Fundamental aspects in drilling engineering including well planning and cost est

imation.
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Drilling Engineering & Operations
1. The Nature of Petroleum
Petroleum is hydrocarbon compound in the form of liquid as crude oil, condensate
and gas as natural gas. Hydrocarbons formed naturally as organic matter applied
with temperature & pressure beneath the Earth surface for millions of years.
Typical hydrocarbon molecules in crude oil:
paraffins (alkanes), saturated hydrocarbons with single bond of C atoms: methane
, ethane, octane, etc
naphthenes (cycloalkanes), hydrocarbons compound with single ring among the C bo
nds: cyclohexane, etc
aromatics (arenes), unsaturated shydrocarbon having "double-bond C ring" called
benzene: methylbenzene (toluene), etc
In addition to above categories: asphaltic (bitumen), high molecular hydrocarbon
species usually in a semi solid form. Common associated non hydrocarbon compoun
ds in crude oil and natural gas: moisture, CO2, H2S, mercury, etc.
Low molecular hydrocarbons considered as light crude, while denser is heavy crud
e. Based on API scale, the greater the value then the lighter the crude and usua
lly more valuable it is. When enough sulphur exists in the crude, the crude term
ed as "sour ".
2. Petroleum Geology
Of the most important rock type in petroleum industry is sedimentary rock. The h
ydrocarbons formed in a layer called source rock, for example shale and coal. Co
nventional oil & gas contained in porous reservoir rocks: sandstone & limestone.
As of unconvetional resources, there are shale gas, tight gas, coalbed methane
(CBM) and gas hydrates.
The movement of hydrocarbons from source rock into reservoir rock is referred to
primary migration. Hydrocarbons fluid also migrates through reservoir rocks unt
il it reaches a barrier or trap, either structural or stratigraphic, then accumu
lates. Structural traps can be fault, anticlinal or salt dome. A decrease of por
osity or permeability will result stratigraphic traps.
Worth of a conventional reservoir determined by its basic properties: porosity,
permeability, capillarity and fluid saturation. Porosity indicates the potential
of the rock to contain fluids, defined as pore volume by bulk volume. Permeabil
ity relates to the rate at which the hydrocarbons can be recovered. The value ex
pressed in Darcy's Law. The formula constitutes permeability as rock property, v
iscosity as fluid property and total pressure drop over a distance as a measure
of flow potential.
Sandstone reservoirs, which is the accumulation of clastic materials, have a dep
ositional porosity and permeability controlled by grain size, sorting, and packi
ng of the particular sediments. In carbonate reservoirs, either limestone or dol
omite where only a few clastic materials content, porosity types include vuggy,
intergranular or cellular, and chalky. Diagenetic changes such as dolomitization
, fracturing, dissolution and recrystalization may provide secondary porosity to
carbonate rocks.
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Rotary Drilling Rig
Typical rotary drilling rig consists of 5 main components:
power, hoisting, circulating, rotating and well control systems.
Power system:
supply electrical current to other systems from hoisting, rotating to circulatio
n. Modern drilling rigs use internal combustion diesel engines, transmitting ele
ctrical power smoothly via a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR). Lighting and ot
her power needs across the drilling site are also distributed.
Hoisting system:
lower and raise the drill string, casings and other downhole equipment into and
out of the hole. There are derrick/mast, drawworks, fastline, crown block, trave
lling block, deadline, anchor, storage reel and hook to handle connection or tri
p operations.
As the drilling continues, drilling fluid (mud) travels the from mud tank to mud
pump, standpipe, rotary hose, down to drillstring and bit then back upward to t
he surface through annulus (space between drillstring and borehole), flowline, s
olids removal equipment (shale shakers, desanders, desilters, centrifuges) and m
ud tank again.
As stated before, modern rig is rotary drilling rig. Function of the rotary syst
em is to transmit the rotation to the drillstring and consequently rotate the bi
t. The direction of rotation is clockwise. The main parts of rotary system are:
swivel, kelly, rotary drive, rotary table, and drillstring. Sometimes a top driv
e system is employed to substitute rotary table and kelly.
Well control system is set as prevention of uncontrolled pressure of formation f
luids from the wellbore. The system allows kick detection, closing the well, cir
culating under pressure and diverting the flow away of personnel and equipment.
pore pressure analysis and fracture prediction, pipe setting depth and hole geom
etry selection, completion planning, mud and cement plan, bit program and casing
design, tubing and drillstring design, then rig sizing and selection. Next step
, time projection and well cost will be estimated.
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AFE in general:
(1) Wellsite preparation,
(2) Rig mobilization and rigging up,
(3) Rig Rental,
(4) Drilling Mud,
(5) Bits and Tools,
(6) Casings,
(7) Formation evaluation
best practices:
Safe Mud Pump Management while Conditioning Mud
Basic Mud Logging (Sperry Sun)
http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/geofag/GEO4211/h06/undervisningsmateriale
/Geophysical_methods.pdf
http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2202-e/B2202-E.pdf