Overview on vertical and directional drilling technologies for the exploration and exploitation of deep petroleum resources

The vertical and directional drilling are the key technologies for the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources in deep formations. Meanwhile, they are also the very important ways to exploit deep geothermal energy and geo-resources, conduct international continental scientific drilling program. The aim of the present overview is to review and discuss the vertical and directional drilling technologies and their recent developments since the pioneering work in 1890s. It starts with the historical development and classification of main drilling methods for petroleum extraction, such as the vertical drilling, directional drilling and horizontal drilling, and the main application scopes of these methods are also discussed. Then, the developments of the directional techniques, the main directional tools (deflection tools, down-hole motor, rotary steerable drilling system and vertical drilling system), the directional survey techniques (measuring and transmission techniques), the main drill bits (roller cone bits, fixed cutter bits and hybrid bits), and the main drilling fluids (gas-base drilling fluid, water-based drilling fluid and oil-based drilling fluid) are summarized and analyzed. The top 15+ deepest and top 20+ longest wells all over the world are collected from related literatures to analyze the achievements of vertical and directional drilling in petroleum industry, the challenges of vertical and directional drilling are also discussed. Finally, a brief summary and prospect of vertical and directional drilling are presented.

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