Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Well Planning and Drilling
Introduction to Offshore Drilling
Format and Duration:
2 days
This course provides an overview of the phases, operations, and terminology used in the drilling and completion of offshore oil and gas wells. It will provide participants with an understanding of the issues faced in all aspects of drilling operations, from well construction through to drilling, completion, testing and production. Sea bed and floating units are covered.
Schedule
Duration and Training Method
This is a two-day course. Participants will earn 1.6 CEUs (Continuing Education Credits) or 16 PDHs (Professional Development Hours).
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn to:
- List the variables that determine rig selection.
- Recognize the types of drilling units in use today.
- List the components of a drilling rig.
- Outline the stages of planning and drilling a well and list the tools required for each stage.
- Identify the types of drilling fluids and how they are selected.
- Explain the need for casing a well.
- Discuss formation evaluation from cuttings, cores and logs.
- Describe positioning, risers and BOP controls.
- Understand the role of ROVs.
- List the types of offshore production systems.
Course Content
Day One
The focus is on drilling and related operations on bottom-founded drilling units. These include jackups, fixed production platforms (jackets), swamp barges, tender rigs, and gravity based structures (GBS).
- Petroleum Introduction
- Basic petroleum geology
- Porosity and permeability
- How petroleum is formed
- Petroleum traps (reservoirs)
- Well Design and Construction
- Concepts and considerations in designing a well
- Types of Bottom Founded Offshore Rigs
- Jackups, fixed production platforms (jackets), swamp barges, tender rigs, and gravity based structures (GBS)
- Drilling Rig – Components and Functions
- Hoist and rotary
- Mud system
- Drillstring
- Blowout preventer system (surface stacks)
- Personnel and Contracts
- Personnel and responsibilities on a rig
- Offshore conditions and lifestyle
- Rig contract formats
- Drilling an Example Well from Top to Bottom (this introduces the various activities as they are encountered during the drilling of the well)
- Drill bits
- Drilling fluids
- Drillstring operations (making a connection and tripping)
- Casing and cementing
- Formation evaluation
Day Two
Builds on the concepts of the first day by introducing the additional issues that arise in floating drilling operations, and discusses additional topics including completions, directional drilling, offshore support operations, and offshore production concepts.
- Personnel on a Floating Offshore Drilling Rig
- Types of Floating Offshore Rigs
- Drillships
- Semisubmersibles
- Additional Considerations for a Floating Drilling Operation
- Rig positioning - anchoring and dynamic positioning (DP)
- Motion compensation
- Subsea blowout preventer systems (BOPs) and riser (components and operation)
- Support of Offshore Operations
- Divers and ROVs
- Supply boats
- Personnel transportation
- Completions (brief overview)
- Typical completion - tubing conveyed perforation (TCP)
- Acidizing and hydraulic fracturing
- Multi-zone completions
- Directional Drilling and Relief Wells
- Offshore Production Systems
- Bottom founded & floating production options
- Workover options for offshore wells
- FPSOs and offshore pipelines
Auxiliary Material - added if time permits
- Fishing
- Well Control
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
The course is intended for non-drilling personnel looking for an understanding of offshore drilling. This includes marine and logistics personnel, accounting, administrative and support staff, environmental professionals and new-hire geoscience and engineering staff.
Instructors
Richard Heenan
Background
Dick Heenan has forty years of experience in the upstream petroleum industry in a variety of technical and managerial positions. This includes supervision of both onshore and offshore operations, domestically and internationally.
His job assignments have included field supervision and project management of drilling and service rigs, testimony as an expert witness in well control (including the BP-Macondo trial), and preparation of Arctic onshore and offshore drilling and development scenarios. Mr. Heenan is a member of APEGA, and SPE. He has published papers and articles through the Canadian Association of Drilling Engineers and SPE, as well as several commercial publications.
Mr. Heenan currently has a private drilling and completions consulting practice based in Calgary Alberta, providing services to a variety of corporate and government clients.
Affiliations and Accreditation
BSc McGill University - Mechanical Engineering
Courses Taught
N615 - Introduction to Offshore Drilling
N642 - Introduction to Onshore Drilling
Accreditation and Certification
CEU: 1.4 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 14 Professional Development Hours
Certificate: Certificate Issued Upon Completion
RPS is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. We comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognised internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices.
We issue a Certificate of Attendance which verifies the number of training hours attended. Our courses are generally accepted by most professional licensing boards/associations towards continuing education credits. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the courses and certificate of attendance meet their specific criteria.