Deep, Directional Platform Drilling: Problems and Solutions

Spud: To start the well drilling process by removing rock, dirt and other
sedimentary material with the drill bit.
mast: The structure used to support the crown block and the drillstring. Masts
are usually rectangular or trapezoidal in shape and offer a very good stiffness,
important to land rigs whose mast is laid down when the rig is moved. They suffer
from being heavier than conventional derricks and consequently are not usually
found in offshore environments, where weight is more of a concern than in land
operations.
Drilling contractor: The drilling contractor usually charges a fixed daily rate for
its hardware (the rig) and software (the people), plus certain extraordinary
expenses. Under this arrangement, the cost of the well is largely a function of the
time it takes to drill and complete the well. The other primary contracting methods
are footage rates (where the contractor receives an agreed upon amount per foot
of hole drilled).
Buoyancy: The upward force acting on an object placed in a fluid. The buoyancy
force is equal to the weight of fluid displaced by the object. Buoyancy can have
significant effects over a wide range of completion and workover activities,
especially in cases in which the wellbore and tubing string contain liquid and gas.
strata: Layers of sedimentary rock. The singular form is stratum.
drillingcrew: Personnel who operate the drilling rig. The crew typically consists
of roustabouts, roughnecks, floor hands, lead tong operators, motormen,
derrickmen, assistant drillers, and the driller. Since drilling rigs operate around
the clock, there are at least two crews (twelve hour work shifts called tours, more
common when operating offshore), or three crews (eight hour tours, more
common onshore). In addition, drilling contractors must be able to supply relief
crews from time to time when crew members are unavailable. Though less
common now than in years past, the drilling contractor may opt to hire only a
driller, and the driller in turn is responsible for hiring everyone reporting to him.
turnkey: A type of financing arrangement for the drilling of a wellbore that places
considerable risk and potential reward on the drilling contractor. Under such an
arrangement, the drilling contractor assumes full responsibility for the well to
some predetermined milestone such as the successful running of logs at the end
of the well, the successful cementing of casing in the well or even the completion
of the well. Until this milestone is reached, the operator owes nothing to the
contractor. The contractor bears all risk of trouble in the well, and in extreme
cases, may have to abandon the well entirely and start over.
torque: A device for measuring in situ the velocity of fluid flow in a production or
injection well based on the torque, or force, produced by the fluid on a stationary
impeller. This torque can be related to the effective velocity of flow across the
impeller. The torque flowmeter is sometimes used as an alternative to the spinner
flowmeter.
Wellbore: The drilled hole or borehole, including the openhole or uncased portion
of the well. Borehole may refer to the inside diameter of the wellbore wall, the
rock face that bounds the drilled hole
Bottomhole: The lower portion of the drillstring, consisting of (from the bottom
up in a vertical well) the bit, bit sub, a mud motor (in certain cases), stabilizers,
drill collar, heavy-weight drillpipe, jarring devices ("jars") and crossovers for
various threadforms. The bottomhole assembly must provide force for the bit to
break the rock (weight on bit), survive a hostile mechanical environment and
provide the driller with directional control of the well.
casing: Large-diameter pipe lowered into an openhole and cemented in place.
The well designer must design casing to withstand a variety of forces, such as
collapse, burst, and tensile failure, as well as chemically aggressive brines. Most
casing joints are fabricated with male threads on each end, and short-length
casing couplings with female threads are used to join the individual joints of
casing together, or joints of casing may be fabricated with male threads on one
end and female threads on the other.
Drilling rig: The machine used to drill a wellbore. In onshore operations, the rig
includes virtually everything except living quarters. Major components of the rig
include the mud tanks, the mud pumps, the derrick or mast, the drawworks, the
rotary table or topdrive, the drillstring, the power generation equipment and
auxiliary equipment. Offshore, the rig includes the same components as onshore,
but not those of the vessel or drilling platform itself. The rig is sometimes referred
to as the drilling package, particularly offshore.
Problem detection during tripping operations in horizontal and directional
wells.

