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 ROTARY DRILLING SERIES

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Unit I: The Rig and Its Maintenance

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Lesson 1: The Rotary Rig and Its Components
Lesson 2: The Bit
Lesson 3: Drill String and Drill Collars

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Lesson 4: Rotary, Kelly, Swivel, Tongs, and Top Drive
Lesson 5: The Blocks and Drilling Line

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Lesson 6: The Drawworks and the Compound

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Lesson 7: Drilling Fluids, Mud Pumps, and Conditioning Equipment

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Lesson 8: Diesel Engines and Electric Power
Lesson 9: The Auxiliaries
Lesson 10: Safety on the Rig

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Unit II: Normal Drilling Operations

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Lesson 1: Making Hole

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Lesson 2: Drilling Fluids
Lesson 3: Drilling a Straight Hole
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Lesson 4: Casing and Cementing
Lesson 5: Testing and Completing
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Unit III: Nonroutine Operations

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Lesson 1: Controlled Directional Drilling

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Lesson 2: Open-Hole Fishing

Lesson 3: Blowout Prevention
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Unit IV: Man Management and Rig Management

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Unit V: Offshore Technology

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Lesson 1: Wind, Waves, and Weather

Lesson 2: Spread Mooring Systems
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Lesson 3: Buoyancy, Stability, and Trim

Lesson 4: Jacking Systems and Rig Moving Procedures
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Lesson 5: Diving and Equipment

Lesson 6: Vessel Inspection and Maintenance
Lesson 7: Helicopter Safety
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Lesson 8: Orientation for Offshore Crane Operations

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Lesson 9: Life Offshore

Lesson 10: Marine Riser Systems and Subsea Blowout Preventers
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 Figures and Table vi
Contents

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Foreword ix

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Acknowledgments xi 

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Units of Measurement xii 

Introduction 1

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Conventional Rotating System 3

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Top-Drive System 7

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To summarize 8

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Rotary Table Assembly 9
Definition 9

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Functions 10
During Drilling 10

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When Drilling Stops 10
How the Rotary Table Assembly Works 12
Size
Components 13
13
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Base 13
Rotary Table 15
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Drive-Shaft Assembly 16
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Sprockets 18
Locking Devices 18
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Maintenance 20
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Installation 20
Lubrication ` 24
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To summarize 26
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Master Bushing, Kelly Bushing, and Slips 27

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Master Bushing 27
Definition 27
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Functions 29
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Construction 30
Design 30
Drives 33
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Size 34
Additional Equipment 34
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Maintenance 36
Kelly Bushing 38
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Definition 38
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Functions 39
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How the Kelly Bushing Works 40

Design 43
Maintenance 46

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 Slips 48
Definition 48

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Function 49

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How Slips Work 49
Design 52

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Size 54
Handling 55

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Repair 57
Maintenance and Inspection 58

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Power Slips 61

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To summarize 62

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Kelly 63
Definition 63
Functions 64

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Design 64
How the Kelly Works 66

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Kelly Accessories 67
Kelly Saver Sub 67
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Upper Kelly Cock 68
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Lower Kelly Cock 69
To summarize 70
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Swivel 71
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Definition 71
Function 72
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Design 72
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How the Swivel Works 76

Maintenance 77
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Replacing Oil Seals and Wear Sleeves 77

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Replacing Worn Washpipe Packing 78

Lubrication 79
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To summarize 80
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Spinning and Torquing Devices 81

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Spinning Devices 82
Spinning Chain 82
Kelly Spinner 84
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Spinning Wrenches 85
Torquing Devices 86
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Conventional Tongs 86
Power Tongs 91
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Hydraulic Torque Wrench 92

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Combination Power-and-Spinning Wrenches 93

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Tong Safety 94
Maintenance 95
To summarize 96

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 Top Drives 97
Definition 97

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Functions 98

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Design 100
How a Top Drive Works 103

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Maintenance 104
Visual Inspection 104

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Lubrication 105
To summarize 106

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Conclusion 107

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Appendix A

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Maintenance Checklist for One Brand of Rotary Table Assembly 108

