DIGITAL ASSIGNMENT- 1

NAME : VAGISHA RASTOGI

REG NO : 18BCM0069
COURSE : NATURAL GAS ENGINEERING
SLOT : E1+TE1

1) The most common problems during drilling operation are drill pipe sticking, lost
circulation, deviation of drill pipe from hole, instability of borehole, mud
contamination, formation damage, H2S bearing formation and personnel related
problems. Explain various methods involved in each to overcome.
Answer-
a) Drill pipe sticking
This problem is encountered by many industries and it is caused due to plethora
of reasons which are permeability, shale formations, sloughing, fill on bottom
of the well and many more according to industries recovery from stuck
pipe situation is time consuming and costly - During drilling operation, the
problem of drill pipe sticking is encountered by many drilling platforms results in
the accumulation of many impurities which seeps and gets clogged inside the
drilling pipe. Causes and preventive methods for drill pipe sticking are :-

CAUSE PREVENTION

a) Settled cuttings - Drilling equipment
are not transported out of the hole
due to low angular velocity and poor
mud properties.
b) Shale Instability – shale absorbs
water and swell into the wellbore,
funnel viscosity, torque and drag
increase.
Drill pipe sticking can be prevented by controlling.
rate of penetration, maximizing angular velocity,
maintaining sufficient gel strength. There are also
additional methods such as : apply low pump
pressure initially, apply torque and jar down with
maximum trip load, maintain mud properties and
maximize string rotation.
Shale can be made stable by using an inhibited mud,
reducing hole exposure time and maintaining mud
properties.

c) Fractured formation – Formation of Fractured formation can be prevented by- Spot acid if
fracture and breakage naturally, stuck in limestone, circulate high density high

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 pieces of formation fall into the well viscosity sweeps and by minimising seepage losses.
and jam the way out of it.

d) Differential sticking- Prognosed low It can be prevented by maintaining minimum required

pressure sands, increasing over pull mud weight, controlling drill suspected zones, and by
slack off weight or torque to start minimising seepage loss in low pressure zones.
string movement.

b) Lost circulation –
During drilling, mud circulates with in well to chill the drilling bit, stabilize
the well, and transport rock cuttings to the surface. Unfortunately, certain
rock formations have open natural fracture systems, into which the
mud will be lost—risking time, money and safety. It can be overcome by-
the addition of solid materials to the drilling mud and by using the non-mud
system. Some of the solutions are :-
 Liquid thixotropic agent- It helps in managing lost circulation
during cementing where the handling of solid materials are not
practical.
 Advanced organophilic clay- It improves gel strength,
suspension of weight material.
 Lost circulation control treatment- Maintain stability over the
large bottom temperature range.

c) Deviation of drill pipe from hole

It is defined as an unintentional shift of the path of the drill bit from the
preselected one. When the drill bit rotates at the bottom of the well and
due to the continuous working of drill bit it makes the hole larger than the
given diameter then uneven surface of rocks cause bending stresses and
tilt the drill bit away from the mid point. We can address many solutions to
this problem which are :- Take time to line up accurately and collar
correctly, use approximate same feed pressure that is needed, choose
products only after assessing the chance cost of not drilling straight
holes further because the potentially greater and more cost
effective influence of drilling practice which goes on.

d) Instability of borehole
Borehole instability is that the undesirable condition of an open hole
interval that doesn't maintain its gauge size and shape and/or its structural
integrity and the issues of borehole instabilities can be resolved by these
methods :-
1) Proper mud-weight selection and maintenance

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 2)Use of proper hydraulics to regulate the equivalent circulating density

3)Proper hole-trajectory selection

4) Use of borehole fluid compatible with the formation being drilled.

e) H2S bearing related problems –

Exposure to the concentration of hydrogen sulfide causes health issues or
even death of any worker working in the drilling site and causes corrosion
of various drilling equipment in the presence of oxygen. Hence, the
treatment and safety procedures are :-
 Geologists and other engineers should make plans accordingly after
proper studying with precision in the advance studying of H 2S bearing
zones, depth, pressure, temperature and condition of drilling sites.
 H2S scavenger, can also be used in order to protect drilling equipment
from the corrosion due to the presence of corrosive gases.
 Gas detectors should be periodically checked and maintained.
 Medical facilities are available 24/7.

