Petroleum refineries change crude oil into petroleum products for use. However, prior to this, oil needs to undergo a complex artificial production process that starts off with the search for oil fields or deposits. After it come the extraction, processing and transportation stages. Paul Favret mentions that drilling oil wells is the only way to assess the value of a field in terms of the quantity and type of hydrocarbons contained therein. This drilling can be an expensive and extensive operation. Paul is long-time energy, oil, and gas sector professional, and hence has a good understanding of the oil drilling process.
Drilling rigs are huge structural equipment that tends to be used for drilling oil. A hole is drilled using a downward force by rotating a bit. Rocks are ideally drilled by with a rotating bit mounted at the end of a series of mutually screwed steel pipes. These pipes are extended as the well becomes deeper. A fifty-meter-tall tower is used to support the rods, and their rotation is made possible with a rotating plate operated with the help of a dedicated electric engine. The bit is made of extremely sturdy and hard material, and at times can be even equipped with components of synthetic diamond.
The rod battery used in the oil drilling process is generally as long as the well is deep. The rods are empty to make sure that the circulation of an ad hoc mud that cools and greases the bit also supports the well walls. It removes the debris resulting from drilling the rocks when it goes back to the surface. The hole is covered with steel pipes to reduce it diameter gradually at a pre-defined depth.
Even though drilling techniques in offshore drilling are similar, the plant features may vary quite a bit. Up to a depth of 100 meters, mobile self-lifting platforms including a hull that is supported by sliding scaffolding are used. The legs of the structure stand on the bottom of the sea, and keep the hull about fifteen to twenty meters above the sea surface for the purpose of avoiding the impact of tides and waves. Paul Favret points out that during the drilling process, the debris produced are analyzed continuously for the purpose of evaluating if the quantity and quality of extractable hydrocarbons are sufficient enough to pay back the expenses. Before going forward with the actual well development and production stages, other perimeter wells are likely to be drilled. The drilling stage is among the most delicate and critical parts of the petroleum life cycle, and techniques related to it have evolved over the years. Even disposal techniques have changed quite a bit, and the mud is firstly treated and then properly disposed of in order to reduce the environmental impact to zero. One can always check the web to know more about the oil drilling process.
