introduction to drilling engineering

Overview of the Well Construction Process: The E&P process and where drilling fits in; Information obtained from drilling; Exploration, appraisal and development drilling; The drilling rig components and crew; Drilling operations organization; Well costing / AFE; Drilling operational procedures; Drilling risk management, hazards and loss prevention methods.

Drilling Fundamentals: Types of sedimentary rocks, their properties and their impact on drilling; Formation pressures: Hydrostatic pressure, Overburden pressure, Pore pressure; Formation fracture gradient; Methods of predicting overpressures before drilling the well; Detection of overpressures while drilling the well; Limit Test and Leak Off Test and their applications in drilling; Wellbore instability; Kick and kick tolerance.

Preliminary Well Design: Processes that occur prior to a well design: Land leasing, Contracts, Site Preparation etc; Data and information that is required for both land and offshore well planning; Well design and well programming; Components of, and contributors to, a well design; Introduction to directional drilling, well paths, wellbore surveying, and methods used to deflect well paths; Factors considered when designing a wellpath; Common types of drilling fluids and additives and their applications; Typical drillstrings & BHA; Main types of bits and their functions; Casing types and drilling-related reasons for setting casing; Factors that govern casing point selection; Different types of wellhead; Primary and remedial cementing.

Programming & Drilling the Well: Components of, and contributors to, a drilling program; High-level operational sequence for drilling a well including a time-depth curve; Contents of a Daily Drilling Report; Real-Time operations; Common types of drilling problems and how they are prevented or solved. Various [reservoir] impairment mechanisms originating from Drilling; What happens when a well kicks; Basic calculations required to kill the well; Main functions of the BOP system; Difference between a blowout and a well control situation; Options to bring a blowout back under control.

Evaluating and Completing the Well: Common types of well evaluation methods and their applications; Different formation properties obtained from logs; LWD and its benefits and limitations; Geosteering and its benefits and limitations; Perforating techniques and their applications; Different types of well completions and their applications; Well completion schematics; Main components of a completion string; Basic description of Intelligent Completions; Well suspension and well abandonment techniques.