By Stéphane Menand, Jeffry K. Lehner, Nigel Evans, Aaron Palmer and Arthur Metcalfe HOUSTON-High strength-to-weight aluminum alloy drill pipe is a powerful torque and drag reduction tool for horizontal and deviated wells. Aluminum drill pipe (ADP) enables strength-to-weight ratios equivalent to 160 ksi yield-strength steels and typically is 30-50 percent lighter than similarly sized steel drill pipe (SDP). Penn Virginia Corp. tested ADP in complex and highly deviated well profiles on a four-well pad in the Eagle Ford Shale-the first such application of ADP in a horizontal shale play. A "mixed" drill string design was used in three of the four extended-reach wells to drill the curve and lateral sections with ADP, while the vertical sections were drilled with standard SDP. The drill string for the other well consisted of only SDP. All four wells were designed with 7,000-foot lateral sections and utilized steerable mud motors. The wells were spaced 15 feet apart at the surface, and the typical lateral separation was 400-600 feet. The wells drilled with the ADP string had significantly improved rates of penetration and reduced torque, compared with the well drilled with the SDP-only string using the same bottom-hole assembly and bit. AUGUST 2015 47