Page 6 - Air and Gas Drilling Manual

Preface

This is the second edition of the Air and Gas Drilling Manual. The first
edition of this book was published in 1984 by Gulf Publishing company of
Houston, Texas. The first edition of the book was written primarily for the oil and
gas recovery drilling industry. This first edition had moderate success and was sold
out of the initial printing by the late 1980’s. However, in the early 1990’s
underbalanced drilling became an important technology for oil and gas recovery
drilling and completions. Also, at about this same time air and gas drilling
technology became an important environmental tool for monitoring and cleanup
operations. These events have prompted our effort to create the second edition of the
Air and Gas Drilling Manual.
The second edition of the Air and Gas Drilling Manual is written as an
engineering practice book for engineers and earth scientists who are engaged in
planning and carrying out shallow and deep air and gas drilling operations. The first
objective of this book is to give engineers and earth scientists general knowledge of
air and gas drilling operations and a calculation methodology that can be used for
planning future operations. Also the results of this methodology can be used to
assist in carrying out a successful drilling operation. The book contains many
illustrative examples that demonstrate the calculation methodology. The
calculations are easily understood by any technically trained individual with a basic
understanding of rotary drilling. The basic equations are derived and presented for
use in both the English units and in SI units.
This book is an excellent companion for two popular drilling specialty books
already in the market today. For those engineers and scientists interested in shallow
direct and reverse circulation drilling, this book describes the detailed calculations
required to support the equipment and field techniques given in the Handbook of
Ground Water Development by the Roscoe Moss Company (a John Wiley
Publication). Likewise, for those engineers interested in deep underbalanced direct
circulation drilling, this book describes the detailed calculations required to support
the equipment and field techniques given in the Underbalanced Drilling Manual (a
Gas Research Institute publication).
This book covers both direct and reverse circulation operations. Also, the book
covers all aspects of air and gas drilling technology (i.e., air or gas drilling, aerated
fluids drilling, and stable foam drilling). The secondary objective of this text is to
give oil and gas recovery drilling engineers knowledge of some important
technologies that have been used for decades in shallow drilling operations.

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