Good video:
Archive for the ‘drilling’ Category
The longest subsurface journey begins with the first 10 feet
Posted in drilling, energy, tagged field test, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, ultradeep geothermal on May 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Exploratory drilling for freshwater offshore Nantucket
Posted in drilling, Uncategorized, tagged Brandon Dugan, freshwater lenses, IODP, Mark Willett, Nantucket, NSF, offshore freshwater, shelf hydrogeology on March 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Excerpt from the expedition summary:
The northeast coast of the United States is perhaps the best understood example of an offshore freshwater system, and multiple studies have been undertaken to determine the origin and volume of offshore freshwater. Coring and sampling the subseafloor offshore Massachusetts, USA, will provide data for understanding the processes driving emplacement of freshwater lenses offshore New England and elsewhere globally, and lead to a better understanding of this worldwide hydrogeological phenomenon. This is essential for protection and sustainable management of offshore freshwater systems and for better understanding biogeochemical and elemental cycling in continental shelf environments.
With regard to the potential freshwater resources (from the Nantucket Current):
“I’m just excited about the science, and that finally, after all these years, someone’s trying to get the truth,” said Nantucket Water Department director Mark Willett. “Computers predicted it. Everybody thinks it’s there. These guys are the first ones in the world who are going to go drill a hole and prove it.”
Willett and (lead scientist Brandon) Dugan are particularly intrigued by the possibility that the offshore freshwater aquifer could be connected to a lower, untapped aquifer beneath Nantucket that Willett calls “ancient glacier lake Nantucket.”
“If it is connected and it’s young water that’s being recharged actively today, that’s really exciting, because it’s a renewable source,” Dugan said.
Mars vs. Mars
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged deepwater development, deepwater drilling, Gulf of America, planet Mars, Shell Mars, space vs. offshore, SpaceX on March 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
In light of the recent NASA/SpaceX advances in rocketry, a manned mission to Mars seems inevitable, perhaps within the next 5 years. See the SpaceX Mars landing video below.
While the space program generates more media buzz given the sci-fi appeal, the achievements of the offshore oil and gas industry are similarly impressive. The Gulf of America has its own Mars, a massive deepwater project that has been ongoing and expanding for 30 years, and may ultimately produce more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Like a mission to Mars, the successful development of deepwater oil and gas resources is a technical marvel that requires:
- Identifying prospects deep beneath the seafloor using advanced subsurface imaging capabilities.
- Drilling exploratory wells from floating rigs, using advanced stationkeeping systems that maintain a precise location on the water surface.
- Drilling deep beneath the seafloor while transmitting real-time geologic, temperature, and pressure data to the rig and distant onshore locations.
- Ensuring well integrity by installing and cementing multiple strings of protective casing.
- Processing production at buoyant surface facilities designed to withstand worst case storm conditions.
- Connecting clusters of subsea wells to a host surface facility that may be many miles away.
- Increasing ultimate recovery with reservoir engineering studies and advanced well completion practices.
Life on the planet Mars will be dependent on technology developed for the offshore Mars and other deepwater projects.
Update from Quaise Energy on Millimeter Wave Drilling
Posted in drilling, energy, tagged gyrotron, melt rock, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, test drilling on March 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Last month, we demonstrated millimeter wave drilling outside of the lab for the very first time.“
“Millimeter wave drilling is the keystone of superhot geothermal. It’s the only way to access the resource at scale while reaching economic and power parity with fossil fuels. Over the coming months, two more drilling field tests will pave the way to our first commercial developments.”
JL Daeschler recalls the early days of well control training at LSU
Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, well control incidents, tagged Bill Hise, JL Daeschler, LSU, Minerals Management Service, USGS, well control training on January 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Pioneering offshore engineer J.L. Daeschler, a Frenchman who lives in Scotland and has worked on drilling rigs worldwide, shared his 1974 training certificate signed by Bill Hise, the first director of the Blowout Prevention and Well Control Training Center at LSU. JL recalls his training:
The LSU well control course was new and very well organized. Training options were limited at that time. LSU took a step forward and incorporated equipment donated by Cameron Iron Works, Armco Steel /National, VETCO, and others.
The course was split between indoor class room style and outdoor training on a live well to remind us of the real things, like hard hats, tally books, and safety shoes.
LSU had a 1200 ft vertical well and a small 2″ diameter gas injection line to create a bottom hole gas kick, using a nitrogen truck as the supply. (note: the live well was a first for any well control school.) You had a choice of several manual chokes. I selected the Cameron Willis choke to circulate the gas kick out with no increase in mud weight (drillers method).
The mud return level, kick detection, and general management of the operation were realistic as if on a rig. The gas would whistle and escape thru a vent line.
The training was simple and effective in that proper well control procedures were learned. In the process, there were many errors. Mud was seen flying out of the mud shaker/pits. School management would bring things under control and explain the errors that were made !!!
LSU’s well control center video:
Will ultra-deep drilling give us unlimited clean energy?
Posted in climate, drilling, energy policy, tagged field tests, gyrotron, Noema Magazine, Quaise Energy, ultradeep geothermal on January 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
See this very good Noema Magazine article.
