Introduction
PETE 101
Fall 2014
Companies
Oklahoma
Standard Oil
Trust & Successors
Seven Sisters
Mergers & Super-Majors
State-Owned Companies
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Oklahoma Companies
1905 Glenn Pool Field discovered Owned largely by Henry Ford Sinclair. It
is central in the formation of Sinclair Oil Company in 1916 (Tulsa).
1910 E. W. Marland founds Marland Oil Company, which forms core of
Conoco Oil Company in 1929 (Ponca City)
1912 Henry Doherty starts what will become Cities Service Company
(Bartlesville)
1914 Discovery of Garber Field gives Herbert Champlin financial start for
Champlin Oil Company
1917 Phillips Petroleum Company founded by Frank and L. E. Phillips
(Bartlesville)
1920 Erle Halliburton founds Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company
(Duncan)
1921 Lloyd Noble starts Noble Drilling Company (Ardmore)
1929 James Anderson and Robert Kerr form drilling company that in 1946
becomes Kerr-McGee Oil Industries
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Standard of:
Exxon
Shell (Royal Dutch)
BP (Anglo-Persian)
Mobil
Chevron
Gulf Oil
Texaco
Major Mergers
Occidental buys Cities Service 1982
Chevron with Gulf Oil 1985 (Now
Chevron)
BP with Amoco 1998 (Now BP)
Exxon with Mobil 1999
Chevron with Texaco 2001 (Now
Chevron)
Conoco with Phillips -2002
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Todays Super-Majors
Exxon-Mobil
Shell
BP (formerly BP-Amoco)
Total
- Merged with Petrofina (Belgium) 1999
- Merged with Elf Aquitaine (France) 2000
A drilling rig is used to drill wells for extracting oil and gas
A drilling rig is used to drill a hole in the ground to find oil and gas
It usually takes more than one hole size to reach the bottom of the well
(the bottom of the well is called total depth (TD))
Holes are larger at the surface and get smaller as the well gets deeper
Holes near the surface can be as large as 48 (but that is not
common)
Holes near TD are usually small, sometimes as small as 3-1/2 (that is
not common either)
There are many combinations of hole sizes in drilling wells
For example, a shallow well may start out drilling a hole size of 121/4 diameter at surface, drill an 8-1/2 diameter in the middle, and finish
with a 6 at bottom
A deep, high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) well may have a 28
diameter hole at surface and possibly a 4-1/2 hole at TD. In order to
reach TD, it may have numerous hole sizes in between surface and TD.
One example would include 28, 17-1/2, 12-1/4, 8-1/2, 6, and 4-1/8
The above examples are common oil field hole sizes, but there are
may other combinations of hole sizes used in the oil field today in drilling
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The oil company (called the operator) does not usually own the drilling
rig. It is owned by a drilling contractor
Examples of drilling contractors include
Transocean, Sedco Forex, Noble offshore rigs
Grey Wolf, Big 6 Drilling, Nabors onshore or land rigs
Parker Drilling, Nabors inland water rigs (sometimes called barge rigs)
The person in charge of the drilling rig works for the drilling contractor.
He/she is called the toolpusher.
The toolpusher supervises the drilling rig crew and is responsible for the rig
equipment and the safety of everyone on the rig
He/she is often referred to as the rig manager
Most rigs have 1 or 2 toolpushers on the rig at a time
The head person on the rig for the operating company is usually called
the company man or drilling supervisor
He/she is responsible that the well is drilled according to the plan
established by the drilling engineer in the office
He/she is responsible that the well is drilled within the budget
He/she is responsible that the drilling operations are performed safely and
there are no environmental incidents while the rig is on location
Most rigs have between 1 and 3 company men on the rig at a time
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The main work area on the rig is called the rig floor
Usually found working on the rig floor are the driller and floor hands
(floor hands are often called roughnecks). The driller and floor hands
work for the drilling contractor
The rig floor is where the rig crew handles the pipe run into the hole
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History- Drilling
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The first modern oil well was drilled in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1846
Azerbaijan is located on the Caspian Sea south of Russia and north of Iran
The well was drilled to a TD of 69 feet
By the beginning of the 1900s, half the worlds oil production came from the
area around Baku
The first successful oil well drilled in the United States was drilled in
1859
The well was drilled by Colonel Edwin Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania for
Seneca Oil
The well was drilled to 69 feet when it encountered oil
Production test of the well was unknown but it is estimated at 300 to 400
gallons per day (GPD). In the United States, production is normally stated in
barrels per day (BPD). 1 barrel is equivalent to 42 gallons, so that would
equate to about 7 to 9 BPD
The first successful oil well drilled in California was drilled in 1866
It was drilled near Ventura, California
Reached a TD of 550 feet and produced 15 20 BPD
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The first successful well at Spindletop hit the producing formation at 1000
feet
The well gushed out to a height 140 feet above the derrick. Today we would
call that a blowout.
