Methods and apparatus for printing a wellbore casing

Abstract

A method includes introducing a drill string including a bottom hole assembly into a wellbore, wherein the bottom hole assembly includes a mounted 3D printing sub-assembly. A wellbore is drilled with the bottom hole assembly, and at least a portion of a casing is printed with the 3D printing sub-assembly while drilling the wellbore. A related system includes a drill string having a length of drill pipe and a bottom hole assembly disposed at a distal end of the length of drill pipe. A 3D printing sub-assembly is mounted on the bottom hole assembly, wherein the printing sub-assembly includes a printer housing and a 3D printing head mounted at the printer housing. A control guides the 3D printing head to print at least a portion of a casing at a location radially away from the central longitudinal axis of the drill string.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.