Courtesy of seismo.by

The company had an opportunity to do so after the jointly assembled Belarusian-Italian Drillmec-Seismotekhnika echelon rig had been bought.

This pad drilling method will be used for exploration of the recently discovered eastern block of Lansky-Stary Oskol deposit.

After oil free flow of almost 100 tons per day had been received on well No.202 of Rechitskoye oilfield, a new well No.312 was staked nearby. In order to start drilling, the echelon rig had to be moved 27 meters (89 ft) further.

The transporting operation was performed by the experts of Svetlogorsk Drilling Department jointly with the representatives of Derrick Building Department and JSC Seismotekhnika. The rig is moved by alternate protraction of hydraulic cylinder rods. During one such protraction, the echelon rig passes 90 cm or 2.95 ft (this is the stroke length). The hydraulic unit is operated by a remote control panel. The rig relocation took 2.5 hours. After it was successfully transported to a new place, the Drillmec-Seismotekhnika echelon rig has settled down on a new well, and has drilled first hundreds of meters so far.

The benefits of pad drilling are, first of all, economic: it reduces time and costs for construction of drilling pads, access roads and communications, rig-up operations, as well as maintenance and repair of wells.

First used in the Caspian Sea in 1934, this method was afterwards in operation in the Perm oil region. This method is actively developed in Western Siberia where more than 90% of the drilling is currently performed at multi-well pads.

Source: belorusneft.by