Well Engineering and Production > Advanced Drilling Fluids – Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT)

About this Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT)

The active drilling-fluid system comprises a volume of fluid that is pumped with specially designed mud pumps from the surface pits, through the drillstring exiting at the bit, up the annular space in the wellbore, and back to the surface for solids removal and maintenance treatments as needed. The capacity of the surface system is usually determined by the rig size, and rig selection is determined by the well design. For example, the active drilling-fluid volume on a deepwater well might be several thousand barrels. Much of that volume is required to fill the long drilling riser that connects the rig floor to the seafloor. By contrast, a shallow well on land might only require a few hundred barrels of fluid to reach its objective.

Drilling-fluid services of some kind are required on every well. They encompass a broad spectrum of systems, products, software, personnel specializations, and logistical support. As wells become more complex, total drilling costs can increase dramatically. Because the drilling-fluid system comes in contact with almost every aspect of the drilling operation, proper drilling-fluid selection can help the operator minimise costs throughout the well-construction process.

By attending this VILT course, participants will be able to acquire the following:

  • Examine the functions of drilling fluids and the composition of water based mud
  • Understand Oil & Synthetic based mud products, systems and their functions
  • Learn about lost circulation and stuck pipe problems and solutions
  • Gain an understanding about hole cleaning, hydraulics, real-time measurements, reservoir drill in fluids and completion fluids

This VILT course will benefit drilling supervisors, drilling engineers, tool pushers, managers, and technical support personnel involved with drilling operations. The VILT course is valuable for anyone who is required to understand the fundamental aspects of drilling fluids and can also include geologists, geophysicists, petroleum and reservoir engineers who have a basic understanding of well design principles.

The VILT course will be delivered online in 5 half-day sessions comprising 4 hours per day, with 2 breaks of 10 minutes per day.

Course Duration: 5 half-day sessions, 4 hours per session (20 hours in total).

Gordon Duncan has over 40 years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry. During that time, he has worked exclusively in well intervention and completions. After a number of years working for intervention service companies (completions, slickline & workovers), he joined Shell as a well service supervisor. He was responsible for the day-to-day supervision of all well intervention work on Shell’s Persian/Arabian Gulf platforms. This included completion running, coil tubing, e-line, slickline, hydraulic workovers, well testing and stimulation operations. An office-based role as a senior well engineer followed.

He was responsible for planning, programming and organising of all the well engineering and intervention work on a number of fields in the Middle East. He had a brief spell as a Site Representative for Santos in Australia before joining Petro-Canada as Completions Superintendent in Syria, then moved to Australia as Completions Operations Superintendent for Santos, before returning to Shell as Field Supervisor Completions and Well Interventions in Iraq where he carried out the first ever formal abandonment of a well in the Majnoon Field. While working on rotation, Gordon regularly taught Completion Practices, Well Intervention, Well Integrity and Reporting & Planning courses all over the world. In 2014, he started to focus 100% on training and became the Technical Director for PetroEDGE.

Since commencing delivering training courses in 2008, Gordon has taught over 300 courses in 31 cities in 16 countries to in excess of 3,500 participants.

To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized “One to One” coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster.
Request for further information about post training coaching support and fees applicable for this.