workover rig training factory

The second session in November 2020 was co-led by a Permian-based operator who shared tips on action they took internally to reinvigorate their workover program. This included cross training their team and optimizing their workflows for well servicing operations. We polled the audience on whether or not they have also started exposing their teams to different roles in their organization and a majority (over 63%) had done so.

A third session that covered the space was held in a more intimate environment, the executive roundtable with Simmons Energy on “The State of Oilfield Services”. During this executive only event, the Simmons team discussed the market fragmentation that has occurred in the Land Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing & Workover markets. To no ones surprise, the workover market seemed to be the most impacted of the three oilfield services markets with a huge reduction in CAPEX investment leading to essentially a flattening of revenue over the years.

In all three discussions, E&P operators were intrigued to learn about how their peers were making adjustments to their workover programs based on the market shrinking, number of rigs in operation, and how their relationship with subcontractors combined with the workload impacted their operating philosophy (24/7 or daylight operations). The answer to all three of these questions lies in one simple term operators introduced: deferred barrels and impact on the Time Value of Production.

Time Value of Production vs Workover Costs Instead of viewing workover operations in isolation, many operators have adopted an integrated approach. Rather than quantifying ROI in well services and intervention based on simply the balance sheet and how much is spent, operators are looking at the deferred barrels in production due to the well being serviced, which allows for a healthy amount of pressure be introduced into the equation to increase overall efficiency. This model moves away from the typical benchmark of hours spent or daylight versus nighttime operations and focuses the conversation on assessing the opportunity cost of production associated with that specific well that is being serviced.

As more and more operators take this approach of viewing workovers as an extension of maintaining production, the Time Value of Production, the conversation on number of rigs, adjusting priorities, and motivating subcontractors is much more clear and direct.

In late March, Darcy Partners will be releasing the Production Quarterly on Workover Rig Operations which will hold more information on what was discussed above and include insight on potential levers for innovation. If you would like Darcy to facilitate more events in the space of workover rig operations, please take a few seconds to fill out the poll and comment below.

In addition to the basic training, assistant drillers, drillers and drilling supervisors must successfully complete other specialised courses and be able to demonstrate experience in their fields. For example, a drilling supervisor must have at least ten years’ overall rig experience and five years’ experience as a driller. Medical examinations to determine whether staff are still capable of working in harsh environments are carried out at regular intervals.

RED Drilling & Services GmbH owns two sister rigs, fully equipped Bentec rigs which are rated up to 300 metric tonnes hookload and which are capable of drilling wells up to 5500m deep. These can be rented out to customers for their projects and include:

ModuResources provides a variety of training courses aimed at rig or drilling equipment. As part of the ModuResources group, training development is supported by its sister company Well Academy.

The Well Academy provides a wider range of courses including well control, well intervention, well engineering and well technology training. It also provides training on the simulator and is organized in various centres around the world.

Axis is a completion and workover company built for today’s operators, as you shift into manufacturing mode while drilling ever-longer laterals. We’re advancing both goals through our core mission: optimizing completions.

For too long, well services has lagged other oil and gas sectors in innovation. Axis is changing that with integrated, data-driven services. New, purpose-engineered equipment. And a team that unites oilfield veterans with the next generation of crews and engineers through our leading-edge training culture.

Workover rigs are major players in the oil and gas industry. Some of these mobile rigs used to perform remedial operations — such as pump replacement and repairs to restore or increase well production — can lift and lower up to 350,000 pounds. That’s equal to the weight of 50...

Every workover rig available is going right now in the Bakken, North Dakota’s top oil and gas regulator Lynn Helms said on Friday, during his monthly oil production report, as companies try to get wells online as quickly as possible after back-to-back blizzards idled a substantial number of four and five-well pads in Williams, Divide, and McKenzie counties.

Gas capture percentages were 95 percent, and this time Fort Berthold was a bright spot, with 97 percent capture. Helms said he expects continued improvement in the Fort Berthold area, with new solutions for gas capture in the works for the Twin Buttes area, which has been a problem spot.

