【正文】 PART 3 About Drilling TechLesson 1Basic Drilling Technology History and Drilling EnvironmeatsThe history of oilwell drilling technology is studded with the familiar names of Colonel E. L. Drake, Captain Anthony Lucas, and “Spindletop.” However, the rapid development and mercial applications of rotary drilling in the early 1900s were preceded by the work of many individuals from many different countries. Table shows some of the important milestones that have been recorded in the history of modern drilling technology.The early need for water and salt prompted the Chinese to develop a percussiontype drilling apparatus to replace the practice of digging wells by hand. Although improvements were made to this concept over a long time period, other individuals eventually conceived of methods for boring a hole into the earth and flushing out the cuttings, as opposed to beating the rock into pieces and bailing out the particles. The emergence of a mercial use for petroleum in the mid1800s accelerated the development of equipment and techniques used to drill for oil. Although the percussion, or cabletool, method of alternately lifting and dropping a heavy iron bit remained popular in the American northeast for a long while, the rotary drilling rig, introduced in the American midcontinent, gradually became the most widely used method worldwide. Since its acceptance in the early 1900s, the turning bit has drilled close to ten billion feet of hole, enough to penetrate the Earth from pole to pole over two hundred times. In the search for hydrocarbons, drilling technology has been constantly called upon to adapt to new and harsher surface and subsurface environments. Surface EnvironmentsDrilling for hydrocarbons is undertaken practically anywhere that potential reservoir rock exists. Petroleum occurs in varying amounts on all continents and in all geologic systems, from Precambrian to Recent (Levorsen 1967). Although the fact that exploration efforts are confined to sedimentary basins decreases the potential exploration area somewhat, drilling locations still include almost every conceivable surface environment on the globe.Surface environments of oilwell drilling locations can be categorized as either onshore or offshore—although in certain soggy parts of Louisiana the distinction is rather difficult!Table Rotary drilling history. Data from Baroid petroleum Services Diversion of NL Industries Inc., Baroid Manual of Drilling Fluids Technology(1979). Berger and Anderson 1978, and Dodds 1977Ancient Times Wells dug by hand, this practice continued in Burma until the 1900s.250 B. C.Chinese use percussion drilling to drill wells for salt water, using derricks, tubing, bits, and cemented bamboo casing.1808Ruffner brothers of West Virginia use a “spring pole” percussiondrilling apparatus to “kick down” a well. The drillers attach a cable and bit to a flexible sapling secured as a lever over a fulcrum. After using their own weight to bend the pole and drop the bit into the hole, they allow the spring pole to lift the bit .1829Steam is used lo 39。 operate improved cable tool equipment that utilizes derricks, engines, and fishing tools to retrieve lost bits.1844An Englishman named Robert Beart invents a drilling machine that includes a Hydraulic swivel, hollow drlling rods, and circulating fluid.1845A French engineer named Fauvelle drills a water well near Perpignan, France, using a set of hollow boring rods to allow pumped water to flush excavated material from the hole.1848August Beer, an Austrian professor, suggests the possibility of drilling by a rotary method.1859Using cabletool percussion drilling equipment, Col. E. L. Drake pletes the first mercial oil well in America, at a depth of 69 ft.1860A French civil engineer named Leschocuses a powerdriven, diamondstudded rotary drill.1866A patent is granted for a “stone drill” that includes a hollow driUstem, a roller bit, and a fluidconducting swivel.1869A patent is granted on a special type of offshore drilling rig. Another inventor receives a patent on a rotary table with a beveled gear drive,1880sEuropean oil well drillers, using versions of Fauvelle39。s waterflushed drilling tools, drill wells in Alsace and Baku.1882The Baker brothers begin using rotary equipment to drill for water in South Dakota to depth of 500 ft.1888The Bakers move their equipment to Corsicana, Texas, where it bees popular.1893W. B. Sharp drills for oil with a rotary rig near Beaumont。 his well is abandoned at 418 ft.1897P. Higgins unsuccessfully drills for oil near Beaumont and then hires Anthony Lucas.19001901Anthony Lucas and the HamiU brothers drill the discovery well at the Spindletop Field near Beaumont, Texas, using rotary drilling equipment from Corsicana. The well flows 100,000 BOPD from 1040 ft and rotary drilling is on its way.1909Howard Hughes invents the rotary rock bit, with a rolling cutter.1918The world39。s deepest well, drilled with a cabletool percussiondrilling rig, is 7386 ft.1920sCombination rigs are developed that use percussion cable tools to drill down to 4000 ft and rotary drilling equipment below that depth.1930The world39。s deepest well, drilled with a rotary rig, is 10,000 ft.Onshore, the environments vary drastically from desert to mountain, jungle to arctic permafrost. In Middle Eastern deserts, drilling rigs are transported to remote locations by trailers with wide, lowpressure tires to allow travel over sand. In Sudanese swamps, rigs and rig equipment must be transported via helicopter or amphibious vehicles. River barges and helicopters supply drilling locations in the jungles of Ecuador and Peru. The special challenges of drilling in the arctic have resulted in several innovations. There drilling is conducted from 5 ft () thick gravel pads to protect the tundra and insulate the permafrost from riggenerated heat. At Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, up to 30 wells a