If you have drilled for any length of time, sooner or later you are going to stick your drill pipe. It’s one of the hazards of the job. Recognizing the different ways drill pipe can get stuck is the first step in prevention — and recovery. This article goes over several ways pipe might stick on a drilling project, and helps operators figure out what's happening downhole and attempt solutions.

One very common way to stick pipe is differential sticking. This happens when the hydrostatic pressure climbs significantly higher than the formation pressure. This often occurs when you drill through a low pressure formation that takes light mud, and then drill into a higher pressure formation deeper in the well. In order to control the high pressure formation, you increase the mud weight. This may break down the low pressure formation and force the drill pipe against the formation face in the wellbore. The pipe is then very definitely stuck. It only take 1 or 2 pounds of differential pressure over a short area to stick pipe to the point that it is beyond the strength of the pipe, or the capability of the rig. One clue to this situation is that you can usually circulate freely.