Reddit reviews A Primer of Oilwell Drilling, 7th Ed.

A Primer of Oilwell Drilling


Oil & Gas Production in Nontechnical Language

The first one is available online, for free, I’ve found.

Read up on the industry so you can ask your uncle informed questions.

Not sure how old you are, or your fitness level, but in past years, a good “entry level” role was working as a rig hand... tough work, but it gave you firsthand experience with a lot of the tools.

I work as a MWD field engineer on land alongside Directional Drillers everyday. Both jobs don't have a set schedule at all. We work a job from when we're called there until the finish. This can be anywhere from a week to 6 or more weeks, working 12 hours a day/7 days a week. Usually we get maybe a week in between jobs, but when it gets busy you'll get sent straight to another job without a break. Every now and then there will be rigs where they like the crew on location and have multiple wells to drill, so a rotation is set up for 20 on 10 off. Most of these rotations i've seen last maybe a few months, until work gets busy enough to where they have to pull one of the guys off rotation for another job, so it really all depends on luck.

Personally, I don't regret the field but for me its more of a means to an end. There's great training and lots to learn, and working as a field engineer is the perfect opportunity to get your foot in the door for better positions later on in your career. Of course many stay in the field for the money which is amazing, but social/family life is non existent.

Most companies i've seen rarely hire Directional Drillers straight from school, they usually require someone with 2-3 years experience as a MWD, or a Driller who worked their way up from roughneck. This is mainly due to how much knowledge and how important the Directional Driller's job is, so before applying I would do my research on everything rig related and learn the equipment/techniques used to drill. A good intro book I used was A Primer of Oilwell Drilling, which I know many companies use in training their new engineers. Best of luck!

I work in drilling. My location has copies of A Primer of Oilwell Drilling for new hire engineers to study. It gives a good overview of the drilling process and has a lot of pictures.

Good luck with the job search, but be sure to have a backup plan.

Two books that should help, depending on what exactly you want to do -

1: A Primer of Oilwell Drilling (This is a UTexas book that is super-expensive if you buy from the publisher, but there should be cheap used copies floating around).


2: Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling, and Production - This is also expensive from the publisher, but honestly feels more like a textbook on the petroleum industry (whereas the first one feels more like a big pamphlet).

edit- Amazon links