Faculty of Engineering

Petroleum Engineering Department

Drilling Engineering I
Third Stage

Lecture # 2
Introduction to Drilling

Pshtiwan Jaf 1
pshtiwan.jaf@koyauniversity.org
 Oil & Gas Field Life
Abandonment
• At some point in the life of the field the
costs of production will exceed the
revenue from the field and the field will
be abandoned.

• All of the wells will be plugged and the

surface facilities will have to be removed
in a safe and environmentally acceptable
fashion.

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 Oil & Gas Field Life

Role of drilling in field development

3
 Drilling Personnel
Drilling Personnel
• Drilling a well requires many different skills and involves many companies.

• The oil company who manages the drilling and/or production operations is known as the operator.

• In joint ventures one company acts as operator on behalf of the other partners.

• The oil company will employ a drilling contractor to drill the well.

• The drilling contractor owns and maintains the drilling rig and employs and trains the personnel
required to operate the rig.

• During the course of drilling the well certain specialized skills or equipment may be required (e.g.
logging, surveying) which are provided by service companies.

• These service companies develop and maintain specialist tools and staff and hire them out to the
operator and contractor, generally on a day-rate basis. 4
 Drilling Personnel
Drilling Personnel, cont.
• The contracting strategies for drilling a well or wells range from day-rate contracts
to turnkey contracts.

• In the case of the day-rate contract, the operator prepares a detailed well design
and program of work for the drilling operation and the drilling contractor simply
provides the drilling rig and personnel to drill the well.

• The contractor is paid a fixed sum of money for every day that he spends drilling
the well.

• All consumable items (e.g. drilling bits, cement), transport and support services
are provided by the operator.
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 Drilling Personnel
Drilling Personnel, cont.
• In the case of the turnkey contract, the drilling contractor designs the well,
contracts the transport and support services and purchases all of the
consumables, and charges the oil company a fixed sum of money for whole
operation.

• The role of the operator in the case of a turnkey contract is to specify the drilling
targets, the evaluation procedures and to establish the quality controls on the
final well.

• In all cases the drilling contractor is responsible for maintaining the rig and the
associated equipment.
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 Drilling Personnel
Drilling Personnel, cont.
• The operator will generally have a representative on the rig (sometimes called the
“company man”) to ensure drilling operations go ahead as planned, make decisions
affecting progress of the well, and organize supplies of equipment.

• He will be in daily contact with his drilling superintendent who will be based in the
head office of the operator.

• There may also be an oil company drilling engineer and/or a geologist on the rig.

• The drilling contractor will employ a toolpusher to be in overall charge of the rig.

• He is responsible for all rig floor activities and liaises with the company man to ensure
progress is satisfactory. 7
 Drilling Personnel
Drilling Personnel, cont.
• The manual activities associated with drilling the well are conducted by the
drilling crew.

• Since drilling continues 24 hours a day, there are usually 2 drilling crews.

• Each crew works under the direction of the driller (a person who runs the drilling
rig).

• The crew will generally consist of a derrickman (a person who guides the drill
pipe in and out of the elevators), 3 roughnecks (a person who
connects/disconnects pipe using tongs), plus a mechanic, an electrician, a crane
operator and roustabouts (general laborers perform all other unskilled labor as
necessary). 8
 Drilling Personnel
Personnel involved in drilling a well

9
 Drilling Proposal
Drilling Proposal
• The proposal for drilling the well is prepared by the geologists and reservoir
engineers in the operating company and provides the information upon which
the well will be designed and the drilling program will be prepared.

• The proposal contains the following information:

✓Objective of the Well
✓Depth (m/ft Subsea), and Location (Longitude and Latitude) of Target
✓Geological Cross section
✓Pore Pressure Profile Prediction

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 Drilling Program
Drilling Program
• The drilling program is prepared by the Drilling Engineer and contains the
following:

✓Drilling Rig to be used for the well

✓Proposed Location for the Drilling Rig
✓Hole Sizes and Depths
✓Casing Sizes and Depths
✓Drilling Fluid Specification
✓Directional Drilling Information
✓Well Control Equipment and Procedures
✓Bits and Hydraulics Program

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 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
1. Searching for oil & gas reservoir
• The search for oil and gas requires a knowledge of geography, geology and
geophysics.

• Crude oil is usually found in certain types of geological structures, such as

anticlines, fault traps and salt domes, which lie under various terrains and in a
wide range of climates.

