Page 292 - Drilling Technology in Nontechnical Language

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MANAGING DRILLING

OPERATIONS

Overview

A typical drilling operation can vary in cost between around $30,000
per day for a small land rig in an established area to over $1,000,000 a
day for a modern offshore rig in a remote area. Deepwater exploration
wells in frontier areas can cost over $100,000,000. How these activities
are managed has a large impact on the return on investment (ROI) for the
operator. Almost every drilling decision ultimately has an ROI basis: What
is the most cost-effective way to achieve the well objectives?
This chapter will describe the traditional chain of command and will
also examine some of the contractual models used in drilling companies.
Cost estimating and tracking is very important and will be looked at in
some detail. Logistics is a vital component in any drilling campaign, and
some of the considerations for logistics are included.
What happens if a major incident occurs is quite interesting, and this,
too, is described.

Personnel Involved in Drilling Operations

Figure 12–1 is an example organization chart showing the typical
command hierarchy in a traditional drilling operation. It is useful
to understand the various titles, roles, and responsibilities of the
various positions.

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