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, ceme
cement),
nt), transport and support services are provided by the
operator.

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
company a fixed sum of money for whole operation. The role
of the operator in the case of a turnkey contract is to
t o specify the drilling targets, the
evaluation procedures
procedures and to establish the quality
quality controls on the final well. In all
cases the drilling contractor is responsible for maintaining the rig and the associated
equipment.

The operator will generally have a representative on the rig (sometimes called the
“company man”) to ensure drilling operations go ahead
ahead as planned, make
make decisions
affecting progress
progress of the well,
well, and organise supplies
supplies of equipment.
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
responsible for all rig floor activities and liaises with the company
company man
to ensure progress is satisfactory
satisfactory.. The manual activities
activities associated with
with drilling
the well are conducted
conducted by the drilling crew
crew.. Since drilling continues
continues 24 hours a
day, there are usually 2 drilling crews. Each crew works under the direction of the
driller. The crew will generally consist of a derrickman (who also tends the
 pumps while drilling), 3 roughnecks (working on rig floor), plus a mechanic, an
electrician, a crane operator and roustabouts (general labourers).

Service company personnel are transported to the rig as and when required.
Sometimes they are on the rig for the entire well (e.g. mud engineer) or only for a
few days during particular operations (e.g. directional drilling engineer).

An overall view of the personnel involved in drilling is shown in Figure 2.

DRILLING OPERATING
CONTRACTOR COMPANY

RIG DESIGN AND DRILLING RESERVOIR PRODUCTION DRILLING

ACCOUNTING MAINTENANCE SUPERINTENDANT ACCOUNTING ENGINEERING ENGINEERING SUPERINTENDANT

DRILLING
OTHER GEOLOGY
ENGINEERING
RIGS

COMPANY MAN OTHER WELLS

TOOLPUSHER

DRILLER

SERVICE
COMPANIES
RIG CREW
MUD DIRECTIONAL
ENGINEERING DRILLING SURVEYING / MWD

F igure 2 Personnel involved in drilling a well

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