Drilling looks simple from outside: make a hole, run pipe, cement it, repeat. The complexity lies in doing it through formations of unknown pressure and strength, with limited information, at a cost of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, where a single serious problem can cost more than the rest of the well.

Most of what other disciplines need from drilling is a sense of what is easy, what is hard and what is expensive. Adding a casing string, drilling a longer lateral, holding a tighter target, taking cores, logging a hole or sidetracking all have cost and risk that drilling engineers understand well and that others frequently underestimate. Asking for them early is cheap; asking for them late is not.

The other half is understanding the consequences. Hole size determines casing size, which determines completion and lift options for the life of the well. Mud type affects formation damage and therefore productivity. Cement quality determines whether zones can be isolated. Drilling decisions taken for drilling reasons have long production consequences, and this course makes those links visible.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Describe the well delivery process from objective to handover.
• Identify rig types, main rig equipment and the roles of the drilling crew.
• Explain how a well is drilled, section by section.
• Describe drilling fluids and their functions and consequences.
• Explain casing, cementing and why zonal isolation matters.
• Describe directional and horizontal drilling and their cost implications.
• Describe formation evaluation and logging while drilling.
• Explain well control in plain terms and why it dominates safety practice.
• Understand drilling cost structure and where time and money are lost.
• Explain how drilling decisions affect production, completion and intervention options.

The course is instructor-led and written for non-drilling professionals, with no engineering calculations. Rig equipment and operations are explained through drawings, photographs and field footage descriptions. Cost, risk and decision topics are covered through real well cases, including wells that went well and wells that did not. No prior drilling knowledge is assumed.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Build shared understanding between drilling and other disciplines.
• Improve the quality of requests made to drilling teams.
• Improve realism in cost and schedule expectations.
• Reduce late changes that are expensive to accommodate.
• Help non-drilling staff interpret drilling reports and proposals.

Participants will:

• Understand how wells are drilled and what the work involves.
• Be able to read a drilling programme and a daily drilling report.
• Understand drilling costs and where they come from.
• Understand how drilling affects your own discipline's work.
• Be able to ask better questions of drilling teams.

• Geologists, geophysicists and petrophysicists
• Reservoir engineers
• Production engineers
• Facilities and project engineers
• Commercial, planning and finance staff
• Managers and team leaders working with drilling programmes

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.