Author Archives: Gefei Liu, PVI

About Gefei Liu, PVI

Please visit my LinkedIn profile to learn more about me. http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=115784500&trk=hb_tab_pro_top

Software: Drilling Engineers’ Eyes

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Oil well drilling is one of the most fascinating engineering collaborations I have ever come across. It requires efforts from drill bits, tubulars, motors, mud and the list goes on. Most impressively, all of the drilling processes take place under the ground, probably tens of thousand of feet, maybe horizontally, away from the rig.

To keep drilling operations under control, people have developed many technologies that incorporate electronic, magnetic, and radioactive methods in order to understand the formation and downhole conditions.

The following picture shows a giant, floating iceberg. For a typical iceberg, only 10% of its mass is visible above the water. The remaining 90% is immersed in the deep blue.

It is difficult to estimate its underwater shape; hence, we say “tip of iceberg“ meaning the starting sign of problem.

Similar situations exist on rig floors. Drillers have limited information, which include hook load, surface torque, etc. However, they do not know the axial force along the string, whether the pipe is buckled or not, or if the torque on the pipe connection exceeds the makeup limit. Experienced drillers may sense the downhole problems through the combination of brake vibration, noise or pump pressure, etc., but what we need is something to bridge the gap between what we can see and what we cannot see.

Drilling software servers as this bridge!

Over the past 20 years, drilling engineering software has become an indispensable engineering tool in design phases, real-time monitoring and post job analyses. Using known operation parameters such as ROP, RMP, mud weight, drilling string configuration and well path trajectory, software like TADPRO can predict pipe buckling, hook load, surface torque, etc.

In other words, software is becoming drilling engineers’ eyes. Equipped with software, we can not only understand what we see (why certain hookload, surface torque), but also see the otherwise invisible happenings.

Do you have “eyes“ for your next well?

A Presentation on Centralizer Placement is Being Made

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I am preparing the presentation for the upcoming 2012 SPE Deepwater Drilling & Completions Conference and Exhibition which will be held at Moody Gardens Hotel, June 20-21. My topic is how to optimize the centralizer placement.

I am a semi-expert in this area, but I reserved one month to make the presentation. According to Nancy Duarte, the author of “slide:ology – the Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations,” the estimated time for developing an hour-long presentation of 30 slides is between 36-90 hours! Inspired by her book and other experts in communication, I made up my mind to try a totally new approach using some fresh, yet not-so-popular rules such as:

  • No more than 6 words on a slide
  • No more cheesy images
  • No font size less than 30
  • No dissolves, spins, or other transitions
  • No built-in theme
  • Make ‘em laugh
  • More fun
  • …

A few years ago, I bought a book titled “Presentation Zen: Simples Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery” by Garr Reynolds. Garr is an internationally acclaimed communications expert. You can easily find his videos on YouTube, too. That book was such an eye-opener for me. I was literally woken up from my old way of making presentations. I suggest every engineer get the book so we may improve our presentation skills.

It is hard enough to be an engineer. Now, we are required to explain our findings in a concise and artistic style. Most engineers use PowerPoint software. One would think that having all the raw materials ready is 80% of the job and it would just be a matter of time to put it in the format of slides. But if one really wants to make a difference and let his/her hard work shine, then putting one’s heart and mind into the slide creation will pay off. After all, it is the finish line of a 36-90 hour-long marathon!

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Nancy Duarte cutely changed the last word and it became: “… give him PowerPoint.”

My presentation at the SPE Deepwater Conference will be on Thursday, June 21st, Session 14 (Casing and Tubulars), in Hall A3 at 2:30pm. The paper number is SPE 150345.

I welcome you to join me and check my character.

You Do Not See What I See

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While in a casual conversation, a friend of mine made above statement. No, she was not mad at me or we were in an heated argument. She just pointed out one of the reasons that many of us do not reach agreement. And on this, I agree with her.

I am not color blind, but my left eye is near sighted and my right eye far sighted. I guess I could not see very well in the middle range. We used to have a PhD colleague in our company, who was red/green color blinded. He occasionally asked other developers which color was the line in our CEMPRO software. His question amazed me: "How come one can not see something so obvious?" At the same time, his question led to a feature in our software: an option to use symbol, in addition to color, to differentiate lines.

