Drilling for Offshore Oil and Gas - The Americas

Introduction

The report analyses the regional offshore drilling market in the Americas region providing historic drilling and spending trends in the period 2005 to 2009 and forecast trends over the period 2010 to 2014. The report discusses key drilling events in each country of the region including a synthesis of shallow versus deep water spending and exploratory versus development spending.

Scope

*Insight on the drilling services market and its evolution in the current market environment from both an operational and expenditure perspective.

*Forecasts of the number of wells to be drilled and the likely level of expenditure required to fulfil predicted levels of activity

*An overview of drilling equipment and processes and a description of how the associated technologies are costed and allocated to various well types.

*Analysis of individual offshore areas and their role in the future growth of the drilling sector and rig market.

Highlights

"Approximately 3,110 wells are estimated to have been drilled offshore North America from 2005 to 2009, with around 95% in the Gulf of Mexico. A rounded total of 3,320 exploratory and development wells are forecast over the next five years, with around a quarter expected to be located in deep waters."

Reasons to Purchase

*Develop a drilling investment strategy targeted around Exploration and Production hotspots.

*Evaluate likely technology driven growth opportunities created by the medium term evolution of the drilling sector.

*Analyse how drilling spending patterns will vary between different technology sectors and geographies over a five-year forecast period.

Table of Contents :

OVERVIEW 1
Catalyst 1
Content summary 1
Methodology 2
Offshore well definitions 2
Deep water definitions 2
Forecasting drilling numbers 3
Expenditure modeling 3
Segmentation 4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5
Introduction 5
Results and conclusions 6
Drilling 6
Spending 7
TABLE OF CONTENTS 9
TABLE OF FIGURES 9
TABLE OF TABLES 9
THE TOOLS OF OFFSHORE DRILLING 10
Foundations of drilling 10
Early drilling 10
Introduction of rotary drilling 12
The move offshore 12
Introduction of purpose-built offshore rigs 14
The offshore drilling rig 14
Platform rigs and tenders 16
Barges and submersibles 17
Jackups 18
Drillships 19
Semisubmersibles 21
Deep water drilling 22
Deep water rig features 24
The current rig market 24
Current well numbers 26
REVIEW OF DRILLING TECHNOLOGY 27
Introduction 27
Exploration wells 27
Appraisal wells 28
Development wells 29
Injection development wells 30
Horizontal and extended-reach development wells 31
Multilateral development wells 32
Slimhole development wells 33
Re-entry development wells 33
Rotary drilling procedures 34
Risers 36
Rotary drilling mechanics 37
Power 37
Hoisting 37
Rotating 38
Circulating 39
Well control 40
Measurement 40
Well depth 40
Horizon depth 41
Total depth 41
Services: rigs 42
Mobilization and installation 43
Services: geoscience 44
Mud logging services 45
Detection of hydrocarbons 47
Coring services 48
Downhole logging services 48
Log types 49
Services: engineering 50
Site and location surveys 51
Drilling fluids and waste management 52
Water-based muds 53
Oil and synthetic-based muds 53
Other fluids 54
Waste management 55
The bit program 55
Directional drilling 57
Monitoring- and logging-while-drilling 57
Top drives 59
Casing and cementing 60
Casing procedure 61
Fixing casing 62
Other materials and contingent services 63
Mechanical failure 63
Well control 64
Near-surface instability 66
Lost circulation and salt 66
Unwanted gases 67
Hazardous climatic conditions 67
Well testing 68
Perforating 69
Drillstem testing 69
Fracturing and acidizing 70
Repeat formation testing 71
Leaving the well 71
Services: support 72
Transport 72
Financial and miscellaneous support 73
DRILLING IN THE AMERICAS 76
North America Introduction 76
The United States 77
The Gulf of Mexico 77
Other US 78
Canada and Greenland 79
Latin America introduction 80
Central America 82
Mexico 82
The Caribbean islands 83
South America 85
Venezuela 85
Brazil 86
Other South America 86
Regional Drilling Summary 89
Shallow versus deep drilling summary 90
Exploratory versus development drilling summary 91
SPENDING IN THE AMERICAS 93
Introduction 93
The spending model 94
Service cost movements 96
Rig days 98
North America 100
Latin America 102
Regional Spending Summary 104
Shallow versus deep spending summary 106
Exploratory versus development spending summary 108
INNOVATIONS IN DRILLING 110
Introduction 110
Evolving drilling techniques 110
The longer-term future 121
Conclusion 124
APPENDIX 125
Industry abbreviations 125
Data sources 134
Conventions used 134
Ask the analyst 134
Datamonitor consulting 134
Disclaimer 135

