Drilling for what keeps us rolling...

Here is where I have been lately, in an isolated part of the frozen north, surveying oil leases. Here is a "horizontal rig" They drill down 600 meters, then the bit turns, and runs horizontal for up to 1 1/2 miles through an oil deposit. This set up also injects steam underground to soften the tar like deposits, to make retrieval easier.

The cable coming off the derrick is a zipline for emergency egress of the guy (derrick hand) in the little shack, in case of emergency. You can just make out the "T" bar outside the door. He would sit on this and release the break, and "get out of dodge!"

What a way to make a living!

That's an amazing piece of machinery.

I miss snow.

I assume you are talking about the horizontal shale drilling method

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO-aNBHV4VI

My brother has oil land in western Nodak. This stuff is crazy.

k.

Edit: Last link has somehow stopped working. No doubt it is the Obama administration

http://www.horizontaloilshaledrilling.com

Yup, that's it exactly it. The cool part, the second bore for the steam injection is 2 m above the producing bore, sometimes from another location more than a mile away, opposing drills.

I miss drilling, One of my old jobs was a Geo-engineering tech/ hazmat-tech, taking bore samples for hydrocarbons and sometimes looking for Kimberlite and other stuff. We didn't just work with the oil industry, there were some other strategic minerals and metals we were looking for. It is amazing what some of the things that come off that drill bit looks like. lots of colored glass.

I realized the other day the pipeline that they were gonna build to here started right where you are! Small world.

BurkeCutlery said:

I realized the other day the pipeline that they were gonna build to here started right where you are! Small world.

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You joke, but this same technology is being used in Texas and Oklahoma -- and even in PA where Dave lives.

k.

Canadians are a resouceful bunch.

A few of my friends and ex-schoolmates worked on the rigs for a while. Great money, dirty work, bad habits and long cold days eventually drove them out of it, in search of more "regular" jobs. After hearing the stories, I would never want to be on the dirty end of rigging. You guys are crazy! Even the suit and hardhat wearers like you, Pierre.

And with drilling comes strippers. The are making $2-3,000 per night in western Nodak.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/25/pf/America_boomtown_strippers/index.htm

k.

Lefty said:

Canadians are a resouceful bunch.

A few of my friends and ex-schoolmates worked on the rigs for a while. Great money, dirty work, bad habits and long cold days eventually drove them out of it, in search of more "regular" jobs. After hearing the stories, I would never want to be on the dirty end of rigging. You guys are crazy! Even the suit and hardhat wearers like you, Pierre.

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Suit? What's that? Nomex coveralls, or kevlar chainsaw pants, steel toes, hard hat all the gear! I like it outside, offices, and fluorescent lights make me sleepy. 4 hours in an office in front of a computer, is just as tiring as a day in the field, just mentally, not physically.

Hahaha. I knew that would get you going!

mr drinky said:

You joke, but this same technology is being used in Texas and Oklahoma -- and even in PA where Dave lives.

k.

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I wasn't joking! I hear about Alberta's tar sands every day on the radio. Texans are itching to get their hands on it. I know like 3 people whose jobs are essentially in limbo until the Keystone Pipeline gets a green light--you can't have a King of the Hill style BS session with anyone from here without the word "Fracking" coming up.

BurkeCutlery said:

I wasn't joking! I hear about Alberta's tar sands every day on the radio. Texans are itching to get their hands on it. I know like 3 people whose jobs are essentially in limbo until the Keystone Pipeline gets a green light--you can't have a King of the Hill style BS session with anyone from here without the word "Fracking" coming up.

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Stand corrected. Sounded like you were joking, but in reality no on really jokes about this **** do they.

k.

I wonder how many guys had to jump before they came up with the current safety system?