CEMPRO - mud displacement model

CEMPRO - mud displacement model

All of us grow up with different culture, education and experience, which either enhance or limit our ability of seeing the world.

While an experienced drilling engineer can sense the looming problem of well control when he/she sees the increasing pit gain or changing pressure, a green-hand will not be able to associate what he sees with what is coming.

It is hard enough not to be able to "see" things sometime, leave alone that we occasionally, consciously or unconsciously, choose not to "see", for pride, ego or wishful thinking.

For drilling operation, ideally, operator and service companies should be on the same page or see the same thing in spite of their respective motivations. Within an engineering team, if all the members understand and agree with each other, decisions become easy.

Drilling software is such an enabling technology, which can elevate the entry level engineers and magnify or amplify the experience of seasoned ones. It makes the drilling design and analysis more transparent and visible to everyone. It reduces the risk by letting us see better and deeper.

Secrets of the Ritz-Carton

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Victoria Secret is not really secret, but the Ritz-Carlton Seoul hotel, which I stayed during my recent trip to Korea, does have secret.

After the long flight from San Francisco, I arrived at Incheon. Another hour of limo, I was in Gangnam business district of Seoul. As soon as I stepped into the 5-star hotel, a gentleman greeted me: "Good evening! Mr. Liu?" When I was expecting something like "…, Check in?" Dale Carnegie once said: "A person's name is the most beautiful sound in the world to them.” And I heard that sound at the farthest place away from home. Skipping the front desk, with a folder in his hand, the same staff even led me directly into my room, which, to my pleasant surprise, was a suite. They upgraded for me with fruits on coffee table, and greeting card from general manager.

During the next couple days, whenever I made phone call to the front desk, or talked with various staff, I always got greeted with my name. One day, I consulted with a lady in Concierge about trip to JeJu Island, she patiently explained to me the attractions and said that she would print some reading material and send to my room. She then asked me my room number. I answered. She immediately said: "Oh, Mr. Liu?" Looking at her puzzled,
I asked: "How can you guys and girls remember guest's name?" She smiled like a flower:
"It is a secret of the Ritz-Carlton!" She then mentioned that I made reservation through America Express "Luxury Hotel and Resort" program. That might had something to do with it. Regardless, it is a nice secret many wish to have.

Effects of secrets are more powerful than secrets themselves, as illustrated by magicians. I may never find many secrets, but I do enjoy magician shows and my stay in Seoul.

Ritz-Carlton - 1

Ritz-Carlton - 1

 

Ritz-Carlton - 2

Ritz-Carlton - 2

Glamour Dollhouse & Software Manual

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We bought a glamour dollhouse for my 6-year-old daughter for Christmas. It finally arrived a couple of days after new year of 2012.

Yesterday evening, I set up a time to assemble it with my daughter, thinking that I could demonstrate how easy the assembly would be if we read the instructions and work together. However, the installation turned out to be a trial-n-error process. At one time, I thought I had finished the dollhouse, only to find that the top floor (one of the 3) was installed upside down with unpainted side facing up. The problem was not only about aesthetic, I also couldn’t install the partition into the slot on the floor, which was the last step. In other words, I wasn’t be able to identify the problem until the last step.

It was a major frustration, because I had to uninstall half of the dollhouse to be able to flip the floor. One can argue that I am not a handyman, which I agree, but the assembly instruction, being in black and white, doesn’t differentiate some subtle differences. And what is the worst is that any mistakes during the installation do not stop one from continuing.

My daughter had to go to bed without seeing it get done for school has started. Right before she left for her room she comforted me by saying: “We could do it tomorrow.” The installation was finally completed, after 2 hours. I felt good and now I am a semi-expert in dollhouse assembly.

This morning, my daughter’s eyes sparkled when she saw this 5-ft dollhouse standing, just as the 1st time she played “Angry Bird” in iPad a few months ago. But at that time, none of our family read user’s manual of iPad. My 6-year-old learnt to play with it almost as quickly as I did.

It is an industry norm that almost anything we buy today, from glamour dollhouse or drilling software, comes with an instruction or manual. But in reality, people seldom read manual because they do not have time and/or they expect the device or software friendly enough to be figured out. Steve Jobs once commented: “The manual for WordStar, the most popular word-processing program, is 400 pages thick. To write a novel, you have to read a novel – one that reads like a mystery to most people.”

