In Just One Click

“When I need to know the meaning of a word or a term, I look it up in a dictionary or a glossary.”

William Safire (American Journalist and presidential speechwriter)

Glossary is an alphabetical list of terms peculiar to a field of knowledge with definitions or explanations and in the oil and gas industry there’s a vast array of terminology. In an era of everything digital it is even easier to search for words or terms when not understanding clearly their meaning. Right now with just one click on Google you can get all the information you need; however, it is necessary to know exactly where to look. You can narrow down your options and are more likely to get the definition you need when you go to a specific website with its own glossary.

Let’s take for example our website www.pvisoftware.com. When visiting our page, go to the “Support & Resources” tab. At the bottom of the list you’ll find “Drilling Industry Glossary”.

There you will be able to search through an extensive list of drilling industry terms.

PVI Drilling_Industry_GlossaryIf you know the term you are looking for you can always go to the alphabet at the top and choose the letter the term starts with. If you don’t know the term you can scroll down and look through all the terms that are shown and click on the one you are looking for once you find it.

PVI Drilling_Industry_GlossaryWhen you search for a term, on the left side you will see a list of other terms that begin with the same letter as the word you were searching for.

PVI Drilling_Industry_Glossary One of the features included in this glossary is the PDF version of the entire PVI drilling industry glossary, which you can download to your own computer or print it out and have it available anytime you need it.

PVI Drilling_Industry_GlossarySince we are living in the digital era, we get to experience what it is to have access to knowledge in just one click. The opportunity is right in front of our eyes, so it’s vitally important that we seize it.

The Managing of the Mud

Drilling mud is used to assist the drilling of wellbore into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, mud is also used for much simpler wellbores. For instance, water wells. The three main categories of drilling fluids are water-based mud, oil-based mud, and synthetic mud. The main functions of the drilling mud include providing hydrostatic pressure to prevent formation fluids from entering into the borehole, keeping the drill bit cool and clean during drilling, carrying out drill cuttings, suspending the drill cuttings while drilling is paused, and when the drilling assembly is brought in and out of the borehole. The mud that is used for a particular job is selected to avoid formation damage and to limit corrosion.

On a drilling rig, mud is pumped from the mud pits through the drill string where it comes out of the nozzles on the drill bit, cleaning and cooling the drill bit in the process. The mud then carries the crushed or cut rock (better known as cuttings) up the annulus between the drill string and the sides of the hole

The drilling fluids carry the cuttings excavated by the drill bit up to the surface. The ability to do so depends on the cutting size, shape, density, and speed of the fluid traveling up the borehole, which is also known as annular velocity. The mud viscosity is another important property, as cuttings will settle to the bottom of the well if the viscosity is too low. Fluids that have shear thinning and elevated viscosities are efficient for wellbore cleaning. High density fluids may clean the hole adequately even with lower annular velocities, but may have a negative impact if mud weight is in excess of that needed to balance the formation pressure. For this reason, mud weight is not usually increased for hole cleaning purposes.

Mud density should be limited to the minimum necessary for well control and wellbore stability. If too great, it may fracture the formation. Depending on the mud system in use, a number of additives can improve the filter cake and therefore maintain the wellbore stability.

As we can see, mud is a vital part of drilling operations. How can mud be managed in such a way to have success in these operations? This type of mud contains carefully chosen additives to control its properties. It is the responsibility of the mud engineer to ensure that any new mud that is produced and added, meets the required specifications.

In the past, mud engineers used paper forms or Excel® spreadsheets to record mud properties, product usage, and inventory every morning. With these methods, engineers encountered problems such as disorganization of numerous daily reports and difficulty in generating end-of well recaps.

MUDPRO is a mud reporting software developed by PVI that complies with API specifications for field use.

MUDPRO - Drilling Mud Reporting Software With a backbone of databases, this all-inclusive model highly improves data gathering, sharing and management. MUDPRO is designed for mud engineers at the rig sites as well as the company men in the office. A mud engineer can use it to record mud data and generate daily reports. It can also be used by company men for reviewing and managing data, making an end-of-well recap, and comparing data between multiple wells.

Step Two: Displacement

After the cement slurries have been designed and formulated the next step is:

Cementing the Well

After the casing is run into the well, a cementing head is hooked to the top of the wellhead to receive the slurries from the pumps. Then there are two wiper plugs, also known as cementing plugs (bottom plug and top plug) that sweep the inside of the casing and prevent mixing the drilling fluids with the cement slurries. The bottom plug is introduced into the well, and cement slurries are pumped into the well behind it. The bottom plug is then caught right above the bottom of the well by the float collar, which functions as a one-way valve allowing the cement slurries to enter the well. The pressure on the cement being pumped into the well increases until a diaphragm is broken within the bottom plug, permitting the slurry to flow through it and up the outside of the casing string.

Once the proper volume of cement is pumped into the wellbore, the top plug is pumped into the casing pushing the remaining slurry through the bottom plug. After the top plug reaches the bottom plug, the pumps are turned off, and the cement is allowed to set. The amount of time it takes the cement to harden is called thickening time. For setting wells at deep depths, under high temperature or pressure, as well as in corrosive environments, special cements can be employed.

When it comes to cementing operations the ultimate and most difficult goal is to provide zonal isolation by displacing drilling mud with cement slurries because an incomplete mud removal causes a poor cement seal which can lead to a catastrophe.

PVI has developed CEMPRO+ with the capability of displacement efficiency for a successful cementing operation.

