In the Oil Business

1. Derricks and Masts In the Oil Business

2. Derricks and Masts • The derrick or mast is the universally recognized symbol of oil well drilling, a steel tower that may rise 120 feet above a rig floor. • Derricks and masts look much the same and do the same job, but they are used at different types of drilling sites. • Its legs sit on the corners of the rig floor, and the crew must disassemble it to move it.

3. Derricks and Masts • A mast on the other hand, is portable. It fits into a frame that may sit on the rig floor or on the ground. The crew can fold or telescope it down to move it. • Most land rigs use masts because masts are so much easier to move than derricks.

4. Woodford and Phillips wells, Tarr Farm, 1861 The most important oil well ever drilled was in the middle of quiet farm country in northwestern Pennsylvania in 1859. For this was one of the first successful oil wells that was drilled for the sole purpose of finding oil. Known as the Drake Well, after "Colonel" Edwin Drake, the man responsible for the well, it began an international search for petroleum, and in many ways eventually changed the way we live.

5. The first great flowing well in the history of the oil industry was the Empire well on Funk Farm. Completed in September, 1861, it initially flowed at 3,000 barrels per day. This well also illustrated the turbulent nature of the oil industry in these early days. With an extra 3,000 barrels of oil flooding the market each day, the price of oil plummeted to 10 cents a barrel.

6. The Phillips well, on the right, and the Woodford well, on the left. Located in the middle of Oil Creek Valley (note the river at the right of the photograph), these two wells showed the early promise of the Oil Regions. The Phillips well was the most productive ever drilled to date, flowing initially at 4,000 barrels per day in October 1861. The Woodford well came in at 1,500 barrels per day in July, 1862. Note the wooden tank collecting the oil in the foreground, as well as the many different sized barrels in the background. At this time, barrel size was not yet standardized, which made terms like "Oil is selling at $5 per barrel" very confusing.

7. Derricks and Masts The term derrick comes from Thomas Derrick, a hangman who invented a type of gallows using a movable beam and pulley system during the Elizabethan era. During his lifetime, Derrick executed over 3,000 people, many of them with his modified gallows device, and the supporting framework for his gallows came to be known as a derrick. The term was adopted to describe cranes and other lifting devices which used a similar support mechanism.

8. Derricks and Masts • It is controlled by lines (usually four of them) powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on the end, like with a crane.

9. Derricks and Masts • Oil derrick is a complex set of machines specifically designed for optimum efficiency, safety and low cost. This is used on some offshore oil and gas rigs.

10. Derricks and Masts • The centerpiece is the archetypical derrick tower, used for lifting and positioning the drilling string and piping above the well bore, and containing the machinery for turning the drilling bit around in the hole.

11. Derricks and Masts • As the drill string goes deeper into the underlying soil or rock, new piping has to be added to the top of the drill to keep the connection between drill bit and turning machinery intact, to create a filler to keep the hole from caving in, and to create a conduit for the drilling mud.

12. Derricks and Masts • The drilling mud is used to cool the drilling bit and to blow rock debris clear from the drill bit and the bottom of the well. The piping joints sections—usually each about 10 meters (30 ft) long—have threaded ends, so they can be screwed together.

13. Derricks and Masts • The piping is hollow to allow for the mud to be pumped down into the drilling hole, where it flushes out at the drilling bit. The mud then proceeds upwards towards the surface on the outside of the piping, carrying the debris with it.

14. Derricks and Masts The derrick also controls the weight on the drilling bit, because the drill bit works at an optimum rate only when it is pushed with a precise degree of pressure relative to the rock beneath it. Too much weight can break the drilling bit, and not enough weight will prolong drilling time.

15. Derricks and Masts • At the start of drilling extra heavy piping collars are used to create enough weight to drill. Since the weight of the pipes above the drill bit will increase the pressure on it as it goes deeper, the derrick will apply less pressure as piping sections are added. It will eventually lift the nearly entire drill string-and-piping complex to prevent too much weight as the well goes deeper.

16. Drawworks A draw-works is the primary hoisting machinery that is a component of a rotary drilling rig. Its main function is to provide a means of raising and lowering the traveling blocks. The wire-rope drilling line winds on the drawworks drum and extends to the crown block and traveling blocks, allowing the drill string to be moved up and down as the drum turnsdrilling line is called the "dead line“.

17. Drawworks • The driller operates the drawworks at the driller’s console, on the front left side of the drawworks, with controls for brakes, clutches, and a transmission.

18. Drawworks • . The segment of drilling line from the draw-works to the crown block is called the "fast line". The drilling line then enters the sheaves of the crown block and is makes several passes between the crown block and traveling block pulleys for mechanical advantage. The line then exits the last sheave on the crown block and is fastened to a derrick leg on the other side of the rig floor. This section of

19. Drawworks • A modern draw-works consists of five main parts: • The drum • The motor(s) • The reduction gear • The brake, and • The auxiliary brake.

20. Drawworks • The motors can be AC or DC-motors, or the draw-works may be connected directly to diesel engines using metal chain-like belts. • The number of gears could be one, two or three speed combinations. The main brake, usually operated manually by a long handle, may be friction band brake, a disc brake or a modified clutch. It serves as a parking brake when no motion is desired.

21. Drawworks • The auxiliary brake is connected to the drum, and absorbs the energy released as heavy loads are lowered. • This brake may use eddy current rotors or water-turbine-like apparatus to convert to heat the kinetic energy of a downward-moving load being stopped.

22. Drawworks • Power catheads (winches) located on each side provide the means of actuating the tongs used to couple and uncouple threaded pipe members. • Outboard catheads can be used manually with ropes for various small hoisting jobs around the rig.

23. Drawworks Torque Hydraulic Cathead The Torque hydraulic cathead provides smooth, constantly increasing makeup loads ranging from 40,000 to 150,000 ft.lbf of torque, using either an independent power source or a rig source. This smooth application of line pull force to the rig tongs ensures proper makeup of large, rotary-shouldered connections.

24. Drawworks The drawworks often has a pulley drive arrangement on the front side to provide turning power to the rotary table, although on many rigs the rotary table is independently powered.