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-Tool Good for Hard Formations Cheap  Bad for Soft Formations  Very Slow Drilling Rotary Drilling Very 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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