Drilling engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 2

Drilling engineering
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drilling engineering is a subset of petroleum engineering.

Drilling engineers design and implement procedures to drill wells as safely and economically as
possible. They work closely with the drilling contractor, service contractors, and compliance personnel,
as well as with geologists and other technical specialists. The drilling engineer has the responsibility for
ensuring that costs are minimized while getting information to evaluate the formations penetrated,
protecting the health and safety of workers and other personnel, and protecting the environment.[1]

Contents
■ 1 Overview
■ 2 See also
■ 3 Suggested Reading
■ 4 References

Overview
The planning phases involved in drilling an oil well typically involve estimating the value of sought
reserves, estimating the costs to access reserves, acquiring property by a mineral lease, a geological
survey, a well bore plan, and a layout of the type of equipment required to reach the depth of the well.
Drilling engineers in charge of the process of planning and drilling oil wells. Their responsibilities
include:

1. Designing casing strings in conjunction with drilling fluid plans to prevent blowouts (uncontrolled
well-fluid release) and Formation evaluation.
2. Designing or contributing to the design of casing (drill string), cementing plans, directional
drilling plans, and drill bit programs.
3. Specifying equipment, material and ratings and grades to be used in the drilling process.
4. Providing technical support and audit during the drilling process.
5. Performing cost estimates and analysis
6. Developing contracts with vendors

Drilling engineers are often degreed as petroleum engineers, although they may come from other
technical disciplines (i.e., mechanical engineer or petroleum geologist) and subsequently be trained by
an oil and gas company. They also may have practical experience as a rig hand or mudlogger or mud
engineer.

See also
■ Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics, NTNU

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Drilling engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 2 of 2

■ ECLIPSE (reservoir simulator)

■ Petrel (reservoir software)
■ Shale Gouge Ratio
■ Well logging
■ Mud logging
■ MWD (Measurement While Drilling)
■ LWD (Logging While Drilling)
■ Geosteering
■ Expandable Tubular Technology

Suggested Reading
■ Hyne, N.J. (2000), Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling and
Production
■ Journal of Petroleum Technology, Society of Petroleum Engineers

References
1. ^ "http://www.energy4me.org/careers/careers.htm." Society of Petroleum Engineers. Retrieved on March 25,
2008.

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Categories: Drilling technology

■ This page was last modified on 12 July 2009 at 05:24.

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