Petroleum Exploration

Introduction
• In the upstream sector, the two Upstream National Oil Companies
(NOCs) viz., Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and Oil India
Limited play a dominant role with a total share of about 76% in oil
and gas production in the country.
• Presently, ONGC produces nearly 62.5% of indigenous crude oil and
71.5% of country’s gas production, while OIL’s share is 9.5% of
indigenous crude oil and 8.9% of gas production.
• The share of Private/JV companies in oil and gas production is 28%
and 19.6% respectively.
Sedimentary Basins in India
• India has 26 sedimentary basins covering an area of 3.14 million
square kilometres. The sedimentary basins of India, onland and
offshore up to the 400m isobath, have an aerial extent of about 1.84
million sq. km.
• In the deepwater beyond the 400m isobath, the sedimentary area has
been estimated to be about 1.30 million sq. km.
• The Indian sedimentary basins have been broadly divided into four
categories based on their degree of prospectivity.
Crude oil & natural gas production in the country is from 7 basins under category-I and
deepwater areas.
In category-II basins, hydrocarbon discoveries have been made but commercial production is yet
to commence.
The distribution of total Indian sedimentary area of 3.14 million square kilometre under
different categories and deepwater is presented as under:
Estimated Hydrocarbon Resources in India
As on 1.4.2017, In-place hydrocarbon volume of 10454 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent
gas could be established through exploration by ONGC, OIL and Private/JV companies. So, about
75% of resources are under “yet to find” category.
Out of 10454 MMT of oil and oil equivalent gas of In-place volumes, the ultimate reserves which
can be produced are about 4017 MMT of oil and oil equivalent gas since inception. The
balance recoverable reserves are of the order of 1787 MMT of oil and oil equivalent gas.
Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources

• CBM Resources
• The estimated Coal Bed Methane (CBM) resources are of the order of
2600 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM) or 91.8 Trillion cubic feet (TCF)
spread over in 11 states in the country.
Recoverable Coal Bed Methane Reserves
Shale Gas/Oil Resource
• It is estimated that a number of sedimentary basins (Gangetic plain, Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh & other coastal areas) in India, including the
hydrocarbon bearing ones – Cambay, Assam- Arakan, & Damodar – have large shale
deposits. Various agencies have made different estimates of shale gas and oil in the
Indian sedimentary basins.
I. M/s Schlumberger: 300 to 2100 TCF of shale gas resource for the country.
II. Energy Information Administration (EIA), USA in 2011: 290 TCF of shale gas in
4 basins (Cambay Onland, Damodar, Krishna Godavari Onland & Cauvery
Onland).
III. Energy Information Administration (EIA), USA in 2013: 584 TCF of shale gas
and 87 billion Barrels of shale oil in 4 basins (Cambay Onland, Damodar, Krishna
Godavari Onland & Cauvery Onland).
IV. ONGC: 187.5 TCF of shale gas in 5 basins (Cambay Onland, Ganga Valley, Assam
& Assam Arakan, Krishna Godavari Onland & Cauvery Onland.
V. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI): 45 TCF of shale gas in 6
sub-basins (Jharia, Bokaro, North Karanpura, South Karanpura, Raniganj &
Sohagpur).
VI. United States Geological Survey (USGS) has also estimated technically
recoverable shale gas resources of 6.1 TCF in 3 basins (Cambay Onland, Krishna
Godavari Onland & Cauvery Onland). Further, USGS has indicated that these
basins have also potential for shale oil.
Crude Oil & Natural Gas Production
• Crude oil production in 2017-18 upto December 2017 is about 26.933
Million Metric Tonne (MMT) by ONGC, OIL and Private/ JV
Companies. About 72% of crude oil is by ONGC and OIL from
nomination regime and remaining 28% of crude oil production is by
Private/JV companies.
• In 2017-18, the share of offshore crude oil production is about 51.1%.
The remaining crude oil production was from 6 States viz., Andhra
Pradesh (0.9%), Arunachal Pradesh (0.1%), Assam (12.2%), Gujarat
(12.8%), Rajasthan (21.9%) and Tamil Nadu (1.0%).
Natural Gas Production
• Natural gas production in 2017-18 upto December 2017 is about 24.686
Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) by ONGC, OIL and Private/ JV Companies.
• About 80.4% of natural gas production was by ONGC and OIL from
nomination regime and remaining 19.6% of natural gas production was by
Private/JV companies
• The share of offshore natural gas production in 2016-17 is about 67.6%.
• The remaining natural gas production including CBM was from 10 States
viz., Andhra Pradesh (2.8%), Arunachal Pradesh (0.1%), Assam (9.9%),
Gujarat (5.0%), Rajasthan (4.4%), Tamil Nadu (3.7%), Tripura (4.4%),
Jharkhand (0.01%), Madhya Pradesh (0.5%) and West Bengal (1.7%).
Exploration
• The objective of any exploration venture is to find
new volumes of hydrocarbons at a low cost and in a
short period of time.
• Exploration for petroleum originated in the latter part
of the nineteenth century when geologists began to
map land features to search out favourable places to
drill for oil Of particular interest to geologists were
outcrops that provided evidence of alternating layers
of porous and impermeable rock.
• In the 1960s, the development of geophysics provided
methods for exploring below the surface of the earth.
• The principles used are basically magnetism
(magnetometer), gravity (gravimeter), and sound waves
(seismograph).
• These techniques are based on the physical properties of
materials that can be utilized for measurements and
include those that are responsive to the methods of
applied geophysics.
• Further, the methods can be subdivided into those that
focus on gravitational properties, magnetic properties,
seismic properties, electrical properties, electromagnetic
properties, and radioactive properties.
GRAVITY METHODS
• Gravity methods are based on the measurement of physical
quantities related to the gravitational field, which in turn are
affected by differences in the density and the disposition of
underlying geological bodies.
• In the early days of gravity prospecting, both the torsion
balance and the pendulum apparatus were extensively
employed, but these have been supplanted by spring balance
systems (gravimeters).
• Gravimeter can be read in a matter of minutes, in contrast to the
several hours required in obtaining readings with the earlier
instruments.
Magnetic method
• Magnetic methods are based upon measuring the magnetic effects
produced by varying concentrations of ferromagnetic minerals, such
as magnetite.
• Instruments used for magnetic prospecting vary from the simple
mining compass used in the seventeenth century to sensitive airborne
magnetic units permitting intensity variations to be measured with an
accuracy greater than 1/10,000 part of the earth’s field.
• Magnetic susceptibility of rocks depends mainly on the proportion of
Rock Forming Minerals. Most of the common rock types are either
nonmagnetic or very feebly magnetic.
• When the rocks are composed of higher proportion of magnetic
minerals like magnetite, ilmenite, pyrrhotite, etc., it becomes
susceptible to magnetism.
• the most widely used magnetic instruments are:
1. Schmidt vertical magnetometer.
2. Torsion fiber magnetometer
3. Nuclear precession magnetometer
SEISMIC METHODS
• A powerful technique for underground exploration,
has been used for over 60 years. It will give more
precise details on the formations beneath the surface.
• Seismic methods are based on determinations of the
time interval that elapses between the initiation of a
sound wave from detonation of a dynamite charge or
other artificial shock and the arrival of the vibration
impulses at a series of seismic detectors .
• The arrivals are amplified and recorded along with
time marks (0.01 sec intervals) to give the
seismogram.
• The seismograph measures the shock waves from
explosions initiated by triggering small controlled
charges of explosives at the bottom of shallow holes in
the ground.
• The formation depth is determined by the time
elapsed between the explosion and detection of the
reflected wave at the surface.
• The information from seismic survey indicates the
type of rock, their relative depth and whether the trap
is present.
ELECTRICAL METHODS
• Electrical prospecting methods depend upon differences in electrical
conductivity between the geological bodies under study and the
surrounding rocks.
• igneous rocks range from 104 to 106 Ω-cm
• saturated unconsolidated sediments from 102 to 104 Ω-cm.
RADIOACTIVE METHODS
• In the disintegration of radioactive minerals three spontaneous
emissions take place, the election of an electron (b-ray), a helium
nucleus (a-ray), and short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation (g-
rays).
• The instruments used in radioactive exploration are the Geiger
counter and the scintillometer.
• In addition to prospecting for radioactive minerals, the radioactive
method is extensively applied in borehole studies of subsurface
stratigraphy as might be deemed necessary when prospecting for oil.
• Different sedimentary rocks are naturally characterized by different
concentrations of radioactive materials.
• Shale and volcanic ash give the highest g-ray count and limestone,
the lowest g-ray count.
BOREHOLE LOGGING
• Another valuable exploration method is geophysical borehole logging,
which involves drilling a well and the use of instruments to log or
make measurements at various levels in the hole by such means as
electrical resistivity, radioactivity, acoustics, or density.
• In addition, formation samples (cores) are taken for physical and
chemical tests.
Electrical Logging
• The use of electrical logging is based on the fact that the resistivity of
a rock layer is a function of its fluid content.
• Oil-filled sand has very high resistivity.
• The method consists of passing a current between an electrode at the
surface and one that is lowered into the hole.
• Any change in the resistivity conditions around the moving electrode
affects the flow of current and voltage distribution around it.
Radioactive logging
• The natural radioactive properties of many
constituents of rock have made it possible to develop
and use nuclear radiation detectors (radioactive
logging) in the borehole or even in holes that have
already been cased.
• Two commonly used methods are :
1. g-ray
2. neutron logging.
Acoustic Logging
• The acoustic logging method is quite similar to surface seismic work. Instead
of explosives, an electrically operated acoustic pulse generator is used.
• In one instrument, the generator is separated from the receiver by an acoustic
insulator.
• The design permits automatic selection and recording of the travel times of the
onsets of pulses that travel through the rock wall of the hole as the instrument
moves down or up.
• Signals are recorded continuously at the surface, being transmitted through a
cable on which the instrument is suspended.
• The velocity log provided by the instrument helps to define beds and evaluate
formation porosity.
Density Logging
• Density can now be logged with a new technique that uses
radioactivity (density logging).
• The instrument consists of a radioactive cobalt source of g-rays and a
Geiger counter as a detector, which is shielded from the source.
• The rock formation is bombarded with the g-rays, some of which are
scattered back from the formation and enter the detector.
• The degree to which the original radiation is adsorbed is a function of
the density of the rock.
Core Sampling
• Test well sampling is another important method used in the
search for oil (core sampling).
• Well data obtained from the examination of formation samples
taken from various depths in the borehole are of considerable
value in deciding further exploratory work.
• These samples can be cores, which have been taken from the
hole by a special coring device or drill cuttings screened from
the circulating drilling mud.
• The major purpose of sample examination is to identify the
various strata in the borehole and compare their positions with
the standard stratigraphic sequence of all the sedimentary rocks
occurring in the specific basin where the hole has been drilled.
DRILLING
• The overall objective of drilling is to bore a hole (the well
bore) into the ground until you penetrate a target rock
formation, that has been identified by the geologists as
having the potential to contain commercial hydrocarbons.
• There are two drilling methods used in the petroleum
industry:
1. The cable tool method, by which the first oil well
was drilled in 1859 to a depth of 65 ft, was first
employed by the early Chinese in the drilling of brine
wells.
2. The rotary drilling method, started by a French civil
engineer in 1863, is the most common method that
performs a rotary grinding action.
 Rotary drilling
• In rotary drilling, the well is drilled by a rotating bit to which a
downward force is applied.
• A rotary drilling rig comprises following
components:
1. derrick and substructure
2. Mud Pump
3. Prime movers
4. drawwork or hoist
5. Rotary Drill String
6. Rock bits
7. Drilling Line
• The basic rotary drilling system consists of four
groups of components.
 Prime movers
Hoisting equipment
Rotating equipment
Circulating equipment
Prime Movers
• The prime movers in a rotary drilling rig are those pieces of equipment
that provide the power to the entire rig.