f) Mud contamination–

means unwanted change in the mud properties like viscosity, density,

composition due to the addition of an undesirable materials. Common
contaminants and their treatments are given below :
 Carbonate – Add caustic soda in order to increase pH to the range 9.5 to 10
later add lime and gypsum to overcome contamination.
 Cement – Pre-treating mud with sodium bicarbonate and using sea water to
drill cement section is offshore rigs could be an option as well as using
formation water in onshore sites.
 Calcium sulphate – Add soda ash with rate of 0.66lb/bbl for every 100 ppm
calcium and lignosulphonate treatment might be needed to control filtration
and viscosity.
 Salt – Salt contamination is treated by the dilution of water.

g) Personal Related Problems

The major health related issues which people face on the drilling sites are
eye irritations, itching, get burns while cutting and burning, highly toxic
chemical exposure, risk of fire and explosion, danger of cyclone, hurricane
and tides while working in offshore platforms, threat due to extreme
weather conditions, drill mud release. Some of the protective equipment
that will prve to be life-saving are - gloves made of PVC, face shields,
masks, boots, heat and water resistant jackets, proper eye wear etc.

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 2) Take of geographical online survey on how many number of
(i) Retrograde gas condensate reservoir
(ii) Near Critical gas condensate reservoir
(iii) Wet gas condensate reservoir
(iv) Dry gas condensate reservoir
are there in the globe and explain about the type of drilling
survey methods used to identify these reservoirs other than
seismic survey.
Answer-

1) Retrograde gas condensate reservoirs are found in these many

countries-
 North of Paris
 Offshore Eastern Venezuela
 Central Oman
 Western Sichuan depression, China
 Gulf of Mexico

The point at C is known as CRICONDENTHERM TEMPERATURE beyond which

no liquid with coalesce. The pressure at P1 always exceeds the Pc which
indicates the presence of 40% gas and 60% oil and the pressure reduces from
P1 to P4 and the oil which is present tends to evaporate and form 90% of gas
and 10% of oil. It is mostly found in the GULF OF MEXICO, USA, BRAZIL.

2) Near Critical Gas Reservoir –

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 C point indicates Critical point which has 70% of gas and 30% of oil, when
the pressure reduces from the point 1 to 3, 30% of the oil vaporises and
form 80% of gas and 20% of oil.
It is mostly found in arctic regions the climatic conditions are very
extreme only lab scale is successful.

3) Wet Gas Condensate Reservoir –

Dotted line - gas.

It is mostly found in the regions of Krishna Godavari Basin, and near the
regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

4) Dry gas reservoir –

95% - gas
5% oil. Here the dotted line is very far away from the normal line which
shows the presence of gas is more.
5% of oil can be taken to the refinery unit and can be separated in the
separator unit.
It is mostly found in the regions of Serbia and Russia.
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Oil and gas operations involves numerous of activities starting from the
discovery of existing natural resource up to utilizing in the best possible way.
These operations include various methods starting from drilling survey which
can be done by many different methods starting from Geological method,
geophysical method and geochemical method followed by drilling methods
which can be broadly divided into two types :-
 EXPLORATORY DRILLING – In order to accept or deny the presence
of hydrocarbons deep down the earth surface is done by
exploratory wells which are drilled initially and these are known as
WILD-CAT WELL. A lot of information will be gathered regarding
different formations encountered along with logging, testing and
coring are also done. Other wells are also drilled to reserve the
boundary for the further development and can be expanded in the
most economical way. In the offshore sites fixed platform is not
preferable because in the case of non-commerciality, the platform
has to be abandoned. So the best possible platform would be
moving rig which can easily be shifted to some other drilling sites.
 DEVELOPMENT DRILLING – If the positive results are obtained from
exploratory drilling, then a detailed development drilling planning
will be proceeded. In offshore the development drilling is done from
developing preferably fixed platform from where many wells drilled
to reach different locations in the reservoir by using directional
drilling method. It allows the drilling of minimum 8 to 10 wells.

3) Explain the changes encountered in wellhead when

a) Wing valve is replaced by 2 No’s of master valve.
b) Master Valve is replaced by wing valve.
c) Choke valve is replaced by Check valve.

ANSWER –

1) In the well head structure, there are two wing valves which are present
on both sides. It is mandatory to have both the valves under operations
simultaneously. Left side valve is called as KILL Wing Valve which
regulates the flow of additives.

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 And the on the right side valve is known as PRDUCTION Wing Valve
which controls the extraction of oil and gas from the production casing
unit. If we replace it by master valve then the fracture or leakage which
is happening can not be checked directly and the fracture or corrosion
problems would not be solved perfectly.