Estimated flow at the first well was around 48,000 barrels oil per day
(BOPD). Some references estimate the flow at upwards of 80,000 BOPD.
In todays oil price of $100 per barrel, that equates to about $4,800,000 per day of
revenue
One common theme found with all the early oil discoveries was that the wells
were drilled around oil and gas seeps found at the surface
The oil seeps provided very small amounts of oil. Drilling wells into the
subsurface rocks allowed for greater production rates.
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Cable tool drilling techniques dates back over 1600 years to the Chinese
The early oil wells were drilled with cable tool rigs, including the rig used
by Colonel Drake and the early wells in California
Operation of a cable tool rig is fairly simple
At the bottom of the hole is the bit. It is like a chisel. It is what actually breaks the
rock downhole.
Next are the sinker bars. These provide the weight to the bit when it slams
into the formation.
A cable attaches the sinker bars to the surface
The walking beam at surface rocks up and down
When it rocks up, the cable lifts the bit off the bottom of the hole.
When it rocks down, the bit is slammed down into the rock formation causing part
of the rock to fail.
The rocking action is done repeatedly, so the bit can break the rock and
make hole
The cable, sinker bars, and bit are periodically removed (pulled) from the
hole so the broken rock pieces can be removed from the bottom of the well
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A major drawback to cable tool rigs was the inefficiency of having to pull
the cable, sinker bars, and bit out of the hole so rock could be removed
from the bottom of the well
After they were pulled out of the hole, a tool called a bailer was run to
remove the pulverized rock from the bottom of the well
The bailer was then pulled to surface and the bit, sinker bars, and cable
rerun and drilling resumed
Cable tool rigs worked well in hard rock areas of the United States
Cable tool rigs did not work well in the soft rock formations like clay or
loose sand
The Gulf Coast area of the United States is mainly soft rock
The clay and sands in the soft rock areas would fall around the bit after
being drilled and would wedge the bit in the hole
Sometimes the soft rock would cave into the hole and partially fill it
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A rotary rig does not use a cable to suspend the bit in the hole
Rotary rigs use pipe, called drill pipe, to connect the bit to the surface
Sections of drill pipe are added in either 31 foot sections (joints) or 93 foot sections
(stands). The joints or stands are screwed together at the surface as the well is
deepened.
The pipe is turned at the surface (rotates)
A rotary rig circulates fluid, called drilling fluid or drilling mud, down the drill pipe
and back to the surface to remove the drilled rock from the bottom of the hole
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In rotary drilling, the bit is rotated on the bottom of the hole by one of
these methods
Use of a rotary table
The rotary table is located at the drill floor and the pipe is turned at this point
The rotary table only rotates, it does not up an down when drilling
Pipe is added to the drill string in joints
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Rotary tables have been around a long time. They are seen on
some land rigs
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In cable tool rigs, a tool called a bailer was used to remove the chiseled
out rock that was drilled downhole
In rotary drilling, drilling fluid is pumped from the surface down the drill
string and through holes in the drilling bit called jets. The drilling fluid
continues to circulate up the hole on the outside of the drill string and back
up to the surface.
One of the functions of the drilling fluid is to remove the cuttings from
the hole.
