DRILLING OPERATIONS

PETE 2050

FALL 2008

HISTORY OF DRILLING FOR OIL

The United State’s first commercial oil well near Titusville, PA in 1859

Using large pulleys and belts, the oak walking beam alternately raised and dropped the bit to drill a hole.

This oil field on the Benninghoff farm in Pennsylvania was one of many that sprang up during the 1865 oil boom.

The portable cable-tool unit can drill and service holes up to 5,044 feet deep.

A wooden derrick was typical of cable-tool drilling rigs from the late 1800s to the 1920s.

Rotary drilling at Spindletop, near Beaumont, TX, revolutionized the drilling industry.

This 1920 oilfield is typical of early oil drilling and producing operations.

Drilling fluid, or mud, circulates down through pipe, out through the bit and back up the hole.

Modern rotary rig

DRILLING TODAY

The major components of a rotary drilling rig work together to make hole.

A windlass hoists water from a well.

The hoisting system of a rotary rig is shown without the derrick

This mast supports the hoisting system of the rig

This skid-mounted supply reel supplies wire rope for the rig.

Drilling line passes several times through the traveling block (A) and the crown block at the top of the mast (B) through grooved sheaves in each.

A deadline anchor on the rig’s substructure holds the deadline firmly in place

The drawworks, on the floor of the rig, contains the drum (A) and other equipment inside a steel housing (B).

The driller’s console, on the left side of the drawworks, has controls for the power, transmission, and brakes of the hoisting system.

The makeup cathead is attached to a catshaft coming out of the top of the draw works.

The crew uses an air hoist to move heavy equipment around the rig floor.

The drill stem is attached to the bottom of the swivel, which hangs from the hook on the traveling block.

The kelly passes through the kelly bushing, which fits into the master bushing of the rotary table.

Crewmen grasp the slips by the handles as the set them in the master bushing.

The rotary table locks in place to allow a new bit to be installed.

A top drive hangs from the traveling block in place of the conventional swivel.

Available in 30-foot joints, this drill pipe is being set back for storage on the rig floor.

Tool joints are wider than the body of the drill pipe.

On one end of each pipe is a pin and one the other end is a box.

Roller cone bits have either milled teeth (A) or tungsten carbide inserts (B). A natural diamond bit has dozens of tiny diamonds on its face (C). A PDC bit has synthetic diamond studs in the face (D).

Each cone of a roller cone bit rotates on its own axis.

Each cone rotates on ball bearings (a) or journal bearing or both (B).

Channels on the face of a diamond bit direct the drilling mud next to each row of diamonds to cool them.

The circulating system of a number of components, all of which serve to get the mud down the hole and back to the surface.

The mud pump pumps drilling fluid into the hole.

A view from the rig floor shows the components that carry drilling mud to the hole: the mud travels up the standpipe, through the rotary hose, into the swivel (or top drive) and down through the kelly.

Here, two shale shakers remove cuttings carried to the surface by the mud.

Additional circulating equipment can include a degasser, desilter, and desander, which are located over the mud pits downstream from the shaker.

Solid particles in the drilling mud plaster the wall of the hole and form an impermeable wall cake.

Diesel engines power the rig.

A heavy during electric motor is mounted on or near each component requiring power.

Three diesel engines and the compound send power to the drawworks and mud pumps.

The cellar is like a basement under the rig.

A mast is raised into the upright position, using the draw works.

While tripping out, the kelly and related equipment rest in the rathole.