They Dragged the rig over , this Afternoon !

[fordy]

..................Drilling contractor just finished a horizontial well , 6000 deep and about 8,000 horizontial ! Now , too drill the next well they have too..."Skid"....the Whole drilling derrick , subfloor , and motor works about 20 feet . Keep in mind this is over 1/2 million pounds of steel and such .
..................So , they bring out two D6's at about 70,000 lbs. each , get them situated then they bring out two huge trucks with those double front axles each one having a 50 ton Tulsa winch ! Hook the front of the trucks too the D6's , then cables from the tulsa Winches are connected too the subfloor and truck tranys are in Neutral . Dozers start pulling and the winches are engaged simultaneously and the whole mess is scooted over 20 feet ! There is also a large 100 ton Crane involved in this maneauver but i'm not quite clear as too how it is integrated into the motion .
...................I did not see this but am definitely going too get some pictures of this scenerio just cause I'm nosey . , fordy

[gone-a-milkin]

Well yeah, pictures would be nice.
Them's big doins.

[Bret4207]

D6 weighs in about 35-40K lbs. Still, I imagine it was interesting. I like big toys.

[Sawmill Jim]

Yep the newer ones move their self

[ksfarmer]

What are they drilling for? Gas?, Oil?

[fordy]

Originally Posted by ksfarmer

What are they drilling for? Gas?, Oil?

.................Gas , this is where I work ! They have already drilled over 100 wells on this ranch and there is room for 300 I'm told . Some companies are drilling wells , setting pipe , perforating , logging and shutting well in , then , when the price goes back up they frac the well and start producing . , fordy

[oneokie]

Barnett shale, eh?

[ksfarmer]

Worked as a roughneck on a rig in Kansas back in the '60's. We only drilled to about 3500 ft to find oil. Moves were too far to skid, usually several miles, so we always tore down and moved. Lots of heavy equipment and touchy situations. I think the oil fields I drilled in are pretty much pumped out nowdays.

[fordy]

Originally Posted by ksfarmer

Worked as a roughneck on a rig in Kansas back in the '60's. We only drilled to about 3500 ft to find oil. Moves were too far to skid, usually several miles, so we always tore down and moved. Lots of heavy equipment and touchy situations. I think the oil fields I drilled in are pretty much pumped out nowdays.

..................There are A LOT of new developments being pursued in old , existing oil fields that most folks aren't aware of ! IF , you own minerals in an old field , DONOT SELL them ! I have been told and had it later confirmed that , a horizontial well was drilled in an existing oil field in Ok. , it started producing 1,200 barrels per day ! This means that older existing fields all over the USA will begin too be evaluated for their potential RE development by horizontial drilling . There was a time when a smart investor could buy existing fields of old wells for the cost of plugging , not anymore ! ., fordy

[Sanza]

It's good to hear that they are drilling there again in the old fields by going horizontally now to get to the pockets - (good way to boost your economy. LOL less gas from Alberta )
I always thought directional drilling was a sly way of drilling into another companies' range from their own lease tho....
ie: the east Texas range scandal where the unscrupulous owners stole millions of dollars worth of oil.
In the middle of the twentieth century, the East Texas Oil Field was the center of a slant-hole scandal.[9] Some unscrupulous operators had drilled slanted holes from across their lease lines into the productive portions of the Woodbine formation. Inspectors found 380 deviated wells and shut them down, with the assistance of the Texas Rangers.[10] An estimated $100 million worth of oil was stolen over several decades from legal owners.[11]

It happenned here in small town Alberta where another company came and slant drilled (on their own lease) and depleted the towns' reserve of gas from their small pocket forcing the town to rely on the big company for the gas....
I'm not sure what company it is, but a friends son is a driller on a rig situated by Midland right now. They imported skilled workers from Canada, flying them in and out between Texas and Alberta.

[Texasdirtdigger]

We keep hopeing ours will soon get started.