One of the functions of the drilling fluid is to carry the rock scraped or
gouged by the bit back to the surface where it can be removed from the
drilling fluid. The drilling fluid, minus most of the drilled cuttings, is pumped
back down the drill string with more cuttings. This is a continuous process.
Drilling mud goes from the mud pumps, down the drill string, out the bit, and
back up the hole between the hole and drill string (called the annulus). The
drilling fluid is cleaned at the surface and the process repeated.
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The drilling fluid actually serves many functions in the drilling process
It provides some stability to the hole and can aid in keeping the hole open
(not caving on to the bit)
The gouging action of the bit causes friction and a great deal of heat build
up at the bit. The fluid helps cool and lubricate the bit.
It removes cuttings from the bit as the bit cuts new formation and therefore
the bit does not recut the same cuttings over and over
It provides hydrostatic pressure on the formation. This helps prevent the
fluids in the rock in the formation from entering the wellbore and causing a
kick or blowout as in Spindletop.
Mud pumps are used to circulate the mud down the hole
Many offshore rigs and large land rigs have 3 mud pumps. When drilling
the upper part of the hole, large flow rates are needed to properly circulate the
cutting out of the hole, often over 1000 gallons per minute (GPM). In these
cases, two mud pumps are operating all the time to get the required volume
needed to clean the larger holes.
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The type of rotary rig used depends on where the well is drilled
land
Land rig
bays, canals, or very shallow water offshore
Barge type rig
Submersible rig
When rotary rigs were first developed, the derrick was erected on
location and was not moved
Modern rotary rigs are mobile and are moved over land or water from one
location to another
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Land rigs are normally classified by the depth of well they can drill
Light duty rig Maximum drilling depth 3,000 5,000 feet
Medium duty rig Maximum drilling depth 5,000 10,000 feet
Heavy duty rig Maximum drilling depth 10,000 - 16,000 feet
Very heavy duty rig Maximum drilling depth 16,000 25,000+ feet
Rigs can only drill slightly beyond its rated drilling depth because the rigs
cant normally handle the heavy weight of the drill string and casing
necessary in deeper holes
Rigs can drill wells shallower than their rated drilling depths
For example, a heavy duty rig could drill a 7,000 foot well
Normally you try to match the rig to the drilling depth of the well, even
though a heavier duty rig could drill the well
The heavier duty the rig is rated, normally the higher cost of the rig, so
drilling a shallow well with a deeper footage rated rig may be more expensive
A heavier duty rig is built for deep wells, so it may be more inefficient at
shallow depths than a light or medium duty rig would be at shallow depths
Land rigs are portable and are moved from location to location
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Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODU) are rigs used to drill in inland
waters or offshore areas
MODUs are mobile and move from drilling site to drilling site
MODUs are either bottom supported or floating
Bottom supported MODUs include barges, submersible rigs, and jack-up rigs
Floating MODUs include semisubmersible and drill ships
Platform rigs are specialty rigs that are used and rigged up on a production
platform
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A submersible type rig floats on the surface of the water while being moved
The rigs are moved from location to location using a tug or boat
When on location, the rig has compartments that are flooded and the base of the rig sits
on the sea floor
Posted barge
The first offshore well was drilled with a posted barge rig in 1949 off the coast of
Louisiana in 18 feet of water
The posted barge has a barge that uses steel columns to support a drilling deck and
drilling equipment
The posted barge is moved by tugs and when on location, compartments are flooded in
the barge and the barge contacts the sea floor
The posted barge is used in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico (less than 20 feet
of water or so) and is about the only type of rig that can operate in this depth of water
The water depth the rig can work in is often subject to the height of the waves in the
area (you dont want the waves to crash over the drill deck
They are also used in bays (such as Galveston Bay) that has shallow water and also can
have fairly high waves
If the seas get high, the waves will pass above the barge hull and below the drill floor
If the sea bottom is soft, rocks or shells can be placed on the sea floor where the rig will
be located before it is moved and placed on location (this helps support the weight of the
rig and prevent the sea floor from being washed out below the rig due to wave action)
