C O N T E N T S
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Exploration and Production Licences
1.2 Exploration, Development and Abandonment
2. DRILLING PERSONNEL
3. THE DRILLING PROPOSAL AND DRILLING PROGRAM
4. ROTARY DRILLING EQUIPMENT
5. THE DRILLING PROCESS
6. OFFSHORE DRILLING
7. DRILLING ECONOMICS
7.1 Drilling Costs in Field Development
7.2 Drilling Cost Estimates
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Having worked through this chapter the student will be able to:
Exploration, Appraisal and Development:
• Describe the role of drilling in the exploration, appraisal and development of a field.
• Describe the types of information gathered during the drilling of a well.
• Define the objectives of an exploration, appraisal and development well.
• Describe the licensing process for an exploration, appraisal and development well.
Personnel:
• Describe the organisations and people, and their respective responsibilities, involved in drilling a well.
• Describe the differences between a day-rate and turnkey drilling contract.
Drilling and Completing a Well:
• Describe the steps involved in Drilling and Completing a well, highlighting the reasons behind each step in the operation.
Drilling Economics :
• Identify the major cost elements when drilling a well
• Identify the major time consuming operations when drilling a well.
1.1 Exploration and Production Licences :
In the United Kingdom, the secretary of State for Energy is empowered, on behalf of the Government, to invite companies to apply for exploration and production licences on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS). Exploration licences may be awarded at any time but Production licences are awarded at specific discrete intervals known as licencing ‘Rounds’. Exploration licences do not allow a company to drill any deeper than 350 metres (1148ft.) and are used primarily to enable a company to acquire seismic data from a given area, since a well drilled to 1148 ft on the UKCS would not yield a great deal of information about potential reservoirs.
Production licences allow the licencee to drill for, develop and produce hydrocarbons from whatever depth is necessary. The cost of field development in the North Sea are so great that major oil companies have formed partnerships, known as joint ventures, to share these exploration and development costs (e. g. Shell/Esso).