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Файл:Нефтегазовое дело. Бурение скважин (на английском языке) = Oil and gas drilling engineering through English. Учебное пособие.pdf
Compliant Towers
Compliant towers constructed sim-
sist of a
extended up to the platform.
tural flexibility allows it to operate in
Соответствует Башни
чтобы выдержать даже ураган условия.
Oilman
Нефтяник
Russian national sign
Русская народная примета
To shoot (shot) a music video
Снять видеоклип
Memo
Памятка
To trust
Доверять, верить
Naked
Голый
Lavatory pan
Унитаз
Filing station manager
Оператор бензозаправочной станции
ilar as fixed platforms. They con
narrow tower, mounted to a foundation on
the sea bed
These offshore compliant towers are flexible, as opposed to the relatively rigid legs
of a fixed production platform. This struc-
подобно тому, как стационарных платформ. Они состоят из узкой башни, установленного на фундаменте на морском
дне продлен до платформы. Эти шельфе
совместимые башни являются гибкими, в
отличие от относительно жестких ног
Соответствует башни построены
фиксированной эксплуатационной плат-
much deeper water, as the construction
can take much of the loads exerted on it
by the wind and waves. Despite its flexibility, the compliant tower platforms are
strong enough to withstand even hurricane
conditions.
формы. Эта структурная гибкость позволяет ему работать в более глубокое воды,
а строительство может занять много нагрузок, оказываемое на него ветра и волн.
Несмотря на гибкость, совместимого
башня платформы достаточно сильны,
(abridged from http://www.oilgasarticles.com/articles/9/1/Offshore-Production-Platforms)
6. Amusement corner, or no political correctness. Read the petrole-
um anecdotes and have fun
• Oilmen are ecological terrorists: oil and gas they extract are used for
burning and polluting the air of the planet
• According to Russian national sign, if the gasoline price at Moscow
filling stati ons goes up – that mea ns Alsu shot a new music video
• A memo for husbands: never trust a naked unknown oilman in your
toilet, there is no oil in your lavatory pan
• If oil price goes up, only tanks will r ide
• In Russia oil is twice more expensive than natural gas, because Timo-
shenko was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment for crimes in natural gas
sphere while Khodorkovsky – to 15 year s for oil sphere c rimes
• If g a sol ine is too expensiv e in th e f utu r e – filling statio n mana g ers will
present a car for a full tank of gasoline
51
Module 4
PETROLEUM DRILLING
Learning objectives
In this module you will:
• und erstand basic conc epts of modern petr oleum drilling an d acquire vocabu-
lary connected with it;
• revise developing idea s on the topic;
• revise expressing agreement and disagreeme nt with statements on the topi c;
• revise understanding texts on the topic without translating them;
• revise making summary of texts on the topic;
• review grammar on first and se cond conditional;
• im prove translating skill s and machine translati on correcting skill s
1. Before you read
Discuss these statements with your partner (see example in Unit 1).
How far do you agree tha t…
1. oil pro duction is a multistage, difficult and very dangero us process;
2. a lot of has to be taken into consideration for dr illing a well only
3. much expensive equipment is nec essary for dri lling operations;
4. oil and gas well drilling is a prestigious and high paid job;
5. well dril ler s m ust be re al ly educa te d an d ve ry respo ns i ble persons
2. Reading
Read the article about oil wells, don’t consult the vocabulary. Is there
any unknown information for you? Say what is new for you (see example in
Unit 1).
pressures, control flows and allow access to the wellbore in case additional
completion wor k is n ee de d ?
Read again, then answer t he questions on the text using the key word.
1. What is an oil well in general?
2. In what case is a well termed as a gas well ?
3. By what operation is a well created?
4. What special equipment is termed “dril l collars?”
5. What is a drilling mud and what is it used to?
6. How are rock “cuttings” swept up from under the drill bit?
7. What technic al process is called “m aking a connection”?
8. What is the function of sand-screens (gravel packs)?
9. What terms are attributed to the collection of valves used to regulate
10. Wha t types of wells are mentioned in the text?
52
Read once again, consult the vocabulary. Then make a summary (see
examples in U nit 2)
An oil well
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface
that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some
natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce
mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.
The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China. They had depth of up
about 240 m and were drilled using bit attached to bamboo poles. The oil was
burned to evaporate brine and produce salt. By the 10
th
century, extensive bam-
boo pipelines connected oil with salt springs.
