Breakthrough Drilling Technology for Energy Sources
By Space Coast Daily // December 15, 2021
Technology changes encompass every sector of the economy. In the gaming industry, advancements in technology have enabled players to access ggbet bonus games online. In the energy industry, new technologies are letting experts reach new sources of natural gas and fuel.
Additionally, the breakthrough in technology is helping well drillers to reduce the impact that their work has on the environment. Besides, advances in drilling technologies have helped the industry meet the global energy demands.
Due to better drilling technologies, drillers can access energy reserves that were harder to reach before in remote or dangerous areas. They can also exploit reservoirs that were expensive to mine due to crude methods. Also, it is getting easier and quicker to reach completion because of the growing technologies. But what are these technology breakthroughs?
They include the following:
■ Horizontal drilling – It is one of the best directional drilling processes. Horizontal drilling is a more productive and economical method because producers can drill up to eight horizontal wells from only one well pad. Hence, they can have fewer access roads, production plants, pipeline paths, and minimal environmental pollution or disturbance. Drillers use the rotary drilling method to bore the first vertical section of a horizontal well. Then, they use the hydraulic motor to drill the curved area of a horizontal well. The Rotary Steerable System (RSS) simplifies the steering of a hole as well as increases efficiency and safety.
■ Multilateral drilling – If oil and gas reserves are in separate, underground layers, multilateral drilling is ideal. The technique allows them to take new directions from the main well. As a result, they can get more resources from each well without boring several wells on the surface. A multilateral well is one well with one or many wellbore branches starting from the main borehole. It can be a vertical wellbore having several laterals, a well with piled laterals, a forked well, a multi-branched well, or even a well with dual-opposing laterals. Still, a multilateral well could be a horizontal main wellbore with many lateral branches. A multilateral well can replace many vertical wellbores and reduce the total drilling and completion costs. It can also have more yield and provide better drainage of the reservoir.
■ Extended reach drilling – ERD is the most costly way to drill, but it has its advantages. Producers can use extended-reach drilling to access deposits that are a long distance away from the drilling rig. Hence, drillers can get oil and natural gas reserves that hide in places where vertical wells cannot work. Deposits that are far from offshore are easy to reach with the extended reach drilling. The main technologically advanced methods used during extended reach drilling include the Geosteering tool with directional and petrophysical sensors and the Rotary Steerable System.
■ Automated drilling – It is one of the most innovative methods the industry has seen so far. It keeps the drilling cost down when tapping shale gas, coal-bed methane, and related resources. Automated drilling is quicker, safer, and more economical because it reduces the number of miners at the site. In this method, SCADAdrill by Shell is among the leading drilling software systems. It works on horizontal dewatering holes.
Apart from the above, we believe that more drilling methods and technologies will continue to emerge. Meanwhile, the current breakthroughs in technology have taken the oil and gas industry to the next level.
