Oilfield Operations

& Mud Logging

By: Mohamed Ashraf Samir

Drilling Bits Application Engineer,
Varel Energy Solutions
EURA & CIS

Day 1

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 Content
1) Drilling Rig types.

2) Rig Components based on function:

- Hoisting System.
- Rotary System.
- Circulating System.

3) Rig Anatomy (Rig Components based on place)

- Rig Floor/ drilling floor Area
- Substructure Area
- Shale Shaker Area
- Mud System Area
- Mud Pumps Area
- Rig Engines Area/ Power system Area

4) Mud Circulation
- Importance of drilling fluids.

5) Overview of drilling well phases.

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 1) Rig Types:

The type of rig that is used depends on the environment, land or offshore, water
depth and whether the installation is temporary or a fixed production platform

Rigs are generally divided into two categories:

• Onshore
• Offshore
Onshore (land) rigs are similar, but offshore rigs are of four basic types

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 2) Rig Components based on function:

These components work together to accomplish the three main functions of all
rotary rigs:

• Hoisting System
• Rotating System
• Circulating System

Hoisting System:
These equipments are used to raise or lower the drill string.

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Rotating System:

- These equipments are used to rotate the drill string.

- Kelly bushing and master bushing are used to transmit rotation from rotary table
to drill string.

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Top Drive rotating system:

Our main interests in this picture are (Link

&Elevator)

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 - Links are arms holding the elevator and used during trips.

- Elevator (clamps that grip a stand0: elevator is used to hold string during
trip. (The elevators are used for latching on to the tool joint of the drill pipe
or drill collars. This enables the lifting and lowering of the drill string while
making a trip)

Circulating System:
Mud Pumps are used to circulate drilling fluid from the mud pits through the drill
string and out the bit.

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 3) Rig Anatomy (Rig Components based on place):

- Rig Floor/ drilling floor

- Substructure Area
- Shale Shaker Area
- Mud System Area
- Mud Pumps Area
- Rig Engines Area/ Power system Area

Side View

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 Front View

Rig Floor/ drilling floor:

- This relatively small work area in which the rig crew conducts operations,
(usually adding or removing drill pipe to or from the drill string), hence the rig
floor is the most dangerous location on the rig because heavy iron is moved around
there. Drill string connections are made or broken on the drill floor, and the
driller's console for controlling the major components of the rig is located here as
well. Attached to the rig floor is a small metal room, the doghouse, where the rig
crew can meet, take breaks and take refuge from the elements during idle times.
Superior keeps safety and quality in mind when designing and fabricating your rig
floor.

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Consists of:

- Hoisting System (please refer to Hoisting system Section).

- Other rig floor Accessories:

- Tongs: Large wrench-like devices that are used to tighten up and break out
tool joints or connections. The tongs are connected to the break out and
make up catheads. Hydraulic tongs are generally used to make up casing and
tubing, deriving power from a hydraulic unit.

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- spinning Wrench

- Slips: Latch around the drill pipe and seat in the rotary bushing in the rotary
table (suspend it in the rotary table). The slips support and transmit the
weight of the drill string to the rotary table while making a connection or
tripping pipe.

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Substructure Area:
- The substructure provides the support for the derrick and derrick loading. It
also provides the necessary clearance beneath the rig floor for the preventer
stack (BOP).

blowout preventer (BOP):

- A large valve at the top of a well that may be closed if the drilling crew loses
control of formation fluids. By closing this valve (usually operated remotely
via hydraulic actuators), the drilling crew usually regains control of the
reservoir, and procedures can then be initiated to increase the mud density
until it is possible to open the BOP and retain pressure control of the
formation.

(1 Ram)

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Types of Rams:

- A) The pipe rams: have two rams on opposite sides that close by moving
towards one another. The rams themselves have semicircular openings
match the diameter of pipe being used. Each different size pipe requires
correctly sized rams.
If a tapered string is being used to drill a well, such as a 5” drill pipe and a 3-
1/2” drill pipe, then two ram-type preventers must generally be used.

- B) The blind rams: do have the semicircular opening of the pipe rams.
Instead, the front surface of the blind rams is flat, and they can only be used
to seal the annulus when there is no pipe in the hole. This type preventer
cannot allow the pipe to be worked through it.

- C) The shear blind rams: are designed to cut through the drill pipe and seal
the hole. This type of preventer should only be used as a last resort.

Shale Shaker Area:

Consists of:

- The shale shaker: is a contaminant removing device. It is used to remove the

coarser drill cuttings from the mud. This is generally the first solids-
removing device and is located at the end of the flow line. The shale shaker
is composed of one or more vibrating screens (vibrating sieve) though which
mud returns pass.

