Drilling Engineering

1- Introduction and History of Drilling

Who drills wells? How do they do it? What tools do they use? Why drilling is
considered such a complicated and often dangerous process? We will learn all
about this.
But let us start with some history.
According to archeologists, about 25 thousand years ago, ancient people already
learned to drill holes in stone parts of their weapons and tools to attach handles
to them. For this purpose, they used flint drills.
Ancient Egyptians used drilling when they build pyramids 6 thousand years ago.
The Chinese started drilling water wells at least 600 years before the common era;
that is proved by written sources. They used percussion drilling – a technology
when you hit the ground repeatedly with a heavy cutting tool. Some ancient
Chinese wells were as deep as 900 meters. Apart from water, wells were used to
obtain salt. However, we know that about 250 hundred years before the common
era, there were gas wells in Szechuan. Again, this gas was used to evaporate salt.
First documented Russian wells were also used for salt production. They were
drilled in the 9th century around the town of Staraya Russa. Lots of wells dated
15th to 17th century are found around the town of Solikamsk. ‘Soli’ is the Russian
for ‘salt’. These wells were as deep as 100 meters, and their initial diameter was
about 1 meter.
The walls of such wells were very unstable. To brace them, people used either
hollow tree trunks, or willow bark made pipes. Since 19th century, they started
using metal pipes. As drilling tools were crushing rock and deepening wells, they
were followed by such pipes which were later called casing. With time, pipe
manufacturing technology became more sophisticated – riveted pipes made of
metal sheets were replaced by seamless, solid drawn pipes with threading.
In the USA, the first well was drilled in 1806, next to the town of Charlston, West
Virginia. Again, it was used to produce brine – strongly saturated salt solution.
Twenty years later, in 1826, when people were drilling for brine around Burnsville,
Kentucky, they accidentally found oil.
The first documented cases when drilling was used to search for oil are dated
1830s. In the Russian region of Taman, before digging oil wells, which were
rectangular at the time, oilmen conducted preliminary exploration in the
following way: they bored a small hole, adding water for easier operation; then
pulled the bore out and checked for oil signs. If oil was present, they started
digging (not drilling) a rectangular oil well.
In December 1844, local authorities of Trans-Caucasian region, which was Russian
major oil province, suggested to the government using drilling technology to
deepen existing wells, and explore for oil in other areas. In 1846, the Ministry of
Finance allotted the required funds, and major drilling operation started. The
results came soon: according to a report, a well drilled in Bibi Heybat, found oil. It
was the first oil well in the world.
Not long before that, in 1846, the French engineer Fauvelle came up with a
method of continuous wellbore cleaning. The idea was to pump water into the
wellbore; the water would flush it and bring rock debris up to the surface. Soon,
this method became popular as it allowed non-stop drilling. It should be noted,
however, that Fauvelle first used his method to drill for Artesian water, not for oil.
The first oil well in the USA was drilled by Edwin Drake in 1859, near the town of
Titusville, Pennsylvania. Drake worked for Seneca Oil Company, and after two
months of continuous work, his crew drilled a 22-meter well which hit oil.
Many countries associate the birth of national petroleum industry with the first
commercial oil well drilled. Thus, in Romania it happened in 1857, in Canada – in
1858, in Venezuela – in 1863. In Russia, it is generally thought that petroleum
industry was born in 1864, when Ardalion Novoseltsev started drilling the first oil
well in Kuban. Its depth was 55 meters.
At the turn of the 20th century, gasoline and diesel engines were invented, and
this boosted the development of petroleum industry.
In 1901, the USA were the first to introduce rotary drilling with circulation system
to petroleum industry. In Russia, rotary drilling was first used in 1902, to drill a
345-meter deep well close to the city of Grozniy. One of the greatest challenges in
rotary drilling was sealing the annular space between the well walls and the
casing. In 1906, it was solved by Russian engineer Bogushevskiy who suggested
pumping cement slurry into the casing pipe and squeezing it into the annulus
through the bottom part of the casing. This cementing technique soon became a
common practice both in Russia and abroad.
