Experimental Investigation of Adapting High Power Laser Technology for a Revolutionary Application in Oil and Gas Wells Drilling

Rock destruction and removal is a significant issue in the process of oil and gas development. Over the years, billions of cubic feet of rock havebeen removed, with tremendous capital investment. In 2010, approximately3.6 million wells (oil, gas and dry) were drilled around world, averaging about8,500 feet deep, at a cost of nearly Hundreds billion dollars. Application of advanced high power laser technology to oil and gas wells drilling, has beenattracting significant research interests recently among research institute, petroleum industries, and universities. Potential laser or laser-aided oil andgas wells drilling has many advantages over the conventional rotary drilling, such as high penetration rate, reduction or elimination of tripping, casing, andbit costs, and enhanced well control, perforating and side-tracking capabilities. Because reducing drilling costs, and problems in an environmentally sensitive manner is critical, we initiated a three-year research program directed towards revolutionizing drilling.