“Just this past week, our largest gas plant came on and that’s really enabled a lot of production to come back on,” Helms said. “So we’re back to a million barrels a day, maybe a little more. You know all of the large operators reported enormous production losses. And of course that has led to the deployment of every workover rig available being out there trying to get wells back on production.”

In his discussions with drilling contractors, Helms has learned that most drilling rigs went south to Texas and New Mexico, both of which escape winter sooner than the Bakken. Those areas hired the available workforce, too, which has added to the Bakken’s difficulty in attracting workforce.

“It’s taking around two months to train and deploy a drilling rig and crew, and very similar timeframes for frack crews,” Helms said. “So it’s just very, very slowly coming back.”

North Dakota rig counts are at 40 right now and Montana rigs are at 2, according to figures from North Dakota Pipeline Authority Justin Kringstad. Helms said the Bakken hasn’t seen those numbers since March of 2020. There are about 15 frack crews running now, a number last seen in April 2020.

The course refers to various factors which involve hazards present in different working circumstances and settings, training in preventing them and suitably responding to each condition.

It may affect the sense of smell and, at high concentrations, to cause death. For these reasons, training in protection against H2S is critical in every industry where it may be present, as it happens in drilling and oil and producing operations.

The course is addressed to drilling operating staff, workover and/or well service (wireline, coiled tubing, snubbing). It aims to alerting and training in knowing H2S danger and hazards, in recommended practices, and in operating detection and protective equipment to be used.

This course aims to training in applying basic math concepts in oilfields, through operations and examples during well drilling and maintenance tasks.

Addressed to all staff involved in different operations of oil industry that are part of a drill crew, Drilling and Workover (toolpusher, driller, RA/RC driller, 8-hour and 2-hour supervisor, 24-hour supervisor, underground foreman, drill collar worker (derrickman), floor workers, assistant staff).

Training in recognizing virtues and difficulties that facilitate or interfere when guiding work teams, as well as in most suitable techniques to produce changes as required.

The document applies to rotary drilling rigs, well servicing rigs, and special services as they relate to operations on location. First published in 1981, significant revisions in this edition of Recommended Practice 54 include a new section on flowback operations which is key for safe well testing, revised requirements for facility and site process hazard assessment and mitigation, and introduction of formal risk assessments as well as expanded provisions for offshore operations.

Once a prospect area has been selected the right to drill must be secured by leasing the mineral rights of the desired property from a landowner or mineral owner. In some cases a landowner may no longer own the mineral rights. An experienced land man is needed to research deed history and negotiate leases. Once titles are researched, blocks of land are put together to create the lease area. An application for a permit, description of the proposed drilling program, a copy of the plat, the permit fee, an environmental assessment, water allocation, air emissions and land use and disturbance must be submitted. Often companies require additional information as they try to determine optimal locations to drill new wells.

Once the survey has been completed, a stake will be placed where the well is to be drilled. Access roads are created so workers and equipment can get to and from the rig. The site will be cleared and leveled with a bulldozer. For support and permanent positioning of the wellbore the seller and conductor holes are dug and secured into place. The drilling rig and equipment are then trucked to the location unloaded and placed where it will be rigged up. A reserve pit may be excavated to capture drilling fluids, cuttings and mud discharges so they can be recycled or properly disposed. Crew housing facilities, water lines and electricity are brought in for 24/7 operations.