In 1923, Matvey Kapelyushnikov invented the downhole mud motor which
created new possibilities for drilling oil and gas wells. And the one-step mud
motor he invented, named Kapelyushnikov mud motor, drilled its first well in
1924 in Azerbaijan. Mud motors played a special role in the development of
deviated drilling technology. The first deviated (that is, non-vertical) well was
drilled in 1941 in Azerbaijan. Development of mud motor drilling made it possible
to produce oil from under the sea or cross country areas such as Western
Siberiam swamps. It is done in the following way: first we construct a relatively
small pad which is much cheaper than building a separate pad for each vertical
well, and from this pad we drill several deviated wells. This is called a well cluster.
In 1937-1940, a team of Russian engineers developed a new type of downlole
motor which was powered by electricity.

2- Concepts and Terms of Drilling

Drilling is a cutting process that creates a long hole of circular cross-section in
solid rocks.
A well is a directed deep cylindrical borehole of a small diameter that connects
formation to the surface.
The lowest underground part of the well is called bottomhole obviously, this is
the bottom of the whole which moves down as we keep on destroying the rock.
The side faces are called borehole walls, and the space within the borehole walls
is called the well bore. Wellbore walls may be damaged due to cave-ins or
washouts which create caverns. Sometimes, the very tools used while drilling can
also damage wellbore walls, creating the so-called keyseats. The upper part of the
borehole that reaches the surface is called wellhead.
It’s important to understand the equipment installed on wellbore while drilling:
• Surface wellhead is attached to well casing; it is used for pressure control and
provide access to the well, if needed for various operations.
• Blowout preventer
• Ditch system and special equipment for such operations as cementing,
perforating, etc.
Before the well is put on production, the so-called Christmas tree is installed on
the wellhead. It is necessary to control and direct fluids and gas produced from
the well. Well diameter typically decreases step by step from the wellhead down
to the bottomhole. At the wellhead, well diameter typically does not exceed 900
millimeters, and at the bottomhole it is 165 millimeters or more. Oil and gas wells
are usually several kilometers deep.
Classification of wells may be based on wellbore trajectory. So, there exist:
• Vertical wells
• Slant wells
• Deviated wells
• Horizontal wells
Oil and gas wells are drilled both on land and offshore using drilling rigs. Out in
the sea, drilling rigs are installed on special platforms or vessels.
The following well types are drilled on oil and gas fields:
• Stratigraphic wells are drilled in undrilled areas in order to study rock lithology
and age
• Appraisal wells are drilled to obtain more geological information and to
establish the extent and size of a petroleum deposit
• Wildcat wells are drilled to find new commercial petroleum deposits
• Exploration wells are drilled in order to gather information required to describe
an established deposit, estimate petroleum reserves and design field
development projec
• Production wells are drilled according to the development plan and are used to
produce oil and gas from the subsoil
• Injection wells are used to inject water (or sometimes gas) into the productive
formations in order to maintain reservoir pressure, extend natural flow
production period, increase production rate
• Observation wells are drilled to monitor the development process
Today, oil and gas wells are valuable assets that will serve for decades. This is
achieved by connecting the reservoir to the surface with a leak-proof, strong and
durable channel. A newly drilled borehole cannot be such a channel, as its walls
are not stable, and it penetrates formations saturated with various fluids at
various pressures. These fluids are water, oil, and gas, often mixed together. That
is why it is necessary to case the well and isolate fluid-bearing formations.
In certain cases, it is impossible to drill the well deeper before casing the drilled
interval.