Borehole: The wellbore itself, including the openhole or uncased portion of the
well. Borehole may refer to the inside diameter of the wellbore wall, the rock face
that bounds the drilled hole.
trip: The act of pulling the drillstring out of the hole or replacing it in the hole. A
pipe trip is usually done because the bit has dulled or has otherwise ceased to
drill efficiently and must be replaced.
drill collar: A component of a drillstring that provides weight on bit for drilling.
Drill collars are thick-walled tubular pieces machined from solid bars of steel,
usually plain carbon steel but sometimes of nonmagnetic nickel-copper alloy or
other nonmagnetic premium alloys. The bars of steel are drilled from end to end
to provide a passage to pumping drilling fluids through the collars.
Crown block: The fixed set of pulleys (called sheaves) located at the top of the
derrick or mast, over which the drilling line is threaded. The companion blocks to
these pulleys are the traveling blocks. By using two sets of blocks in this fashion,
great mechanical advantage is gained, enabling the use of relatively small drilling
line (3/4 to 1 1/2 in. diameter steel cable) to hoist loads many times heavier than
the cable could support as a single strand.
Key seat: A small-diameter channel worn into the side of a larger diameter
wellbore. This can be the result of a sharp change in direction of the wellbore (a
dogleg), or if a hard formation ledge is left between softer formations that enlarge
over time. In either case, the diameter of the channel is typically similar to the
diameter of the drillpipe.
Drilling string: The combination of the drillpipe, the bottomhole assembly and
any other tools used to make the drill bit turn at the bottom of the wellbore.
stuck pipe: The portion of the drill string that cannot be rotated or moved
vertically.
Pressure: The force distributed over a surface, usually measured in pounds force
per square inch, or psi, in oilfield.
mud: A term that is generally synonymous with drilling fluid and that
encompasses most fluids used in hydrocarbon drilling operations, especially
fluids that contain significant amounts of suspended solids, emulsified water or
oil. Mud includes all types of water-base, oil-base and synthetic-base drilling
fluids. Drill-in, completion and workover fluids are sometimes called muds,
although a fluid that is essentially free of solids is not strictly considered mud.
statics: Another term for static correction, a bulk shift of a seismic trace in time
during seismic processing. A common static correction is the weathering
correction, which compensates for a layer of low seismic velocity material near
the surface of the Earth. Other corrections compensate for differences in
topography and differences in the elevations of sources and receivers.
The reliability problem related to directional survey data

Fid: The magnitude of the inclination of a plane from horizontal. True, or

maximum, dip is measured perpendicular to strike. Apparent dip is
measured in a direction other than perpendicular to strike.
dip: The magnitude of the inclination of a plane from horizontal. True, or
maximum, dip is measured perpendicular to strike. Apparent dip is
measured in a direction other than perpendicular to strike.
Downhole: A pressure gauge, typically run on slickline, used to measure
and record downhole pressure. Downhole gauges are commonly used in
assessing the downhole pressure under various flowing conditions, the
basis of pressure transient analysis.
Scale: A deposit or coating formed on the surface of metal, rock or other
material. Scale is caused by a precipitation due to a chemical reaction with
the surface, precipitation caused by chemical reactions, a change in
pressure or temperature, or a change in the composition of a solution. The
term is also applied to a corrosion product.
Azimuth: The angle between the vertical projection of a line of interest
onto a horizontal surface and true north or magnetic north measured in a
horizontal plane, typically measured clockwise from north.
Damage: Natural or induced production impairments that can develop in
the reservoir, the near-wellbore area, the perforations, the gravel-pack
completion or the production pipelines, such as the tubing.
Tool joint: The enlarged and threaded ends of joints of drillpipe. These
components are fabricated separately from the pipe body and welded onto
the pipe at a manufacturing facility. The tool joints provide high-strength,
high-pressure threaded connections that are sufficiently robust to survive
the rigors of drilling and numerous cycles of tightening and loosening at
threads.
Sag: Settling of particles in the annulus of a well, which can occur when
the mud is static or being circulated. Because of the combination of
secondary flow and gravitational forces, weighting materials can settle
(sag) in a flowing mud in a high-angle well.
Gravity: The Earth's gravitational field, or the attractive force produced by
the mass of the Earth. Variations in the gravitational field can be used to
map changes in the density of formations in the Earth. Gravity surveys can
be used to map the extent or depth of sedimentary basins or even
individual hydrocarbon prospects.
toolface: The angle measured in a plane perpendicular to the drillstring
axis that is between a reference direction on the drillstring and a fixed
reference. For near-vertical wells, north is the fixed reference and the
angle is the magnetic toolface.