I am on a drill ship, that looks similar to this. The part I am currently involved in, is when the cuttings are returned to the ship. I also watch 5 basic parameters, the rate of penetration (drilling speed), the mud pit volume variation (basically if we are gaining more fluid/mud than we are putting in or losing some of what we are putting in), the flow rate change increase or decrease (this is related to the pressure), the mud density variation (also related to pressure), and of course the indication of gas or oil.
The well site geologist said 1 out of 10 exploration wells ends up with oil. That should give you an idea of how much money they make from that 10%! Especially when it costs around a million dollars a day to run a drilling operation, and one well can take months.
Oil Reservoir
A typical oil reservoir looks something like this below, you have an organic rich rock like shale deposited, then you have a porous sandstone on top, then you have a cap rock (an impermeable layer to trap the oil) this can then be folded like below to an anticlinal formation (bending straight beds to an arch) its buried and undergoes some chemical processes then the oil rises up to the sandstone and gets trapped. Then we find it, drill, get it out, and it gets produced to the oil that runs the world we live in.
As of now...
So far we are not getting any of the signs we should be getting if this was a big oil find. It is looking like its most likely going to be what they call a dry hole, which means just that. Dry, as in there is nothing in it. So once we get to our target zone if there is no oil we pack up and move on, or sometimes they just give up because if there aren't good indications of oil at this point, why continue wasting money. It all depends on the client. So basically I have another 9 hours of work today in the rain and wind, then I might go play Dominoes with the roughnecks or I might just go to bed.
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