Appendix B

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Rotary Table Assembly Troubleshooting Guide 110

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Appendix C

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Lubrication and Maintenance Checklist for One Brand of Swivel 112
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Appendix D
Swivel Troubleshooting Guide 115
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Appendix E
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Hydraulic Spinning Wrench Lubrication 116

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Appendix F
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Torque Wrench Lubrication 118

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Appendix G
Torque Wrench Troubleshooting Guide 120
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Appendix H
Top-Drive Maintenance and Lubrication 122
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Appendix I
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Top-Drive Torque Wrench Toubleshooting Guide 124

Glossary 127
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Review Questions 141

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Answers to Review Questions 147

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v
 English-Units-to-SI-Units Conversion Factors
Quantity Multiply To Obtain
or Property English Units English Units By These SI Units
Length, inches (in.) 25.4 millimetres (mm)

in
depth, 2.54 centimetres (cm)
or height feet (ft) 0.3048 metres (m)

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yards (yd) 0.9144 metres (m)
miles (mi) 1609.344 metres (m)

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1.61 kilometres (km)
Hole and pipe di­ame­ters, bit size inches (in.) 25.4 millimetres (mm)
Drilling rate feet per hour (ft/h) 0.3048 metres per hour (m/h)

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Weight on bit pounds (lb) 0.445 decanewtons (dN)
Nozzle size 32nds of an inch 0.8 millimetres (mm)

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barrels (bbl) 0.159 cubic metres (m3)
159 litres (L)
gallons per stroke (gal/stroke) 0.00379 cubic metres per stroke (m3/stroke)

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ounces (oz) 29.57 millilitres (mL)
Volume cubic inches (in.3) 16.387 cubic centimetres (cm3)
cubic feet (ft3) 28.3169 litres (L)

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0.0283 cubic metres (m3)
quarts (qt) 0.9464 litres (L)
gallons (gal) 3.7854 litres (L)

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gallons (gal) 0.00379 cubic metres (m3)
pounds per barrel (lb/bbl) 2.895 kilograms per cubic metre (kg/m3)
barrels per ton (bbl/tn) 0.175 cubic metres per tonne (m3/t)
gallons per minute (gpm) rs 0.00379 cubic metres per minute (m3/min)
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Pump output gallons per hour (gph) 0.00379 cubic metres per hour (m3/h)
and flow rate barrels per stroke (bbl/stroke) 0.159 cubic metres per stroke (m3/stroke)
barrels per minute (bbl/min) 0.159 cubic metres per minute (m3/min)
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Pressure pounds per square inch (psi) 6.895 kilopascals (kPa)

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0.006895 megapascals (MPa)

°F - 32
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Temperature degrees Fahrenheit (°F) degrees Celsius (°C)

1.8
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Thermal gradient 1°F per 60 feet –– 1°C per 33 metres

ounces (oz) 28.35 grams (g)
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Mass (weight) pounds (lb) 453.59 grams (g)

0.4536 kilograms (kg)
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tons (tn) 0.9072 tonnes (t)

pounds per foot (lb/ft) 1.488 kilograms per metre (kg/m)
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Mud weight pounds per gallon (ppg) 119.82 kilograms per cubic me­tre (kg/m3)
pounds per cubic foot (lb/ft3) 16.0 kilograms per cubic me­tre (kg/m3)
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Pressure gradient pounds per square inch

per foot (psi/ft) 22.621 kilopascals per metre (kPa/m)
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Funnel viscosity seconds per quart (s/qt) 1.057 seconds per litre (s/L)
Yield point pounds per 100 square feet (lb/100 ft2) 0.48 pascals (Pa)
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Gel strength pounds per 100 square feet (lb/100 ft2) 0.48 pascals (Pa)
Filter cake thickness 32nds of an inch 0.8 millimetres (mm)
Power horsepower (hp) 0.75 kilowatts (kW)
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square inches (in.2) 6.45 square centimetres (cm2)

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square feet (ft2) 0.0929 square metres (m2)