• After selecting an area of interest, many different types of geophysical surveys

are conducted and measurements performed in order to obtain a precise
evaluation of the subsurface formations, including: magnetometric surveys, aerial
photogrammetric surveys, gravimetric surveys and seismic surveys. 12
 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
1. Searching for oil & gas reservoir, cont.

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 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
2. Establish infrastructure for the drilling site
• It may be necessary to build a road to access the drilling site, or purchase boats if
drilling an offshore well.

• Water, electricity, food, and sanitation equipment will also need to be accounted
for.

• If drilling in a more developed urban area, infrastructure costs will be less

significant.

• Preparations will vary depending on the type of environment the well is being
drilled in. An offshore well, for example, will require a different set of equipment
than will a conventional terrestrial (land-based) oil well. 14
 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
2. Establish infrastructure for the drilling site, cont.

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 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
3. Dig in
• Before drilling the actual oil well, the interested
company will have to do a lot of digging. Begin by
clearing and leveling the designated area.

• For expanded storage space, install a "cellar" a four-

walled steel structure planted in the ground near the
well site for the purpose of equipment storage.

• An oil company might also dig a reserve pit and line

it with plastic. This pit will be used to dispose of rock
cuttings and used drilling mud.

• Then dig two large holes (the “rat” and “mouse”

holes) to hold piping and equipment.
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 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
4. Assemble the Rig
• The rig is the complex of equipment
containing the drills, pumps, and other
machinery needed to drill the oil well.

• The deeper the well, the stronger the rig will

need to be.

• Land rigs are usually trucked in pieces to the

site and then assembled, while offshore wells
will have the rig integrated into the oil
platform. 17
 Drilling Process
Drilling Process
5. Drilling the well
• The operations involved in drilling a well can be best illustrated by considering
the sequence of events involved in drilling the well.

• The dimensions (depths and diameters) used in this example are typical but could
be different in other parts of the world.

• For simplicity the process of drilling a land well will be considered.

• The following description is only an overview of the process of drilling a well (the
construction process). The design of the well, selection of equipment and
operations involved in each step will not discussed in this chapter.
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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
A. Installing the 30₺ Conductor
• The first stage in the operation is to drive a large
diameter pipe to a depth of approximately 100 ft
below ground level using a truck mounted pile-driver.

• This pipe (usually called conductor) is installed to

prevent the unconsolidated surface formations from
collapsing whilst drilling deeper.

• Once this conductor, which typically has an outside

diameter (O.D.) of 30₺ is in place the full sized drilling
rig is brought onto the site and set up over the
conductor, and preparations are made for the next
stage of the operation. 19
 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
A. Installing the 30₺ Conductor

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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
B. Drilling and Casing the 26₺ Hole
• The first hole section is drilled with a drill bit, which has a smaller diameter than
the inner diameter (I.D.) of the conductor.

• Since the I.D. of the conductor is approximately 28”, a 26” diameter bit is
generally used for this hole section.

• This 26" hole will be drilled down through the unconsolidated formations, near
surface, to approximately 2000’.

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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
B. Drilling and Casing the 26₺ Hole, cont.
• If possible, the entire well, from surface to the reservoir would be drilled in one
hole section.

• However, this is generally not possible because of geological and formation

pressure problems which are encountered whilst drilling.

• The well is therefore drilled in sections, with casing being used to isolate the
problem formations once they have been penetrated.

• This means however that the wellbore diameter gets smaller and smaller as the
well goes deeper and deeper.
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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
B. Drilling and Casing the 26₺ Hole, cont.
• The well will then be designed such that the dimensions of the borehole that
penetrates the reservoir, and the casing that is set across the reservoir, will allow
the well to be produced in the most efficient manner possible.

• In the case of an exploration well the final borehole diameter must be large
enough to allow the reservoir to be fully evaluated.

• When the drill bit reaches approximately 2000’ the drillstring is pulled out of the
hole and another string of pipe (surface casing) is run into the hole.

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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
B. Drilling and Casing the 26₺ Hole, cont.
• This casing, which is generally 20" O.D., is delivered to
the rig in 40 ft lengths (joints).

• Cement slurry is then pumped into the annular space

between the casing and the borehole.

• This cement sheath acts as a seal between the casing

and the borehole, preventing caving from falling down
through the annular space between the casing and
hole, into the subsequent hole and/or fluids flowing
from the next hole section up into this annular space. 24
 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
C. Drilling and Casing the 17 1/2₺ Hole
• Once the cement has set hard, a large spool called a wellhead
housing is attached to the top of the 20” casing.