Many people do not want to spend time reading instructions. The best manual is probably the carefully designed structure and graphical user interfaces for software. If technical background is a necessity, by all means have it in user’s manual, but the explanation of how to operate software should be kept minimal for intuitive design.

For drilling software, if roughnecks on the rig and engineers in the office can both run them without going through user’s manual, one of our goals is achieved.

"Stay hungry, stay foolish" and other Steve Jobs' quotes

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Steve Jobs, one of the fathers of the personal computing era and the founder of Apple, died on October 5th, 2011 at the age of 56. Throughout the years, he’s not only changed our lives with innovative products, but also with his charismatic personalities as colorful as his life and management style.

His life, work and words have inspired millions. Here are some of Steve Jobs’ quotes.

“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.” [1982, quoted in Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987]

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” [The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993]

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” [Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998]

“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.” [On Mac OS X, Fortune, Jan. 24, 2000]

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

And One More Thing…

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” [Think Different, narrated by Steve Jobs]

Steve Jobs

The photo mosiac above was created by Charis Tsevis, a talented and creative artist/visual designer who has done work for a myriad of corporations, including Toyota, Fortune, Time, and the Los Angeles Times.  We got permission from Charis to use this artwork of his.  Thanks, Charis!  See more of his work in his website: http://www.tsevis.com

Who was Derrick?

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Source: Cabot Specialty Fluids Limited

Tyburn-tree

Crowds gather to watch a hanging from the ‘Tyburn tree’ in 1696

The oil derrick is an industry ‘symbol’ typifying oilfields the world over. We’ve all seen them, but have you ever wondered how they got their name?

Derrick originated as a given (first) name in English and is derived from the Dutch “Diederik”, meaning ‘chief of the people’. There’s a certain irony in this, as the man who devised the first derrick was an Elizabethan Englishman by the name of Thomas Derrick, one of the country’s most famous hangmen. Not a popular profession at the time due to the threat of reprisals, many had to be coerced into the role. Derrick was convicted of rape and risked execution when Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, pardoned him on the condition that he become hangman at Tyburn, near the current location of Marble Arch in London.

Not content with the traditional rope over the beam method he invented a new structure using a movable beam and pulley system, and lent this new invention his name. Consequently, ‘derrick’ became synonymous with the support frame for the hangman’s noose from the 1600s and through general usage to cranes and derricks of today.

Derrick executed over 3,000 people during his prolific career, one of the most notable being his own pardoner, the Earl of Essex, for a botched coup d’état against the government of the day. Now there’s thanks for you.

Torque and Drag - Nuts and Bolts

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No matter it is an operation of drilling or casing running; any pipe movement in the deviated wellbore produces torque and drag (T&D) along the pipe. T&D is our weapon to drill a well or run a casing to the bottom. However, excessive T&D will cause equipment and operation failure.

Basically, axial movements such as drilling ahead or tripping creates drag, while rotation produces torque. The magnitude of T&D is determined by the combination of these two movements. Rotation shifts the resistance from drag to torque. In other words, you can shift the drag to torque by rotating the pipe. That is why people tend to rotate the pipe little bit if pipe gets stuck.

Torque and Drag Calculation

Typical T&D analysis starts by dividing the pipe into small elements. Calculation begins from the element at the bottom of the pipe, where weight on bit (WOB) or torque on bit (TOB) is expected. For each element, force and torque are balanced and the T&D at the top of the element are calculated step by step and from bottom to top, calculation is performed for each pipe element, until it reaches the rig floor. We call the torque and drag at the top of pipe surface torque and hook load (with block weight), respectively.

