Drilling

Drilling is a process whereby a hole is bored using a drill bit to create a well for oil and natural gas production.  There are various kinds of oil wells with different functions:

• Exploration wells (or wildcat wells) are drilled for exploration purposes in new areas. The location of the exploration well is determined by geologists.
• Appraisal wells are those drilled to assess the characteristics of a proven petroleum reserve such as flow rate.
• Development or production wells are drilled for the production of oil or gas in fields of proven economic and recoverable oil or gas
• Relief wells are drilled to stop the flow from a reservoir when a production well has experienced a blowout.
• An injection well is drilled to enable petroleum engineers to inject steam, carbon dioxide and other substances into an oil producing unit so as to maintain reservoir pressure or to lower the viscosity of the oil, allowing it to flow into a nearby well.