TYPE OF WELLS

 Wildcat
Type of well drilled when there is no geological information about the area. Sometimes also
called exploratory well, when there is no drilling data at that time. When the well discover a
new field, it is called discovery well.
 Appraisal wells
Appraisal wells are drilled to determine the size of the field.
 Development Wells
Wells drilled in the known extent of the field
 Infill wells
Wells drilled between producing wells in a field to increase production.
 Step out wells
Also known as delineation wells, drilled after exploratory wells. It is drilled nearly outside of
the field.
 Reentry
Existing wells reentered to deepen, sidetrack, or recomplete.

DRILLING MEHCANICS

First successfull drilling of a well was at Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859 by Colonel Edwin Drake. That
time, kind of rig that was used is cable tool rig. It uses walking beam to pivot up and down on the
sampson post and the bit is called chisel bit. The bit pounds th well down by pulverizing the rock.
After drilling 3-8 ft, the bottom of the well becomes clogged with rock chips. Tthe bit is then raised
and a bailer is used to removed rock chips and water. After that, drilling continues. This king of
drilling rid has some disadvantages which is very slow (25-60 ft per day) and does not effectively
control subsurface pressure (often causes blow out). To overcome these disadvantages, rotary
drilling rig was invented and that is the kind of rig we know today.

Rotary Drilling Rig

5 Major System:

 Prime Mover
Prime movers are diesel engine that supply power to the rig. It mainly supplies power for
hoisting and circulating system. The power is transmitted to the rig via compounder.
 Hoisting System
Hoisting system is used to raise and lower and to suspend equipment in the well.
Derrick/mast is used to supports crown block. The difference between derrick and mast is
mast has already jacked up as a unit, meanwhile derrick is erected on the site.
 The hoisting line is spooled around a revolving
reel on the drawworks. The prime mover
drives the drawworks to make reciprocating
moves. The two sets of wheels are called
blocks, consisted of travelling (suspended in
the derrick) and crown block (fixed at the top
of derrick). Hook is used for attaching
equipment.

 Rotating System
Rotating system is used to cut the hole (to make hole/to drill hole). Below hook, there is a
swivel that suspend the drillstring. The drillstring is rotating while making hole through the
formation. Rotary table is a circular table that is turned clockwise, thus rotating the kelly via
kelly bushing. If the rotating movement is turned counterclockwise, the drillstring will
unscrew. Kelly should always located at the top of drillpipe (each section of drillpipe is called
joint). The section of the drillstring below the drillpipe is called BHA (bottomhole assembly)
which is mainly consists of drill collar and the bit. Drill collar are designed to put weight to
drillstring so it will drill straight down. Two types of bit are roller cone and fixed cutter.
Rollercone bit can be tricone or twocone bit, which each cone rotating and crush the rock.
Meanwhile fixed cutter bit doesn’t have moving parts, the example is PDC (polycrystalline
diamond compact). The dirts and rock chips that is created while drilling are called cuttings.

The bit wears as drilling goes. At certain time, it is needed to change to bit. This is called bit
trip.
Bit trip
First, kelly is raised above the rotary table and unscrewed from the top. The kelly is then put
on rathole. Drillpipe is then pulled out from the monkeyboard by derrickman (tripping out).
The bit is then changed and the pipe run back to the hole (tripping in).
 After the drilling has reach certain depth, another joint must be added to continue. This is
what we called making a connection.
Making a connection
The pipe is raised by elevators and suspended by tongs. Slips hold the drillpipe at the rotary
table. The next joint is kept in mousehole. After the kelly is above the rotary table, the kelly
is unscrewed from the drillpipe, then is swung to the next joint at mousehole and screwed. It
is then raised out and screwed to the drillstring at rotary table and the drilling continues.
 Circulating system
Ciculating system pumps drilling mud to clean cuttings. Mud is stored in mud tanks, then
pumped using mud pump. Mud flows into the swivel, through the drillstring and jets out
through small holes at the very bottom of the drillstring called nozzles. The mud then goes
up via annulus (between hole and drillstring) bringing all the cuttings. At the top of the well,
the mud flows into cleaning systems which consists of shale shaker, desander, desilter, and
degasser. After the mud is cleaned, it can be used again or if it is not reusable, the mud is
disposed to reserve pit.
There are three main types of drilling mud, water based, oil based, and synthetic based. Mud
engineers use additives to modify the mud characteristics.