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 Screen (on Shale Shaker)

- desander and desilter: Using a hydrocyclone, an item of solids control

equipment consisting of an inverted cone, the mud being fed tangentially
into the upper (larger diameter) part. The resulting spinning effect forces
solids to the wall of the device and they exit from the bottom (apex) of the
cone, while the cleaned liquid exits at the top. Hydrocyclones are classified
by the size of the cone as either desanders (typically 12 inches in diameter)
or desilters (4 to 6 inches in diameter) and will separate particles in the
medium, fine and ultra fine-size ranges. The efficiency of hydrocyclones is
poor in viscous weighted muds and many units are being replaced by more
efficient, high speed shakers.

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Mud System Area:

- Trip tank: A small pit, typically of 50 to 70 bbls capacity, used to monitor

gain or losses during a trip.

- Settling pit: A drilling mud tank that is not stirred or circulated. By

having mud slowly pass through such a container, most large drilling solids
sink to the bottom, cleaning the mud somewhat. If the settling pit is small, as
in the case of steel mud tanks, it must be cleaned out frequently as cuttings
pile up on the bottom of the tank.

- Sand Trap pit: A small pit, typically located immediately after

the shaker screens, which is used as a settling pit to separate coarser solids
that accidentally bypass the shakers. Mud enters the pit at one side and exits
via an overflow at the other. Sand traps are dumped periodically to remove
the settled solids, or alternatively the contents can be processed over
a fine screen or with a centrifuge.

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 - Suction Pit: A mud tank, usually made of steel, connected to the intake of
the main rig pumping system. The connection is commonly formed with
a centrifugal pump charging the main rig pumps to increase efficiency. Since
it is the last tank in the surface mud system, the suction pit should contain
the cleanest and best conditioned mud on location.

- Mixing pit: A pit used in the preparation of treatment fluids or slurries that
provides the agitation to achieve a well dispersed mixture. Paddle mixers are
generally equipped with rotating paddles that provide turbulence for mixing
fluids and an action that prevents the settling of solids prior to being pumped

- Reserve Pit: Any pit not part of the active (circulatory) system. The reserve
pit may be used to store spare or waste mud, base oil or brine. In operations
on land, the reserve pit is usually a plastic-lined, earthen pit, in which waste
mud is stored until final disposal.

Mud Pumps Area:

(Please refer to Circulating system Section).

Rig Engines Area/ Power system Area:

- Power System: Practically every rig uses internal combustion engines as its
prime power source, or its prime mover. Most rig engines today are diesel.
Diesel electric power is the dominant method used to drive most of the
today’s rigs. Diesel engines, which on land rigs are usually located on
ground level some distance away from the rig floor, drive large electric
generators. The generators, in turn, produce electricity that is sent through
cables to electric switch and control gear.

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Other Terminologies:
- Derrick/ Mast: Vertical structure that allows vertical clearance and strength
to raise and lower the drill string. This structure with stands two types of
loading: compressive loading and wind loading.

- Monkey Board: the small platform that the derrick-man stands on when
tripping pipe.

- Degasser: This vessel is used for gas contamination removal.

- Racking Fingers: Fingers or members where the stands are racked and
secured while tripping pipe.

Empty Racking Fingers

-
-

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 Picture Showing Racked
pipes on Raking Fingers

- Choke Manifold: This is a system of valves and lines which are attached to
the choke line, and in some cases, kill line. The manifold is used to help
control a well that has kicked by closing Bop and diverting the flow from
annulus to pass through coke line to the choke manifold.

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- Degasser: This vessel is used to remove undesired gas from drilling fluid
and stop being recycled.

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4) Mud Circulation:

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While drilling mud is continuously being pumped
1) Down through the String to the bottom of the hole.
2) Out through the bit.
3) Up through the annulus (around the drill pipe) to the surface.
4) Out the flow line over the shale shaker.
5) Then to the mud pits.
6) From mud pits through the mud pump up to the stand pipe.
7) Then through the (Kelly hose & Swivel/Top drive hose) down back into the drill
string.

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- Importance of drilling fluids:

1) Clean the bottom of the hole.

2) Cool the bit and lubricate the drill stem.
3) Transport the cuttings to the surface.
4) Support the walls of the hole;
5) Prevent entry of formation fluids into the well.
6) Prevent fluid losses by forming good filter cake.
7) Transport the bottom hole conditions to the surface.
8) Transport the (MPT) Mud Pulses Telemetry to the surface.

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 5) Overview of drilling well phases

Casing
Point
1 2
Casing
Shoe

3 4

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