The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the usе of natural gas for lightning and heating. Petroleum was known
as burning w ater in Japan in the 7
The Middle Easts’s petroleum was established by the 8
th
century.
th
century, then
the streets of the newly constructed Bagdad were paved with tar, derived from
petroleum that became accessible from natural fields in the region. Petroleum
was distilled by the Persian alchemists in the 9
th
century, producing chemicals
such as kerosene in the alembic and which was mainly used for kerosene
lamps. Arab and Persian chemists also distilled crude oil in order to produce
flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain, distillation
became available in Western Europe by the 12
Some sources claim that from the 9
th
th
century.
century, oi l fields were exploited in
the area around m ode r n Baku to pr od uce na p htha for the pet roleum industry.
Shallow pits were dug at the Baku seeps in ancient times to facilitate collecting oil, and hand -dug holes up to 35 meters deep were in use by the beginning of the 17
th
century. These holes were essentiall y oil wells. Also, offshore
drilling start ed up a t Bak u in 18 46.
The earliest oil wells in modern times were drilled percussively, by hammering a cable tool into the earth. Soon after, cable tools were replaced with rotary drilling, which could drill boreholes to much greater depths and in less time.
The record-depth Kola Bohehole used non-rotary mud motor drilling to achieve
a depth of over 12000 m. Until the 1970s, most oil wells were vertical, although
lithological and mechanical imperfections cause most wells to deviate at least
slightly from true vertical. However, modern directional drilling technologies allow for strongly deviated wells which can, given sufficient depth and with the
proper tools, actually become horizontal. The use of deviated and horizontal
drilling has also made it possible to reach reservoirs several kilometers or miles
away from the drilling location (extended reach drilling), allowing for the pro-
53
duction of hydrocarbons located below locations that are either difficult to place
a drilling rig on, e nv ir onmentally sensit ive, or po pula ted.
The well is created by drilling a hole 5 to 50 inches in diameter into the
earth with a drilling rig that rotates a drill string with a bit attach ed. After a hole
is drilled, sections of steel pipe (casing), slightly smaller in diameter than the
borehole, are placed in the hole. Cement may be placed between the outside of
the casing an d the borehole. The casing pr ovides structural integri ty. With these
zones safely isolated and the formation protected by the casing, the well can be
drilled deeper (into potentially more unstable and violent formations) with a
smaller bit, and also cased with a smaller size casing. Modern wells often have
two or five sets of subsequently smaller hole sizes drilled inside one another,
each cemented with casin g.
The drill bit, aided by the weight of thick walled pipes called “drill collars”, cuts into the rock. There are dif f erent types of drill bit.
Drilling fluid, or mud, is pumped down inside of the drill pipe and exists
at the drill bit. Drilling mud is a complex mixture of fluids, solids and chemicals that must be carefully tailored to provide the correct physical and chemical
characteristics required to safely drill the well. Particularly functions of the
drilling mud include cooling the bit, lifting rock cuttings to the surface, preventing destabilization of the rock in the wellbore walls and overcoming the
pressure of fluids inside the rock so that these fluids do not enter the wellbor e .
The general rock “cuttings” are swept up by the drilling fluid as it circulates back to surface outside the drill pipe. The fluid then goes through “shakers” and returns to the pit.
The pipe or drill string to which the bit is attached is gradually lengthened as the well gets deeper by screwing in additional 10 m sections or
“joints”. This process is called making a connection. Usually, joints are combined into three joints equaling one stand. Some smaller rigs only use two
joints and some rigs can ha ndle stands of four joints.
This process is all facilitated by a drilling rig which contains all necessary equipment to circulate the drilling fluid, hoist and turn the pipe, control
downhole, remove cuttin gs from the drilling fluid.
Completion is the process in which the well is enable to produce oil or gas.
In a cased hole completion, small holes called perforations are made in the portion
of the casing which passed through the production zone, to provide a path for the
oil to flow from the surrounding rock into the production tubing. In open-hole
completion, often “sand-screens” or a “gravel pack” is installed in the last drilled,
uncased reservoir section. These maintain structural integrity of the wellbore in
the absence of casing, while still allowing flow from the reservoir into the wellbore. Screens also control the migration of formation sands into production
tubulars and surface equipm ent, whic h can cause w ashouts and othe r problem s.
