Practical Drilling Skills - PDS

This course was developed by a major operator as an 'on-site' drilling school. Experienced rig supervisors and drilling engineers spent a week at a drilling rig [Friday to Friday, 7:30am until 10:00PM] in intensive application of class room discussions. This course takes that learning and brings it back to the classroom. The techniques will be presented in such a manner that participants should be able to immediately apply the technology upon returning to the drilling rig.Computers do a wonderful job of calculating numbers if equations are correct and the input data is available. Unfortunately, many variables associated with drilling rigs remain unknown and not predictable. This course teaches how to listen to the well, perform simple tests on the rig, and make proper decisions unique to each well.The overbalanced pressure at the bottom of a borehole controls many aspects of drilling. A mud logger's gas units can reveal much information but is usually not understood. The mud logger's gas unit curve can be calibrated to reveal how much gas is in the drilling fluid. The flow in the drill string and annulus is partially laminar and partially turbulent depending greatly upon the flow rate and the rheological properties of the drilling fluid. This controls the nozzle sizes required to cause the drilling fluid to strike the bottom of the hole with the greatest force or greatest power. Unfortunately, this flow regime cannot be predicted prior to drilling. A procedure is presented which allows proper nozzle sizes to be installed in the drill bit and determine the correct optimum flow rate. The correct yield point can then be predicted which will lift cuttings through the vertical part of a well bore. When the new bit with the correct nozzles returns to drilling, the flounder point of either a roller cone bit or a PDC bit can be determined. This allows the cheapest, fastest hole to be drilled. Well bore instability and erosion will be discussed from an understanding of clay structure and field data.Considerable attention is devoted to correcting drilling fluid properties and controlling filter cake quality. This eliminates many seen and unseen obstacles for drilling a trouble-free hole as cheaply as possible. This involves proper drilling fluid processing in the surface tanks. No discussion will be presented of fishing tools - they should rarely be needed after this course.Bring a calculator - you will need it.

Experienced people on drilling rigs who want to drill cheaper, specifically drilling rig personnel, drilling engineers, drilling rig supervisors, tool pushers, drilling managers, and service company personnel. This course is NOT recommended for inexperienced personnel or people not directly involved with actual drilling operations. You should have completed the Basic Drilling Technology course or have several years of drilling experience to gain the most from the course.

You will Learn:

Participants will learn how to:

• Calibrate a mud logger's gas unit curve
• Interpret gas unit curves
• Determine pore pressure
• Select the correct nozzle sizes and flow rate to make the fluid strike the bottom of the hole with the greatest force possible or the greatest power available
• Select drilling fluid yield point needed to clean the vertical portion of the well
• Extend the life of drill bits and have the maximum drilling rate by determining the flounder point of a roller cone or PDC bit
• Avoid poor cementing jobs by creating a thin, slick, compressible filter cake
• Decrease vibration which seriously impacts PDC bit performance by eliminating drilled solids
• Arrange equipment for a proper PIT
• Read Pressure Integrity charts
• Evaluate dull bits to select the best next bit
• Understand well bore instability