Drilling is the process of boring a well through rock and soil for natural gas production. It involves some important steps, like boring, circulating, casing, completion, production, and abandonment. Several types of drilling methods are used in wireline services for different types of formations, soil types, or geographical locations.
However, below are the five most commonly used drilling methods used for extracting oil and gas from the earth. Before moving ahead, we would like to suggest you visit this page for all types of construction-related services, be it Drilling Hire services or Vacuum Excavator Hire Services, you can find them all here.
Rotary Drilling
This method is used for digging up production wells with depths more than five miles below the ground. The wireline operator uses a lightweight drill to dig low-depth wells. Then, rotary mobile drills of different lengths are used for digging up the exploration wells.
Firstly, the equipment is mounted on a platform with a derrick that consists of an injector pump, engine, rotary table, and a mud mixer. The mud swivel on the drilling pipe is attached to the blowout preventers.
The drilling pipes consist of sharp cutting edges, bits, and rotate at a 40-250 rotations/minute velocity. The cuttings are removed via air-based or water-based drilling fluids that get inside the pipe. Depending upon the hardness of the sediments or formation materials, the overall drilling speed can be increased or decreased.
Electro Drilling
In this drilling method, electric motors drive the rotary tables or winches, creating more flexibility in the operations via remote-control drilling. It is a relatively new method of oil & gas exploration and is more successful in complex geological locations.
This method used in wireline services is a combination of hydraulic-motor, and rotary methods and involves a range of drill-bit rotational speeds. Different borehole cleaning fluids are also used in this method to clean the hole. Besides, the wireline operators also implement controlled drilling in deviated boreholes using this method.
Cable Drilling
Cable drilling is a manual drilling technique in which a hammering bit is connected to a long cable. The cable is then lowered into an open hole. When the cable goes back and forth with the bit, it loosens the soil present in the borewell.
Meanwhile, the bit is removed, and the cuttings are suspended in water. There is a steel casing that prevents the hole from collapsing. It also protects the hole against groundwater contamination.
This drilling method works best for formations, like sand, sandstone, gravel, silt, etc. Manual cable drilling can reach a depth of up to 25 meters.
Reverse Circulation Drilling
In dual-wall reverse circulation drilling, two concentric drill pipes are used for a controlled flow. In order to reach the bottom of the bit, a drilling fluid is transferred through an outer swivel. The surface swivel and internal pipe are used to carry all the cuttings upwards.
This drilling method is also used for sample collection and is compatible with rotary, as well as cable drilling. The fluid is circulated within a specific space, and the cuttings or residuals can be removed anytime.
Directional Drilling
It is an extension of rotary drilling that guides the drill on a curved path. It helps the operators to reach the oil deposits that are difficult to extract via vertical drilling. With this method, several wells can be drilled in different directions.
It also allows tapping into the oil reservoirs underneath the sea and uses a computer to guide the automatic drilling machines. Other methods include abrasive material for driving pressure, flame piercing, explosive drilling, etc.
These are the four most commonly used drilling methods in the oil and gas field to explore the reservoirs, wells, or remove any obstruction in the flow.
