CHAPTER 3

COMPANIES AND PEOPLE.

Drilling well is complicated job. It is so complex, in fact that no single company is

diverse enough to perform all the required work. Instead, many companies and
individuals are involved. The companies included operating companies, drilling
contractors and service and supply companies.
OPERATING COMPANIES.
An operating company, or and operator, obtains the right to drill and produce
petroleum at a particular site. The operator buys or leases that right from the owner
of the rights to the subterranean oil or gas. Rights can be owned by individuals,
companies or in some cases by the federal or state government.
An operator can be major, such as Exxon Mobil, British Petroleum, shell, Chevron
or Texaco. A major oil company produce oil and gas and transports them from the
field to the refinery and plant. It also refines or processes the oil and gas and sells
the products to consumers.
An operator can also be and independent. An independent operator is an individual
or a relatively small company that produces and sells oil and gas but does not
transport, refine or market them. Operating companies, whether major or
independent pay for the drilling of a well. They usually hire a drilling contractor to
drill it.
DRILLING CONTRACTORS.
In United States and Canada operators have found it more cost effective to hire a
firm that specializes in drilling than to maintain their own rigs. These drilling
companies work all over the world. A drilling companys job is to drill a hole to the
depth and specification set by the operating company. An operating company
usually invites several contractors to bid on a job.
SERVICE AND SUPPLY COMPANIES.
The drilling of any well involves several service and supply companies.
Supply companies sell expendable equipment and material, such as drillings bits,
mud, drill pipe, fuel, lubricants, spare parts and more.
Service companies offer special support to the drilling operations. For example, a
mud logging company monitors and records, or logs, the content of the drilling mud
as it returns from the well.
Another service company provides casing crews. A casing crew runs special pipe,
casing, into the well to line, or case, it after the rig drills a portion of the hole.
Casing protects formations from contamination and stabilizes the well. After the
casing crew runs the casing, another service company is a cementing company
that cements the casing in the well. Cement bonds the casing to the hole.
PEOPLE.
Its impossible to drill a well without a drilling rig and several companies to backup
the rig, and you can't drill a well without skilled people. Personnel run the rig and
keep it running until the well reaches its objective. Many people are involved in
drilling.
DRILLING CREWS.
The contractor requires trained and skilled personnel to operate and maintain a
drilling rig.
The person in charge of the drilling crew may be called the "rig manager" or "rig
superintendent" or "toolpusher". The toolpusher supervises two or three crews that
operate the rig 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
TOOLPUSHER.
The toolpusher is the contractors top hand on the drilling location. This person
oversees the drilling crews that work on the rig floor, supervises all drilling
operation and coordinates operating company and contractor affairs.
DRILLER.
The driller supervises the derrickhand and the rotary helpers with direction from the
toolpusher. He manipulates the controls that keep the drilling operation under way.
DERRICKHAND.
When crew members run drill pipe into the hole, or when they pull pipeout of the
hole. The rig need a derrickhand that handle the upper end of the pipe from the
monkeyboard that is a small platform on the derrick.
ROTARY HELPER.
Depending on the size of the rig, its equipment and other factors, a contractor hire
two or three rotary helpers. For example:
On small rigs drilling shallow wells, two rotary helpers on a shift can safely and
efficiently perform the required duties.On large rigs drilling deep holes, the job may
require 3 rotary helpers.
Besides hadling pipe, rotary helpers also maintain the rig, help repair it and keep it
clean and painted.
DRILLING CREW WORK SHIFTS.
Drilling goes on 24 hours a day and 7 days a week all over the world. Rigs may be
near a town or city or they may be in remote areas (north slope of Alaska, the
jungles of indonesia) and also the business may be in the oceans or seas of the
world. Because of the rigs location the number of days and hours that a drilling
crew works vary a great deal. Drilling crews call their shifts tour. In some areas,
contractors employ 8 hours tour. in other areas such as offshore, they use 12 hour
tour.
If the crews work 8 hours tour its necessary to hire three drilling crews and 1
toolpusher for each rig, three drillers and derrickhands and 6 or 9 rotary helpers.
If the crews work 8 hours tour its necessary to hire 4 drilling crews and 2
toolpushers for each rig, 2 drillers and derrickhand, and 4 or 6 rotary helpers.
OTHER RIG WORKERS.
Besides the drilling crew, many other persons work at the rig site. For example:
THE COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE.
The company representative usually live on the rig side in a trailer or portable
building and is in charge of all the operators activities on the location. He helps
plan the strategy for drilling the well and orders all the needed supplies and
services.
OFFSHORE PERSONEL.
In offshore contractors requires more personel than an land. Besides the drilling
crew, they need Roustabouts (unload supplies from boats to the rig and keep the
offshore facilities in good shape), Welders built and repair equipment, mechanics
keep the rigs engines running, Electricians repair and install electrical equipment,
and more.
OFFICE PERSONNEL.
They are vital to any drilling project. Drilling contractors hire engineers, geologist,
accountants, bookkeepers, sales personnel, environmental specialist, warehouse
personnel, lawyers, truck drivers and more. In conclusion, drilling projects require a
competent office staff.
 CHAPTER 4
DRILLING CONTRACTS

When an operating company needs a well drilled, it usually mails a proposal to

drilling contractor. The proposal describes the drilling project and request a bid.
When the operating company accepts a contractors bid, it draws up a drilling
contract. This signed agreement clearly states the services and supplies the
contractor and the operator are to provide for a particular project.
FOOTAGE CONTRACTS.
In a footage contract, the operator pays the contractor a stipulated amount for each
foot or metre of hole drilled, regardless of how long it takes the contractor to drill it.
DAYWORK CONTRACTS.
In a daywork contract , the operator pays the contractor so much per day for the
use of the rig, regardless of what work the rig is performing.
COMBINATION CONTRACTS
Sometimes the operator and the contractor enter into a combination contract. In a
combination contract, the operator pays footage rates to a certain depth and then
pays daywork rates for any drilling bellow that depth.
TURNKEY CONTRACTS.
In a turnkey contract, the operator pays and agreed-upon amount to the contractor
when the contractor completes the well. The contractor furnishes all the equipment,
material and personnel to drill the well.
 CHAPTER 5
THE NATURE OF OIL AND GAS

The oil industry processes and refines hydrocarbons such as natural gas, liquefied
fied petroleum gas (LPG), and gasoline from natural and crude hydrocarbons that
occur in the earth. These hydrocarbons occur in layers of rock that often lie
thousands of feet below the ground. Operating companies and drilling contractors
must therefore drill wells to bring them to the surface.
NATURAL GAS.
The simplest hydrocarbons is methane (CH 4). Sometimes it also contains
nonhydrocarbons gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
LIQUIEFIEDPETROLEUM GAS (LPG)
Ethane (C2H6) is in LPG, but LPG is mainly propane C 3H8 and butane C4H10. When
you compress propane and butane a little at normal temperature, when you raise
the pressure on them slightly above atmospheric pressure at normal temperature,
they liquefy. When you release the pressure, they turn into gas.
OTHER HYDROCARBONS.
Hydrocarbons with more carbon and hydrogen atoms than propane and butane
may be liquid or solid under normal condition. Pentane (C 5H12), Heaxane (C6H14),
heptane (C7H16), and octane (C8H18), for example, are liquid hydrocarbons under
normal conditions.
CRUDE OIL, TAR, AND ASPHALT.
Crude oil is also a mixture and usually occurs as a liquid. Tars and asphalt are solid
hydrocarbons under normal conditions.
It liquefies and binds gravel or other roofing materials into a spreadable mixture.
When it cools back to normal temperature, it solidifies to form a waterproof surface.