2) It is not possible to replace Master valve by Wing Valve because as per

the name of master valve it masters or regulates the flow-based
activities taking place in the reservoir. It is the valve which controls and
carries out all the activities of other valves which includes wing valve,
gauge valve and swab valve.

3) Check and Choke Valves have the function to regulate the flow of oil and
gas from the production casing unit and also create a backpressure so
that there will be no backflow occurring at that point and that specific
time. If the pressure of the reservoir reaches above 4000 psi, then the
drilling fluid of higher pressure will be moved down. The Choke Valve
has the pressure range of about 4500 class but Check Valve has a
pressure range of about 2500 psi.

4. Draw a neat sketch of platform complex (using scale and pencil) containing
(i) Process platform
(ii) Well head platform
(iii) Riser Platform
(iv) Fire Support system
(v) Bridge
(vi) Living Quarters Platform
Answer-

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5) Explain following questions on offshore platforms
(i) What is the floor area of topsides required?
(ii) What is the maximum weight of facilities
(iii) How will you locate platform?
(iv) What will you consider to withstand high wind conditions of platform ?
(v) What is the basic water depth and environmental parameters such as
wave, current etc is required to install offshore platforms ?
(vi) What is the type of installation you will follow?

ANSWER-
1. Approximately 12000 m2 of floor area for the topsides is required in
offshore platforms.

2. Oil platforms are one of the heaviest and the biggest platforms in the
world reaching down thousands of feet in the sea bed and have the
capabilities to hold tons of weight over it. Some of the examples are :-
 BERKUT- It has the tendency to lift up 200,000 ton rig.
 HIBERNIA – It’s complete structure is built up using 450,000 ton
gravity based structure.
The maximum weight of the platforms can take up to 700.000 tonnes,
depending on the structure. The design factor includes its location, types of
platform, what is the area of required floor, what the velocity of current and
wind near the platform.

3. Drilling platforms generally consists of many equipment for testing

purpose, air compressors, manifolds, measuring tanks, burners,
separators.

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 Production platforms in the offshore regions are the big platforms to drill
well in the search of oil and gas, extract, store and process oil and gas
that are seeped out of the reservoir rock beneath the seabed. The types
of offshore platforms are :-
 Drilling/well protector platforms
 Tender platforms
 Self-Contained platforms
 Production platforms
 Quarters platforms
 Bridges
 Heliports

Different types of drilling platform includes :-

 Jack up Rig
 Fixed Platform
 Complaint Tower
 Semi-Submersible Platform.
4. Drill platform in the offshore side can withstand with high wind velocity
which is equivalent to 160 km/hr. If the speed of the wind exceeds up to
160 km/hr, the drilling rig will take only 24 seconds to collapse. So in
order to prevent this we can use Semi-Submersible Rigs it has one
unique feature which is the force of buoyancy which can keep the
platform afloat on water.
5. To install offshore platforms some of the parameters we need to keep in
our mind are –
 Wave Height- It’s denoted by (H) and it is measured from the top
of the wave to the lowest point of water surface level and there
are four factors which determine wave height are – wind speed,
duration, water depth and fetch. Wave height can be reported in
terms of Beaufort scale, the scale ranges from 0 which basically
indicates calm, mirror like seas and Beaufort number 12 which
indicates a height of wave more than 45 ft and the sea is
completely white blowing froth and spray.
 Ocean Current – which defines predominately horizontal
movement of the ocean waters. It is divided into two types. The
first one has the surface flow usually flows in the cyclical pattern
and the latter one which has a deep, slow moving flow, which
usually flows in the meridional direction.

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  Wave frequency – It’s related to wave period, alpha =
1/frequency. Most of the wind waves have short wave periods of
3 to 30 seconds.
6. Movable rigs are mostly preferred by the engineers for the exploratory
purposes which is very cheaper than any permanent platform. Once the
reservoirs have been found, we can install permanent platform for the
extraction.
Different types of Movable rigs are :-
 Drilling Barges.
 Jack-Up Rigs.
 Submersible Rigs. (Swamp Barges)
 Semi-Submersible Rigs. (Anchor Stationed)
 Drill ships.

6) Describe in detail about gravity load, environmental load and seismic load
to design/install offshore platforms.

