Service and supply companies

The drilling of any well involves several service and supply companies. Supply companies sell expendable equipment and materials, such as drill bits and mud, to the operator and drilling contractor. They also sell items such as pipes, fuel, lubricants, fire extinguishers, and spare parts. Moreover, they market safety equipment, rig components, paper, water, tools, computers, paint, grease, rags, and solvents. Think of any part or commodity that a rig needs to drill a well, and you'll find a supply company on hand to fill it.

Service companies offer special support to the drilling operation. Like supply companies, they exist to nil the special needs of the drilling project. For example, a mud logging company logs, or monitors, the drilling mud as it returns from the well. The returning mud carries cuttings and any formation fluids, such as gas or oil, to the surface. The operator can gain much knowledge about the formations being drilled by analyzing the returning drilling fluid.

Another kind of service company provides casing crews. A casing crew runs large pipe into the well to line, or case, it . Casing protects formations from contamination and stabilizes the well. After the casing crew runs the casing, another service company— a cementing company—cements the casing in the well. Cement bonds the casing to the hole. In many cases, when a well reaches a formation of interest (usually, a formation that may contain oil or gas), the operator hires a well logging company. The well logging crew runs sophisticated tools into the hole. These instruments measure and record formation properties. By looking at the record, or well log, the operator can often determine whether the well will produce oil or gas.

The words to be memorized:

operating company – нефтедобывающая компания

independent company – независимая компанияj

service company – обслуживающая специализированная компания

supply company – компания по снабжению

casing crew – бригада, занимающая обсадкой

logging company – компания, занимающая каротажом

EXERCISE 2 Fill in the gaps with the correct words. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. ___ ____________help the operating company determine whether the well will produce oil or gas.

2. ________________ also transports, refines, and markets oil and its products.

3. When the portion of the hole is drilled, a _______ ___________ runs a pipe into the well.

4. When a well reaches a formation of interest, the operator hires a ___________ __________.

5. A nintegrated oil company or individual whose operations are in the field of petroleum production is called _____________________________.

6. An _______________ does not usually own the land or the minerals lying under the land.

7. The required items, including drill bits are sold by _______________ _____________.

8. If the_________ _____________ is paid according to the daily costs of operating the rig, it's a daywork contract.

EXERCISE 3 Match two parts of the sentence and translate them.

1. As I know they specialize in………….. 2. I’m not sure but he is responsible for……….. 3. All necessary equipment that ……. 4. Try to run any of the various logs…… 5. That company owns a drilling rig or rigs…… 6. The cement is pumped by company’s crew…… 7. Our rig manager is in the rig site right now…..

1………to secure casing in the well. 2……..and contracts services for drilling wells. 3………trying to provide logistics support to the rig crew. 4……..used to ascertain down hole information about a well. 5………preparing and running casing into a well. 6………a rig needs is delivered by supply company. 7……..representing the company’s interests.

EXERCISE 4 Read and translate the second text "People", using the words after the text.

People

While it is true that you can't drill a well without a drilling rig and several companies to back up the rig, it is equally true that you can't drill a well without skilled people. Personnel run the rig and keep it running until the well reaches its objective. Let's look at some of the people involved in drilling.

Drilling crews work for the drilling contractor. Typically, the contractor hires a rig manager , or a superintendent, for each rig. This rig manager is usually called the toolpusher. The toolpusher supervises two or three crews that operate the rig 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Besides the toolpusher, each rig has drillers, derrickhands, and rotary helpers (also called floorhands or roughnecks). Sometimes the driller designates the most experienced rotary helper as a motorhand. The motorhand performs routine service and maintenance on the rig's engines.

The toolpusher is the contractor's top hand on the drilling location. This person oversees the drilling crews that work on the rig floor, supervises all drilling operations, and coordinates operating company and contractor affairs. During the time the rig is drilling, the toolpusher usually lives in an on-site trailer or portable building and is on call at all times.

Tool pushers are in charge of keeping the rig in all necessary tools and equipment, supplies, etc. They work closely in conjunction with the company man in regards to the actual drilling of the well. In recent times, toolpushers also have taken on somewhat of an administrative role, also, as they frequently do paperwork related to the rig crew regarding payroll, benefits, etc. Usually a tool pusher has started at the bottom and worked his way up and has been in the industry for a number of years.

The driller supervises the derrickhand and the rotary helpers with direction from the toolpusher. From a control console on the rig floor, the driller manipulates the controls that keep the drilling operation under way. This person is directly responsible for the drilling of the hole.

The driller is in charge of his crew, and running the rig itself. Most of the time, his job is simply to monitor the rig's activity. He is responsible for interpreting the signals the well gives regarding gas and fluids with high pressure. In an emergency he is also responsible for taking the correct counter measures. The driller will watch for gas levels coming out of the hole, how much drilling mud is going in and other information. While tripping, the driller will run the floor and work the rig.