Wells are cased with special steel pipes called casing pipes. A series of connected
casing pipes is called the casing string. We already know that permeable
formations saturated with various fluids are separated by impermeable rock
layers called seals. While we drill the well, we break these seals, so the fluids may
flow from one formation to another, or even to the surface. This is bad – we don’t
need water in our oil or corrosion on our pipes, and we don’t want to pollute
formation water and the environment with petroleum. To prevent this, we need
to fill the annular space between the borehole walls and the casing string with
some bonding and isolating material.
Such bonding materials are rather complex chemical compositions. Typically,
these are water-based solutions pumped down into the well. The most popular
bonding material is Portland cement, so we call this process cementing. Thus, as
we drill, case and cement the well, we create a stable subsurface construction of
a certain design.
By well design, we mean the whole pool of information about casing strings
quantity and size, wellbore diameter for each string, cemented intervals and
intervals where the well should be connected with the productive formations.
There are several types of casing strings: conductor, surface casing, intermediate
casing, and production casing.
Conductor is lowered into the borehole in order to prevent cave-ins and wash-
outs of wellbore walls around the wellhead, and to connect our well to the drilling
mud processing system. It is set down to the depths varying from severalmeters
in stable rocks to tens of meters in wetlands and muddy soils. The annular space
behind the conductor walls is cemented. Surface casing typically isolates the
upper part of geological section build of unstable rocks, formations that can suck
in drilling mud or burst out formation fluids; that is, all the intervals that can
complicate further drilling or pollute the environment. Surface casing also must
isolate all the formations saturated with fresh water.
Surface casing is also used to install blowout preventors on the wellhead and rig
the follow-on casing strings. Surface casing is run down to the depth of several
hundred meters. For better formation isolation and mechanical strength, the
whole surface casing interval is cemented.
It is followed by the production casing which is installed in order to produce
petroleum or to inject water or gas into the formation. We don’t have to cement
the whole production casing interval, but if we drill an oil well, we need our
cement to be at least 150 to 300 meters above the top of productive formation
and the upper section of the casing itself. If we drill a gas well, this height should
be at least 500 meters.
Intermediate casing strings, or, as they are also called, service casing strings, are
required when we cannot drill our well down to the target depth without isolating
some problem zones. Drillers decide on whether they need this type of casing as
they analyze pressures in the well and formations drilled. Intermediate casing
string may run all the way from the wellhead to the bottomhole, although in
many cases this is not required. A service string which does not reach the
wellhead is called liner.
If both conductor and surface casing are run in the well, but intermediate casing is
not installed, we call this a single string design. A design with one intermediate
casing is called double string design. If more than one intermediate string is
present, we call it multistring well design.

3- Drilling Technology
Drilling involves several procedures:
1. First, the drill string with the drill bit is lowered into the hole
2. The drill bit cuts the rock
3. Rock cuttings are removed from the hole.
As the drilling bit is worn out, the drill string is pulled out of the hole, and the drill
bit is replaced. Borehole walls are secured by casing pipes, and the space between
casing and borehole walls is filled with cement to isolate producing formations.
Then, we perforate the well and initiate production. Drilling process is managed
by a drill crew. Drilling is a non-stop process, so crews need to work in shifts.
Although modern machinery helps with many operations, drilling is still a hard
and heavy work. It requires good teamwork, clear understanding of what is going
down below, fast response to any changes in the process. To produce oil, we need
to drill deep down to the oil-bearing formation. Special tools called drilling bits
are used to cut through rock. Rocks of various toughness may be drilled using
various techniques, but the most efficient one is rotary drilling. The drill bit
rotates and cuts through the rock layer by layer. There exist several types of drill
bits:
Roller-cone bits are equipped with rotating cones, each of which has teeth that
crush the rock. Such bits are the most common in the industry.
Blade bits cut rock layer by layer.
Diamond bits have multiple diamond particles bonded into a copper base; they
destroy the rock by grinding.
Core drilling head is a hollow cylindrical bit that can drill a hole while the inner
cylinder of rock remains intact and can be taken up to the surface. This is exactly
how cores are retrieved.
