Underbalanced Drilling
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Underbalanced Drilling
Underbalanced drilling, or UBD, is a procedure used to drill oil and gas wells where the pressure in the wellbore is kept lower than the static pressure of the formation being drilled. As the well is being drilled, formation fluid flows into the wellbore and up to the surface. This is the opposite of the usual situation, where the wellbore is kept at a pressure above the formation to prevent formation fluid entering the well. In such a conventional "overbalanced" well, the invasion of fluid is considered a kick, and if the well is not shut-in it can lead to a blowout, a dangerous situation. In underbalanced drilling, however, there is a " rotating head" at the surface - essentially a seal that diverts produced fluids to a separator while allowing the drill string to continue rotating. If the formation pressure is relatively high, using a lower density mud will reduce the well bore pressure below the pore pressure of the formation. Sometimes an inert gas is injected into the dril ...
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Blowout (well Drilling)
A blowout is the uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural gas from an oil well or gas well after pressure control systems have failed.'All About Blowout', R. Westergaard, Norwegian Oil Review, 1987 Modern wells have blowout preventers intended to prevent such an occurrence. An accidental spark during a blowout can lead to a catastrophic oil or gas fire. Prior to the advent of pressure control equipment in the 1920s, the uncontrolled release of oil and gas from a well while drilling was common and was known as an oil gusher, gusher or wild well. History Gushers were an icon of oil exploration during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During that era, the simple drilling techniques, such as cable-tool drilling, and the lack of blowout preventers meant that drillers could not control high-pressure reservoirs. When these high-pressure zones were breached, the oil or natural gas would travel up the well at a high rate, forcing out the drill string and creating a gus ...
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Rotating Head
Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional object has an infinite number of possible central axes and rotational directions. If the rotation axis passes internally through the body's own center of mass, then the body is said to be ''autorotating'' or ''spinning'', and the surface intersection of the axis can be called a ''pole''. A rotation around a completely external axis, e.g. the planet Earth around the Sun, is called ''revolving'' or ''orbiting'', typically when it is produced by gravity, and the ends of the rotation axis can be called the ''orbital poles''. Mathematics Mathematically, a rotation is a rigid body movement which, unlike a translation, keeps a point fixed. This definition applies to rotations within both two and three dimensions (in a plane and in space, r ...
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Drill String
A drill string on a drilling rig is a column, or string, of drill pipe that transmits drilling fluid (via the mud pumps) and torque (via the kelly drive or top drive) to the Well drilling#Drill bits in mechanical drilling, drill bit. The term is loosely applied to the assembled collection of the smuggler pool, drill collars, tools and drill bit. The drill string is hollow so that drilling fluid can be pumped down through it and circulated back up the Annulus (oil well), annulus (the void between the drill string and the casing/open hole). Drill string components The drill string is typically made up of three sections: * Bottom hole assembly (BHA) * Transition pipe, which is often heavyweight drill pipe (HWDP) * Drill pipe Bottom hole assembly (BHA) The Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) is made up of: a drill bit#Well drilling bits, drill bit, which is used to break up the rock Geologic formation, formations; drill collars, which are heavy, thick-walled tubes used to apply we ...
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Hydrostatic Pressure
Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body "fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an immersed body". It encompasses the study of the conditions under which fluids are at rest in stable equilibrium as opposed to fluid dynamics, the study of fluids in motion. Hydrostatics is a subcategory of fluid statics, which is the study of all fluids, both compressible or incompressible, at rest. Hydrostatics is fundamental to hydraulics, the engineering of equipment for storing, transporting and using fluids. It is also relevant to geophysics and astrophysics (for example, in understanding plate tectonics and the anomalies of the Earth's gravitational field), to meteorology, to medicine (in the context of blood pressure), and many other fields. Hydrostatics offers physical explanations for many phenomena of everyday life, such as why ...
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Flue Gas
Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced at power plants. Its composition depends on what is being burned, but it will usually consist of mostly nitrogen (typically more than two-thirds) derived from the combustion of air, carbon dioxide (), and water vapor as well as excess oxygen (also derived from the combustion air). It further contains a small percentage of a number of pollutants, such as particulate matter (like soot), carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides. Most fossil fuels are combusted with ambient air (as differentiated from combustion with pure oxygen). Since ambient air contains about 79 volume percent gaseous nitrogen (N2), which is essentially non-combustible, the largest part of the flue gas from most fossil-fuel combustion is uncombusted nitrogen. Ca ...
