CNPC Drilling Engineering Technology Research Institute: innovation in the well

In mid-February, the western border around the mountains was covered with white horses. In an ice freeze, only the core of the Tari Wood desert is visible.

More than two months ago, a team from the Chinese Petroleum Group’s Institute of Engineering and Engineering came to Tariwood Oil Company’s Sino-Kulou105H well to conduct an experiment to verify the effectiveness of their self-developed PCDS-I fine-controlled drilling system in the practical application of the Taino oil fields. The Chinese Journal of Science journalists have recently travelled to the field to learn about the progress of the project and to feel first-hand at the level of the scientific community’s “war-ground” innovation.

Over 400,000 service fees per day

“The key to the wells’ ability to produce oil and gas is to drill wells, while the key to drilling technology is to control the pressure on the sub-well oil and gas layers. “The Deputy Chief Engineer of Projects in the Tarrywood Oil Tower, Lee Huai-Jin, presented the reporter of the Chinese Science Journal.

The Tariwood basin is a complex geological structure, like a broken plate. Not only is there oil here, but there’s gas. If the mud pressure used in drilling is excessive, the gas will be squeezed elsewhere and will never come out; If the pressure is too low, the oil and gas will eject the surface, causing a well blow-out.

Also, hydrogen sulfide in the oil and gas layer is usually at concentrations of up to 100,000 ppm and up to 410,000 ppm, well above the safe production alert value of 20 ppm. Once the pressure on the well is not controlled, a little bit of hydrogen sulfide comes out and breathes, and it kills people.

To that end, the project department of Tariwood Oilfields has been spending nearly RMB 200 million since 2008 to introduce precision-control techniques for foreign companies.

“It is intolerable that, with the introduction of this technology, foreign companies charge a high service fee of over $400,000 per day. Lee Huai-Nin is very sad about this.

To this end, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Commission for Development and Development established in 2009 a major scientific and technical specialty entitled “Dialogue drilling, test technology and equipment”, led by the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, and led by the Director of the China Oil Drilling Research Institute, Shifu.

Among these, the development of “safe drilling equipment for narrow-density windows” fell on the shoulders of the Central Petroleum Drilling Institute. After more than two years of research and development, Deputy Chief Engineer Zhou Ying led the clearance team and finally acquired the core technology, developed a successful PCDS-I finely controlled drilling system with full-owned intellectual property rights, and transported it to Tari wood at the end of December 2011 for on-site testing applications at the 105H wells in Gua, Tari wood.

Watching the computer for spring.

The Midgau 105H well is 70 km from the tower ‘ s oil base. On 18 February, the Land Cruiser took the China Oil Drilling Research Institute ‘ s line approximately 8 kilometres from the wellhead and could no longer move forward. People had to get out of the car for a wide desert car with a tire, which jumped on the dunes for about 20 minutes, and on the red well shelf, 30 metres high, the four words “China oil”, which were hanging high, appeared before them.

There are containers, large and small, around the rigs, which are not only equipped with well-drilling equipment, but also serve as a place for well workers to work and to rest temporarily.

In a white house marked “PCDS-I finely controlled drilling system”, three young researchers at the Institute of Drilling Research are sitting in front of two computer monitors watching the changes in the numbers on the screen.

Guo Qingfeng, Liu Wei and Xiaoqiang, the “80s after” young men from Beijing, have not left the oil well since they arrived in Tariki in early December last year. They stayed in the house at spring break, staring at the screen and working. On the first day of the year, they stood collectively in front of the wells, offering their families a year of worship.

“For more than two months, it’s always dry. The phone signals here are unstable and no Internet access. Every day, apart from dealing with the equipment, the eyes of the sand are dark. But there is no time to think too much, to operate, maintain and report on a daily basis, and to do this is exhausted, just to sleep and only to sleep. I don’t know.

Although weary, the smiles of the boys are very open: “I’m too busy to pick up my girlfriend’s phone, so I can’t stop being scolded. Say, “The signal’s bad.” I don’t know.

Forced foreigners to lower their prices

Referring to the difficulties encountered in the experiment, Wang Lin, the director of the field test, told the journalist China Science: “The equipment was first used in the Tari wood well and faced winter construction, where it was colder than 30 degrees Celsius at night and more than 10 degrees Celsius at daytime, and it was a major difficulty to keep the equipment warm. Pumps, valves and pipes on various lines, including mud, cannot be frozen. I don’t know.

In addition, the sand grains of the talywood are so thin that they can easily penetrate these automated precision instruments, and the lubrication systems of the equipment must remain clean. As long as they do not need to be exposed, they are covered with wind shelters.

Their greatest stress comes from real-time monitoring of drilling conditions. In some cases, oil spills may occur at a high of 0.5 MPa and at a low of 0.5 MPa. Control parameters must be closely monitored for data changes and adjusted to real-time conditions at all times.

Since the start of the finely controlled pressure, the Citagu 105H well has been able to control the spills on several occasions, effectively reducing the time delays caused by the closure and pressure of the wells and ensuring normal access. Furthermore, the leakage of mud has been effectively controlled by accurate control of bottom pressure.

In fact, prior to the “training” of the Tahrir, the equipment had been subjected to over 1,000 simulations in Tianjin’s laboratory. In April and August 2011, the PCDS-I finely controlled pressure drilling system conducted multiple field tests of controlled drilling wells in oil wells such as Ponglai in Sichuan, including drilling, up and down, single rooting, well well well well wells, well leaks, leaks and leaks, among nine types of 18 controlled pressure drilling site tests, all of which reached an internationally advanced level.

“The geology of each oil field is different, and even in the same area, the geological formation of each well is different. Therefore, equipment needs to be continuously refined and debugged in this geological context in order to be truly comprehensive. The researchers told the reporters.

According to the information received, after the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Commission established the project, Li Huai-chan received several calls from foreign companies asking whether China had set up a project to study the device. Whenever foreign companies ask “What China Wants”, Li Huai-jung says, “To replace you!” Shortly thereafter, the service costs of foreign companies were reduced by half in the oil fields of the tower.

Wang Jin told the journalists that the equipment would continue to be tested in wells with different geological characteristics. When successful, applications will be fully replicated in the field.