After the rig is erected equipment is moved onto the rig floor, assembled and connected to power sources or pressurized piping systems. Some operators utilize an alternative method of managing returned fluids and solids called ‘A Closed Loop System’ which may reduce or eliminate the need for reserved pits. The Closed Loop System separates the fluids and drilling solids by employing a series of linear motion shakers, mud cleaners, centrifuges and collection equipment to condition the fluids so they can be reused or recycled. The solids or waste is properly disposed off according to state regulations. The hole for the surface casing is then drilled. A drill bit is mounted on the end of the drill pipe as the bit grinds away a mixture of water and additives called ‘Mud’ is pumped into the hole to cool the bit and flush the cuttings to the surface. The pipe and bit are then removed and surface casing is inserted into the hole. Surface casing serves to keep the well bore intact, isolate the freshwater zone from contamination and is the pipe to which the BOP and wellhead are attached. The casing is secured into place by pumping cement through the casing and the shoe at the bottom of the hole. This cement also acts as a barrier to provide a permanent layer to protect the freshwater aquifer. Next, the Blow Out Preventer or BOP is installed on top of the wellhead before the drilling of the well commences. It is usually comprised of an annular preventer; blind ram blind shear ram and the pipe ram.

The BOP units main function is to contain erratic down hole pressures called ‘Kicks’ and the uncontrolled flow of formation fluids quickly and effectively by sealing off the wellbore in several ways. If primary control of the well is lost during drilling or completion, one or more of the BOPs components are initiated to close across part or all of the hole to equalize pressures thereby regaining control of the well. Without the BOP, this underground pressure can force the release of gases, fluids and equipment causing explosion, fire and loss of life. Blowout preventers are critical to the safety of the crew, rig and environment.

Once the well has been logged and deemed a commercial well, the crew inserts the last string of production casing that runs the entire length of the hole and cements the casing in the hole. The cement fills the space between the production casing and the drilled hole called ‘The Annulus’. It also adds stability and strength to the pipe and creates a barrier between the formation and the casing. At the surface the drilling rig is no longer needed. A coil tubing unit or workover rig is brought on location to perforate the targeted zone. A perforating gun is then lowered to the targeted zone; pressure is applied to the coil tubing and perf gun, setting off a charge which shoots holes through the steel casing, cement and out a short distance into the target formation. The perf gun is then pulled out of the hole.

Stimulation is needed on most wells to establish production from the reservoir. Specialized equipment to hydraulically fracture or frack the formation is brought on location. Water, a small amount of chemicals, sand and other province are pumped into the wellbore under extremely high pressure. When the mixture reaches the target zone the pressure forces it out through the perf holes and into the low permeable shale causing it to fracture or crack. This creates a fairway connecting the reservoir to the well. The sand and other province hold the tiny fissures open and allow the released oil to flow to the well bore. This process is repeated in multiple stages to extend across the wellbore. With plugs placed between each stage to maintain pressure and get maximum flow results from the fractured rock. Once the fracking process is complete, the plugs placed between the frack stages are then drilled out to remove any restrictions in the wellbore. The frack fluid also known as ‘Flowback Liquid’ flows back up to the top of the well along with hydrocarbons. The recovered frack fluid is treated and most reused on subsequent hydraulic fracturing jobs. This is done to conserve water and also as a cost savings measure. What is not able to be reused is placed in tanks and then trucked to be properly disposed. The production crew then brings in the work over a unit and rigs it up to prepare the hole for production. The crew runs small diameter pipe called ‘Production Tubing’ inside the production casing string. This serves as the conduit for oil or gas to flow up the well and adds yet another layer of protection to isolate the hydrocarbons from the potable water table.

Next, additional drilling rigs are brought in along with several service companies to help with construction, build infrastructure and assist the drilling company. An oil well can produce for ten to thirty years during the primary recovery phase. Once production has declined secondary or tertiary recovery methods can be used to extend the life of the well. When the well no longer produces at an economic rate the final steps in a wells life cycle are abandonment and reclamation. The wellhead and associated equipment are removed, the wellbore is filled with cement and the well capped and mark. The area is reclaimed and the lease is relinquished back to the landowner.

SMEC Automation has extensive experience in automating and mechanizing drilling and workover rigs. These automated and semi-automated drilling systems have been built for the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, Arctic rigs on the north slope of Alaska, desert rigs in Oman, slant drilling rigs in China and mobile trailer rigs in Brazil. These systems integrate in-house equipment and client-furnished equipment for a total automation package.