54
After a flow path is made, acids and fracturing fluids are pumped into the
well to fracture, clean or otherwise prepare and stimulate the reservoir rock to
optimally produce hydrocarbons into the wellbore. Finally, the area above the
reservoir section of the well is packed off inside the casing, and connected to
the surface via a smaller diameter pipe called tubing. This arrangement provides a redundant barrier lo leaks of hydrocarbons as well as allowing da maged
sections to be repl ac e d.
In many wells, the natural pressure of the subsurface reservoir is high
enough for the oil or gas to flow to the surface. However, this is not always the
case, especially in depleted fields where the pressures have been lowered by
other producing wells, or in low permeability oil reservoirs. Installing a smaller
diameter tubing may be enough to help the production, but artifi cial lift methods may also be needed. Common solutions include downhole pumps, gas lift,
or surface pump jacks.
The production stage is the most important stage of a well’s life, when
the oil and gas are produced. By this time, the oil rigs and workover rigs used
to drill and complete the well have moved off the wellbore, and the top is usually outfitted with a collection of valves called a Christmas tree or Production
tree. These valves regulate pressures, control flows, and allow access to the
wellbore in case further completion work is needed. From the outlet valve of
the production tree, the f low can be co nnected to a d istribution network of pipelines and tanks to supply the product to refineries, natural gas compressor stations, or oil export terminals.
As long as the pressure in the reservoir remains high enough, the production tree is all that is required to produce the well. If the pressure depletes, an
artificial lift method can be employed.
Workovers are often necessary in older wells, which may need smaller
diameter tubing, scale or paraffin removal. Such remedial work can be performed using workover rigs – also known as pulling units or completion rigs –
to pull and replace tubing. Depending on the type of lift and wellhead a rod rig
can be used t o change a pump without pul ling the tubi ng.
Enhanced recovery methods such as water flooding, steam flooding may
be used to increase reservoir pressure and provide a “sweep” effect to push hydrocarbons out of the reservoir. Such methods require the use of injection wells
(often chosen from old production wells in a carefully determined pattern), and
are used when facing problems with reservoir pressure depletion, high oil viscosity, or can even be employed early in a field’s life. In certain cases – depending on the reservoir’s geomechanics – reservoir engineers may determine
that ultimate recoverable oil may be increased by applying a waterflooding
strategy early in the field’s development rather than later. Such enhanced recovery techniques are often called “tertiary recovery”.
55
Fossil-fuel wells come in many varieties. By produced fluid, there can be
wells that produce oil, wells that produce oil and natural gas, or wells that only
produce natural gas. Natural gas is almost always a byproduct of producing oil,
since the small, light gas carbon chains come out of solution as they undergo
pressure reduction from the reservoir to the surface, similar to uncapping a bottle of soda pop where the carbon dioxi de effervesces. Unwanted natural gas can
be a disposal problem at the well site. If there is not a market for natural gas
near the wellhead it is virtually valueless since it must be piped to the end user.
Until recently, such unwanted gas was burned off at the wellsite, but due to environmental concerns this practice is becoming less common. Often, unwanted
(or 'stranded' gas without a market) gas is pumped back into the reservoir with
an 'injection' well for disposal or repressurizing the producing formation. Another solution is to export the natural gas as a liquid. Gas-to-liquid, (GTL) is a
developing technology that converts stranded natural gas into synthetic gasoline, diesel or jet fuel through the Fischer-Tropsch process developed in World
War II Germany. Such fuels can be transported through conventiona l pipelines
and tankers to users. Proponents claim GTL fuels burn cleaner than comparable
petroleum fuels. Most major international oil companies are in advanced development stages of GTL production, e.g. the 140,000 bbl/d (22,000 m3/d) Pearl
GTL plant in Qatar, scheduled to come online in 2011. In locations such as the
United States with a high natural gas demand , pipelines ar e constructed to take
the gas from the wellsite to the end consumer.
Another obvious way to classify oil wells is by land or offshore wells.
There is very little difference in the well itself. An offshore well targets a reservoir
that happens to be underneath an ocean. Due to logistics, drilling an offshore well
is far more costly than an onshore well. By far the most common type is the onshore well. These wells dot the Southern and Central Great Plains, Southwestern
United States, and are the most c ommon we lls in the Middle East.
Another way to classify oil wells is by their purpose in contributing to
the development of a resour ce . They can be characterized as:
• production wells are drilled primarily for producing oil or gas, once
the producing str uc tu r e and cha rac te r is tic s are deter mined;
• appraisal wells are used to assess characteristics (such as flow rate) of
a proven hydrocarbon accumulation;
• exploration wells are drilled purely for exploratory (information gath-
ering) purposes in a new area;
• wildcat wells are those drilled outside of and not in the vicinity of
known oil or gas fields.