Area square yards (yd2) 0.8361 square metres (m2)
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square miles (mi2) 2.59 square kilometres (km2)

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acre (ac) 0.40 hectare (ha)

Drilling line wear ton-miles (tn•mi) 14.317 megajoules (MJ)
1.459 tonne-kilometres (t•km)
Torque foot-pounds (ft•lb) 1.3558 newton metres (N•m)
 in
Introduction

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D

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rillers ready to drill ahead sometimes say, “Let’s put the bit
on bottom and turn it to the right.” This oil patch expression

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is a nod to a special technology called rotary drilling. Rotary
drilling bores through underground formations by rotating

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(turning) the drill stem and the bit.
Today, rotary drilling is the industry standard, but it was

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not always so. Before rotary drilling started to flourish in Texas
in the 1900s, oil people drilled most wells with cable drilling
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tools. With this method, rig crewmembers attach a sharp tool—a
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bit—to a cable. The cable, along with other rig equipment, re­
peat­edly picks up and drops the heavily weighted bit, which
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punches a hole into the ground.

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Cable tool drilling has two big drawbacks. Chips of rock (cut­
tings) that the bit gouges from the formation stay in the hole. The
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cable-tool system has no way of get­ting them out of the way as the
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bit drills. Eventually, the cuttings build up to the point that the bit
starts punching into old cuttings instead of into fresh, uncut rock.
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At this point, the bit no longer deepens the hole. Crewmembers

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therefore have to stop the operation and bail (re­move) the cut­
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tings. Even worse, however, is that some soft formations cave in

around the bit and keep it from drilling at all.
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Rotary drilling solves the problems of having to stop drill­

ing to bail, and of cave-ins in soft forma­tions. The beauty of the
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rotary method is that it not only rotates the bit to drill ahead
(make hole), it also re­moves cuttings from the hole at the same
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time. Removing cuttings at the same time the bit drills keeps
the hole clean, regardless of how soft the formations are. Unlike
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cable-tool drilling, rotary drilling uses hollow pipe (the drill

stem) to put the bit on the bottom of the hole. The diameter of
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the bit is larger than the diameter of the drill stem, so it drills a
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hole whose diameter is larger than the drill stem’s. Thus, there is
space between the drill stem and the wall of the hole. This space
is the an­nular space, or the annulus.

1
 in
Conventional

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Rotating System

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

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F igure 1 shows a conventional rotary system. From top to
bottom, it consists of a hook, a swivel, and a rotary (kelly)

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hose. It also has an upper kelly cock (valve), a kelly, and a lower
kelly cock (valve), which is screwed into the bottom of the kelly

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and cannot be seen on the figure. Not shown in the figure, but
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an important part (you will see why later), is a kelly saver sub.
The conventional rotating system also has a kelly bushing,
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a master bushing, and a rotary table assembly. The rotating
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system allows part of the drill stem’s weight to press down on

the bit to make it drill. The system also provides the rotat­ing
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force to turn the bit. Finally, it provides a passageway for the

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pump to send drilling fluid downhole to lift cuttings.

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Let’s take a closer look at how a conventional rotary rig ac­

complishes these three jobs (fig. 2). The drilling crew attaches
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a drill bit studded with metal or diamond cutters to the bottom

of the drill stem. Crewmembers then lower the drill stem into
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the hole until the bit is very near the bottom. At this point, the
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driller engages the ro­tary table assembly on the rig floor to turn
the drill stem and bit. The mud pump is also started to circulate
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drilling fluid. The driller then lowers the rotating bit the rest
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of the way to bottom and allows part of the drill stem’s weight
to push down on the bit. Weight causes the bit’s cutters to bite
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into the formation and drill ahead.

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 in
Top-Drive System

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ome rigs, especially those offshore, do not use a rotary table, a

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kelly, and a swivel to rotate the drill stem. Instead, they use a
top drive, which replaces the rotary table, the kelly, and the swivel.

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The top drive does the work of all three and works much like a
mo­torized swivel (fig. 3). Because of its de­sign, the top drive can

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speed up the rotary drilling process. Like the swivel, it hangs from
the hook on the traveling block. Unlike the swivel, it has a heavy-

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duty motor (or motors) that provides power to ro­tate the drill stem.

