Rockpecker Tools for Different Drilling Techniques
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1. Vertical Drilling
The conventional mode of drilling is Vertical Drilling. To reach the pay zone, the drill descends vertically from the surface. The drill is boring through the core; there is no other way. Of all the varieties, it is the most prevalent.
When the minerals are directly beneath the drilling sites, vertical drilling is an option. In other words, this kind of drilling proceeds at a 90-degree angle and vertically underground (perpendicular to the surface)
Rockpecker Vertical Drilling Equipment:
Methods for Vertical Drilling
Vertical drilling mainly describes the direction of the drilling. However, drilling also differentiates based on the technology or method used for drilling. Therefore, within this type of drilling, these are the four useable methods of drilling: Electro drilling and dual-wall reverse circulation drilling are just extensions of rotary drilling.
- Percussion or Cable Drilling: The percussion drilling method is the oldest, dating back to the time of the first commercial oil wells in the late 1800s.
- Rotary Drilling: Rotary drilling was a much better improvement over percussion or cable drilling. It’s still the most commonly used method of drilling for oil and gas wells.
- Electro-Drilling: Electro drilling is simply a variation on rotary drilling.
- Dual-Wall Reverse Circulation Drilling: Dual-wall reverse circulation drilling are just extensions of rotary drilling.
2. Horizontal Drilling
Like bottom-driven bits, technology allows for this kind of drilling. They make a quick turn and start drilling horizontally. When drilling horizontally as opposed to conventionally, the goal is to penetrate the thin layer above the pay zone before boring parallel to the pay zone.
Advantages:
- Increasing the draining area.
- Prevention of gas coning or water coning problems
- Increased penetration of producing formation
- Increasing the efficiency of enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
- Improving productivity in fractured reservoirs by intersecting a number of vertical fractures.
Horizontal drilling has become a valuable technique in recent years due to certain advantages over traditional vertical drilling. It permits access to subsurface reservoirs that may not be accessible from directly above. Horizontal drilling also allows one drilling pad, or kickoff point, to explore a broader underground area.
Horizontal drilling can also be used to seal off—or relieve pressure on—an out of control well by drilling an adjacent relief well. Finally, beyond the purpose of oil extraction, horizontal drilling can be useful in the construction of underground pipelines or utility lines that need to travel beneath a river or an existing building.
Horizontal drilling is often useful in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing to explore previously untapped gas reservoirs. It can be considered as an alternative drilling method for vertical drilling.
3. Slant Drilling/ Directional Drilling
Directional drilling is a technique used by oil-extraction companies in order to access oil in underground reserves. Directional drilling is also called directional boring. Most oil wells are positioned above the targeted reservoir, so accessing them involves drilling vertically from the surface through to the well below. However, directional drilling is different because it involves drilling at a non-vertical angle. (Directional drilling is used to describe any drilling that doesn't go straight down.)
Slant drilling or Directional drilling makes an angle of between 30 and 45 degrees to the pay zone rather than drilling straight down it or making a sharp bend parallel to it. This type of drilling is an improvement over light and horizontal drilling. Directional drilling provides the capacity to alter direction and depth frequently, resulting in a root-like pattern of drill bores. It is already being used in parts of the world where there is a desire to lessen environmental impact. Drilling of this kind causes less environmental disruption, protecting the ecosystem as a result.
Directional drilling is when a hole is dug at an angle or in a direction other than vertical. Some wells are drilled at angles other than the typical 90 degrees, making them not all vertical because they are perpendicular to the Earth's surface.
Certain circumstances prevent vertical drilling from stimulating reservoirs. In such circumstances, a different direction might enable the well's precise directional control and stimulate the reservoir to produce minerals.
The need for directional drilling is not limited to situations where drilling vertically is challenging.
Applications:
- Greater reservoir exposure.
- Exploit irregular reservoir drainage.
- Reduction in drilling cost per unit length of the well bore contacting, the reservoir rock.
- Ability to obtain a given length of horizontal well bore in reservoir where drag would perhaps limit the length of single horizontal well bore.
- Increased Horizontal displacement from central platform.
- Increased penetration length of reservoir.
The main benefit of directional drilling is that it enables drillers to exploit multiple oil reservoirs with a single well, thereby reducing the total cost of drilling while also limiting the environmental impact of drilling.
Although it's less common than it once was, vertical drilling is still an essential component of the drilling process. Even if the finished well is not vertical, the initial phase of drilling is essentially vertical drilling, whether it be directional drilling or horizontal drilling. Because of the significant shortcomings, of vertical wells, the oil and gas industry has shifted to horizontal drilling and horizontal wells. Vertical wells simply don't exist in the shale oil industry because they don't function with shale rocks. Contact us if you are using any of these techniques and in need of any customised or standard drilling tools on bits@rockpecker.com
