Keystone Energy Tools
Oilfield drilling is a complicated process using several pieces of equipment to guarantee proper cleaning, safety and extraction. While the array of oilfield equipment used can be overwhelming at first, we have listed the top five pieces to get accustomed to. Each of the following plays a vital role in reducing environmental impact, costs and accidents.
- Mud cleaners. Mud separated from the cuttings is used to cool down the drillbit. Prior to reaching the drill, it is crucial that the mud is as clean as it can be. Thick mud causes downtime by stopping the drill.
This oilfield tool is a mesh with small holes that stop solids from getting into the mud. This occurs after the mud goes through a hydrocyclone. The mesh lets particles that are smaller than barite pass. Because barite can be used in drilling solutions that are thicker, the mud cleaner helps with both the current drilling and reusing resources for prospective projects.
- Stabbing Guides
Improper alignment of pipes during a drilling project can result in downtime because of threat-related downtime and pipe damage. Stabbing guides are needed to align pins to box threads, resulting in a damage-free, accurate connection. For industries that are more intense like oil drilling, stabbing guides can also help shield against extreme temperatures, impact and corrosion.
Pipe-handling safety is heightened because of the lowered damage risk of the tube threading, single joint elevators or bail arms, which may cause objects to be dropped from the derrick.
- Shale shakers
The most critical part of the solids separation/control system on a rig is shale shakers removing the “mud” (drilling fluids) from the “cuttings” (large solids). After it has been separated, the mud is then used to cool down the drillbit. If all goes as planned, these fluids can be reused more than once. This separation prior to the cutting disposal aids in lowering environmental impact and drilling costs. Appropriate management of drilling fluids is directly related to the efficiency of the rest of the downstream controlling equipment later on.
- Degassers
Once the drilling fluids have been removed from the large solids, gas and air stuck inside the liquids must be removed. Degassers are needed to remove the hydrogen sulfide, methane, CO2 and other gases. This reduces the risk of gas explosions, thereby increasing safety at the oil field.
Degassers come in two types: vacuum degassers and atmospheric (“poor boy”) degassers. Atmospheric degassers spread out fluids across a large surface area using a propeller, making releasing trapped gases easier. Vacuum degassers separate the mud from the gases by decreasing the pressure inside the vessel.
- Sand pumps
While several pumps are used for oilfield drilling, sand pumps focus on the need to move deposits away from the drilling site. Sand pumps are most frequently placed in oil or other fluid tanks that are filled with sand. Such pumps rotate around a central axis using a grooved disk.
If any particle touches this grooved surface, it will be removed and carried through a pipe system somewhere offsite. Although called sand pumps, these pumps are used to move other materials as well. Aside from maintaining and cleaning tanks, sand pumps replace the use of other machinery or manual labor to move particles away from the site of the oil field.
It is critical to acknowledge that these oilfield drilling tools aren’t mutually exclusive. Oilfield drilling demands that these tools, as well as several others, join each other in a cohesive workflow. The correct piping is needed to move solids away from the drilling site. Drilling can only continue once the clean fluids are returned to the drill.
The oilfield tools listed above are critical to a successful oil drilling project. Understanding how they work together is even more important.
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