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Arctic
submersible
Specialty
barge rigs
barge rigs are similar to posted barges however they do not have
the posts above the drilling floor
The drilling floor and equipment is placed directly on the barge
Inland barge rigs are used in bays, swamps, canals, or other shallow water
areas (Vermilion Bay, White Lake)
They are not usually used in shallow offshore waters or bays with high wave
action
Inland barge rigs are moved with tugs from location to location
When the inland barge arrives on location, compartments in the barge are
flooded and the barge sits on the sea floor
May need the location shelled or rocked if the sea floor is soft and cant
support the weight of the rig
Inland
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Jack up rigs
Moveable rig that floats on a barge while moving from location to location
Rig is towed to location using 2 to 3 tug boats
Rig is jacked up out of the water when the drilling location is reached
The legs of the rig are jacked down until the legs reach the sea floor
The legs of the rig will actually penetrate the sea floor before the rig jacks up out of
the water
Leg penetration into the sea floor can range from a few feet to over 100 feet
(depending of the softness of the sea floor and formations below it)
The barge where the drilling floor and equipment is located is jack up out of the
water
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Floating rigs
There are two main types of floating rigs
Semisubmersibles
Drillships
Floating rigs are used in water depths from 400 feet to over 10,000 feet
Blowout preventers are located on the sea floor (unlike the land and MODU
rigs that have the blowout preventers at the rig floor)
Uses riser to tie back from the sea floor to the drill floor
Since the rigs float and are affected by wave action, they have heave
compensators that allow the drill string to remain stationary while the rig
moves up and down (figure 45a)
Floating rigs use remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to see equipment on the
sea floor since the water depth is too deep for diving personnel
Semisubmersibles
These type rigs are somewhat similar to the submersible rig
The main deck sits on top of columns above a pontoon located below the water
However, the pontoon floats just below the surface of the water when drilling and
does not sit on the sea floor
May use anchors set on the sea floor to keep the rig in place
May use dynamic positioning system to keep rig in place
Dynamic positioning uses thrusters to keep the rig positioned correctly
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Drillships
Drillships are self propelled drilling rigs and are similar looking to other
oceangoing ships
They have very large deck space and can hold vast quantities of equipment
and supplies for drilling operations
Because of the large deck space, they work very well in remote locations that are
difficult to resupply
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Platform rigs
Platform rigs are offshore rigs used in some drilling operations
They do not float to location on their own but are brought to location in pieces on a
boat
Rig pieces are lifted up on to a production platform and the drilling rig is
erected on the platform
One problem with a platform rig is the time it takes to rig it up on the platform. It
could be as much as 2 weeks from the time the platform rig arrives on location until
it is ready to begin drilling operations
Land rigs and other offshore type drilling rigs could be ready to begin drilling
operations in as little as one day after reaching the drilling location
Since they are erected on a production platform, they usually have very
limited deck space and very small rig floors
This can limit the efficiency of the rig
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Rotary Drilling
Drilling Team
Drilling Rigs
Rig Power System
Hoisting System
Circulating System
The Rotary System
The Well Control System
Well-Monitoring System
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Hook
Top Drive
Shale Shakers
BOP
Annular
Preventer
RAMS Stack
Choke Manifold
Platform
A Jack-Up
Rig
Semi-Submersible Rig
Transocean Wildcat
A Semi-submersible platform or rig, is a mobile structure used for drilling for oil and
natural gas in offshore environments. Their superstructures are supported by
columns sitting on hulls or pontoons which are ballasted below the water surface.
They provide excellent stability in rough, deep seas. Semi-submersible rigs can be
moved from place to place; and can be ballasted up or down by altering the
amount of flooding in buoyancy tanks; they are generally anchored by cable
anchors during drilling operations, though they can also be kept in place by
dynamic positioning. Semi-submersibles can be used in depths from 600 up to
35,000 feet (180 to more than 10,600 m).
Transoceans Ultra-Deepwater
Semisubmersible Rig- Deepwater
Horizon
Offshore Drilling
1994
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Rig-site Responsibilities