The drill bit is driven by a rotary drive or a downhole drilling motor. A rotary drive
transmits rotational force to the drill string from the rotary motor installed on the
drilling rig. A rotor is basically a gear-box. It may have an individual drive of its
own or be driven by a drawworks system. It holds aweigh casing pipes and drill
pipes as they are connected and disconnected when running tools in and out of
the wellbore. Let's follow the path: power from the engines is transmitted via the
drawworks to the rotary table, a special rotating device installed in the middle of
the drilling rig right above the wellhead. Rotary table rotates the drill string and
drill bit attached to it. The drill string consists of the kelly and drill pipes attached
to it via a special sub The diameter of the orifice in the rotary table defines the
maximum diameter of a drill bit that can be used on this rig.
Please note that in rotary drilling, the whole drill string is rotating, while in
bottomhole motor drilling, the drill string is static.
Downhole motors are lowered down on pipes, along with the drill bit, and rotate
the drill bit itself. In this type of drilling, the bit is attached to the shaft, and the
drill string is attached to the motor case.
As the motor works, it turns the shaft and the bit, while the drill string, although
receives some reaction moment from the motor, is kept steady by the rotary
table. A special device is used on the rotary table to prevent it from rotating. Mud
pump powered by its engine pumps the drilling mud through the manifold (a high
pressure pipeline ) to the standpipe, then to the drill hose, swivel and into the drill
string. Having reached the bit, drilling mud flows through special nozzles in it and
goes up the annular space between the wellbore walls and the drill string. There,
it gets cleaned by the system of vessels and cleaning mechanisms, flows into the
mud pits, and back into the well.
Downhole drilling motors may be of several types. A mud motor may use drilling
fluid, or drilling mud, to rotate a turbine which rotates the drill bit. Such a motor
may consist of several sections. Another type of mud motor uses the socalled
Archimedean screw instead of turbine. Such motors have high torque, relatively
low rotation speed and compact size.

4-Drilling Equipment
Oil and gas can be typically found at depths of several kilometers, so drilling
equipment is rather massive. Before we can start drilling, we need to build strong
well pads, connect them with roads and power lines, bring in the equipment, and
assemble the drilling rig which weighs around two hundred tons. Then we drill the
well and put in operation (this process is called well completion).
We already know that we create our well by drilling. As we drill through the rock,
bottom hole moves deeper down. The drill bit is lowered into the hole on special
pipes called drill pipes. Drill pipes are screwed to one another, making a drill
string. To put more weight on bit, we use the so-called drill collars – very heavy
pipes with very thick walls. A wall of such a pipe is about half a centimeter thick,
and each pipe weighs two and a half to three tons. Drill collars are also used to
strengthen the drill string. Special devices named centralizers or stabilizers keep
the drill string in the middle of the hole, and reamers are used to maintain a
cylindrical wellbore. All these tools put together and lowered into the bore on
drill pipes, are called bottom-hole assembly, or BHA. As we drill, the drill bit gets
worn out, and needs to be replaced by a new one. So, the drill string is pulled out
of the wellbore, and as it moves up, drill pipes are unscrewed. To save time,
drillers usually unscrew not every single pipe, but two or three pipes as a whole
unit. Such a unit is called drill pipe stand. These pull-up/pull-down operations,
which drillers call trips, as well as the drilling process itself, are performed with a
special machine called drilling rig. A drilling rig is a whole complex of installations,
devices and machinery needed for various drilling related operations. Size and
weight of a drilling rig depend mostly on the desired drilling depth, drive type and
the environment. A drilling rig is a complicated outfit. Modern drilling rigs are of
three types:
for exploration drilling.
for deep exploration and production drilling.
for offshore drilling.
Commercially available rigs for deep exploration and production drilling can drill
wells from 2 to 10 kilometers deep.