“In an age when energy policy is so often hostage to fierce partisanship, there is hope that geothermal can be the one clean energy solution that could satisfy climate change campaigners and the ‘drill baby drill’ lobby alike.”
Updates on Quaise Energy’s highly anticipated gyrotron field test and related information:
- “Lab-test data suggest that the gyrotron’s beam will lose only around 50% of its power at a depth of six miles. To put that into perspective, the attenuation of a rotating drill string at 10 kilometers can be 98%,” Araque said. “You only get 2% of the mechanical power down to the bit.”
- Quaise’s field test will take place on a disused oil drilling pad in the northern exurbs of Houston. Next month, a gyrotron 100 times as powerful as the one in the laboratory will be pointed at the earth and switched on.
- By spring, Quaise will have erected another platform in a disused quarry near Marble Falls, a city on the Colorado River northwest of Austin.
- Quaise’s ultimate ambition is that its drills can be “dropped-in” to existing oil and gas wells.
- By 2026, Quaise should be positioned to launch its first commercial venture. Within that short timescale, an answer to the question of whether superdeep geothermal can be truly transformative should come into clearer focus.
Quaise’s Araque: “Our civilization uses 25 terawatts, and it doubles every 25 years. By 2050 we need 50 terawatts. By 2100 we need 200 terawatts. When you look at those numbers, you realize that diffuse and intermittent renewables don’t have the scale. The externalities are too high.”
Stunning picture taken offshore Guyana
Posted in drilling, Guyana, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Guyana, OilNow, Stena Carron, Stena Drillmax on January 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Below is a nice shot of the Stena Carron seen from the Stena DrillMAX offshore Guyana. The DrillMAX returned to Guyana after drilling the high potential Persephone well in the Orphan Basin offshore Newfoundland. Unfortunately, the Orphan Basin well failed to discover commercial hydrocarbons.
StenaDrilling shows the current locations of the 2 drillships. The DrillMAX is northwest of the Carron.
Effective regulation
Posted in accidents, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged effective regulation, Gale Norton, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita', industry standards, Johnnie Burton, MODU stationkeeping, mooring failures on December 11, 2024| 2 Comments »
Optimally, the regulator establishes clear objectives for the operating companies and a schedule for achieving those objectives. This approach was demonstrated with great success following the 2005 hurricane season (Katrina and Rita) when numerous mooring system and other stationkeeping issues were identified.
Minerals Management Service Director Johnnie Burton sent a letter (attachment 1) to industry leaders calling for a face-to-face meeting with Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The Secretary outlined her concerns and informed offshore operators that there would be no drilling from moored mobile drilling units or jackup rigs during the next hurricane season until the issues identified during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were addressed.
The collaborative effort that followed was a resounding success (2nd attachment). In addition to addressing station keeping concerns, a comprehensive list of hurricane issues was developed. Industry and government then worked together to assess mitigations and develop new standards and procedures. The essential MODU standards were completed before the 2006 hurricane season, and all of the related concerns were effectively addressed prior to the 2009 hurricane season. Had the government elected to promulgate regulations to address all of these issues, much of this work would have never been completed.
Encouraging study for ultra-deep geothermal fans
Posted in climate, drilling, tagged fractures at superhot conditions, gyrotron, Quaise Energy, supercritical water, ultradeep geothermal on October 18, 2024| 4 Comments »
Ultra-deep geothermal is arguably the renewable energy resource with the greatest long term potential. It is accessible everywhere, can replace thermal energy sources at existing power plants, and isn’t handicapped by the intermittency, space preemption, aesthetic, and wildlife protection challenges inherent in wind and solar development.
A new study found that rock that fractures at superhot conditions (see diagram above) can be ten times more permeable than rock that fractures at conditions closer to the Earth’s surface, and can also deform more readily.
Why is this important?
- More water can pass through fractures and become supercritical (see diagram below)
- Supercritical water “can penetrate fractures faster and more easily and can carry far more energy per well to the surface—roughly five to ten times the energy produced by today’s commercial geothermal wells.”
- The research confirms theoretical work reported earlier this year showing that the cracks that form create a dense “cloud of permeability” throughout the affected rock.
The next big step for ultra-deep geothermal is demonstrating the technology to efficiently drill wells to depths of ~20 km. In that regard, we are awaiting Quaise Energy’s field test of their gyrotron drilling system.
Update on the high potential Orphan Basin well
Posted in Canada, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Atlantic, exploratory drilling, Exxon, Newfoundland, Orphan basin, Stena Drillmax on August 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
To find the sole exploratory well being drilled in the vast North American Atlantic, you have to exit “wind-only” US waters, head NE to St. John’s, NL (advancing your watch by 1.5 hours 😉), and transit another 317 miles NE to the Stena DrillMAX working for Exxon in the Orphan Basin.
The latest (8/20/2024) CNLOPB report (below) is that operations are ongoing. The well was spudded 3 months ago. That is about all they can disclose without compromising confidentiality. Even seemingly innocuous information like the current and projected well depth provides the opportunity to speculate about geologic conditions and current well activities.
We can assume that there have been no safety or environmental incidents to date, because the CNLOPB does a good job of posting such information in a timely manner.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 