FUNDAMENTALS OF

DRILLING OPERATIONS
Types of Drilling Installations and components
 Drilling
Rig

Onshore Offshore

Bottom
Conventional Mobile Floating
Supported

Portable Semi/
Jacknife Platform Barge Jack-up Drillship
Mast Submersible

Self-
containe Tendered
d
TYPES OF DRILLING
RIGS/INSTALLATIONS
ONSHORE - Conventional
• Fixed structure
• Permanent derrick
• Complex rig-up/down
ONSHORE - Mobile
• No-fixed structure
• Truck/train mounted
• Easier to rig-up/down
OFFSHORE - Platform
• Fixed to seafloor/immobile
• Bottom supported
• Fixed Platform (FP)
• Shallow water
• Compliant Tower (CT)
• Deeper waters
• Steel or concrete structures
OFFSHORE - Platform
OFFSHORE – Tender Assist Drilling Units
(TADs)
• Allows drilling operations
on fixed platforms without
need for permanent drilling
structures
• TAD stationed next to
platform and drilling
package lifted onto platform
• Provides power and other
services to support drilling
OFFSHORE - Barge
• Mobile
• Shallow water depths (0 – 80 ft)
• Floated and towed to location
• Hull flooded and rest on bottom to drill
OFFSHORE – Jack-up
• Mobile
• Self elevating
• Strong structured legs lowered to
sea floor
• Shallow water (up to 400 – 600 ft)
OFFSHORE – Jack-ups
• High Specification
• Water depth is 400 ft+, with a hookload capacity of over 2000 kips
• Premium
• Water depth is 350 ft+, with a hookload capacity from 0 – 1999 kips
• Standard
• Water depth less than 350 ft
• Mat cantilever/Slot
• Any jack-up that does not have an Independent Leg Cantilever (ILC) sub-type
OFFSHORE - Submersible
• Mobile
• Taken to location by tug-boats
• Shallow water (150 ft)
• Pontoons flooded with water and rig
rests on seafloor for drilling
OFFSHORE – Semi-submersible
• Mobile
• Taken to location by tug-boats
• Does not rest on seafloor
• Pontoons flooded and submerged in
water
• Kept stationary by anchors & mooring
lines or dynamic positioning
• Capable of deep water drilling (up to
10000 ft)
OFFSHORE – Semi-Submersible
• 1st Generation
• 1961 – 1972. Max water depth N/A
• 2nd Generation
• 1973 – 1979. Max water depth N/A
• 3rd Generation
• 1980 – 1985. Max water depth N/A
• 4th Generation
• 1986 – 1997. Max water depth N/A
• 5th Generation
• 1998 – 2004. Max water depth N/A
• 6th Generation
• 2005 onwards. Max water depth 10000 ft.
• 7th Generation
• 2015 onwards. Max water depth 12000 ft.
OFFSHORE - Drillship
• Mobile (self-propelled)
• Deep/Ultra-deepwater
drilling
• Supported by anchors and
mooring lines or dynamic
positioning
OFFSHORE – Drillships
• 1st Generation
• 1961 – 1970. Max water depth N/A
• 2nd Generation
• 1971 – 1979. Max water depth N/A
• 3rd Generation
• 1980 – 1985. Max water depth N/A
• 4th Generation
• 1986 – 1997. Max water depth N/A
• 5th Generation
• 1998 – 2005. Max water depth N/A
• 6th Generation
• 2006 onwards. Max water depth 10000 ft.
• 7th Generation
• 2010 onwards. Max water depth 12000 ft.
SUB-TYPE DEFINITIONS
• Floating rigs
• Midwater – 4000 ft or less
• Deepwater – 4001 – 7499 ft
• Ultra-deepwater – 7500 ft and greater

• Jack-ups
• Independent Leg Cantilever
• Independent Leg Slot
• Mat Cantilever
• Mat Slot
• Cantilever
COMPENSATION FOR RIG MOTION
• Floating rigs must compensate for heave,
motion and drift
• Heave usually dealt with through use of
subsea wellhead and low pressure riser,
plus separate compensation systems for
riser and drillstring
• Drift is prevented by anchoring rig or
through use of dynamic positioning
HEAVE COMPENSATION
HEAVE COMPENSATION
Riser tensioner
DRIFT COMPENSATION
Dynamic Positioning
In deep water, anchor
lines are too long and
heavy to be practical,
so dynamic positioning
(DP) is used instead.
DP requires accurate
measurement of rig
position, wind, current
and vertical motion; a
computer-based
control system
determines when and
in which direction to
operate thrusters to
hold the rig over the
wellhead.
Azimuth
Thrusters