Drilling Operations Overview

Oil and gas are produced from the formations deep within the earth. Operators spend the time and money locating these hydrocarbons and investing in the technology to bring them to the surface. This is done by safely boring a hole in the ground to the depth that the hydrocarbons are trapped. The product is then produced and sent via pipeline to refineries and markets.

Everything is large in the oil field as are the drilling bits used drill the holes. The bit is on the end of a string of pipe created from individual 'joints' that screw together. The pipe is hollow. Drilling fluid is pumped down the pipe to the bit as the bit is rotated via the 'rotary' table. As the bit turns, it cuts through the dirt and rock and creates a hole. The cuttings are removed via the drilling fluid which goes down the pipe and comes back up inside the annulus (area between the outside of the pipe and the walls of the well bore). Thus, the fluid replaces the earth that is removed from the hole by the rotary drilling process.

The fluid returning from the hole follows a flow line which sends the fluid to surface equipment that cleans undesirable solids (dirt) from the 'mud'. The mud passes through the 'solids removal equipment' and collects in surface pits. The fluid moves from a settling pit to a mixing pit, and finally, to a suction pit. The rig pumps deliver the fluid from the suction pit back into the hole via the hollow pipe, completing the continuous loop of drilling fluid from the suction pit, to the pipe, to the bit, back to the surface, into the pits, and finally, back to the rig pumps to be re-circulated once again.

As a Drilling Fluids Technician, your job is to properly treat and maintain the drilling fluid as planned and presented in the Drilling Fluids Program for the well...  Your job is challenging, rewarding, and specifically professional.  Professional Fluids Technicians are required all over the world by every drilling operation on the face of the earth.

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