Why not Drill?

Advancements in drilling technology as well as reservoir modeling and data acquisition in the Petroleum industry has been progressing for several decades.  With technology provided today, these advancements continue to grow.  With capabilities of rotary steerable systems and downhole measuring equipment, accuracy of drillers to access hard to reach reservoirs has increased also.  Research for enhanced recovery which can consist of surfactant and chemical injection to increase oil recovery is a continuing process.  With a high dependency on foreign oil due to high consumption, why shouldn't funding be directed towards this research as well as unconventional research to begin to stray away from importing oil?  Renewable energy attempts have not posed signs of providing sufficient energy as oil or natural gas are capable of.  As technology continues to boom in the drilling industry, the wells to be drilled become more economical and leave room for greater production of reserves which could not be produced prior to tool advancements.  Could funding unconventional reservoir research, and in turn lowering dependency on foreign fuels introduce benefits that the funding of renewable energy research has been striving to achieve in the increasing demand for energy?

Drilling Made Easier

While I was looking around for information about my last post on the RipTide Reamer, I stumbled across another amazing advancement in technology by Weatherford.  The previous RipTide Reamer was mechanically activated as seen in the video on the last post.  A ball pressured with hydrostatic pressure sheared sets of pins and forced the cutter blocks out for reaming and a termination of circulation through the wellbore allowed them to contract back into the tool's body.  RFDI reamers can be opened and closed by radio frequencies carried in a small pill.  The pill is pumped downhole with the mud and when passed through the tool, signals activate the tool.  Different pills are sent down to open or close, but the tool can be activated and closed several times in a single run.  This saves a substantial amount of rig time and money.  The video found on this page shows the amazingly small radio frequency identification pills in action.

Amazing Control Thousands of Feet Under

For Drilling class my Junior year, I put together a presentation on Weatherford's new introduction of the RipTide Reamer.  The RipTide Reamer is designed to accomplish efficient reaming of wellbores to save money and increase borehole diameter.  It is placed above the logging tools in the BHA and can perform underreaming below casing to produce a larger diameter for proceeding casing and usable drilling bit sizes.  The Rip Tide is capable of providing the driller with a 25% larger borehole than the bit is designed to achieve.  It is compatible with Rotary-Steerable Systems and has many other attributes which enhance the borehole diameter efficiently.  This tool also serves assistance in controlling annular fluid velocities and optimizing cementing jobs.  This video is slightly long, but if you have an itch to see how they activate this tool downhole using hydraulics, take a look at the video.  

Stretching Steel!

Expandable liner casing has been around the drilling industry for several years now.  This advancement allows for a troublesome permeability zone to be isolated when drilling in order to prevent drilling fluid loss into the formation.  This short clip show hows expandable casing can be set and provide an inner diameter almost equivalent to an inner diameter of previous casing which has been cemented.  This can help preserve wellbore diameter and allow for larger downhole radius for optimum production.

Let the Money Flow

One of my favorite aspects of drilling is the perforating of the reservoir.  Perforating takes place after the well is done being drilled in order to puncture holes into the formation and create a larger pressure drop and area of flow for the hydrocarbons.  Previously, when the first perforation operations began, a large bullet was shot into the formation in order to pierce through the steel casing, the cement, and several inches into the formation.  As technology progressed, perforations were conducted using shaped charges much like those used to fire a bazooka.  These charges had so much force and created an immense amount of heat that no bullet was necessary to create a hole in the casing, cement and the formation.  These depths into the formation also increased to a couple of feet depending on the size of the charge.  Take a look at the short video below for a visual of these charges. 

Starting in 1990, Penetrators Canada Inc. began developing a technology for perforating without firing a charge or bullet into the formation.  One of the main problem with shooting objects into the formation is the damage of the permeability which can inhibit flow into the wellbore.  A new technology to drill these perforation rather than blast them is what Penetrators Canada Inc. has developed.  The tool is capable of drilling a 1 inch hole up to a depth of 72 inches.  That is significantly further than the charge and more specs of the tool can be found here.  I'm not sure if this tool is still in testing phases or is being used in drilling applications today.  The tool is capable of less perforations per tool run and takes significantly longer to drill the perforations.  Time is money as we all know, but here is a video of how it should work downhole.  

Blog Self-Interview

What is the purpose of this blog?

     This blog was created to provide general information about advancements in drilling techniques and technology.  Looking forward to entering the petroleum industry, I would also like to keep myself informed about these advancements and increase my knowledge about the industry.  Another purpose which this blog can serve as would be to arise interest in drilling for people who might not be quite sure about what exactly is the process of drilling or what it may incorporate. 

Who is the imagined audience(s) of this blog?

     The audience which I would expect to be reading my post most often would be someone is already has a relative amount of interest in the drilling industry or someone who is looking to enter the industry like myself.

Why Read??

In Investigating Science Communication in the Information Age, Davies talks about the use of informal dialogue and how communicating science needs to be presented with thought about impacting the public.  A major key to communicating scientific facts is not to be an expert in writings and incorporate a plethora of technical terms but rather to strive to engage the public in the issue or capture their interest.  As described by Mr. Alda in the in class video, a conversational atmosphere can result in better communication of scientific knowledge to the public.  Getting to know the public and engaging them in the topic can result in more effective publishings by scientist or engineers.  In the media aspect, my specific topic is not the most popular for some individuals.  The media played an immense role in framing the perspective of the public about drilling for oil and natural gas.  The BP oil spill was seen on every news channel in the country.  It had a huge impact on both the industry and the public's opinion.  As a result, the bad reputation needs to be healed possibly by means of educating individuals about the issue.  It was rather likely a result of taking short cuts along the lines of safety procedures which should have been fully undergone to prevent such a disaster.  Nonetheless, media has a strong impact on communicating science to the public and scientist and engineers need to become more efficient at doing the same by educating ourselves about the subject.  One of the main methods to further knowledge is as I described above, by engaging the public in the topic. 

The Big Rigs

I decided to post a little bit of information about drilling rigs for those readers who might not be as familiar with operations as others.  Drilling takes place both offshore and on land as most know.  The four main types of offshore rigs are known as Semi Submersible, Platform, Jack Up Rig, and Drill Ships.  These all have certain environments or depths of water at which they are ideal to perform.  The main difference in these rigs is the method which they stabilize themselves at the surface.  Semi Submersible have floaters if you will that fluctuate up and down with the change in water level and are attached to the sea floor will pillars but can be moved from location to location using tug boats.  Jack Up rigs are similar but rather than adjustable floats, they have adjustable jacks which are more of a fixed mechanism to lower or raise the platform to accommodate for changes in water level and are mobile as well with the help of tugboats.  Platforms are fixed and used more for generation of greater force to drill deeper wells.  Drill ships are just as the name represents.  A drill rig is located on a large barge or ship and is completely mobile.  Technology today has equipped these large ships with rotors or fans at different corners of the bottom of the ship which electronically center the ship directly above the well being drilled by means of GPS location.  On land rigs have evolved from a structure of 2x4's in the first days of drilling to an amazing hydraulic operate rig which is used today.  Drilling rig operations have become significantly safer with these well designed machines due to their hydraulic capabilities of making pipe connections and self set up on rig sites.  Below is a video of the moving process which the FlexRig by Helmerich and Payne Drilling Company undergoes without the required presence of large cranes as other rigs require.  Throw some questions out if you would like and I'll do my best to answer them about these incredible machines.