At a producing well site, active wells may be further categorized as:
• oil producers producing predominantly liquid hydrocarbons, but most-
ly with some associated gas.
56
gas produce rs producing almost entirely gaseou s hydrocarbo ns.
General term
Общий термин
Boring through the earth's surface
Бурение вглубь земной поверхности
Shallow pit
Неглубокий колодец
Lithological
Литологический
True vertical
Строго вертикальный
Extended reach drilling
Бурение с расширенным радиусом охвата
Drill string (drill pipe)
Бурильная колонна
Casing
Обсадная колонна
Violent formations
Прочные пласты
Drill collar
Буровой хомут
Solids
Твердые тела, частицы
To tailor
Настраивать, адаптировать
Shaker
Вибратор
Cased hole completion
Завершение обсаженной скважины
Open-hole completion
Завершение необсаженной скважины
Sand screen (gravel pack)
Песочный фильтр (гравийная набивка)
Washout
Размытие, промоина
Tubing
Шланг, трубопровод
Tubular
Труба
Downhole pump
Глубинный насос
Gas lift
Газлифт
Surface pump jack
Наземный насос-качалка
Workover rig (pulling unit, completion rig)
Ремонтная установка (подъемник для ремонта
скважин, установка для завершения)
•
• water injectors injecting water into the formation to maintain reservoir
pressure or simply to dispose of water produced with the hydrocarbons becau se
even after treatment, it would be too oily and too saline to be considered clean
for dumping overboard, let alone into a fresh water source, in the case of onshore wells. Frequently water injection has an element of reservoir management and produce d wate r di sp osa l.
• aquifer producers intentionally producing reservoir water for re-
injection to manage pressure. This is in effect moving reservoir water from
where it is not as useful to where it is more useful. These wells will generally
only be used if produced water from the oil or gas producers is insufficient for
reservoir management purposes. Using aquifer produced water rather than water from other sources is to preclude chemical incompatibility that might lead to
reservoir-plugging precipitates.
• gas injectors injecting gas into the reservoir often as a means of disposal
or sequestering for later pr oduction, but also to maintain r eservoir pr essure.
• New F ield Wildcat (NFW) – fa r from other producing fie lds and on a
structure t hat has not previously pr oduced.
(abridged from
http://attemptnwin.com/answers/what-is-meant-by-petroleum-who-was-the-first-to-drill-crude-oil/)
57
Christmas tree
Фонтанная арматура, «ёлка»
Valve
Клапан, запорная арматура
Outlet valve
Выпускной клапан
Rod rig
Шланговая установка
Recovery method
Метод восстановления
Water flooding
Заводнение
Steam flooding
Паронагнетание
Injection well
Нагнетательная скважина
Tertiary recovery
Третичная добыча
Uncapping
Раскупоривание
Unwanted (stranded) natural gas
Выбрасываемый природный газ
Gas-to-liquid
Преобразование газа в жидкое топливо
Proponent
Сторонник
By far
Намного, безусловно
To dot
Усеивать
To assess
Оценивать
Appraisal well
Оценочная скважина
Exploration well
Разведочная скважина
Wildcat
Поисковая скважина
Predominantly
Преимущественно
To dispose of
Избавляться
Aquifer
Водоносный слой
To preclude chemical incompatibility
Устранять химическую несовместимость
Precipitate
Ускорять
Means of sequestering
Средства изолирования
Pay zone
Продуктивная зона
New Field Wildcat
Изолированная поисковая скважина
Student 1
Professor, what is a drilling fluid and what is it required in a wellbore for?
Professor
Drilling fluid is an important component in the drilling process. A
Remove the rock fragments, or drill cuttings, from the drilling
Counterbalance formation pressure to prevent formation fluids
– Prevent the open (uncased) wellbore from caving i t.
Student 2
Professor, what properties may be required of a drilling fluid?
Professor
Different properties may be required of the drilling fluid, depend-
3. Speaking. At the conference
Is there any unknown information for you? Say what is new for you
(see exa mple in Unit 1).
fluid is required in the wellbore to:
– Cool and lubricate the drill bit;
–
area and transport them to the surface;
–
(oil, gas and water) from entering the well prematurely;
58
ing upon the drilling conditions. For example, a higher-density fluid
may be desired in high-temperature conditions. While drilling a fluid
used for approximately 93 per cent of wells. In addition to liquid,
ty and alters the density of the fluid. Drilling mud may also contain
additional additives that alte r the proper ties of the fluid.
