A Look At the Canadian Association of Drilling Engineers (C.A.D.E.)
Authors: MacDonell Dave 
Published: March 2010

The C.A.D.E. had its origins a decade ago when several drilling-related individuals formed the Association with the intent to provide a forum for topics more specific to drilling and completions. The membership, presently numbering 400 plus, is comprised of drilling engineers, drilling-oriented operations and service personnel. The CADE executive consists of a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer as well as several committee chairmen.Appointed positions include a social chairman, membership chairman and aliaison officer for the C.A.O.D.C. Of note, the Technical Committee is responsible for choosing topics and presentations for the monthly luncheons. Recently, there have been several very interesting items: wild well control, foamed cementing, new down-hole tools and slant-hole drilling.

Besides the monthly luncheons, CADE sponsors two courses every year; "Drili Abnormal Pressures Safely" and "Offshore Drilling". These are not restricted to the membership and are of high quality. In addition, the CADE and the Petroleum Society of CIM cosponsored a technical meeting in Banff, May 1983. At this meeting, which waswell attended, fifty technical papers were presented. Of these, approximatelyone third were drilling-or completion-related.CADE and CIM are again sponsoring a joint meeting in Calgary in June 1984, the theme of which is "Recovery and Beyond".

New Developments in Drilling

In the past several years, some drilling innovations have met with a high rate ofsuccess. In other cases, variations on known techniques have found application in new areas. Despite the downturn in drilling activity since 1980, there is still a keen interest in drilling technology. This is especially apparent in the frontiers where modest increases in drilling efficiency translate into large money savings. The drilling engineers playa very important role in operations that can have fixed daily costs of up toone million dollars. Meticulous planningand careful attention to progress, help to ensure that wells are drilled safely and eficiently.

An area noted for new innovations in drilling is the Beaufort Sea. Here, a new generation of drilling units has made an appearance. Since 1972, drilling has been carried out by conventional land rigs on artificial islands or by drillships modified for the ice environment. Recently, Dome, Gulf and Esso have unveiled drilling units designed to drill inwaters where depth precludes the expenseof building an artificial island, andat the same time extend the drillingseason.

Dome removed the bow and stern from an oil tanker (VLOC) and created a "Single Steel Drilling Caisson" (SSDC). This unit is 202 m long, 53 m wide and is designed to be ballasted onto a previously constructed berm. The hull has been modified to resist ice forces and to accept 200,000 tons of water ballast.

Gulf introduced its conical drilling unit "Kulluk" last summer. It is a double-hulled floating unit designed to drill in 24 to 55 m of water. The main deck is 81 m in diameter and the unit is held on location with twelve 15-tonne anchors.