Gas Well Drilling Process

In order of occurrence:

KSQ Technology contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.

Site Development

• Includes:
  • Clearing the site
  • Erosion control
  • Excavation of the fracking pond
  • Marking the well location
  • Installation of security fencing
  • Installation of sound walls
  • Equipment mobilization
• Typical time: 1 to 3 weeks

Pre Drilling

• Setting of the conductor and cellar which provide the initial starting point for drilling the well bore
• Work is done with various drilling apparatus - drilling rigs or work over rigs
• Typical time: 1 to 3 weeks

Drilling

• The process of using a rig to advance a bore-hole to a pre-determined depth to extract oil and gas from a desired formation
• Typical time:
  • Each well can be drilled in 14 to 25 days
  • Rig mobilization in and out takes approximately 2 to 3 days
  • A rig may be on site to drill multiple wells extending the time by 14 to 25 days per well

Post Drilling

• The drilling rig is removed and subsequent work-over procedures are implemented with the purpose of preparing the wells for the fracturing process
• Setting plugs and perforating the well bore can begin to occur during this time
• Typical time: 1 week

Fracturing

• A stimulation treatment routinely performed on oil and gas wells in low permeability reservoirs. Specially engineered fluids are pumped at high pressure and rate into the reservoir interval to be treated, causing a vertical fracture to open. The wings of the fracture extend away from the wellbore in opposing directions according to the natural stresses within the formation. Proppant, such as grains of sand of a particular size, is mixed with the treatment fluid to keep the fracture open when the treatment is complete.
• Typical time: 10 days per well based on stage segments in the well bore lateral.

Post Fracturing Drill-out

• Production tubing is added at this point to prepare the well for flowback
• Typical time: 1 week

Flowback

• The process of allowing fluids to flow from the well following a treatment, either in preparation for a subsequent phase of treatment or in preparation for cleanup and returning the well to production
• Time 2 to 3 weeks

Production

• The well is moved to its long-term operating state with associated surface equipment to pipe the gas to market and end users

Work-Over

• The process of performing maintenance or remedial treatments on an oil or gas well. In many cases, workover implies the removal and replacement of the production tubing string after the well has been killed and a workover rig has been placed on location. Through-tubing workover operations, using coiled tubing, snubbing or slickline equipment, are routinely conducted to complete treatments or well service activities that avoid a full workover where the tubing is removed.
• Time 2 to 3 days

Shut-in

• A time when an active producing well in turned off and the flow of natural gas is temporarily stopped

Abandoned

• Wells are plugged and the land around the well site is returned to its pre-drilled condition

I&#;ve been an engineer and manager for more than 35 years. When I talk to my friends and family about my job, I find that most of them don&#;t understand how the oil and natural gas extraction process works. Everyone talks about fracking, but that&#;s only one step of a larger process.

Check out the seven steps of oil and natural gas extraction below:

STEP 1: Preparing the Rig Site

The aboveground infrastructure&#;pads and access roads&#;are built, setting up the land for the next step: drilling. From start to finish, everything from traffic plans and designated access roads to noise barriers and safety procedures is carefully planned and monitored according to state and local laws.

STEP 2: Drilling

First the drill rig is brought to the location&#;maybe 20 or 30 truck loads&#;and put together. Now It&#;s time to build the infrastructure necessary to unlock the oil and natural gas trapped more than a mile below the ground. A well is drilled straight down into the ground beneath the pad. The first stage is to drill what is called the surface hole down to a depth of 100 feet below the deepest known aquifer.  A steel casing is then cemented in place so there is no risk of polluting precious water aquifers.

After this the &#;long hole&#; is drilled and after reaching a depth about feet above the underground area where oil and natural gas is trapped, the hole is directionally steered to turn it horizontal and out&#;maybe another mile or two in distance&#;following the same rock bed. There&#;s a phenomenal amount of technology required to keep the hole drilling in the same 10-foot-interval for two miles, but this process allows the well to access oil and natural gas across a longer distance rather than just the energy directly beneath the well pad.

Unlike vertical drilling, horizontal drilling minimizes the impact and scale of aboveground land disturbance by allowing drillers to use only one drill pad for multiple wells instead of multiple pads having a single well each. These technological advancements mean today&#;s well sites are far fewer in number and also smaller than they used to be just 10 or 20 years ago.

STEP 3: Cementing and Testing

Once the target distance is reached, the drill pipe is removed and steel pipe is pushed to the bottom. This &#;well casing&#; is cemented in place. Rigorous tests are performed to ensure the pipe is impermeable before any production of natural gas or oil can occur.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Down-The-Hole Drilling Tools. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

STEP 4: Well Completion

Before drillers can tap the oil and natural gas, a perforating gun is typically lowered into the ground and fired into the rock layer in the deepest part of the well, creating holes that connect the rock holding the oil and natural gas and the wellhead.

STEP 5: Fracking

Now that the first stage of the well is open, it&#;s time to unlock the oil and natural gas that has been trapped in the rock. Using specialized instruments to monitor pressure and data from the well in real time, fracking fluid, which is 99.5% water and sand and 0.5% chemicals, many of which are found in everyday household products, is pumped at high pressure through the perforating holes to create paper-thin cracks in the shale rock, freeing the oil and natural gas trapped inside.

The cycles of steps 4 and 5 are repeated, gradually working up the hole until all the lateral length of the wellbore has been fracked. This might be 20 or 30 times&#;but a process that typically takes only a few days to finish.

STEP 6: Production and Fracking Fluid Recycling

Once fracking is completed, production begins. Oil and natural gas flows up from the well bore and fracturing fluid is then recovered and recycled and used in other fracking operations.

Once fracking is complete, the production site shrinks to the size of about a two-car garage.

STEP 7: Well Abandonment and Land Restoration

When all of the recovered oil and natural gas has been produced, Colorado law requires that the well is permanently plugged and the land is returned to the way it was before the drilling operations started. The land can then be used for other activities and there is no sign that a well was once there.

Producing Colorado&#;s oil and natural gas energy is something that can be done safely while contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the state&#;s tax base.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website PDC Drill Bit.