New to drilling and well engineering, or coming back to the basics? This page is a suggested reading order through The Well Log. Each step builds on the one before, and every technical term links back to the glossary.
1. See the whole well first
Anatomy of a Deepwater Well Offshore Angola. A walk from the 36″ conductor down to the reservoir section. Read it for the map: why a well is built in telescoping sections, and what each casing string is there to do.
2. Learn the pressure that holds the well
Hydrostatic Pressure and ECD. The first Drilling Fundamentals article. Where P = 0.052 × MW × TVD comes from, why circulating adds pressure, and how that fits inside the pressure window. Work through the examples with a calculator.
3. Learn what happens when that pressure is not enough
Kicks, SIDPP and Kill Mud Weight. How an influx enters the well, how to read the shut-in pressures, and how to calculate the mud weight that brings the well back under control.
4. Then read the news like an engineer
Bottoms Up posts take a piece of industry news and look at what it means for the wells behind it. A good first one is Acacia-5 and the three-month first-oil target.
Keep the glossary open
The glossary defines the terms used across the site in plain English, with links to the articles that explain them in depth.
New articles follow the same path. To get them when they are published, subscribe to the newsletter.