Oil & Gas Drilling
Overview of Oil & Gas Drilling
The Oil & Gas Drilling and Oilfield Services module consists of seven lessons:
- Introduction to Drilling and Oilfield Services – What does this module cover?
- Drilling Fundamentals – How do the key factors affecting drilling work together?
- Drilling the Well – How is oil and gas reached by contract drillers to get it ready for production?
- Business Drivers – What are the key measures and drivers that impact drilling operations?
- Business Processes – What are key business processes used by oil and gas management and the Oilfield Services industry to manage global operations?
- Industry Trends – What are the trends affecting the future of drilling?
- Industry References – Where can I go for further information?
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The Drilling and Oilfield Services Module provides an overview of well drilling operations and introduces the oilfield service providers and drilling contractors that assist E&P companies to efficiently extract oil and gas.
The first step in adding value by the exploration activity is to locate and get to the oil and gas reservoir fluids that are below the surface. The real test of all the preliminary analysis is to drill a well to ensure the prospective hydrocarbons exist.
Drilling rigs, technology, equipment and processes focus on getting this complex task done as efficiently and safely as possible. In the future, there will be new technical challenges and to extract hydrocarbons in deeper and ever more hostile and complex environments.
This module focuses on efficiently drilling the well. Completing the well to make it fully productive is covered in the Production and Offshore Construction module.
There are two important reasons to understand the technical aspects of drilling:
- Drilling technology limits the E&P operator’s ability to find and produce ever more scarce resources, and
- The Oilfield Services industry is large and complex. It produces and delivers the equipment to drill wells.
Understanding the technology helps to understand the various strategies, services and products of the global oilfield service companies.
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Historical Perspective
The discovery well of the current oil era in Pennsylvania in 1869 was drilled to a depth of 69 feet using a cable tool rig. Cable tool rigs originated in China and were the preferred drilling system until 1900. These operated by lifting and dropping a heavy string of tools into the borehole, with very slow progress – in some cases barely making 100 m (300 feet) of hole per month.
The rotary system, now the most common way to drive the drill string and cutting bit, was first used at Spindletop, Texas, in 1901, and struck the famous Lucas gusher that produced 100,000 BCD (barrels per calendar day).
Today, technologies are now available for the industry to drill an onshore well over 9,500 m (31,000 feet) deep. Offshore wells exist in over 3,050 M (10,000) feet of water and are over 6,100 m (20,000 feet) deep.
The majority of the technologies to accomplish these well depths have been developed by the Oilfield Services (OFS) industry. Over 90% of the wells around the world are drilled by oilfield service and drilling contractors – not E&P (Exploration and Production) companies.
These companies all have a long heritage, for example:
- Hughes Tool Company (now Baker Hughes) was established in 1909, when Howard Hughes, Sr. patented a roller cutter bit that dramatically improved the rotary drilling process.
- In 1919 – Erle P. Halliburton established the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company in Oklahoma
- Also in 1919 – Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger and their father invented a downhole well evaluation technique which became the basis for the Schlumberger Corporation.
- Another milestone was created in 1919 when brothers George and Herman Brown partnered with their brother-in-law, Dan Root, to start a construction business. Brown and Root constructed the world’s first offshore platform in 1947.
Learn more about the History of Oil
Oilfield services companies provide technologies equipment and expertise to the well owner (operator) to achieve a producing well. These services may include: drilling, cementing, perforating, logging, workovers, etc.
The many types of companies that provide quality and expertise to the industry will be discussed in this module.
Read about the difference between Upstream and Downstream.
Related Resources:
What is the difference between Upstream and Downstream?
Drilling Wells for Oil and Gas and Offshore Drilling
I would like to thank you for a brilliant interactive 101 materials. I did use to prepare for the recruitment process is Royal Dutch Shell, and I managed to take a new role in a new oil and gas industry.:)