Mission Statement and Substantiation of the Necessity for Developing a New Method of Well Drilling Technology Optimization

In the late 1950s and during the 1960s, the oil industry in the FSU witnessed a significant growth in the number and depth of oil and gas wells being drilled. For example, the total drilled footage of oil and gas wells in 1961 was 8,360,000 m. By 1971 the footage increased by 42% (11,800,000 m), and by 1974 it had increased 71% (300,000 m). In addition, the average development well depth increased from 1792 m in 1961 to 1980 m in 1971 and 2012 m in 1974. Exploratory wells grew from 1995 m to 2554 m and 2675 m for these same years. During this 15-year period, the overall drilling rate increased 20% from 544 m/rig-month to 652 m/rig-month, whereas cost per meter went from 87.7 rubles to 162.0 rubles, an 85% increase.

In 1961, 18 deep wells (greater than 4500 m) were drilled, whereas 125 deep wells were drilled in 1973. During the same period, the annual penetration volume of deep wells increased from 85,000 m to 611,000 m with an average overall drilling rate of 200 300 m/rig-month and an average depth of 4750 to 4890 m.

This data indicates that the growth of oil and gas production was impeded by the slow growth rate of overall drilling speeds and resulted in a significant increase in cost per foot.

Lack of a comprehensive approach to optimizing well drilling technology was one of...