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T H E S C I E N C E B E N E AT H T H E S U R FA C E
M A R C E L L U S
S H A L E
I S S U E
N U M B E R
Understanding Drilling
Technology
J A N U A R Y
2 0 1 2
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Conventional Drilling
vertical
>1 acre to 3 acres
Similar to unconventional drilling
20,000 to 80,000
gallons
Unconventional Drilling
horizontal
3 to 6 acres
5.7 acres
~ 1 month
sometimes
~ 3 months
almost always
resource scattered
throughout rock, hard
to extract
2 to 9 million gallons;
average 4 million gallons
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emergency.
Drill
Casing
Centralizer
Cement
Casing
Annulus
Drill
Hole
1
Drilling
Muds
Cement
Wiper
Plug
Guide
Shoe
Empty
Well
Hole
Cement
New Drill
Hole
First
Casing
Cemented Casings
Second
Casing
Third
Casing
Production Casing
7
The process of drilling and casing vertical and horizontal wells is the same in the initial drilling depths. 1) The drill initially bores into the ground.
At this point the drill is lubricated with...and the drill hole is empty. 2) After the initial hole is drilled, a steel casing is inserted into the hole, guided
by a springlike guiding shoe that positions the casing in the center of the hole. The space between the casing and the rock on the outside of the hole
is called the annulus. 3) Cement is poured into the casing from the surface. It flows to the bottom of the hole and begins to infill the annulus. 4)
When enough cement has been poured into the well to line the casing, wiper plugs are inserted into the casing to wipe the inside clean of wet cement.
The plugs are pushed down by drilling muds, which are later used to lubricate the drill bit. The cement is allowed to dry. 5 & 6)The new well hole is
now the only void space in the well. A drill is re-inserted into the well where it drills through a layer of cement and into deeper rock. 7) The process
of drilling, casing, and cementing the casing is repeated with thinner and thinner casings that are intended to prevent any exchange between fluid
flowing through the well and surrounding groundwater sources. The production casing lines the length of the well and is intended to be porous in the
region where natural gas is to be extracted (in this diagram, the horizontal portion will undergo small blasts to puncture the steel and allow fracture
fluid out and natural gas in).
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is trapped in the multiple, tiny fractures due to a combination of capillary action and the swelling of clays.
In very small spaces the molecular attraction between water molecules and
the molecules in the shale fractures
can be stronger than other pressures
acting on the water. This holds the
fracturing fluid in the fractures and
is referred to as capillary action. Clay
can also trap the fracturing fluids
because clay grains can absorb water,
swell, and decrease permeability.
Because many of the inorganic sediments that make up the Marcellus
Shale are clay grains, geologists think
that some of the fracturing fluid is
absorbed by clay at depth. For these
reasons, only a small portion of the
fracturing fluid is returned to the surface during when the well is flushed
out to remove excess fluid. 7,8,9
The characteristics of the target
formation (the rock from which gas
is being extracted) determine what
specific techniques will be used to
extract gas. Data must be collected
for every new region and formation
that is developed for gas drilling. The
stresses on the rock at the depth of
gas extraction and the rock permeability help determine what fluid and
propping agent characteristics are
needed to fracture wells most effectively. More, larger fractures yield
more natural gas produced from the
unit, but are costlier to create. It
takes time to develop the information on each region, but eventually
the engineers in charge of each well
use the data to establish the optimum
fracture treatment for each well.1
The effectiveness of a hydraulic
fracture treatment can be measured
using a combination of microseismic
mapping in the field and measurements taken in the well (i.e. temperature, production, and video image
logging) to supply information on
fractures immediately near the well
US LNG Terminals
Existing
Under Construction
Permitted
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pockets
Gas play: The area in under development by natural gas operators.
Horizontal drilling: A gas well that starts with a vertical well bore which is
then angled until it is oriented horizontally.
Intermediate Casing: This is typically 8 5/8 inches in diameter, and is
added to mitigate potential problems at greater depths.
Lateral: The horizontal portion of the well bore.
Multi-stage hydraulic fracturing: A process by which a well is hydraulically
fractured section by section.
Production Casing: This is run through the length of the well that will be
producing natural gas.
Proppant: Natural or manufactured (e.g., ceramic beads) sand grains that
are used to hold open the fractures created during hydraulic fracturing.
Reservoir: An area of low pressure underground where gas has collected,
trapped by a layer of rock the gas cannot penetrate.
Scale: The accumulation of minerals in pipes and other equipment.
Shoe: Guiding shoes on the ends of the casing help the lengths of casing
move down the well safely.
Source rock: A rock unit in which natural gas formed.
Surface Casing: The level of casing after the conductor pipe, commonly
around 13 inches in diameter.
Target formation: The rock from which gas is being extracted.
Tight: Source rock that does not have abundant natural pore space or
fractures is considered tight.
Unconventional: Refers to either the natural gas or the extraction process
to retrieve the gas when the gas has not migrated from its source rock and
requires a combination of drilling technologies to extract.
Well bore: The hole the well makes under the surface.
Well pad: The area at the surface, surrounding the well bore that is used to
conduct the drilling and hydraulic fracture activities.
Wiper plug: The wiper plug is inserted behind the wet cement to force the
cement out of the well bore, clean the inside walls of the casing, and separate
the cement from additional drilling muds.
July, 2011.
8. GasFrac Energy Services Inc., http://
www.gasfrac.com/
9. Al-Mhaidib, A. I. (1997) Influence
of Loading Rate on Undrained Bearing Capacity of a Model Pile in Clay
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