Oil rigs seem to be capable of drilling holes inches in diameter and thousands of feet deep. They can keep these holes amazingly straight or deliberately curve them.
How do they do this and what does the drill head look like?
Jim
The tool pusher has a display of the weight of the drill string and keeps the force on the drill bit at the optimum level. Also the first few joints of pipe behind the drill are drill stem, really heavy wall stiff pipe. Not sure of how they control the curve now, but do know that the launch computer NASA used for the moon missions was the RCA
110A. A somewhat upgraded version of the RCA 110 which was made to control oil well drilling. So much for NASA's vaunted technical advances in computers.Dan
Oilwells are drilled with predetermined goals in mind. The target strata is not always right under the oil rig. Hence, they use "directional drilling" to make the bit go in the direction they want it to. That way, they can puncture several levels of strata with one well to recover as much oil as they can.
Directional drilling is achieved in many ways. It is far to complicated to explain here in a few paragraphs. Google it and read away. Basically, it is just a way to change the direction of a bit to hit a known reserve. Modern advances allow drillers to make sharper turns. A drillstem is made of steel, but anything thousands of feet long has flex in it.
Drill bits come in hundreds of sizes and configurations. Some have no rolling bits on them. Others have rolling cutting wheels on them like the ones you see on mining equipment. They come in all sizes.
Hughes Tools was innovative in the oil industry. NO ONE could purchase a Hughes Tool Bit. You could only rent them. That way, there was absolutely no question as to ownership. When one went dull or was damaged or lost, you got another.
Google for oilwell drill bits, and read on.
Steve
I imagine that has led to some pretty heated discussions (and beyond) when someone's drill hole ends up under the next door neighbor's property.
Or, am I wrong in assuming that one's oil and mineral rights extend down to the center of the earth?
And what about draining the oil out of a strata which extends under someone else's property - through a drill hole that's totally under yours?
The lawyers must eat up this kind of stuff.
Jeff
Mineral rights (stuff under the ground) and surface rights are not the same thing. You may or may not own your mineral rights depending on abstract. Here in Oklahoma mineral rights are a big deal.
(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net
Wars have been fought over this. One of Saddams excuses for invading Kuwait as an example.
"Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown
A short synopsis
"Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown
As someone suggested, do a Google search. I think you will find the directional effects are hydraulically derived using drilling "mud".
On Sun, 29 May 2005 12:17:46 -0400, the inscrutable Jeff Wisnia spake:
Yeah, that and a bit more.
Iraq didn't like it and invaded Kuwait because of angle drilling. That and the fact they were going broke from fighting the Iran/Iraq war. Saddam had successfully sacked Kuwait of its treasure before we got there.
"By 1989, U.S. war planners were starting to create scenarios with Saddam as the leading threat in the Middle East. But as late as January 1990, a National War College report concluded, "Baghdad should not be expected to deliberately provoke military confrontations with anyone. Its best interests now and in the immediate future are served by peace." The following summer, a cash-strapped Saddam accused Kuwait of "angle" drilling into its vast southern Rumaila and Zubair oil fields and invaded its neighbor to the southeast.
The United States could overlook Saddam's war crimes, but threatening the flow of oil was unacceptable."
At this point in time in the metro areas it would be highly unusual for someone to have their own mineral rights here in Oklahoma. Possibly some of the more rural areas where the land has been in someones family for some time. I have realatives that have property that is in the famous Anadarko Basin, and they have owned the land and rights since way back before statehood. And, your comment is 100 per cent correct. Where bouts are you in Oklahoma? I am in Midwest City.
On a much smaller scale than drilling for oil, such as in placement of underground data or power cables or even water lines, a spoon shaped bit is often used. A locator above grade can detect where the bit it, and if they stop rotation and just push it for a ways, it will turn away from the bottom side of the spoon. Then they can start rotation again and continue in a straight line. Pretty common around places anymore for this type of stuff. Much cheaper and faster than digging up a street or runway just because you need to get some cable or pipe under it. They bore where they need to go, and then when they start extracting the drill string, they can pull pvc or poly pipe back through the hole they just bored.
It gets complicated, but the mineral rights in tracts are of a vertical nature. So, you can't like tunnel into your neighbor's property. I don't know what happens when a reserve lies on a boundary line, and as pumping occurs, the oil may come from your lease or an adjoining one. Like you say, lawyers do that stuff.
STeve
"Randy Zimmerman" wrote
Ya got that right. That is why Hughes only rented theirs. If you didn't have the rental documents, a Hughes representative could confiscate it on the spot.