Torque and drag calculationTorque and Drag Common Terms

Some terms often used in torque and drag analysis are listed here with explanations:

  • Friction Factor (F.F.) - the representation of the friction between the wellbore/casing and the work string. The friction factor is dependent on mud type, pipe and wellbore and cutting concentration. Higher cutting concentration leads to higher friction factor.
  • Rotating Off Bottom (ROffB) – pipe rotates without any axial movement, such as rate of penetration or tripping. There is no WOB or TOB because bit is not engaged with formation.
  • Rotating On Bottom (ROnB) – pipe rotates without any axial movement, such as rate of penetration or tripping. However, WOB and TOB are present because bit is engaged with formation.
  • Drilling – pipe rotates with certain rate of penetration and with the presence of WOB and TOB.
  • Slide Drilling - Drilling with no drill string rotation. (only axial movement, no rotation)
  • Sinusoidal Buckling - Sinusoidal buckling occurs when compressive forces on the string become too high, resulting in a snake-like bending in the string. Note that in this mode, the pipe deforms, but still in a 2D plan.
  • Helical Buckling - a more extreme form of buckling which occurs when compressive forces pass through sinusoidal buckling and exceed the helical buckling limit. Helical buckling causes contact between the pipe and the wellbore, exerting force on the wall of the hole. Both drill string fatigue and interference with weight transfer to the bit occur. Helical buckling should be avoided.
  • Helical Lockup - Helical lockup occurs when compressive forces on a string in helical buckling prevent axial movement. Forces at surface are not transmitted to the bit.
  • Tension Limit- The tension limit of a material is based on its yield strength, which is measured in psi. When the minimum yield strength is exceeded, pipe will plastically deform. Plastic deformation occurs when pipe that has stretched does not return to its original shape.
  • Make Up Torque- The rotational force used to make up a connection in the string. Drill pipe failure may occur when the make-up torque of a connection is exceeded.Buckling-Tension-Torsion
  • Stress in the String - The various stress that TADPRO models are axial, bending, torsional, and shear stresses. These stresses are summed up in the Von Mises Stress. Various failures occur as a result of repeated stress to a string, including cracking, washouts, and twist offs, etc.
  • Stress in the String - The various stress that TADPRO models are axial, bending, torsional, and shear stresses. These stresses are summed up in the Von Mises Stress. Various failures occur as a result of repeated stress to a string, including cracking, washouts, and twist offs, etc.
  •  Casing Wear- Prolonged, repeated axial and rotational movement within casing will wear both at the string and the casing, potentially leading to string and casing failure.Casing wear

Calgary - a beautiful oil city to be explored

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According to the 2011 annual ranking of the most livable cities in the world, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Calgary is the 5th place in the list. Vancouver remains the most livable city in the world.

The ranking scores 140 cities on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. These numbers are then weighted and combined to produce an overall figure. Seven of the top ten cities are in Australia and Canada. Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, is in 140th place. Somewhere between the extremes sit London and New York in 53rd and 56th places.

This list definitely makes all those folks in Calgary proud. A little bit surprised (pleasantly), I myself was happy to see it in the top 5, as it is also one of my favorite cities in the world, from both business and pleasure points of view.

Doing business in the oil and gas section of Calgary is easy because majority of oil and service companies are located within 10 by 10 blocks of downtown. These offices all have  “T2P” in their zip codes and most of them are all connected by the Plus 15 or +15 skyway network, the world's most extensive pedestrian skywalk system with a total length of 9.9 miles and 59 bridges. The system is so named because the skywalks are approximately 15 feet above street level.

Because of the closeness of those companies in downtown, they do not use post masters for mails or packages. They use bicycle messengers (aka bike couriers). Courier companies use bike messengers because bicycle is less subject to unexpected holdups in city traffic jams, and is not deterred by parking limitations, fees or fines in high density development.  Benefits include environmental friendly business, predictable delivery time, etc.

We have been enjoying business association with quite a few companies in Calgary and Edmonton. Personally, I like Calgary so much that I found all excuses to visit the city.

Houston is too flat. As Mr. Jim Dech, one of our folks in Maurer Engineering 15 years ago, said: “If you stand on a can of Coke, you see everywhere.” Calgary is just the opposite, as it is located in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately 50 miles east of the Canadian Rockies. One could actually live in the Mountain and commute to work every day.

For me, not many things excite me more than driving to the Mountains after business meetings in Calgary and immersing myself in the beauties of mountains, lakes and hot spring.  Banff, Sulphur Mountain, Lake Louise, Jasper, etc. remind me one of a whole new world different in everyway from Houston. As the railroad builder William Cornelius Van Horne said, “If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists.”

Once I became one of the imported tourists, Calgary has become one of my favorite cities.

