Drilling Operations History Drake’s Well was the first commercial oil well drilled in 1859 in Pennsylvania. Cable Tool Drilling technique was used to drill.

Drilling Operations

History Drake’s Well was the first commercial oil well

drilled in 1859 in Pennsylvania.

Cable Tool Drilling technique was used to drill to a final depth of 69 ½ ft (21.18 m).

It took one and a half years to reach the above depth.

In 1900 the rotary drilling technique was invented by Lucas and was used to drill the famous Spindletop Well .

Drilling Operations

History Continued In about 1920 mud was used instead of water to

circulate the cuttings out of hole.

In the 1930’s Directional drilling was used for certain applications.

In the 1950’s Air drilling came to life and the Cable-Tool drilling technique rested in peace.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s Directional and Horizontal drilling became common practice.

From the late 1990’s till now, Multilateral drilling is being widely used and further developed.

Types of Drilled Wells

Exploratory Well (Wild Cat Well)

Is drilling a well in a frontier area (new area) with no previous drilling experience and record for the area to be drilled

The exploration division usually drills such a well to find new reserves

Development Well Is drilling a well in a

known field Plenty of drilling records

and experience are gained from drilling many wells in the same field

The development division drills such a well to further develop the field by increasing recovery and production

Drilling Techniques

Cable-ToolGood for Hard

FormationsCheap

Bad for Soft Formations

Very Slow Drilling

Rotary DrillingVery Fast Drilling

Cuttings are Circulated While Drilling

Good Well Control

Rotary Drilling

A rotary drilling rig is a combination of many machines and equipment that are integrated with each other to drill a hole in the ground.

The machinery and equipment are divided into five main systems on a drilling rig:

• The Power System• The Hoisting System• The Circulating System• The Rotary System• The Well Control System

Rotary Drilling Rig

The Power System

Objective To provide power to the rig equipment

Diesel electrical internal-combustion engines generate the power.

Power generated ranges from 1000 – 3000 Horse Power.

The Hoisting System

Objective To raise and lower the drill string in and out the

hole

Routine Operation Trip into the hole Trip out of the hole Make connection

The Hoisting System Components

Derrick and Substructure

To provide vertical height for pipe movement

To allow enough vertical space to install the Blow Out Preventer (BOP)

The Hoisting System Components

Block and Tackle Provides the

mechanical advantage for weight distribution

Drawworks Provides the

necessary torque for raising the drill string

The Circulating System

Objective To circulate cuttings

out of the hole

The Rotary System

Objective To rotate the bit

The rotary table rotates the kelly, the kelly rotates the drillpipe and drill collar and then the bit rotates and crushes the rock.

The Well Control System

Objective To detect a kick To shut in the well

when a kick is taken

To control well pressure

To prevent a surface blowout

It saves the drilling crew from certain death

Casing and Cementing

Once the hole is drilled, a casing string is lowered into the hole and cemented in place.

Casing Is a steel pipe that

comes in different sizes and strength

Casing and Cementing

Casing Types Conductor pipe Surface casing Intermediate casing Production casing Liner

Drilling liner Production liner

Casing and Cementing

Casing Functions To protect the foundation that the rig is resting

on To protect fresh water zones from contamination To protect the hole and prevent it from

collapsing To control the formation pressure and allow

drilling to final depth To isolate producing zones and allow selective

fluid production To allow production from multiple zones by using

multiple completions

Casing and Cementing

Cementing Normal cement plus

additives are used to cement the casing in place

The cement is pumped into the casing and is pushed by a displacing fluid until it fills the annulus

Directional Drilling

Directional drilling Is drilling a non-vertical hole along a pre-

planned path to reach the target (reservoir)

Directional drilling benefits Drill multiple wells from the same location Intersect multiple targets (reservoir) from the

same well Reach targets that are below inaccessible

areas for drilling Sidetrack a fish and avoid drilling in

troublesome formations such as salt dome and fault lines

Directional Drilling Benefits

Multiple well drilling from the same location using:

Offshore platforms Man made islands

Directional Drilling Benefits

• Intersecting multiple targets from the same well

• Sidetrack a fish

• Avoid troublesome formations

Directional Drilling Case History

Horizontal Drilling

Horizontal drilling is a special case of directional drilling.

The inclination angle of a horizontal well is 90 degrees from vertical (means horizontal).

The horizontal section of the hole has reached a length of 36,000 feet about 10 KM.

Horizontal Drilling Benefits

• Increase production• Reduce water coning problem• Reduce sand production problem

Horizontal Drilling Benefits

Intersect vertical natural fractures that are filled with oil and located in a low permeability reservoir.

(Production increases by 10 folds over vertical wells)

Multi-lateral and Multi-Branch Wells

Multi-Lateral Well Is a well that has one vertical section and

several lateral (horizontal) sections

Multi-Branch Well Is a well that has one vertical section and

several branches of directional wells

Multi-lateral wells combine the benefits of the directional and horizontal wells.

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