 Blow out preventer

BOPs are used to close off the top of the well. Blow out preventer stack consists of a series
of rams and a annular preventer. Blind rams are two large blocks used to close over the well.
Pipe rams are used to close around the well. Shear rams are used to cut the pipe. Meanwhile
annular preventer is made from rubber, with a shape of doughnut, and is the first one closed
when emergency. The power of BOP is stored in acummulators.
DRILLING PROBLEMS
 Fish
Fish is anything left in the wellbore, it can be drillstring, cone, pipe wrench, etc. Fishing tool
is used to retrieve them. The operation is called fishing.
 Stuck Pipe
The drillstring can become stuck in well. It can be mechanical sticking or differential sticking.
Differential sticking is a pressure related problem, as the drillpipe adheres to the well walls
due to suction. Mechanical pipe is caused by dog leg or keyseat. Jarring is one of the solution
for differential sticking while reamming is one the solution for the latter.
 Sloughing Shale
It is soft shale along the wellbore that adsorbs water, expands, and falls to the bottom. To
prevent this, pottasium salt is added to the mud.
 Lost circulation
If the drilling mud find a very porous, cavernous, of highly fractured zone (high permeablity),
the drilling mud can flow into that zone called lost circulation. This zone is called thief zone.
To prevent this, LCMs (lost circulation materials) are added.
 Formation damage
Mud filtrate can damage the permeability of a reservoir. It can be fixed by hydraulic
fracturing or acidizing. It is also can be prevented by using brine, oil based, or synthetic
based drilling mud.
 Corrosive gasses
Corrosive gasses such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide can cause corrosion to the
pipe (hydrogen embrittlement). To prevent corrosion, the drillstring has to be more
corrosion resistant. For example, using chrome tubing which is a type of CRA (corrosion
resistant alloy).
 Abnormal High Pressure
High pressure is often met at subsurface, and if it is not controlled, it can cause blowout.
Blowout is uncontrolled discharge or flow of fluids up the well. Because of the high pressure,
mud pressure can’t contain the reservoir pressure and the fluid starts to flow out into the
well (kick). There are many indication of kick, one of them is sudden increase of fluid flow
out of the well. Kick can lead to blowout if it is not controlled properly. After kick is detected,
the well is killed using kill mud. Top three kill operations are bullheading, wait and weight,
and driller’s method.

MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS (MODU)

Rig types:
 Fixed Platform
This type of rig is located on a fixed structure previously installed at the well location. Water
depth:
 Submersible
Very attractive in shallow water. Water depth: 8-95 ft.
 Jack Up Rig
Jack Up Rig offers a steady and relatively motion-free platform in the drilling position and
mobilizes relatively quickly and easily, thus displacing submersible and fixed platform rigs.
Water depth: 25-300 ft (some rig can drill more than 400 ft)
 Semisubmersible
 Drilling in floating position. Water depth: less than 100 ft in shallow applications, second-
generation units work in 1500 to 2000 ft, third- and fourth-generation units in 2000 to 5000
ft, and fifth-generation units in 4000 to 6500 ft and beyond.
 Drillships
Used dor ultradeepwater drilling. Water depth: up to 7500 ft (some rig can drill up to 10000
ft)

There are two more types of offshore units: Conventional ships and TAD. Conventional ships or
barge shaped rigs are use in the early days. Tender Assist Drilling (TADs) units are focusing mainly on
two areas of activity: factory drilling of marginal field and Deepwater Drilling, however due to its
flexibility, tender assisted is being considered for various other application.