Allow me to share some of the pictures taken in my previous trips.

Jasper - Fairmont

Lake Louise

Lake Louis

"Being a deepwater well driller—what's it like?"

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Source: excerpted from A Sea In Flames, published by Crown Publishers, New York.

On a recent trip to South Korea, I spent most of my time in the airplane reading Carl Safina’s non-fiction book “A Sea in Flame”. I liked it very much.  Among many things, the following section attracted my eyes, because it describes the deepwater drilling in a easy-to-understand format.

I contacted Carl Safina and got his permission to publish this section in our blog.

Pegasus

                                                                                                                                             

Being a deepwater well driller—what’s it like? To simplify, imagine pushing a pencil into the soil. Pull out the pencil. Slide a drinking straw into that hole to keep it open. Now, a little more complex: your pencil is tipped not with a lead point but with a drilling bit. You have a set of pencils, each a little narrower than the last, each a little longer. You have a set of drinking straws, each also narrower.

PencilYou use the fattest pencil first, make the hole, pull it out, then use the next fattest. And so on. This is how you make the hole deeper. At the scale of pencils-as-drills, you’re going down about 180 feet, and the work is soon out of sight. As you push and remove the pencils, you slide one straw through another, into the deepening hole. You have a deepening, tapering hole lined with sections of drinking straw, with little spaces between the hole and each straw, and between the sections of straw.

You have to seal all those spaces, make it, in effect, one tapering tube, absolutely tight. And here’s why: the last, narrowest straw pokes through the lid of a (very big) pop bottle with lots of soda containing gas under tremendous pressure. As long as the lid stays intact and tight, there’s no fizz. But only that long. Everyone around you is desperate for a drink of that pop, as if they’re addicted to it, because their lives depend on it. They’re in a bit of a hurry. But you have to try to ignore them while you’re painstakingly working these pencils and straws. And you’d better keep your finger on the top of the straw, or you’re going to have a big mess. And you’d better seal those spaces between sections of straw as you go down, or you’re going to have a big mess when you poke through that lid. And before you take your finger off the top of the straw, you’d better be ready to control all that fizz and drink all that pop, because it’s coming up that straw. And if, after poking a hole in this lid that’s been sealed for millions of years, you decide you want to save the soda for later, then you’d better—you’d better—have a way to stopper that straw before you take your finger off. And you’d better have a way to block that straw if the stopper starts leaking and the whole thing starts to fizz. If it starts to fizz uncontrollably, and you can’t regain control, you can get hurt; people can die.

The real details beggar the imagination of what’s humanly and technologically possible. Rig floor to seafloor at the well site: 5,000 feet of water, a little under one mile. Seafloor to the bottom of the well: about 13,360 feet—two and a half miles of drilling into the seabed sediments. A total of 18,360 feet from sea surface to well bottom, just under three and a half miles.

Equally amazing as how deep, is how narrow. At the seafloor—atop a well 2.5 miles long—the top casing is only 36 inches across. At the bottom it’s just 7 inches. If you figure that the average diameter of the casing is about 18 inches, it’s like a pencil-width hole 184 feet deep. Nine drill bits, each progressively smaller, dig the well. The well’s vertical height gets lined with protective metal casings that, collectively, telescope down its full length.

At intervals, telescoping tube of casing gets slid into the well hole. The upper casing interval is about 300 feet long. Some of the lower ones, less than a foot across, are 2,000 feet long. The uppermost end of each casing will have a fatter mouth, which will “hang” on the bottom of the previous casing. You will make that configuration permanent with your cementing jobs.

The casings and drill pipes are stored on racks, awaiting use. Casings are made in lengths ranging from 25 to 45 feet; the drill pipe usually comes in 30-foot joints. They are “stacked” in the pipe racking system. You assemble three at a time and drop approximately 90 feet in, and then repeat. When you get and drop approximately 90 feet in, and then repeat. When you get ready to put the casing in, you pull all the drill pipe out. Rig workers also remove the drill pipe from the hole every time the drill bit gets worn and needs changing or when some activity requires an open hole. Pulling the entire drill string from the hole is called “making a trip.” Making a trip of 10,000 feet may take as long as ten or twelve hours. When you want to start drilling some more, you have to reassemble the drill pipe and send it down.