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Exploration & Production Gas Processing Plant Petroleum Product

Distribution

1) Exploration surveying:-
a. Geological maps to identify sedimentary basins.
b. Aerial photography or Satellite images as faults or anticlines.
c. Magnetic, Gravity & Seismic.
2) Exploration drilling (Wild Cat wells):- To confirm the presence of hydrocarbons and the
thickness and internal pressure of a reservoir.
3) Appraisal / Exploratory wells: The appraisal stage aims:-
a. To evaluate the size and nature of the reservoir,
b. To determine the number of confirming or appraisal wells required,
c. To determine if any further seismic work is necessary.
4) Development & Production:-
a. The number of wells required to exploit the hydrocarbon reservoir varies with the
size of the reservoir and its geology.
b. Large oil fields can require a hundred or more wells to be drilled, whereas smaller
fields may only require ten or so.
c. Most commercial oil and gas wells are initially free flowing.
d. The rate of flow depends on:-
i. The properties of the reservoir rock (porosity & permeability).
ii. The underground pressures.
iii. The viscosity of the oil.
iv. The oil/gas ratio.
e. Injection wells:- When the oil cannot reach the surface unaided, some form of
additional lift is required, such as injection of gas, water or steam to maintain
reservoir pressures which require the drilling of additional wells called injection wells.

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 Geological Appraisal
Satellite Geophysical Wild Cat Development
maps & field exploration Decommissioning
images surveying well & production
trips wells

 Operating company:-

 The operating company is the oil or gas company which has a licence to drill for and
produce petroleum within a specified area.

 Drilling contractor:-

 Contractor is the owner of the drilling rig and is responsible for providing the
personnel who make up the drilling crew.

 Drilling service companies:-

 There are many special drilling services required during the drilling of the well.

 Logistical support services:-

 Supply of equipment, materials and personnel to and from the drill site expense of
running and cementing production casing into the hole. If found to be “dry” the hole is
plugged and abandoned.

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 Jack-up rigs are very stable drilling platforms because they rest on the seabed and are
not subjected to the heaving motion of the sea.

 To move rig between close locations:-

 The platform is lowered down the legs till it floats.

 The legs are jacked up to the maximum height.
 The whole rig can then be towed by means of two boats.

 They are floating rigs that are suitable for drilling in deeper waters than jack-ups.

 It can provide a relatively stable drilling platform.

 It can drill in water depths from 600 to 4000 ft.

 It can operate under more serve weather and sea conditions.

 These are special types of ships that are built for deep water drilling.

 It is self-propelled and can carry larger loads of drilling supplies.

 They are more mobile and self-supporting in remote ocean areas.

 The drillship is capable of drilling in waters up to 7500 feet. Its disadvantages is that
the drillship is greatly affected by wave motion (heave) and drifting and therefore not
able to drill in rougher seas.

 Platforms are permanently fixed structures installed where mobility is not required.

 This is typically when multiple wells are going to be drilled to develop and produce a
field.

 The platform generally consists of four to eight piles or legs resting or driven into the
sea bed.

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 The working area must be high enough above the water level to be safe from the waves
of a 100 year storm.

 Land rigs vary considerably in size, lifting capacity, power generation, ability to circulate
fluids ... Etc.

 Before rig equipment is brought in, the land must be cleared and graded.

 Access roads, where possible, must be prepared.

 If access roads cannot be made (jungle locations),

the helicopters can airlift everything to the drill
site from a base location.

 Land rigs are generally either wheel mounted

portables or a component system which must be
moved by trucks and cranes.

 Types of land rigs:

 Drilling Rigs.
 Work over Rigs.

 Power System.
 Hoisting System.
 Rotating System.
 Blowout Prevention System.

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 Works as an elaborate pulley to lift the travelling block and remove the drill pipe.

 Conventional Kelly system  Top Drive System

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 This term includes all the components used to drill below the Kelly or top drive; and it can
include the following
components:-

 Drill Pipe & Tool

Joints.
 Heavy weight drill
pipe (HWDP).
 Drill Collars.
 Rotary Bits

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 The drill pipe lengths (joints) are hollow seamless
tubes.
 The tool joints (connections) are separate components
and are attached to the pipe at both ends to
complete the manufacture of one joint.
 The drill pipe joints are approximately 30 ft in
lengths.

 This is the same as a drill pipe but with a smaller inner diameter and longer tool joints.
 Because of its wall thickness, its weight is greater than the drill pipe.
 It serves as a transition section between the drill pipe section up and the lower drill
collars section.

 These are similar to drill

pipe, but with spiral shape &
have large outside diameters
and small inside diameters.
They, also, are
approximately 30 feet long.
 Drill collars have several important functions:
 Provide weight to the bit when drilling
 Maintain weight to hold the drill pipe in tension.
 The spiral grooves are to minimize the surface of
contact between hole and pipe reducing the risk of
getting stuck.
 Prevent the pendulum effect to cause the bit to drill a
nearly vertical hole.

 Mud Density / Hydrostatic Pressure (Hp):- This is the pressure which exists due to the
drilling fluid weight and vertical depth of the column of fluid.
Hp = C x MD x TVD

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 Where:-
C = Conversion constant
MD = Mud Density
TVD = True Vertical Depth
 Viscosity:-
 Is the resistance that the drilling fluid offers
to flow when pumped.
 Funnel viscosity / Apparent Viscosity:-
Is the measured times it takes for one quart of mud to gravity feed through a hole of a
specific diameter.

 Plastic Viscosity (PV):-

Is that part of flow resistance in a mud caused primarily by the friction between the
suspended particles and by the viscosity of the continuous liquid phase.
Plastic viscosity depends on the concentration of solids present and the size and shape of
these solid particles.
 Yield point (YP):-
Is a measurement under flowing conditions of the forces in the mud which cause gel
structure to develop when the mud is at rest.
 Gel strength:-
 Gel strength refers to the ability of the drilling fluid to develop a gel as soon as it stops
moving. Its purpose is to suspend the cuttings and mud solids (weight material), while
they are in the borehole and not permit them to settle around the bit when circulation is
halted.
 PH:-
 Is a measure of the acidity and alkalinity of the mud.
 Measurement is used as an aid in determining the need for chemical control of mud as
well as indicating the presence of contaminates such as cement, gypsum etc.
 Filtration:-
 It measure the ability of the solid components to form a thin, low permeability filter cake.
 Ensure maximum information from the formation:-
 Transport the Mud Pulses Telemetry (MPT) from the measuring while drilling (MWD) &
logging while drilling (LWD) to the surface.
 The most common types of the drilling mud are the following:-
 Fresh water mud
 Calcium treated fresh water mud
 Salt Saturated mud
 Oil base mud