Resumen del autor, extraído del trabajo. The increasing demand to reduce field development and exploration costs has resulted in the development of the new phase drilling optimization simulator. Using this simulator, drilling can now be conducted well in advance of the actual drilling operation, particularly during the pre-planning and planning phases. Simulator technology has been used in reservoir and completion optimization for decades. It should therefore be a must in drilling pre-planning, real-time and post well drilling analysis. While simulation is not new to the oil industry, drilling simulation saw it’s inception within the last two decades, even so we have seen limited application of this technology within the drilling operation. In contrast to other well operations, drilling simulation technology has also seen limited development over the past years because of the prevailing attitudes towards its use. Because of these attitudes management has never fully embraced the idea of funding this technology development and due to the process complexity, professionals within the industry, has never placed much credence in it’s accuracy and usefulness. However, over the last few years the industry has seen an exponential growth in the use of simulation technology in design testing and training. We have also seen within the last few years a wider acceptance of this technology within the industry, particularly, because of the increased technical background of the people within the industry.