Comments: Heroic Effort
Authors: Donnelly John 
Published: February 2015

Editor's column

The recent rescue of 33 miners in Chile was a textbook success story. Behind the scenes, the oil and gas industry and several SPE members played key and supporting roles in the humanitarian effort that mobilized the best drilling technology available and captured the world’s attention.

The miners, who were trapped nearly half a mile underground in the copper and gold mine for 68 days, were finally rescued in a complex and expensive operation. The Chilean government spared little expense in requesting help from drillers and other experts from more than a dozen countries, and industry was quick to offer assistance with equipment and personnel. 

One SPE member who assisted in the rescue was Nestor Eduardo Ruiz, a former chairperson of the SPE Patgonia Section in Neuquen, Argentina, and a manager at Argentina’s Gyrodata. He was part of “plan C,” one of three simultaneous operations organized to pull the miners to safety. Eduardo, who has worked in the directional drilling industry for 24 years, said he was contacted by one of plan C’s leaders who knew him from the early days of his oil and gas career.  His company, Gyrodata, had done business with Chilean state companies Enap and Sipetrol, helping to survey wells to determine accurate wellbore positioning.

“Needless to say, this was a big challenge for me and my company,” Eduardo said. “We could demonstrate our technology to direct and measure a well toward a tight objective in order to rescue 33 human lives. It was an incredible challenge.”

When plan B—the second of three operations devised for the rescue—started to open the hole that would eventually free the miners, plan C went into effect. They were able to reach their depth target despite the fact that it was an extremely hard rock to drill, he said. “We used tricone bits with inserts,” Eduardo said. “It is not an easy task to drill a 28-in.-diameter wellbore directionally from the surface. As the control of the trajectory was not easy to do, it was necessary to change to a 17½-in. hole diameter at 220 m. With more weight on the bit, control of the trajectory was more predictable.”

Eduardo said he relied on several SPE technical papers for guidance during the operation, as well as the advice of coworkers and SPE colleagues in Houston and Norway, including Rob Shoup, Jean Paul Lips, and Roger Ekseth. The company’s latest survey technology, the CAAT gyro tool, was used to measure the trajectory of the well. “The challenge for my company and for me was to provide the best wellbore position free of errors,” he said.

Numerous drilling companies, both energy and nonenergy related, were involved in the rescue, including Layne Energy, Geotec, Precision Drilling, and Center Rock. “All of the service companies and technology involved—the drilling rig, directional drilling, wireline, mud, bits, etc.—represented a tremendous effort and we all worked together from the beginning,” he said. “Our industry showed it cared and we tried very hard to deliver an escape route for the trapped miners, while minimizing their risk and the risk of the rescuers at the same time.”