Driller's Depth - The Problem

The Problem

Since there isn't a single reference or measurement system for calculating the depth in sub-surface environments, two engineers talking about a single drilling might give different answers when asked to give a measurement of depth.

The two main depth references used in the "downhole" (i.e. sub-surface) environment are Driller's Depths and Logger's Depths (also called Wireline Logger's Depths). These measurement systems are recorded quite differently and generally Logger's Depths are considered the more accurate of the two:

  • Driller's Depth measurement is tied to drilling operations and other closely associated activities such as logging while drilling (LWD), measurement while drilling (MWD) and coring.
  • Driller's Depth is always recorded, and it constitutes the primary depth system, unless it is later superseded by a more accurate measurement such as the depth from an open- or cased-hole wireline log.
  • Driller's Depth should always have 1) a unit of measurement e.g. meter or feet, 2) a datum reference e.g. rig floor.

Read more about this topic:  Driller's Depth

Famous quotes containing the word problem:

    “The family environment in which your children are growing up is different from that in which you grew up. The decisions our parents made and the strategies they used were developed in a different context from what we face today, even if the “content” of the problem is the same. It is a mistake to think that our own experience as children and adolescents will give us all we need to help our children. The rules of the game have changed.”
    —Lawrence Kutner (20th century)

    “Great speeches have always had great soundbites. The problem now is that the young technicians who put together speeches are paying attention only to the soundbite, not to the text as a whole, not realizing that all great soundbites happen by accident, which is to say, all great soundbites are yielded up inevitably, as part of the natural expression of the text. They are part of the tapestry, they aren’t a little flower somebody sewed on.”
    —Peggy Noonan (b. 1950)