• This wellhead housing is used to support the weight of

subsequent casing strings and the annular valves known as the
Blowout prevention (BOP) stack which must be placed on top
of the casing before the next hole section is drilled.

• Since it is possible that formations containing fluids under high

pressure will be encountered whilst drilling the next (17 1/2”)
hole section a set of valves, known as a Blowout prevention
(BOP) stack, is generally fitted to the wellhead before the 17
1/2” hole section is started.
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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
C. Drilling and Casing the 17 1/2₺ Hole, cont.
• If high pressure fluids are encountered they will displace
the drilling mud and, if the BOP stack were not in place,
would flow in an uncontrolled manner to surface.

• This uncontrolled flow of hydrocarbons is termed a

Blowout.

• The BOP valves are designed to close around the

drillpipe, sealing off the annular space between the
drillpipe and the casing.

• These BOPS have a large I.D. so that all of the necessary

drilling tools can be run in hole. 26
 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
C. Drilling and Casing the 17 1/2₺ Hole, cont.
• When the BOP’s have been installed and pressure tested, a 17 1/2" hole is drilled down
to 6000 ft.

• Once this depth has been reached the troublesome formations in the 17 1/2" hole are
isolated behind another string of casing (13 5/8" intermediate casing).

• This casing is run into the hole in the same way as the 20” casing and is supported by
the 20” wellhead housing whilst it is cemented in place.

• When the cement has set hard the BOP stack is removed and a wellhead spool is
mounted on top of the wellhead housing.

• This wellhead spool supports the weight of the next string of casing and the BOP stack
which is required for the next hole section. 27
 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
C. Drilling and Casing the 17 1/2₺ Hole, cont.

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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
D. Drilling and Casing the 12 1/4₺ Hole
• When the BOP has been re-installed and pressure tested, a 12 1/4"
hole is drilled through the oil bearing reservoir.

• Whilst drilling through this formation oil will be visible on the

cuttings being brought to surface by the drilling fluid.

• If oil or gas is detected the formation will be evaluated more fully.

• The drillstring is pulled out and running different wireline logging

tools to evaluate the reservoir in details.

• These tools are run on conductive cable called electric wireline, so

that the measurements can be transmitted and plotted (against
depth) almost immediately at surface.
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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well
D. Drilling and Casing the 12 1/4₺ Hole, cont.
• It may be desirable to retrieve a large cylindrical sample of the rock known as a core.

• Porosity and permeability measurements can be conducted on this core sample in the
laboratory.

• In some cases tools will be run in the hole which will allow the hydrocarbons in the sand
to flow to surface in a controlled manner.

• Since the produced fluid is allowed to flow through the drillstring this test is termed a
drill-stem test or DST.

• If all the indications from these tests are good then the oil company will decide to
complete the well. If the tests are negative or show only slight indications of oil, the
well will be abandoned. 30
 Drilling Process
6. Completing the Well
• Completion is the process in which the well is enabled to
produce hydrocarbons.

• In most cases the first step in this operation is to run and

cement production casing (9 5/8" O.D.) across the oil
producing zone.

• A string of pipe, known as tubing (4 1/2" O.D.), through

which the hydrocarbons will flow is then run inside this
casing string.

• The production tubing, unlike the production casing, can be

pulled from the well if it develops a leak or corrodes.
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 Drilling Process
5. Drilling the Well

Drilling 7₺ Liner Hole, if necessary or

Complete the well

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 Drilling Process
6. Completing the Well, cont.
• The annulus between the production casing and the production tubing is sealed
off by a device known as a packer.

• This device is run on the bottom of the tubing and is set in place by hydraulic
pressure or mechanical manipulation of the tubing string.

• When the packer is positioned just above the pay zone its rubber seals are
expanded to seal off the annulus between the tubing and the 9 5/8" casing.

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 Drilling Process
6. Completing the Well, cont.
• The BOP’s are then removed and a set of valves (Christmas Tree) is installed on
the top of the wellhead.

• The Xmas tress is used to control the flow of oil once it reaches the surface.

• To initiate production, the production casing is “perforated” by explosive charges

run down the tubing on wireline and positioned adjacent to the pay zone.

• After a flow path is made, acids and fracturing fluids are pumped into the well to
fracture, clean, or otherwise prepare and stimulate the reservoir rock to
optimally produce hydrocarbons into the wellbore.
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 Drilling Process
6. Completing the Well, cont.

Completion schematic

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Drilling Process

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