It is the simple things

Rig Day 37:

We finished drilling the well! This last section of well did not come without a fight but shortly after 6am Friday morning we finally got to the target measured depth shortly over 5 weeks after starting the well. We should have finished the well a week ago, but due to delays on the rig we didn't start tripping back to the bottom of the well until Friday. Once down there we encountered problems with the bit and had to pull out of hole (POOH) to swap bits and components of the BHA. We tripped in hole (TIH) and began drilling again, but very slowly. Not to long after starting for the second time one of my tools stops working, fails, and we have to POOH - again. We get the BHA and the bit back to surface, swap out tools for a third time and TIH. To give you an idea of how frustrating this is, it takes a full day to bring the bit back to surface, change the tools in the BHA, and go back down to start drilling. C'est la vie. We have reached the depth we want and are now taking some test of the formation pressure and other awesome parameters such as fluid mobility (mD/cp) and other petroleum stuff. After that we will circulate a lot of drilling fluid (mud) to clean the hole from all the rock cuttings that may still be in the bore hole.

- Some clarification for my non petroleum industry family and friends - Oil is not found in vast underground lakes or caverns. Oil and gas occupy the pore space in-between the grains of sedimentary rock. Rock that was deposited by other means than volcanic lava  Let us take sandstone for example. Sandstone is made up of many many much smaller particles of sand fused or 'cemented' together. Imagine a room full of basketballs, baseballs, and golf balls all mixed together. There is air space around the balls as they cannot lay flat on top of each other. This is what the formation porosity is like in simple terms.
Permeability is the area that the fluid around these balls can flow through. If you have a room full of just volleyballs, there would be a lot more area for fluid to flow through than if you filled the room with golf balls. Rock is the same way only the balls are really tiny.
Crude oil also varies a lot from one reservoir to another. Brent crude oil of the North sea is different from the crude oil of West Texas and so on. Some oils are more viscous, like thick molasses, while others are less and more like runny maple syrup. Know the viscosity of the oil is essential to knowing how much oil you can recover.
Now, about the fluid in these pores that is trying to flow around the grains (the balls in the room). In the subsurface it will generally be water, oil, and gas. As the rocks are buried deeper and deeper the fluid likewise increases in pressure. Imagine you are in a deep swimming pool diving to the bottom. As you dive deeper, your ears experience more pressure the deeper you go. Essentially, the same thing happens here but sometimes the pressure can be higher or lower than what you would expect. This is important to know for recovering oil and gas from a well.

Okay, enough of that. I could keep going, but I will do so when the it fits, or if you have questions about something. I can go way to much into technical details, just ask my family.

After knocking off of work around 6:30am I decided to go up on the heli-deck to walk around, enjoy the sunrise, and reflect on the last 5 weeks. It felt good to know that the well was done and that I would be going back to shore in the next few days. Originally I was going to be as soon as Sunday, but that flight got canceled so it will more than likely be Monday. I have developed some small little things and habits that I find enjoyment in and make the days out here pass with more ease. For example, whenever I have a midnight meal I usually have a cup of coffee and a sweet. In the mornings I go for a walk or a run 20 minutes after eating. After washing up from exercising, I study a chapter of scripture and listen to music. At work, we have a stash of crackers and peanut butter for when those of us on tour get the need to snack. A nice cup of tea, crackers smothered in peanut butter are great to keep you going until the next meal. Also, I love the fresh oranges out here! They are really good! And the pizza on Sunday is something to look forward to. ;) Oh, one of the directional drillers on this project enjoyed having a cigar occasionally, so whenever we finished a section of the well we would split a cigar as a way to mark the progress of the job. It is the simple little things both personal and communal that help keep you sane.

It is Easter weekend, but I have no days off. That is okay though. It will still be a good time none the less. In general, part of making a great holiday is ones attitude/perspective during its observance. The church has certainly taught this, and so much more, during the lenten season leading into this weekend. While I may not have fully observed the lenten period, I certainly continue to pray that God would humble me before Him.

I wish you, the reader, a blessed and joyous weekend in celebration of the victory over death found only in Jesus the Messiah, the Risen LORD!