CEMPRO+ : Mud Displacement SoftwareThis software is designed for used for both land and offshore operations as well as conventional and/or foaming operations. CEMPRO+ uses advanced numerical methods to solve momentum and continuity equations on 3D grids and calculates the fluid concentration as well as the displacement efficiency. It accounts for many factors that can affect the efficiency of displacement jobs, including fluid properties, pumping rates, casing standoff, complex wellbore geometry and many more.

Step One: Preparation

Cementing a well is the procedure of developing and pumping cement into a wellbore. Although it is used for various reasons, cementing protects and seals the well. Very frequently, cementing is used to permanently block out water from penetrating the well. Cementing is also used to seal the annulus after the casing string has been run in the wellbore. In addition, cementing can be used to seal a lost circulation zone, or a specific area where there is a reduction or absence of flow inside the wellbore. When it comes to directional drilling, cementing is used to plug an existing well, in order to run a directional well from that point.

Cementing is performed when the cement slurries are placed into the well by pumps, displacing the drilling fluids that are still located in the well, and replacing them with the cement. The cement slurries flow to the bottom of the well through the casing, which will later be the pipe through which the hydrocarbons flow to the surface. From there it starts filling the space between the casing and the wellbore, and hardens. This permanently positions the casing in place and seals the wellbore so that outside materials cannot enter.

Preparing the Cement

When preparing a well for cementing, it’s very important to be certain of the amount of cement required for the job. This is done by measuring the diameter of the borehole along its depth. Also, to know the required properties of the cement is very essential before beginning any cementing operation. The proper set cement is good to be determined, including the density and viscosity of the material, before actually pumping the cement into the hole.

Special mixers are used to combine dry cement with water to create the wet cement that is also known as slurry. The cement used in the well cementing process is Portland cement, and it is calibrated with additives to form one of eight different API classes of cement. Each is employed for various situations.

Additives can include accelerators, which shorten the setting time required for the cement, as well as retarders, which do the opposite and make the cement setting time longer. In order to decrease or increase the density of the cement, lightweight and heavyweight additives are added. Additives can be added to transform the compressive strength of the cement, as well as flow properties and dehydration rates. Extenders can be used to expand the cement in an effort to reduce the cost of cementing, and antifoam additives can be added to prevent foaming inside the well. In order to plug lost circulation zones, bridging materials are also added. However, the critical part missing here is the management of numerous reports and search function.

Without an efficient lab database, we will face the following situations:

  1. Difficulty of designing cement slurries.
  2. Waste of resources to repeat similar tests.
  3. Lack of prove while job problems occur.
  4. Non-standard practices at various labs within a company.

To streamline the cement lab operation, PVI developed CEMLab:CEMLab - Cement Lab Data Management SoftwareThis software is an integrated database management application that:

  • Formulates slurries.
  • Calculates lab amounts for all ingredients, such as cement, dry and liquid additives, salts and water.
  • Generates weigh-up sheets.
  • Stores API test results.
  • Generates lab reports.

CEMLab, is a web based application that allows quick access to all of your slurry formulations and testing statuses from anywhere, at any time. The advanced search function allows users to find the formula and test quickly and brings the previous jobs to their screen in no time. It’s a great tool for preparation.

Knowledge Is Power

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.”

Kofi Annan (Ghanaian diplomat)

In the petroleum industry the more knowledge we gain the more progress is made. The ability to control the downhole environment while drilling has been a dream held by drilling and reservoir engineers for decades. In the past resent years, drilling engineers focused on preventing influx of formation fluid or gas, and weighted-up their mud accordingly, but as a result, drillers found themselves indeed between the rock and a hard place.

In the early 1970s a better knowledge of drilling hydraulics started being developed. Up to this point, hydrostatic pressure and formation temperature were derived by measuring static mud weight and viscosity at the surface and calculating a pressure gradient which could be extrapolated to bit depth. Formation temperature was also calculated from a gradient. Neither parameter was precisely known. In addition, every time the mud pumps were stopped to make a connection a pressure surge was initiated when the pumps were re-started. In a formation with a tight drilling margin, this pressure spike could break down a weak spot and cause loss of circulation. Contrarily, when the drill pipe was pulled to make a bit trip or even a short trip, care had to be taken not to swab-in the well.

Drilling decisions focused on extending bit life to the maximum rather than maximizing ROP. This was accomplished by using less-aggressive bits to mitigate vibration which is the leading cause of bit wear. Float valves were installed just above the drill bit to prevent the loss of drilling fluid and to force the seawater mixture and cuttings coming down the annulus to enter the fractures. Thanks to the knowledge acquire through the years new technology has risen. Cutting-edge techniques, sustained by innovative technology, are increasing the industry's ability to safely and efficiently drill unstable formations in deepwater.

The ability to measure precisely and monitor continuously the equivalent circulating density of drilling fluid at the bit is essential for success. This is one of the functions of HYDPRO, PVI’s drilling hydraulics model.

HYDPRO - Drilling Hydraulics SoftwareThis software’s ability has allowed major strides in drilling technology that have affected safety, cost effectiveness, and efficiency. Many of the previous problems can be traced by more accurate estimations of dynamic downhole conditions.

Other functions of HYDPRO include:

  • Surge and Swab
  • Bit Optimization
  • Hole Cleaning
  • Volumetric Displacements

Like most critical undertakings, prior planning is a given. Even modular systems that are relatively easy to implement on a standard drilling unit must be carefully sized and can benefit from as much prior reservoir knowledge as possible. The benefits are important and well worth the planning effort.