PNG 450Drilling Engineering

3 credits · Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering · Penn State

PNG 450 : Drilling Engineering covers the design and analysis of oil-field drilling operations and equipment. This course addresses a critical issue in petroleum and natural gas engineering: how to drill and complete oil and gas wells in a sound, economical, and environmentally safe manner. Drilling technology has advanced greatly since the first commercial oil well in the U.S. was drilled in northwest Pennsylvania in 1859. The true vertical depth of the well has grown from 69.5 feet from then to more than 15,000 ft, with the deepest at more than 40,000 feet, today. The horizontal length of a well has grown from theoretically zero to more than 10,000 feet, with the longest at 40,000 feet. The temperature and pressure of the formation that petroleum engineers need to drill through could easily reach 350 F and 20,000 psi or higher, and the formation and fracture gradient window becomes narrower, all making drilling and completion more challenging. In summary, it is becoming increasingly more challenging to drill wells. Thus, engineering design becomes more critical. The objectives of this course are to introduce the students to the science of drilling and completion. This includes learning the fundamentals of drilling fluids and drilling fluid design, and applying fluid mechanics and quantifying drilling hydraulics for complex fluid flow through drilling string and annular spaces. The course will also discuss the concepts and quantify the formation pressure and fracture pressure gradients for different methods of drilling. A key task for students will be to learn the methods for characterization, selection and optimization of casing design, and optimized bit design, and finally the course will discuss how to design directional and horizontal wells to optimize production and recovery from mature fields and unconventional resources, such as coalbed methane, shale gas, and tight oil in Pennsylvania. This course is a prerequisite for petroleum and natural gas engineering major courses. It is an elective course for majors such as chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, etc. The knowledge, methods, and practical skills in this course could also be used in various other industries including geothermal HVAC, ground water drilling, mineral exploration, and scientific research.