The most iconic part of a drilling rig is the derrick. Its height depends of the length
of a drill pipe stand; typically, it is about 50 meters. It may look like a tower or like
a mast of a ship. Drilling rig is equipped with a powerful motor that drives the
draw-works. The draw-works is used to hoist the drill string via a tackle system
consisting of wirelines, crown block and hoisting block. One important
specification of a drilling rig is its load capacity measured in metric tons. The
higher the load capacity – the longer drill string it can hoist – the deeper well it
can drill. Load capacity is one of the features used for drilling rig classification.
There exist 50-ton rigs, 75, 80, 100, 125-ton rigs, etc. We can increase wellbore
depth without putting more load on derrick if we use lightweight drill pipes,
typically made from aluminum.
Drilling rigs are used both on land and offshore, where they are installed on
special platforms, barges and vessels. To perform trips, as oilmen call pull-up/pull-
down operations, special equipment is installed on the drilling rig:
1. Iron roughneck
2. Hydraulic roughneck
3. Handling winch
4. Pneumatic breakout
5. Casing spiders
6. Drill pipe elevators

5- Circulation System
We already know that drilling is a process of cutting through rock. Here, we face
one tough problem –the rock that we destroy while cutting through it needs to be
removed from the wellbore. These waste rock fragments are called drillcuttings.
To remove drill cuttings from the wellbore, special fluid is used, which we call
drilling fluid or drilling mud. Drilling mud is pumped inside the drill string, comes
out of the drill bit through a special hole and comes up to the surface, carrying
drill cuttings with it. Drilling mud is specifically designed in such a way that it is
thick enough to carry various size fragments, both big and small. On the surface,
special equipment is used to remove the cuttings out of the drilling mud and
pump it back into the wellbore. Different equipment is used to remove cuttings of
different size. Screen shakers removes the largest ones, cyclones use centrifugal
effort to remove sand, desilters remove smallest clay particles. Drilling fluid
circulates from the wellbore up to the surface and then down again. That’s why
we call it a circulation system.
From the mud pits clean and conditioned drilling mud gets through the booster
pumps which boost it to the mud pumps. The latter pump the drilling mud at a
very high pressure through the standpipe, drill hose, swivel, and kelly to the
wellhead. Then, drilling mud flows through the drill string –drill pipes, collar pipes
and mud motor to the drill bit. It’s a long path, and some pumping pressure is lost
along the way.
Because of the pressure difference between the inside of the drill string and the
bottom hole, drilling mud flows out of the drill bit nozzles at very high speed,
cleaning the bottom hole and the bit of the drilling cuttings. The remaining drilling
mud energy is used to lift the cuttings up the annular space.
After reaching the wellhead, drilling mud flows through the mud flume to the
cleaning unit, where drilling cuttings are removed and dumped into the cutting pit,
while the mud itself gets back into mud pits where special devices restore its
properties, and then the mud flows into booster pumps again. The manifold is
fitted with valves and control equipment. In cold climate, there is also pipeline
heating system in place.
The ability of the drilling mud to carry cuttings up to the surface and then dispose
of them is called mud rheologic properties. The major properties are mud density,
viscosity, water-loss (ability not to invade the reservoir), static and dynamic sheer
stress. Static and dynamic shear stress make it possible for the drilling mud to
flow freely while in motion, and to form a viscous structure that can hold cuttings
while at rest.
The functions of drilling mud are many. They include cooling and lubrication of
the drilling bit, keeping wellbore walls from caving in, keeping oil and gas in place
by exerting pressure against the reservoir.

6- Drilling Complications
As we drill a well, we can encounter various problems such as wall caving, loss of
drilling mud into a formation, drilling pipe sticking, wellbore deviation, and other
accidents, including oil, gas and water kicks. So let us discuss them one by one.
Rock cavings happen because of instability of the rock itself.
Loss of drilling mud into a formation typically happens when we drill through
formations with high porosity and permeability, when reservoir pressure is less
that hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud column in the wellbore. The intensity
of this may vary from rather weak to catastrophic when the whole volume of
drilling mud is lost, and none of it reaches the surface.
