Aisikaer Sidike, a member of Karamay Drilling Company's Crew 50071, operates the Iron Roughneck by remote control. Photo by Hou Hongli
Improved Operating Efficiency
Enhanced Safety
Reduced Labor Intensity
Source: CNPC News (Correspondent Hou Hongli) "This Iron Roughneck replaces the hydraulic tong. Work that used to take two men is now done easily by me alone with a remote control." On April 26, as crew 50071 of Xibu Drilling's Karamay Drilling Company was pulling out of hole, roughneck Aisikaer Sidike said this while directing the Iron Roughneck to break out pipe.
This is Xibu Drilling's first Iron Roughneck. An automated wellhead tool used in drilling operations, it is tall, sturdy and painted a bright yellow. It mainly consists of a make-up wrench, a break-out wrench and a hydraulic system, and handles make-up and break-out of a wider range of drill pipe, drill collars, tool joints and other tubulars. It not only replaces manual operation but also greatly improves production efficiency and enhances safety.
"In the past, making up and breaking out with a hydraulic tong took two men — one pushing, one pulling — just to get a grip on the drill pipe. It was slow and exhausting. A 5,800-meter well holds more than 200 stands of pipe, and after one trip you were worn out," said Aisikaer.
"There are different pipe sizes in the hole, and with a hydraulic tong you have to change the jaw head; for 9-inch drill collars you even need a Type B tong. The Iron Roughneck handles every pipe from 3 inches to 9-1/2 inches in diameter, so from now on we don't have to worry about making up and breaking out different sizes," said driller Li Richao.
"It is especially noticeable during well control pressure tests. Under the rules, once the third section is drilled the well control stack must be pressure tested every 25 to 30 days, and the four subs used come in three sizes. We used to swap three sets of tong jaws back and forth, and just making up that string of subs took two hours," said technician Kang Honghua.
On the drilling crew, the hardest work for roughnecks has always been tripping, racking pipe and running casing. A single drill pipe weighs over 100 kg; when drilling deep wells, hooking, pulling, pushing and steadying the pipe can go on for 12 hours straight. Today, that is quietly changing on Crew 50071.
"With this in my hand, I can operate the Iron Roughneck from the driller's cabin — perfectly safe," said Aisikaer, waving the remote control.
Zhao Xingbei, leader of Crew 50071, said that on site the equipment has proven very safe: operators no longer come into direct contact with the pipe string, greatly reducing the risk of injury.
In accelerating "standardization, specialization, digitalization and mechanization", Xibu Drilling equipped this crew with a range of automated devices including an iron derrickman, robotic arms and automatic weight-measuring and weight-adding units, changing the "hard, dirty, tiring and dangerous" working conditions of the past.
Automation has also made operations on Crew 50071 more standardized, driving improvements in site management and working conditions while reducing labor intensity and raising both safety and profitability.
In January this year, the crew drilled the longest horizontal section in the Ma-18 well block — 1,884 meters — at Well MaHW6234. On April 4, the crew completed the block's first single-run build-up section at Well MaHW6235.