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Figure 3. A top-drive system

does not use the rotary table
to turn the drill stem.

7
 Rotary Table

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Assembly

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A conventional rotary rig uses a conventional rotary table Definition

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assembly (fig. 4). This assembly is a rotating ma­chine housed
inside a rectangu­lar steel box. The assembly has an opening in the

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middle for the kelly and drill pipe. The main parts of the ro­tary
table assembly include the base, the turntable (also called the ro­tary

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table), and the master bushing. It also has a drive-shaft assembly,
a drawworks sprocket and a drive-shaft sprocket, and a chain.
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Righands often call the steel box and the equipment it houses
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the rotary, or the rotary table. Strictly speaking, however, a rotary
table is a collection of many components. One of its main parts
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is a turning component called the rotary table, or the turntable.

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This manual will refer to the entire ro­tary machine as the rotary
table assembly and refer to the turning device in the assembly
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as the rotary table.

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TURNTABLE MASTER BUSHING

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DRIVE-SHAFT
ASSEMBLY
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BASE
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DRIVE-SHAFT
SPROCKET
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DRAWWORKS
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SPROCKET
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ROTARY
CHAIN
Figure 4. A conventional
rotary table assembly

9
 Master Bushing, Kelly

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Bushing, and Slips

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O n a conventional rotary rig (one without a top drive), three

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important devices fit inside the rotary table: (1) the master
bushing, (2) the kelly (or drive) bushing, and (3) the slips. The
rig uses the master bushing and the kelly bushing during drill-

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ing. The rotary table assembly cannot turn the kelly di­rectly.
Instead, the master bushing and the kelly bushing transfer the

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ro­tary table’s motion to the kelly.
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Crewmembers use the slips when drilling stops. The slips
hang (suspend) the drill stem in the rotary table assembly when
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righands make a connection, or when they trip the drill stem
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in and out of the hole.

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The master bushing is a rugged steel cylinder. It sits inside the Master Bushing
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turntable, which turns it (see fig. 5). The master bushing then turns Definition
Th

the kelly bushing during normal drilling. The master bushing has a
tapered surface for the slips. This surface is either part of the bush-
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ing itself, or it is a removable inner bowl that is separate from the

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master bushing (fig. 18). Manufacturers also provide the master

bushing with a way to drive the kelly bushing. The two ways to
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drive the kelly bushing are the four-pin drive and the square drive.
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MASTER TAPERED
BUSHING BOWL
ROTARY DRIVE DRIVE
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TABLE HOLE HOLE

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Figure 18. Tapered bowl

that fits inside the master
bushing

27
 in
Kelly

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T he kelly is a flat-sided, heavy steel pipe that crewmembers Definition

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attach to the bottom of the swivel. They attach the other
end of the kelly to the drill stem. The kelly bushing and the
master bushing transfer the rotary table assembly’s rotation to

of
SWIVEL
the kelly. The kelly, since crewmembers make it up on the drill
stem, turns the drill stem and bit.

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The kelly is usually 40 feet (12 metres) long and has either UPPER
KELLY
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four or six flattened (not round) sides. Crewmembers make up
several attachments to the kelly. These attachments include the
COCK
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upper kelly cock, the lower kelly cock (drill pipe safety valve),
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and the kelly saver sub (fig. 58). KELLY

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LOWER
KELLY
COCK
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KELLY
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SAVER
SUB
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Figure 58. Kelly

and attachments

63
 Swivel

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S tandard dictionaries define a swivel as a device joining two Definition

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parts so that one or both can pivot freely. The rotary drill-

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ing swivel does precisely that. On conventional rotary drilling
rigs, the swivel hangs from the traveling block and hook. Crew

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members at­tach one end of a strong, steel-reinforced flexible
hose—the rotary, or kelly, hose—to the standpipe. (The stand-

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pipe is a steel pipe that runs from the mud pump’s discharge
line and up one leg of the derrick.) They attach the other end of

