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Energy Resources
Published in Dexter Perkins, Kevin R. Henke, Adam C. Simon, Lance D. Yarbrough, Earth Materials, 2019
Dexter Perkins, Kevin R. Henke, Adam C. Simon, Lance D. Yarbrough
Although the first horizontal oil well, drilled near Texon, Texas, was completed in 1929, before 1990 most oil wells were drilled vertically and one to a location, such as shown by the middle derrick in Figure 14.13. The spacing of wells depended on the richness of the petroleum resource below. Today, however, boreholes may be vertical near the surface but can curve and may become horizontal at depth (left derrick in Fig. 14.13). And, using directional drilling (right derrick), multiple wells may be drilled from the same drilling pad—the wells need not be vertical and can be aimed in different directions. Horizontal and directional drilling may extend as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) from a drill pad, thus reducing the number of wells needed to recover petroleum from different parts of a reservoir. Directional drilling can sometimes tap into more than one reservoir, and such drilling can also be used to recover petroleum from underneath cities and environmentally sensitive areas. Drilling multiple directional wells from a single site can save money and, for this reason, as many as 50 wells have been drilled from a single offshore drilling platform.
Hydraulic Fracking:The Process
Published in Frank R. Spellman, Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater, 2017
When initially developed, conventional petroleum reservoirs depend on the pressure of their gas cap and oil-dissolved gas to lift the oil to the surface (i.e., gas drive). Water trapping the petroleum from below also exerts an upward hydraulic pressure (i.e., water drive). The combined pressure in petroleum reservoirs produced by the natural gas and water drives is known as the conventional drive. As a reservoir’s production declines, lifting further petroleum to the surface, like the lifting of water, requires pumping, or artificial lift. In the late 1940s, drilling companies began inducing hydraulic pressure in wells to fracture the producing formation. This stimulated further production by effectively increasing the contact of a well with a formation. Advances in directional drilling technology have allowed wells to deviate from nearly vertical to extend horizontally into the reservoir formation, which further increases contact of a well with the reservoir. Directional drilling technology also enables drilling a number of wells from a single well pad, thus cutting costs while reducing environmental disturbance. Combining hydraulic fracturing with directional drilling has opened up the production of tight (less permeable) petroleum and natural gas reservoirs, particularly unconventional gas shales such as the Marcellus Shale formation.
Trenchless Equipment
Published in John E. Schaufelberger, Giovanni C. Migliaccio, Construction Equipment Management, 2019
John E. Schaufelberger, Giovanni C. Migliaccio
Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is frequently used for installation of water lines. It is also used for installation of natural gas lines and underground telephone and fiber optic cables. The term directional drilling is used to describe the unique ability to track the location of the drill bit and steer it during the drilling process. The accuracy of installation depends on the survey system used and the skill of the operator. Typical accuracy is within 1% of the length of the excavation.
A multi-objective optimisation algorithm for a drilling trajectory constrained to wellbore stability
Published in International Journal of Systems Science, 2022
Wendi Huang, Min Wu, Jie Hu, Luefeng Chen, Chengda Lu, Xin Chen, Weihua Cao
With the decrease of shallow resources, the exploration of deep resources is becoming important. Directional drilling is one of the vital techniques for resource development. Especially under the condition of complicated formation, directional drilling is required to avoid obstacle or rescue. In directional drilling, the drill bit reaches a predetermined underground target in a specific direction. With the limitation of drilling technical, drilling trajectory optimisation is to solve the problem of how to reduce economic costs and accident risks of a drilling process through trajectory design. Considerable researches on drilling trajectory optimisation methods have grown up because of the increasing application of directional drilling.