石油工程专业英语-钻井技术基础（Basic Drilling technology）精选.doc

Lesson 1 Basic Drilling Technology 1.1 History and Drilling Environmeats The 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 commercial applications of rotary drilling in the early 1900s were preceded by the work of many individuals from many different countries. Table 1.1 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 percussion-type 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 commercial use for petroleum in the mid-1800s 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. 1.1.1 Surface Environments Drilling for hydrocarbons is undertaken practically any-where 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 b