This page provides a brief outline of, lists the main points of, gives links to figures for, and lists the assigned reading for a lecture in Dr. Bruce Railsback's GEOL 1121 class at the University of Georgia. This page is not intended as a set of lecture notes, and it cannot subsititute for a set of lecture notes. Familiarity with this page alone will not assure satisfactory grades on exams in the course.

Lecture 19 (Monday, March 4): Petroleum II

Brief outline of this lecture:
Drilling of an oil well.
     

Main points of this lecture:
Most oil wells are thousands of feet deep, to a maximum of 30,000 feet.
Driling an oil well requires a drilling fluid to flush out cuttings and avoid blow-outs. Drilling an oil well involves repeated casing the hole and drilling a smaller hole below it.
The main danger in drillng an oil well is that unexpected high pressures in the earth will expel the drill pipe and drilling fluid from the hole and result in uncontrolled flow from the well.

Figures used in this lecture:
Depth Distribution of US Oil.
Basics of Drilling an Oil Well.
Sequential Views of Drilling an Oil Well.
Things that Can Go Wrong in Drilling an Oil Well.

Reading assignment: None.

Next Lecture
Email to Railsback (rlsbk@gly.uga.edu)
Railsback's main 1121 web page
Railsback's main web page
UGA Geology Department web page