Patent ID: 9404307
Filing Date: 2016-08-02
CPC Classification: E21B

Claim Text:
1. A method for directionally drilling a wellbore, comprising: at a selected point in the wellbore, measuring an off-bottom rotating torque applied to a drill string in the wellbore; orienting a steerable drilling motor proximate a bottom of the drill string in a selected direction and measuring a surface rotational orientation of the drill string; applying torque to the drill string at the surface to maintain the surface rotational orientation; and automatically increasing and decreasing the applied torque by a selected amount, the selected amount chosen to at least one of (i) maintain orientation of the steerable drilling motor within a predetermined angle range of the selected direction when reactive torque from the steerable drilling motor reaches the surface during drilling and (ii) be within a range of about 25 percent of the of the measured off-bottom rotating torque.