• Recently, while diesel engines still compose the majority of power

sources on rotary rigs, other types of engines are also in use.
 Hoisting Equipments

• The hoisting equipment on a rotary rig consists of the tools used to

raise and lower whatever other equipment may go into or come out of
the well.
• The most visible part of the hoisting equipment is the derrick, the tall
tower-like structure that extends vertically from the well hole.
• The hoisting system is made up of the drawworks, derrick, crown
block, traveling block, hook and wire rope.
 derrick and substructure

• The derrick provides the vertical clearance necessary

for raising and lowering the drill string into and out of
the borehole during drilling operations.
• It must be sufficient height and strength to perform
this duties in safe and expedient manner.
• The substructure is the support on which the derrick
rests.
• It’s height must be sufficient to house and afford
access to blowout prevent.
 Travelling Block, Crown Block, Drill Line & Hook

• Use to connect the supporting derrick with the load of drillpipe to be

lowered into or withdrawn from the borehole.
• During drilling operations, this load usually consists of the weight of
the drillpipe, drill collars and drill bit.
• The drill line passes from the drawworks to the top of the derrick.
From here is sheaved between the crown block and traveling block to
give an eight, ten or twelve-line suspension.
• It is then clamped to the rig floor by the deadline anchor
Drawworks

The drawworks is a mechanism commonly known as a hoist.