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Natural Gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also usually present. Natural gas is colorless and odorless, so odorizers such as mercaptan (which smells like sulfur or rotten eggs) are commonly added to natural gas supplies for safety so that leaks can be readily detected. Natural gas is a fossil fuel and non-renewable resource that is formed when layers of organic matter (primarily marine microorganisms) decompose under anaerobic conditions and are subjected to intense heat and pressure underground over millions of years. The energy that the decayed organisms originally obtained from the sun via photosynthesis is stored as chemical energy within the molecules of methane and other hydrocarbons. Natural gas can be burned fo ...
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Coiled Tubing Drilling
Coiled Tubing Drilling (CTD) is a drilling method that combines coiled tubing and directional drilling.
Drilling Market Focus: Coiled Tubing Use Growing Faster than Drilling Industry, The Oil and Gas Journal, 19 Sept 2005, Retrieved 30 July 2014
It uses a mud motor to create a system for reservoirs.
Niobrara Wells Prove BHA for Coiled Tubing, Drilling Contractor, 15 Mar 2012, Retrieved 30 July 2014

, Introduction to Coiled T ...
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Rate Of Penetration
In the drilling industry, the rate of penetration (ROP), also known as penetration rate or drill rate, is the speed at which a Drill bit#Well drilling bits, drill bit breaks the Rock (geology), rock under it to deepen the borehole. It is normally measured in feet per minute or meters per hour, but sometimes it is expressed in minutes per foot. Generally, ROP increases in fast drilling formation such as sandstone (positive drill break) and decreases in slow drilling formations such as shale (reverse break). ROP decreases in shale due to diagenesis and overburden stresses. Over pressured zones can give twice of ROP as expected which is an indicative of a ''well kick''. Drillers need to stop and do the bottoms up. See also *Drilling rig计划和扩建后 References External resourcesRate of penetration
Drilling technology Physical quantities Temporal rates, Penetration {{Industry-stub ...
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Formation Damage
Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary mineral deposit formed in a cave * Class formation, a topological group acting on a module satisfying certain conditions * Formation (group theory), a class of groups that is closed under some operations * Formation constant, an equilibrium constant for the formation of a complex in solution * Formation enthalpy, standard heat of formation of a compound * Formation (group theory), a class of groups * Formation (geology), a formally named rock stratum or geological unit * Formation of rocks, how rocks are formed * Formation and evolution of the Solar System, history of the Solar System * Rock formation, an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop * Vegetation formation, a concept used to classify vegetation communities Military ...
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Drilling Mud
In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also called drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are also used for much simpler boreholes, such as water wells. One of the functions of drilling mud is to carry cuttings out of the hole. The three main categories of drilling fluids are: water-based muds (WBs), which can be dispersed and non-dispersed; non-aqueous muds, usually called oil-based muds (OBs); and gaseous drilling fluid, in which a wide range of gases can be used. Along with their formatives, these are used along with appropriate polymer and clay additives for drilling various oil and gas formations. The main functions of drilling fluids include providing hydrostatic pressure to prevent formation fluids from entering into the well bore, keeping the drill bit cool and clean during drilling, carrying out drill cuttings, and suspending t ...
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Drilling Fluid Invasion
Drilling fluid invasion is a process that occurs in a well being drilled with higher wellbore pressure (normally caused by excessive mud weights) than formation pressure. The liquid component of the drilling fluid (known as the mud filtrate, or spurt) continues to "invade" the porous and permeable formation until the solids present in the mud, commonly bentonite, clog enough pores to form a mud cake capable of preventing further invasion. If invasion is severe enough, and reservoir pressures are unable to force the fluid and associated particles out entirely when the well starts producing, the amount of oil and gas a well can produce can be permanently reduced. This is especially true when a process called phase trapping occurs. This is when a fluid enters a formation that is below its irreducible saturation of that fluid. Once the fluid is present, it is held in place by capillary forces and usually can not be removed. Invasion also has significant implications for well loggin ...
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Lost Circulation
In oil or gas well drilling, lost circulation occurs when drilling fluid, known commonly as "mud", flows into one or more geological formations instead of returning up the annulus. Lost circulation can be a serious problem during the drilling of an oil well or gas well. Consequences The consequences of lost circulation can be as little as the loss of a few dollars of drilling fluid, or as disastrous as a blowout and loss of life, so close monitoring of tanks, pits, and flow from the well, to quickly assess and control lost circulation, is taught and practiced. If the amount of fluid in the wellbore drops due to lost circulation (or any other reason), hydrostatic pressure is reduced, which can allow a gas or fluid which is under a higher pressure than the reduced hydrostatic pressure to flow into the wellbore. Another consequence of lost circulation is "dry drilling". Dry drilling occurs when fluid is completely lost from the well bore without drilling coming to a halt. The effe ...
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