When crew members run drill pipe into the hole trip in, or when they pull pipe out of the hole (trip out, the rig needs a derrickhand. The derrickhand handles the upper end of the pipe from the monkeyboard. The monkey-board is a small platform in the derrick. A drilling crew can trip pipe in or out of the hole one length, or joint, at a time. Usually, however, they trip pipe in stands to speed up the process. Since a stand is two or more lengths of pipe, the job goes faster than tripping them one joint at a time. Each stand of pipe is either about 60 feet long or about 90 feet long (about 18 or 27 metres).

The contractor therefore mounts the monkeyboard in the derrick at a height of either 50 or 80 feet (15 or 24 metres), depending on how long the stands are. When the bit is drilling and the pipe is in the hole, the derrickhand climbs down from the monkeyboard and works at ground level on the drilling mud, making sure it meets the specifications for drilling a particular part of the hole.

Mud engineer (sometimes referred to as the "Mud Man", though women also do this job today) works on an oil well drilling rig, and is responsible for the drilling fluid, also known as drilling mud which lubricates the drill bit and clears cuttings from the borehole. It is a well-paid job because of the importance of maintaining the drilling fluid in efficient drilling.

Mudlogger in the modern oil field typically works for a service company contracted by the oil company (or operator) and is tasked primarily with gathering data and collecting samples during the drilling of a well to identify possible indications of hydrocarbons. They then organize this information in the form of a graphic log, showing the data charted on a graphic representation of the wellbore. The oil industry representative or company man provides mudloggers their instruction. The mudlogger is told when to start well-logging activity and what services to provide. The mudlogger may also possess logs from wells drilled in the surrounding area. This information (known as "offset data") can provide valuable clues as to the characteristics of the particular geo-strata that the rig crew is about to drill through.

Mudloggers observe and interpret the indicators in the mud returns during the drilling process. At regular intervals the mudlogger logs properties such as drilling rate, mud weight, flowline temperature, natural gas content and type, oil indicators, pump pressure, pump rate, lithology (rock type) of the drilled cuttings, and various other items of interest. The job of a mudlogger requires a good deal of diligence and attention. Sampling the drilled cuttings must be performed at predetermined intervals, and can be difficult during rapid drilling. Another important task of the mudlogger is to monitor gas levels and notify other personnel on the rig when gas levels may be reaching dangerous levels, so appropriate steps can be taken to avoid a dangerous well blowout.

Roughneck (or ruffneck) is a slang term for an unskilled or slightly skilled laborer in a number of industries. In particular, it is the official name of a semi-skilled role on a North American oil rig. A roughneck's duties could include anything involved with the connecting and "tripping" of pipe down the well bore, and the roughneck is the person when it comes to general work around the rig.

Roustabout is a laborer typically performing temporary, unskilled work. "Roustabout" is also an official classification of oil rig personnel. Roustabouts working in the North American oil fields typically perform various jobs requiring little training. However, they frequently turn out to be long term employees and take on more difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs as they gain experience. Most go on to at least become roughnecks.

Motorman is the person who operates an electrified trolley car, tram, light rail, or rapid transit train. The term refers to the person who is in charge of the motor (of the electric car) in the same sense as a railroad engineer is in charge of the engine. A motorman is the member of the drilling crew who is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the engines on an oil rig.

Floorhand: Works the "make-up" tongs on the Driller side of the drilling floor while tripping in the hole.

Depending on the size of the rig, its equipment, and other factors, a contractor usually hires two or three rotary helpers for each work shift. On small rigs drilling shallow wells, for example, two rotary helpers on a shift can safely and efficiently perform the required duties. On large rigs drilling deep holes, the job may require three rotary helpers, but not always. In any case, rotary helpers handle the lower end of the drill pipe when they are tripping it in or out (cnycKonozrteMHafl onepannfl) of the hole. They also use large wrenches called tongs to screw or unscrew (make up or break out the individual stands of pipe. Besides handling pipe, rotary helpers also maintain the rig, help repair it, and keep it clean and painted.

Besides the drilling crew, many other persons work at the rig site. They may, be there during the entire time the well is being drilled, or they may come out only when their expertise or equipment is needed.

The operating company customarily has its own person on the drill site to supervise its interests. The company representative, like the toolpusher, usually lives on the rig site in a trailer or, portable building, and is in charge of all the operator's activities on the location. This person helps plan the strategy for drilling the well, orders all the needed supplies and services, and makes on-site decisions that affect the well's progress. The company representative and the toolpusher usually work closely together.

The words to be memorized:

drilling crew – буровая бригада

driller – бурильщик

derrickhand – верховой рабочий

expendable equipment and material – расходные материалы и детали

fire extinguishers – огнетушитель

floorhand – третий помощник бурильщика

graphic log – описание литографического разреза скважины

logs – буровой журнал, каротажная диаграмма

maintenance – техническое обслуживание

motorman – дизелист

monkeyboard – люлька верхового