ANSWER-

GRAVITY LOAD – Gravity load is also known as dead or permanent weight on

offshore platforms which includes the weight of the full structure including
walls, floors, mechanical systems, living quarters or temporary load. It’s
nothing much, it’s a gravitational load that is held by gravity. Gravity based
load mostly constructed in the protected area of sufficient high depth and the
study of seabed has also taken place so that it can withstand with the vertical
load that is exerted on it before installing drilling site. And this GBS oil platform
is constructed of steel reinforced concrete with tanks used to control the
buoyancy of complete structure.
The studies, research and development has been carried out with full
concentration on the reliability of Gravity based system :-

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  We need to determine the design values of seismic, wave and ice
loading offshore platforms.
 We need to check out the strength and stability of the platforms under
different impacts of loading.
 We also need to analyse geological engineering condition for the
engineering sites.

SESMIC LOAD- Many studies, geologists take into consideration to identify all
seismic activities happening in the world’s ocean which might cause seismic
hazard in future. Due to growing demand of oil and gas around the world,
many companies are competing frontline to install better offshore platform to
get good turnover in future. So, they studied about different sort of
approaches such as structure, load modelling, distributed fluid structure and
soil structure interaction in addition to hydrodynamic dumping and last seismic
design has also be studied.

ENVIRONMENTAL LOAD – This load mostly caused by natural phenomena

includes wind, waves, tides, earthquake, temperature, ice, buoyancy seabed
movement, marine growth and other external forces.
a) Wind load - The total wind load on the platform can be calculated
using the wind blockage area and pressure. But the calculation of
global wind load shape coefficient can be 1.0. And the total force on
the platform can be calculated as : Fx = FwAsCs and FY = FwAyCs.
b) Wave and Current Load – We can apply wave load onto the offshore
structures and there are two ways :-
 Design wave method – The wave masses exerted at the
jacket is implemented laterally on all individuals andit
generates overturning second at the structure. Period of
wind generated waves within side the open sea may be
within side the order of 2 to 20. These waves are known
as gravity waves and contain maximum of the wave
energy. Maximum wave shall be used for the layout of
offshore structures. And the relationship between the
maximum wave height ( Hmax ) and the significant wave
height ( Hs ).
 Spectral Method – Instead of simulating the layout wave
surroundings through discrete most wave, a layout sea-
nation defined through energy spectrum for the given
webpage is used withinside the load simulation.

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 c) Mud load – Platforms which are located in the surrounding of the river
mouth might experience the mud flow loads. When the river flow
containing muds brings sediment transport and mud towards the
platform. Sometimes after a long period of time sediment settles and
form sloping surface and mud slides can also generate mud loads.

7) Describe in detail about structural materials, piping materials and

miscellaneous materials used in offshore platform to avoid corrosion.

Answer –
Kind of materials that we use in offshore platform should be optimised and
have following characteristics such as Cathodic protection, metal sheathing,
concrete encasement and organic and metallic coatings are methods to be
adjusted in materials for preventing corrosion in marine applications and to
avoid incurring unnecessary costs. Materials have to be chosen in such a way
so that the pipe could be able to handle all kind of stresses like chemical,
mechanical and thermal stresses depending upon the quality of drilling fluid
that is passing through it, with temperature and pressure that play very crucial
role.
There are half set of guidelines that is needed to be followed for all parts of
offshore protections –
 Corrosion and material selection evaluations.
 Life cycle cost evaluations.
 Specific material selection where appropriate.
 Corrosion protection.
 Design limitations for candidate materials.
 Qualification requirements for new materials or new applications.
Corrosivity can be reduced by using recommended guidelines :
 The corrosivity can be reduced by using inhibitors along with pH
stabilizers so that the combined effect will be more effective.
 Carbon steel can be used to protect the surface of the equipment
from the external environment.

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  Carbon steel welds are also required which shall be adjustable with
the base materials in order to avoid local corrosion of weldment and
heat affected zone.
 CORROSION INHIBITOR, SCALE INHIBITOR, OXYGEN SCAVANGER or
other chemicals are used to reduce corrosion in process, seawater
and fresh water systems.
 BIOCIDES can also be used to prevent the growth of bacteria cause
microbiologically related corrosion problems.
Materials that can be used as a corrosion resistant when submerged in
sea water –
 Alloy 625
 Nickel alloy and Titanium alloys.

DRILLING EQUIPMENT –
The material that will be used in drilling equipment would be
matched by API and ISO specifications.

STRUCTURAL MATERIALS –
1. STEEL – According to many industries, one high strength steel
grade shall be used in each project e.g. Steel grade ( SMYS 355
or 420 ).
2. Concrete – Concrete materials properties consists with NS-
3420 and maximum water to binder ratio should be 0.45.
3. Aluminium – Its should be of sea water resistant grade such as
AlMg and AlMgSi.

