The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1952-05-29

had decided TO GILL. F1rSC, now.
ever, a road had to be built to
the site. Then over the road
rumbled huge trucks carrying
tons of steel beams, thousands
of feet of pipe and well casing,
heavy duty diesel engines,
tanks, materials for buildings,
fuel for engines, ingredients Tor
specially prepared drilling mud,
and all the other material that
goes into setting up a rig.
How do they drill a we'll?
They bore into the earth much
as a carpenter boreS into wood
only with mamOth equipment
instead of a brace and bit.
First, there is the derrick -
a steel tower, often is stories
high. This is needed to handle
the drill stem" consisting of
30-foot sections of pipe screwed
together. Naturally, the stem is.
heightened, section by section
as the well is made deeper. In
a 10,000-foot well, the stem
weighs many hundreds of tons.
AT the end of the stem is the
drill - similar in principle to-
an 1augur. The bit, or business
end, is like a heavy steel fist
with Spike-toothed gears for
knuckleS. 1t is screwed to the
first section of pipe and low.
cred into the hole. Then it is
rotated, grinding down through
earth and rock. @ = ,.
A third important component
is the huge engine = some
times steam, more often DIESEL
powered - that rotateS the
drill stem and bit. The engine
also furnishes power to pull the
whole drill stem out of the
hole when the bit needs chang
ing. -@> .-
"Spudding i'm is the oil.
mans term for starting the
hole. Down goes the drill, and
when it has reached a depth
near the limit of the first Joint
of pipe, drilling is stopped mo-
mentarily while another joint is
screwed on. Then drilling is re
sumed.
AS the depth increases, heat
and pressure build up. Special
ly prepared mud is pumped
down through the hollow drill
stem, emerging through open
ings in the bit. This drilling
mud cools the bit, flushes out
cuttings, helps seal off the
walls of the hole - and, per-
haps most important of all,
provides the weight necessary
to counterfeit and control un-I
foreground pressurees that may
be encountered at the bottom
of the hole.
Oil men never know at what
depth they may find oil. But
they do usually know the kind
of formation they'd like to-
rsach. SO. they make periodic
tests as the hole progresses.
They study cuttings brought UP
by the mud. They may pull the
drill pipe and replace the drill
ing bit with a special core bit
that cuts a cylinder of rock
from the bottom of the hole.
They pull up this core sample
and study it. They may test for
gas, too.
The work goes on "a hours a |
day, day in and day out, per-
hapS for months. In Montana,s
severe winters, steam coils
must be built in the mud pits
to keep the mud from freez-
ing; engines, test equipment,
and crews quarters must be
heated. The drill stem keeps on
turning, even when the mer-
curry drops way below zero. On
~ two weather conditions can
interrupt drilling. One is high
wind, making it dangerous for
a man to work on the high
platform, handling the upper
end of the drill pipe that is
stacked inside the derrick. The
other is icing of the derrick.
imperiling the crew on the der
rick floor. Snow does not nee
eSsarily stop work, but storms
come up fast, and when a man
leaves an isolated rig to start
for town, a radio meSSae is of
ten sent ahead. IF he does not
arrive in a reasonable time, a
searching party is sent out.
For Mseks. the hole may pro-
gress steadily. Then, as some
times happens, the bit or drill
stem may break, deep in the
hole. Fishing it out may be a
long and costly project. IF the !