Oil-extraction companies use directional drilling to retrieve oil in underground reserves. The method of directional drilling is known as directional boring as well. Since many oil wells are situated above targeted reservoirs, drilling is required to access them. Still, this drilling is done vertically from the surface to the well underneath. Directional drilling is different from this type of drilling since it is done in a non-vertical manner. The term directional drilling describes any drilling that does not go straight down.
The main advantage of directional drilling is that it allows companies to use many oil reservoirs using a single well. When this happens, directional drilling lowers the entire cost of drilling and even limits the environmental influence of drilling. This type of drilling is better defined as the science of correcting or controlling a wellbore along a pre-established trajectory. Drilling directionally enables people to expose more production formation to the well than to vertical wells.
The thing worth noting about directional drilling is that the method has found a significant place in oilfields globally. Engineers have used various methods based on their experience to further the science toward the latest techniques. Directional drilling techniques were created to enhance the mechanics of deviated wells. This was done to drill multiple boreholes from one location using various angles. The techniques also minimize environmental impact and also the costs associated with drilling.
In the years 1900-1920s, directional drilling gained a significant name. In the year 1930, it was found that directionally controlled boreholes drilled from onshore locations to offshore locations of gas and oil deposits under the ocean. From the 1940s to the 1960s, directional drilling started to be accepted as a reliable technique to kill blowouts and drill relief wells. Later in the 1970s, magnetic-steering tools started being used. This tool was also used to measure tool face, direction, and drift at the time of semi-continuous drilling.
Directional drilling is acquiring an underground gas or oil reserve by drilling in non-vertical directions. The thing worth noting about directional drilling is that modern technological improvements in the technique have increased its safety and accuracy. The most important way directional drilling benefits oil companies is by allowing them to exploit many oil reservoirs through a single well.
There are many pros and cons associated with directional drilling. Some of the advantages of this technique are that it decreases soil disturbance, fractures to existing rocks, and contamination of groundwater pollution. Some disadvantages associated with this technique are that it can make operating wells more complicated and damages the ground even though the impact can be lessened.
