Just some pics from work...First is an air rig when drilling the top hole of a well. The second and third is the deep well rig that goes in after and drills the rest of the way and drills the horizontal section.
PA's northern tier is busy with gas activity. First is a frac pond that was built across from my rig. The second pic is Precision Pipeline hooking up the pipeline for gas well production. Third is just another pic of the rig I work on.
Where are you working up there? We're up there preparing gas pads for Fortuna and East, that might be one of our pads. Most of our work is in Bradford County.
Same here. Most of my work is in Bradford County. Building water impoundments.
Thats in Tioga,...Its on the other side of Blossburg. Troy is 12 miles from there via Fallbrook Rd. if you're familiar. All of our work is for Talisman (Fortuna) and East Resources.
I tried getting up there doing pads about 1.5 yrs ago and the gas companies didn't seem interested. I guess they want big companies doing the work. I know from my area that Pikes Creek, Latona and Linde are up there working. I think that Linde is doing the pipeline.
Company I work for used to do pads but there is no money in it anymore. Now we do closed loop drilling systems for the drill cuttings. Too many companies are building locations for about nothing. GOH does 80% of the ones at home in Lycoming county. Up here Ive seen some pretty crappy locations. Which means Joe Blow is doing them for so cheap that the companies dont even seem to care.
Fortuna and East are treating us pretty good but I think thats because we do good work. We just had to go fix a pad built by someone else last week as the drill rig was on its way.
Why do they use an air drill first? Is the top hole larger? How deep does the air drill go?
The initial drill is done with an oversize bit for the purpose of installing the surface casing. Typically uses compressed air and reverse cutting removal drill rod so the wall of the hole isn't eroded by the air while drilling. Once the surface casing is installed and sealed/grouted in place, then the deep well drilling procedes. Once the well is drilled and the gas pocket is accessed, the surface casing is how they are able to shut off the hole and control the gas coming out of the hole.
Thanks Atco! How deep is the surface casing? Must be pretty deep to hold back that pressure.
Wouldn't have any idea. That's decided by those who engineer the drilling. They have to consider the local geology of the ground as well as anticipated pressure expected to be produced by the well.
they bought all those Kobleco ED150's and took the blade's off every one of them..WHAT THE @%#&...HA HA..Thats basically throwing away close to $30,000 for each machine and rumor has it they bought 27!!!!!..Guess they thought they were getting a 150/160 size machine....ya know what I am talkin bout Shay? :beatsme:idontgetit
The surface casing is set to protect your water table, and prevent washouts close to the surface during drilling. Up there the coal seams are another obstacle, and have to be dealt with differently. Normally they will set a larger string of casing such as 13 3/8" to a depth that will seal off any bad shallow formations and water sands that will cause problems during drilling. This will usually be between 60' and 400'. The next string will usually be 9 5/8" or 8 5/8" to a much deeper depth usually between 800'-3000' depending on geographical location. After that drilling will go on until they reach TD and the production casing will be set. A string of 5 1/2" casing is popular for this. I will go to the bottom of the hole in most cases. The bottom hole depth usually ranges from 6000' to 14,000', as a general rule. the well may only have a true vertical depth of 6000', but the well bore may be 10,000' when they are drilling a directional hole. The production casing is the string that brings gas to the well head and into the gathering system. The exact process varies from region to region, but that is a general description.
Now that's a good description. :notworthy When they set the surface casing in oil/gas drilling, do they still seal the casing with bentonite? or something else?
Casing strings are set in cement. The cement usually does not go all the way to surface on the production strings.