Stuck pipe happens for the following reasons:
• As drilling fluid contacts the borehole walls, the so-called mud cake is formed.
Mud cake is kind of a clay crust that builds up on borehole walls, it may be very
thick and sticky, so it just catches drilling tools if they are not rotating
• The wellbore can get rather narrow, or severely deviated; rocks can cave in,
drilling mud circulation can stop, and cutting will fall down – all of this can lock
the drilling tools in place
If drill pipe is stuck, it will take a lot of time and effort to release it, so it’s best to
take all measures necessary to avoid such a situation in the first place.
However, if we got unlucky, we’ll need special fishing tools to release our drill
pipe.
But once again, it’s best to avoid stuck pipe by all means necessary. We need to
observe equipment operation protocols, examining it, maintaining and replacing,
if necessary.
When we drill vertical wells using rotary drilling system, spontaneous wellbore
deviation can occur. In other words, the wellbore is not vertical anymore, and we
did not want it, as this can cause a lot of problems, such as wellbore pattern
violation, increased wear of drill string, poor cementing quality, inapplicability of
beam pumps, etc.
Wellbore deviation can be caused by various reasons, such as steeply inclined
rock formations, frequent change of rock hardness, fractures and caverns in rocks,
misplacement or inclination of rotary table, crooked drill pipes, too much weight
on drill bit, inadequate selection of drill bit or drilling fluid.
In complex geology, special bottomhole assembly including centralizers and
reamers is used.
The last, but, unfortunately, the most common drilling problem is oil, gas and
water kicks, which can happen any time while drilling a well.
A kick is especially dangerous, as it can easily turn into a blowout – one of the
most dangerous accidents. Gas, oil, rock fragments will erupt to the surface with
terrible roar, and a single spark will create a fire. Wellhead pressure may reach
200 atmospheres and above, so the fountain of gas and oil bursting out of the
well may be as high as a hundred meters. It’s a catastrophe that hurts the
environment, destroys equipment, causes financial damage, and worst of all, can
take away human lives.
Oil, gas and water kicks happen when the well is drilled through overpressured
formations, where internal pressure is higher than that of the drilling mud. Under
pressure, the fluid comes out of the formation and creates a steady or
intermittent fountain. How can we avoid kicks?
First, we need to design our drilling mud right and make it thick enough.
Then, we need to maintain mud circulation, pumping extra mud when drill string
is pulled out of the wellbore, or when some drilling mud is lost into another
formation.
A combination of various factors and technology influencing the drilling process is
called drilling mode. Drilling mode includes the following parameters:
• Weight on bit
• Bit speed
• Drilling mud volume and properties
• Bit rotating hours
• Types of tools and equipment used
All these parameters are linked; change in one will cause change in another one,
which may result in problems, accidents or poor well quality.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you that fountains of oil and gas, although
they may look spectacular, are horrible accidents, causing multi-million fines,
damaging the environment and putting human lives in danger.

7- Well Cementing. Well Completion.

As we drill a well, we need to reinforce its wells so that they would not cave in.
For this purpose, we use casing pipes, and the annular space between the pipes
and well walls is filled with cement.
Let me remind you about various types of casing pipes: the topmost one is the
conductor which run is from the surface to the 60 meters depth. It is followed by
surface casing which is later attached to well control equipment that prevents
blowouts. Depending on the geology (for example, we may have to isolate
abnormal pressure zones), service casing strings may be used. Production casing
is run the last; it is used to lift produced fluid up to the surface. Cementing
process is one of the most technologically challenging procedures in drilling. We
need to prepare tons of cement slurry (for example, a 2,5 kilometer well requires
80 tons of cement) and pump everything into place before the cement starts
setting – that is, in an hour and a half, two hours tops. How do we do it? Powerful
cementing pumps, which can produce pressure of up to 320 atmospheres, are
installed on the well pad, along with mixing units. Special cementing head is
installed on the wellhead. First, we pump in the slurry, and then – drilling fluid
which forces the slurry to go further down the well and up into the annulus. The
slurry and the drilling fluid are separated with a rubber plug. The plug goes down
through the whole production string length and at its very bottom is stopped with
a special lock ring. This moment when the annular space is filled with cement
slurry, and the casing itself is filled with drilling fluid, is called ‘the STOP signal’. It’s
time to shut in the well and wait for the cement to set.