8) How will you overcome the following in mooring systems?

(i) Fatigue
(ii) Complexity

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 (iii) What are the mooring system providers do to overcome
challenges in market?
ANSWER –
1) FATIGUE - In order to overcome fatigue we need to ensure that
each mooring line has suitable reserve capacity when subject to
cyclic loading – FATIGUE LIMIT STATE ( FLS ). It is necessary to
account for the accumulated fatigue damage that occurs from
cyclic loading by individual sea states making up the long-term
environment. In a single sea state fatigue damage is calculated
by :-

2) COMPLEXITY – Complexity in the mooring system is caused by

by mixed mooring which is highly not preferable. It is highly
preferred that mooring materials should be made of same and
size and same material or use exact similar lines in the same
service for example spring lines and breast lines should be of
same material and same size.
3) As organizations have a tendency to task similarly into the
ocean and strive it and discover depths which has by no
means been archived earlier than this brings a large project for
mooring device carriers as for them it's miles tough to hold with
the deeper, extra far off and extra complicated set up which the
marketplace demands. Mooring device carriers try and offer ultra-
excessive preserving power (UHHP) anchors, high-
quality buoyancy units, higher artificial fibre mooring and few
different offerings including crane wires.
The provider carriers additionally have a tendency to lease their
gadget to numerous organizations as this cut the useless costs.

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9) Explain in detail about pre-set mooring and pre-laid mooring
with special emphasis on cost cutting measures?
ANSWER –
PRE-SET MOORING is a system where most of off-vessel components
before the arrival of the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit and which involves the
provision and installation of a complete additional drilling rig mooring spread
before a drilling rig arrives on location. It provides less costly alternative to DP
in ultra-deep water reservoir. This type of mooring includes definite time and
cost savings in anchoring the rig from the bottom of the sea. The delay of time
can be reduced from several days to less than two hours. This is very helpful in
reducing the cost as each equipment will be used for the lesser amount of time
which reduces cost,

PRE-LAID MOORING SYSTEM - A pre-installed mooring approach can

facilitate lots decreased rig flow time, make certain extra precision and
manipulate over the site of the mooring system site of the mooring in
proximity to present infrastructure, and additionally permits an extra
strategic technique to operational marketing plans for drilling rig
activities.
Cost financial savings whilst the use of a pre-established mooring
approach may be significant– in particular whilst used on improvement
of drilling operations, taking full gain of the efficiencies viable whilst the
use of batch drilling techniques.

10) Explain the steps taken by you

1) After the drilling rig was damaged during hurricane
2) Before the drilling rig was hit by hurricane
Compare it with any case study.
ANSWER –

1) The steps which are needed to be followed after the drilling rig was
damaged during hurricane are given below -
 Operations in regions now no longer forecast to take a right
away hit from the storm regularly are close down or curtailed
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 as a precaution due to the fact storms can alternate path with
little notice.
 Once safe, groups are available to evaluate harm. If harm or
flooding has occurred, it needs to be repaired
and treated earlier than the storm may be introduced lower
back on-line.
 Some of the changes after the hurricane hit the platform
includes– changes planned to jack up rig if It is mobile then
the barge and drilling structure are gradually raised above the
water in order to maintain during the loads of high winds,
waves and currents.
 After Katrina hit the offshore platforms of Gulf of Mexico then
several modifications had been done the height of the jack-up
rigs had been increased to some extent to increase the
stability of the equipment.
 Then the installation of GPS locators and black box
information storage systems on Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit
had been done to monitor the deck after the evacuation and in
order to track the location of rig which was affected by
hurricane.
 HURRICANE EVACUATION REMOTE OPERATION is taken in
account to permit the platform to continue producing barrels
of oil even after the evacuation of rigs due to the natural
phenomena.

Like in the region of Gulf of Mexico, Katrina (hurricane)

knocked down offshore oil platforms, pipelines and other
drilling equipment which supplies oil to US and produces two
million barrels per day. To protect the oil supplies it was shut
down for six months and over half of Gulf production was
stopped. We know that the damage to any drilling equipment
very hardly and costly to repair and from the sources hurricane
Katrina destroyed almost half of the oil platforms and almost
five drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

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2) In order to protect the drilling platforms from the natural
phenomena occurs just try to install or adapt new technologies
so that the rigs stabilize and withstand with extreme conditions.
Some of the great developments includes- high-pressure
protection system for pipelines, pre-set polyester moorings for
deep water drilling rigs, and a subsea system that makes the
extraction very easy.

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