The main purpose of the drawworks is to lift the drillstring out of and
to lower it back into the borehole.
The drill line is reeled (spooled) on a drum in the drawworks.
Rotating Equipments
• The rotating equipment consists of components that actually serve to
rotate the drill bit.
• Rotating equipment from top to bottom consists of swivel, a short
piece of pipe called the kelly, rotary table/topdrive, drill string and bit.
• Swivel
• The swivel hangs from the drilling hook by means of large bail, or handle.
• The swivel is not rotate, but allow everything below it to rotate.
• Drilling fluid is introduced into the drillstem through a gooseneck connection on
the swivel, which is connected to the rotary hose.
Kelly

• The kelly is approximately 40 feet long, square or hexagonal on the

outside and hollow throughout
• Its outer surfaces engages corresponding square or hexagonal surfaces
in the kelly bushing.
• The kelly bushing fits into a part of rotary table called master bushing.
Powered gears in the rotary table rotate the master bushing, and thus
the kelly bushing.
• The kelly bushing will rotate the kelly and everything below it to
rotate
Drill String
• The drill string is made up of the drill pipe, drill
collars, and specialized subs.
• Drill pipe and drill collar come in sections, or joints,
about 30 feet long.
• The most commonly used diameters of drill pipe are 4,
4½, and 5 inches OD.
• The purpose of drill collars is to put extra weight on
the bit.
Drill Bit

• At the bottom of drill string is a the bit, which drills the formation rock.
• Most common types are roller cone bits and diamond bits.
• The bit size: range from 3¾ inches (9.5 cm) to 26 inches (66 cm) in diameters.
• The most commonly used sizes are 17½, 12¼, 77/8, and 6 ¼ inches (44, 31,
20, and 16 cm).
Circulating System
• There are a number of main objectives of this system:
Cooling and lubricating the drill bit.
Controlling well pressure.
Removing debris and cuttings.
Coating the walls of the well with a mud cake.

• The circulating system consists of drilling fluid, which is circulated down through the well
hole.
• The most common liquid drilling fluid, known as 'mud', may contain clay, chemicals,
weighting materials, water and oil.
• The circulating system consists of a starting point, the mud pit, where the drilling fluid
ingredients are stored.
• Mixing takes place at the mud mixing hopper, from
which the fluid is forced through pumps up to the
swivel and down all the way through the drill pipe,
emerging through the drill bit itself.
• From there, the drilling fluid circulates through the bit,
picking up debris and drill cuttings, to be circulated
back up the well, traveling between the drill string and
the walls of the well (also called the 'annular space').
• Once reaching the surface, the drilling fluid is filtered
to recover the reusable fluid.
 Blowout preventer
• It is not always possible to predict exact magnitude of
pressure which will be encountered in the drilling of
well.
• It is not uncommon to encounter pressure greater than
those imposed by the drilling fluid, with the result that
formation fluid flow into the borehole and eventually
to the surface. This effect is called blowout and most
feared and expensive accident which can occur during
drilling well.
• The main function of blowout preventer is to furnish a
means of closing the annular space between the drill
pipe and casing.
Drilling procedure
• There are five basic steps to drilling the surface hole:
1. Place the drill bit, collar, and drill pipe in the hole
2. Attach the kelly and turntable and begin drilling
3. As drilling progresses, circulate mud through the pipe and out of the
bit to float the rock cuttings out of the hole
4. As the hole increases in depth, add new sections (joints) of drill pipes
5. Remove the drill pipe, collar and bit when the preset depth (anywhere
from a few hundred to a couple-thousand feet) is reached
• When the preset depth is reached, the casing pipe sections are
run into the hole and cemented to prevent the hole from
collapsing. The casing pipe has spacers around the outside to
keep it centered in the hole.
• The cement is pumped down the casing pipe using a bottom
plug, a cement slurry, a top plug, and drilling mud. The
pressure from the drilling mud causes the cement slurry to
move through the casing and fill the space between the
outside of the casing and the hole.
• Finally, the cement is allowed to harden and is then tested for
such properties as hardness, alignment, and a proper seal.
• Drilling continues in stages and when the rock cuttings from
the mud reveal the oil sand from the reservoir rock, the final
depth may have been reached.
• At this point, the drilling apparatus is removed from the hole
and tests are preformed to confirm that the final depth has
been reached.
Directional Drilling
• Directional drilling is the
process of drilling a
curved well, in order to
reach a target that is not
directly beneath the drill
site.
• two tools are the whipstock
and the knuckle joint.
• The whipstock is a gradually
tapered wedge with a chisel-
shaped base that prevents
rotation after it has been
forced into the bottom of an
open hole.
• As the bit moves down, it is
deflected by the taper by
about 5° from the alignment
of the existing hole.
Drilling Problems
• Stuck pipe
• Lost circulation
• Borehole instabilities
• Mud contamination
• Kicks and blowout