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Topic · Ocean Engineering

Drilling and Well Engineering

Drilling and Well Engineering is a research topic within Ocean Engineering. Science Explorer counts 58k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on advancements in drilling fluid technology, with a particular emphasis on well integrity, nanoparticles, rheological properties, CO2 sequestration, shale inhibition, cement degradation, vibration analysis, lost circulation, and formation damage in the oil and gas industry.

  • Drilling Fluids
  • Well Integrity
  • Nanoparticles
  • Rheological Properties
  • CO2 Sequestration
  • Shale Inhibition
  • Cement Degradation
  • Vibration Analysis
  • Lost Circulation
  • Formation Damage
Research works
58k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
59% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Drilling and Well Engineering

Which countries lead Drilling and Well Engineering research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (5.8k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 5.8k works
  2. 2 United States 1.6k works
  3. 3 Russia 393 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 341 works
  5. 5 Saudi Arabia 340 works
  6. 6 India 296 works
  7. 7 Brazil 265 works
  8. 8 Norway 263 works
  9. 9 Iran 259 works
  10. 10 Canada 241 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 59.0%United States: 16.4%Russia: 4.0%United Kingdom: 3.5%6 others listed: 17.1%59%largest
China5,751 · 59.0%United States1,600 · 16.4%Russia393 · 4.0%United Kingdom341 · 3.5%6 others listed1,664 · 17.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Drilling and Well Engineering research?

By volume in 2022-now, China National Petroleum Corporation (China) publishes the most Drilling and Well Engineering research, followed by China University of Petroleum, Beijing and Southwest Petroleum University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China National Petroleum Corporation (China)China 660 works
  2. 2 China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 483 works
  3. 3 Southwest Petroleum UniversityChina 362 works
  4. 4 China University of Petroleum, East ChinaChina 306 works
  5. 5 Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)Saudi Arabia 293 works
  6. 6 Chengdu University of TechnologyChina 236 works
  7. 7 Sinopec (China)China 212 works
  8. 8 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 158 works
  9. 9 King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 140 works
  10. 10 Xi'an Shiyou UniversityChina 134 works

Who are the leading researchers in Drilling and Well Engineering?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Drilling and Well Engineering include Wei Huang, Xiaogang Wang and P. Jackson.

  1. 1 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  4. 4 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  5. 5 Steven J.M. Jones Canada 200k citations
  6. 6 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  7. 7 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  8. 8 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Drilling and Well Engineering?

The most cited paper in Drilling and Well Engineering is "Theory of Propagation of Elastic Waves in a Fluid-Saturated Porous Solid. I. Low-Frequency Range" (M. A. Biot, 1956), with 8,176 citations. Next come "Theory of Propagation of Elastic Waves in a Fluid-Saturated Porous Solid. II. Higher Frequency Range" (4,425) and "Chapter 7. RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS: INFLUENCE OF PROVENANCE AND SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES" (2,695).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Theory of Propagation of Elastic Waves in a Fluid-Saturated Porous Solid. I. Low-Frequency Range M. A. Biot · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Mar 1956 8,176
2 Theory of Propagation of Elastic Waves in a Fluid-Saturated Porous Solid. II. Higher Frequency Range M. A. Biot · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Mar 1956 4,425
3 Chapter 7. RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS: INFLUENCE OF PROVENANCE AND SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES S. M. McLennan Book chapter 31 Dec 1989 2,695
4 Conditions for the localization of deformation in pressure-sensitive dilatant materials John W. Rudnicki, JAMES R. RICE · Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids Dec 1975 2,576
5 The Rock Physics Handbook: Tools for Seismic Analysis of Porous Media Gary Mavko, Tapan Mukerji, Jack Dvorkin 2011 2,384
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Drilling and Well Engineering research done?

The largest centres of Drilling and Well Engineering research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Chengdu (China), Houston (United States) and Qingdao (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Arbroath, Road Town and Xinjiang.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.9k works
  2. 2 ChengduChina 702 works
  3. 3 HoustonUnited States 407 works
  4. 4 QingdaoChina 397 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 291 works
  6. 6 DhahranSaudi Arabia 264 works
  7. 7 DaqingChina 211 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 210 works
  9. 9 Abu DhabiUnited Arab Emirates 163 works
  10. 10 XuzhouChina 163 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ArbroathGB · 93.2 works295×
  2. Road TownVG · 74.9 works216×
  3. XinjiangCN · 36.1 works147×
  4. XichengCN · 32.5 works83×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Drilling and Well Engineering than the world average.

See Drilling and Well Engineering on the map

Where is the best place to study Drilling and Well Engineering?

Among universities, judged by research, Wuhan University, China University of Mining and Technology and China University of Petroleum, East China score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.32%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Wuhan UniversityChina University of …China University of …China University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Wuhan UniversityChina 64.238.2%2.1×33 +92.1%
2China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 62.718.9%18.3×158 +71.9%
3China University of Petroleum, East ChinaChina 62.415.3%59.6×306 +41.5%
4China University of Petroleum, BeijingChina 61.610.9%112.6×483 +26.2%
5Central South UniversityChina 60.828.7%3.5×75 +101.3%
6Chengdu University of TechnologyChina 59.412.8%56.2×236 +79.1%
7Chongqing UniversityChina 59.425.7%4.7×56 +41.8%
8King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 59.015.4%37.1×140 +1.4%
9Southwest Petroleum UniversityChina 58.110.2%103.9×362 +54.9%
10Beijing Jiaotong UniversityChina 56.537.1%2.8×19 +299.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Drilling and Well Engineering, country by country

Is Drilling and Well Engineering research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Drilling and Well Engineering.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Drilling and Well Engineering as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.058% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Drilling and Well Engineering0.054% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Drilling and Well Engineering over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Drilling and Well Engineering9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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