Student 3
Professor, what are three general categories of drilling fluids according to A PI guidance document?
Professor
The American Petroleum Institute (API) environmental guidance
erations” considers the three general categories of drilling fluids
based muds, but also
based muds in
some situations.
Student 4
Professor, what muds are the most frequently used ?
Professor
Water-based muds are used most frequently. The base may be either
fresh or salt water, for onshore and of fshore w ells, re spectively.
Student 5
Professor, what is the primary benefit of water-ba sed muds?
Professor
The primary benefit of water-based muds is cost; they are the least
expensive of the major types of drilling fluids, and in general they
ultant drilling waste can be
based muds is their
limited lubricity and re activity with some shales.
Student 6
Professor, tell us, please, can water-based muds be used together
with oil-based muds?
Professor
In deep holes or high-angle directional drilling, water-based muds
bore. In these case s, oi l-based and sy nthetic muds are needed.
Student 7
Professor, characterize the oil-based muds, please.
Professor
Oil-based muds are composed primarily of diesel oil and are there-
based muds. This higher cost,
based muds a
based muds are well suited for the
muds. Also oil-based muds are used when drilling through reactive
may be a gas or foam, liquid-based fluids (called drilling muds) are
drilling muds usually contain bentonite cla y that i nc rea ses the vi scosi-
document “Waste management in Exploration and Production Op-
(muds) to be water-based, oil-based and synthetic-based. Synthetic-based muds are used as substitutes for oilmay be an advantageous replacement for water-
are less expensive to use since the res
discharged onsite provided these wastes pass regulatory requirements. The significant drawback with water-
reactivity with clay shale can cause the destabilization of the well-
fore more expensive than waterwhich includes the added burden of removing the oil from drilling
cuttings, and the requi red disposal options make oilless frequently used option. Oilhigh temperature conditions found in deep wells because oil components have a higher boili ng point tha n water, a nd oi l-based muds
can avoid the pore-clogging that may occur with water-based
59
(or high pressu re) shales, high-angle directional drilling, and drill-
ing in deep water. These situations encountered while drill ing can
muds are necessary, the upper section of a well generally is drilled
tings can no t be discharged this may not be the case.
Student 8
Professor, what substances are high performance drilling fluids
made of?
Professor
Since about 1990, the oil and gas extraction industry has developed
late high performance drilling fluids. A general class of these
fluids are called synthetic materials, such as the vegetables esters,
poly alpha olefins, internal olefins, linear alpha olefins, synthetic
based fluids based on
ity, lower bioaccumulation potential and in some drilling situations
decreased dril li ng wa ste v olume.
Student 9
Professor, can you tell u s about additives for drilling fluids, please?
Professor
Drilling muds typically have several additives. (Air and foam fluids typically do not contain many additives because the additives
als, primarily barite (barium sulfate), may be
used to increase the density of the mud in order to equilibrate the
pressure between the wellbor e and formation w hen drilling through
particularly pressurized zones. Hematite sometimes is used as a
ponents from acidic compounds encountered in the formation.
slow down in drilling rate, increase drilling costs or even be impossible if the water-based muds are used. In cases when water-based
with water-based muds and the conversion is made to oil-based
mud when the situation requires it. It is predicted that since the industry trend is toward deeper wells, oil-based muds may become
more prominent. However, because oil-based muds and their cut-
many new oleaginous (oil-like) base materials from which to formu
paraffins, ethers, linear alkybenzenes and others. Other oleaginous
materials have also been developed for these purpose, such as enhanced mineral oils and non-synthetic paraffins. Industry developed synthetic-based fluids with these synthetic and non-synthetic
oleaginous materials as the base fluid to provide the drilling performance characteristics of traditional oildiesel and mineral oil, but with the potential for lower environmental impact and greater worker safety through lower toxicity, elimination of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), faster biodegradabil-
are either liquid or solid, and will not mix with air and foam drilling fluids.) The following is a list of the more significant additives:
– Weighting materi
weighting agent in oil-based muds.
– Corrosion inhibitors such as iron oxide, aluminum bisulfate, zinc
carbonate and zinc chromate protect pipes and other metallic com-
60