You already know that after the well is drilled, special casing pipes are lowered
into it and fixed with cement. The well may have crossed various porous
reservoirs interbedded with impermeable formations. These reservoirs may
contain oil, gas, water, or nothing. That is why special attention should be paid to
well bottomhole construction.
The following designs are typically used in drilling engineering:
1 — casing; 2 — screen; 3 — cement; 4 — packer; 5 — perforations;
6 — producing reservoir; 7 — liner
We can install a water shutoff string can at the top of producing reservoir and
cement it; afterwards we drill through the reservoir and install a special screen or
liner. In some cases, when the producing reservoir is built of stable rock, no
screen or liner is installed, and the water shutoff string serves as the production
string as well.
We can also drill through the whole producing reservoir, install a combination
string with collar cementing above the pay section and screen in the lower part,
against the reservoir.
Another option is to drill through the whole producing reservoir, install and
cement casing all along its length, and then perforate pay intervals.
In all cases, the idea is to prevent pores from plugging and create favorable
conditions for oil and gas inflow into the wellbore.
But if we run a casing string and cement it all through the well, from the top to
the bottom, how can reservoir fluid enter the wellbore?
We need to create special channels for the fluid. They are called perforations and
created using special guns called perforators. Perforators can be charged with
bullets or shaped charges.
They work like this: the loaded perforating gun is lowered into the well on a cable.
When electric current is applied to the charges, the gunpowder explodes and
forces the bullet through the casing wall and the cement, creating a channel.
Length and diameters of this channel, as well as other perforation properties, can
be calculated using special equations.
In one trip, a perforating gun shoots 6 to 12 perforations using 11-millimeter
bullets. Instead of bullets, shaped charges may be used, which create a focused
jet piercing steel, cement and rock.
To create better quality channels, the so-called abrasive perforation can be used.
Abrasive perforator is lowered into the wellbore on a tubing string. A mixture of
liquid and sand is pumped through the perforator with a force so great that it cuts
through the casing, cement and rock. This perforation methods has multiple
advantages: it creates very neat channels with high precision, we can control
diameter and length of perforation channels, we can even make horizontal or
vertical cuts. On the downside, this method is very expensive and requires lots of
bulky surface equipment.
How exactly we penetrate the producing reservoir, depends on reservoir pressure,
saturation, degree of drainage and many other issues; however, the following
rules should always be observed:
• When we penetrate an overpressured formation, we need to be very careful to
avoid a blowout.
• We need to minimize damage to the near-wellbore area. If the rocks are of poor
permeability, we also need to stimulate the near-wellbore area for better inflow.
• We need to make sure that the producing reservoirs will be operated for a long
period with minimum watercut and maximum oil or gas production.
After we drill, case, cement and perforate the well, we lower production tubing
into the wellbore and initiate fluid inflow. This whole process is called well
completion, as we kind of complete the construction stage and bring the well
online. To initiate fluid inflow, we can drop the bottomhole pressure below the
reservoir pressure, forcing the fluid out of the formation. To do so, we can either
decrease the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid column inside the wellbore, or use
a pump.
After the well has started flowing, production people take care of it further on,
and the drilling rig is moved to a new location.
This was a very brief and general description of well construction process. Now
you know that drilling is a hard, demanding and even dangerous job, but without
drilling, it would be impossible to produce oil or gas.