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Geological Operations and Logistics

Competency Statement:

Determine the necessary geological and operational resources for carrying out an exploratory drilling project. Build a drilling plan to address permitting, environmental and safety considerations, location construction, contracts, evaluation and specialized services. Balance the cost versus the benefit to the company in all the aspects of the drilling program to make the best possible decisions.

Learning Objective:

  • Assemble Database to rank prospects and recommend a prospect for drilling
  • Coordinate the drilling plan and construct a timeline for all drilling activities.
  • Collect and evaluate requests for exploratory well data and evaluate impact on budget.
  • Prepare data collection program for exploratory well.
  • Tender required services to the industry at large and award contracts for exploratory services.

Assignment Instruction:

In this scenario, assignments will be given to both the Prospect Geologist and the Well Site Geologist. Beta Petroleum is drilling the Gama 1 "wildcat" exploration well on the Gama structure in the New Basin. If this first exploratory well is successful, three additional appraisal wells may be drilled to determine the potential size of the discovery. As both the Prospect Geologist and Well Site Geologist in charge of well site geological operations, you will be involved in all stages of the exploratory drilling program. You will:

  • Use a Database to rank prospects and recommend a prospect for drilling
  • Develop a data acquistion plan, monitor drilling, and report progress to management and the exploration team.
  • Understand the objectives for the successful drilling and evaluation of the well. Respond to exploration data requests, evaluate data and distribute the information to management at company headquarters.
  • Coordinate the drilling plan. This includes location confirmation, permitting, site preparation, coordination and communication with the drilling engineers, the drilling contractor and the contractors providing data collection services. Construct a timeline for all drilling activities.
  • Tender the drilling services to select contractors.
  • Prepare a budget and track overall cost and cost of operational expenditure areas for the Exploration Manager.
  • Plan for contingencies with alternatives for the drilling and evaluation program that still conform to the overall objectives of the well.

Refer to materials in References and Field Data and read topics in Background Knowledge as needed to complete the assignments.

Proposed Gama 1 Well Location on Gama Structure Prospect Map

Fig.1 Example Prospect Map