dec 1999 |
US |