STeve
I worked in the oil patch in Alberta in the 1960's & 70's. At that time directional drilling was expensive and uncertain. Straight drilling was done by using very heavy "drill collars" at the bottom of the drill string. The bits were usually three steel cones with carbide buttons on them.The cones were mounted on bearings with the base of the cones just off the centre line of the drill and the point of the cone facing outward. Drilling mud was pumped down the centre of the drill string,and the entire string was rotated. The buttons on the bit broke up the rock and the chips were flushed up the annulus between the hole and the drill string. This mud was allowed to run over a "shale shaker" which separated any large chips. The mud was recirculated continuously. After a while the bit wear and drilling would slow. This meant that the entire drill string had to be pulled out, unscrewed into 90 ft sections and stacked on end in derrick. In those days the deepest holes in Alberta were about 17,00 ft. It could take over 24 hours of heavy ,dirty work to replace a bit so bit quality was paramount. Directional drilling has matured enormously since then so I'm not familiar with present procedures
I also worked on rigs in Alberta in the 70's . Did lots of deep hole directional drilling . Certainly in those days it was anything but hi-tech . Three kinds of bits . Diamond used only when pulling core samples . Toothed bits when the substrata was soft rock and button bits when the rock was harder . When passing through strata the wrong style bit pretty much stops progress so you have to pull the entire pipe out and switch them . I never got as deep as 17,000 but 13,000 took about 17 hours round trip . Dangerous time . Every time the pipe is pulled a long metal rod is dropped down the center of the drill stem . Inside is a small compass and a point the punctures it to show the compass heading at the bottom of the hole . If drilling is going smoothly and the pipe is not pulled often the rod/compass is dropped down connected to a sand line after it hits bottom it is winched back up before drilling can proceed . If the bit has wandered to the right heading heavy thick pipes (collars) are added right behind the bit to hold it at the desired course . these do not flex so bore straight . In addition every so often a specialty outfit is brought in with a contained compass and a camera . Pictures are taken showing the heading at carefully monitored distances . In addition every piece of drill stem in measured before it is added to the string . With the compass shots and the exact lengths they know very accurately where the bit is at any given depth . It is also sent to the Gov . I know there was lots of talk in the real old days about slant drilling but by the time I got on a rig it was pretty much over , at least in the corner of the world I worked . I had friends that worked in Indonesia and China , same there they told me . I never saw a gun or heard of anyone shooting at anyone either . All I worked were exploratory holes so what was found was of great interest to the competition and yes there were spies to watch and film . That said if oil was found everyone told everyone they knew . I doubt there was any need to shoot at anyone to protect what would be common knowledge . Hey maybe not ideal but try stop a batch of 20 year old kids when they know something ;-) . 90 foot sections of pipe flex at least 10 feet when racking them . So you worked on a triple , me too . There were at least four quads in Alberta working when I was there so 120 pulls . In the south hundreds of singles 30 foot pulls and doubles 60 foot pulls . I never worked any small rigs but guys told me they would go on long change and have to phone the office to find the new location . Those rigs moved weekly . Where the big deep hole ones sat in one spot for 6 to 8 months . Ken Cutt
Yep - not only can the drills be controlled, but they can be driven down riverbeds that are thousands of feet below and running in a dip or strike or both directions.
In other words, If California wasn't so picky and not in my back yard after I moved here - A rig in an inland valley could be drilling the oil in the oil beds off the coast.
In West Texas they found that many of the wells were taping into sand lanes or river beds of long ago flooding waters. The well either side would be dry. Schlumberger discovered this (IIRC) and how to gather the oil down stream and not using verticle holes.
Slant drilling was once against the law. Now it saves a lot of time, money and pollution. Slant is the old way of diagonal or slant drilling into a neighbors pool that you can't hit going verticle.
Martin [ former SLB ]
Nice note Ken -
I knew a fellow scientist at SLB (another lifetime and a better brain I tell you!) he was working on and broke it - how to data log with tools in real time while drilling ! - Normally a bit is extracted and then the tool set is dropped down-hole. This took time and time is money! - Besides - think of having an expensive crew there during a extract and drop and pull - or while you drill - the convince won. Money was not considered - just tell me today if I have half a change of oil or if that pinch out sand group was ever touched... Real time is great for joy stick control (almost :-) ) I know how he got by the signal - one "wire" is the drill stem/pipe system...
Martin
High Kelly and a dull bit Same old driller and the Same old shit
Gunner, triples, singles and gin poles. Derrick, chain, pits and mud.
"Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown
One of the guys I work with used to do directional drilling for the construction company. I'm under the impression that they can drill a hole 4 to ? what ever deep and many yards long and make it come out a hole somewhere down the line. He had said that you can drill under just about anything, make it go up and down and around stuff when needed. Of course he also said that they have hit telephone, gas, water, and power lines doing this drilling.
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