List of Tables 
Table 1: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well drilling forecast by region to 2014 89
Table 2: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well drilling, comparison by water depth to 2014 90
Table 3: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well drilling, comparison by well type to 2014 91
Table 4: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas spending forecast to 2014 104
Table 5: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well type and water depth spending forecast to 2014 105
Table 6: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well spending, comparison by water depth to 2014 106
Table 7: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well spending, comparison by well type to 2014 108

List of Figures 
Figure 1: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas drilling numbers 1995 to 2014 6
Figure 2: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas spending numbers in report period 8
Figure 3: Reconstruction of the Drake well in Titusville, Pennsylvania 11
Figure 4: Drake engine (background) and drill string/casing (foreground) 11
Figure 5: An early rotary drilling rig 12
Figure 6: Lake Caddo, site of the first well over water 13
Figure 7: OFFSHORE DRILLING: rig shares in the market in 2009 15
Figure 8: Pair of rigs on the Hibernia concrete platform 16
Figure 9: Drilling tender alongside a tension leg platform (TLP) 17
Figure 10: Drilling barge on Lake Erie 18
Figure 11: The Galaxy I cantilever jackup, built 1991 19
Figure 12: The Glomar Jack Ryan drillship, built in 2000 20
Figure 13: The deck and derrick of a drillship 20
Figure 14: The Transocean Marianas, built in 1998 21
Figure 15: The riser above sea level in a semisubmersible 22
Figure 16: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Drilling in increased water depths 23
Figure 17: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Forecast shares of new rig deliveries to 2014 25
Figure 18: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Rig market dynamics 26
Figure 19: The substructure and derrick of an old semisubmersible rig 35
Figure 20: Diagram of a drilling riser 36
Figure 21: A kelly in a kelly bushing in the drill floor, drilling ahead 38
Figure 22: Shale-shakers on a drillship 39
Figure 23: Drilling hands on the drill floor in a non-automated environment 42
Figure 24: A helicopter leaving a helideck mounted at the stern of a drillship 43
Figure 25: A typical mud log screen shot 46
Figure 26: Tri-cone milled, TCI and black diamond PDC bits 56
Figure 27: LWD tool behind the bit 58
Figure 28: Hydraulic top drive 60
Figure 29: Typical casing program in a medium-depth well 61
Figure 30: Diagram of production casing 62
Figure 31: A blowout preventer stack 64
Figure 32: A horse-drawn explosives cart used in the 19th century 70
Figure 33: A workboat operating with a semisubmersible 72
Figure 34: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Notional cost breakdown for an exploration license 74
Figure 35: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Hypothetical cash flow for a development drilling project 75
Figure 36: OFFSHORE DRILLING: North America well share in 2009 76
Figure 37: OFFSHORE DRILLING: North America well drilling forecast to 2014 77
Figure 38: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Latin America well share in 2009 80
Figure 39: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Latin America well drilling forecast to 2014 81
Figure 40: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Central America well drilling forecast to 2014 82
Figure 41: OFFSHORE DRILLING: South America well drilling forecast to 2014 85
Figure 42: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well share by water depth in 2009 89
Figure 43: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well drilling, comparison by water depth to 2014 91
Figure 44: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well drilling, comparison by well type to 2014 92
Figure 45: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Global sector spending shares in 2009 93
Figure 46: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Global sector spending forecast to 2014 94
Figure 47: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Price movement dynamics 96
Figure 48: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Global sector spending, comparison wells and spends 98
Figure 49: OFFSHORE DRILLING: North America spending share in 2009 100
Figure 50: OFFSHORE DRILLING: North America spending forecast to 2014 101
Figure 51: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Latin America spending share in 2009 102
Figure 52: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Latin America spending forecast to 2014 103
Figure 53: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well type and water depth spending forecast to 2014 105
Figure 54: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well spending, comparison by water depth to 2014 107
Figure 55: OFFSHORE DRILLING: Americas well spending, comparison by well type to 2014 109
Figure 56: Diagram of the benefits of underbalanced drilling 111
Figure 57: A rotating control head 112
Figure 58: Dual gradient drilling with control head and subsea pump system 113
Figure 59: Riser-less drilling on the D/V Chikyu research vessel 115
Figure 60: Hybrid coiled tubing drilling rig, onshore Canada 116
Figure 61: Continuous circulation system 117
Figure 62: Casing drilling rig with top drive 118
Figure 63: Processes in installing expandable casing 119
Figure 64: Artist's impression of artificial buoyant seabed 122
Figure 65: Conceptual seabed drilling rig 123