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the rotary hose to a short, curved steel pipe, called the goose-
neck, which is on the swivel. A passageway inside the swivel
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conducts drilling mud from the gooseneck to the kelly and
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drill string. At the same time, the swivel allows the drill stem
to turn, or rotate, freely (fig. 64).
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TRAVELING
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BLOCK
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STANDPIPE
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HOOK
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GOOSENECK
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SWIVEL
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ROTARY
HOSE
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Figure 64. Traveling

block, hook, and swivel

71
 Spinning and

in
Torquing Devices

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

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S

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pinning and torquing devices on a conventional rotary rig
include large manual wrenches (fig. 69), power wrenches,

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chains, and other equipment that turn drill pipe. Crew members
use this equip­ment to connect or disconnect the pipe. They fre-

of
quently remove the drill stem from the hole and disas­semble it.
Crew members also often join lengths of drill pipe together. For

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example, they may need to add a length of drill pipe to drill ahead.
Or, they may need to trip out the en­tire drill string to change bits.
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When connecting pipe, floorhands use spinning tools first,
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and then powerful torque wrenches to finish the job. The spin-
ning equip­­-ment rapidly rotates, or spins, the joint together.
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Crew members then use torquing tools to make the joint up

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to final tightness. Spinning equipment also spins out the joint

after the floorhands break the two members of the joint apart
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with torquing equip­ment. Examples of spinning tools are the

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spinning chain, the kelly spinner, and the spin­ning wrench.

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Figure 69. Using manual

tongs to tighten a joint

81
 Top Drives

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A top drive is a system suspended in the derrick that works as
a kind of power swivel (fig. 79). Modern units combine
Definition

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the elevators, the tongs, the swivel, and the hook.

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A top drive per­forms several rotary drilling jobs at one time:

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• it rotates the drill stem;
• it serves as a passageway for drilling mud; and
• it supports the drill stem in the hole.

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The rig uses a top drive in place of the regular swivel, the
kelly, the kelly bush­ing, and the rotating function of the rotary

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table. Even on rigs with a top drive, however, the rig owner
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retains the rotary table and master bushing as a place for the
floorhands to set the slips to suspend the drill stem in the hole.
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Figure 79. Top drive in

derrick

97
 in
Conclusion

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T

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he early days of rotary drilling overlapped the fading era of
cable tool drilling. For a time, the rival technologies waged

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a battle across the oilfields of the United States. Rotary workers
called cable tool crew members rope chokers, jar heads, and

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mail pouchers (after a brand of chewing tobacco). Cable tool
workers branded rotary hands auger men, chain breakers, clutch

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stompers, twisters, and swivel necks. Feelings were so fierce in
Electra, Texas, for example, that boardinghouses segregated the
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workers to keep fights from breaking out. One house was for
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swivel necks only; the other was reserved for mail pouch­ers.
Nearly a century later, the oilfield remains just as colorful,
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and drilling methods are still advanc­ing. Rotary drilling even-

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tually took its place as the in­dustry standard. Now, top-drive

technology is changing rotary drilling itself. The old debate over
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drilling gear continues as top-drive equipment improves and

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challenges the conventional rotary method. But the news media

have not reported any instances of separate boardinghouses for
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top-drive hands and for rotary table hands—at least, not yet.
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107
 To obtain additional training materials, contact:

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PETEX

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The University of Texas at Austin
Petroleum Extension Service

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10100 Burnet Road, Bldg. 2
Austin, TX 78758

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Telephone: 512-471-5940
or 800-687-4132

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FAX: 512-471-9410

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or 800-687-7839
E-mail: petex@www.utexas.edu

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or visit our Web site: www.utexas.edu/ce/petex

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To obtain information about training courses, contact:

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PETEX
Learning and assessment center
The University of Texas rs
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4702 N. Sam Houston Parkway West, Suite 800
Houston, TX 77086
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Telephone: 281-397-2440
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or 800-687-7052
FAX: 281-397-2441
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E-mail: plach@www.utexas.edu
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or visit our Web site: www.utexas.edu/ce/petex

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