The History of Oil Well Drilling

By: Heartland Energy Colorado

The history of oil well drilling in the United States begins around the mid-1800s, almost at the inception of the Industrial Revolution. At that time, consumers really needed something else other than candles to light their work during the night and help them read indoors. With this demand for more sustainable lighting, companies then began making oil lamps that were much brighter than candles and lasted much longer with a more dependable light source. Sperm Whale Oil was one of the first oils used to burn these lamps that replaced candles over time. Sperm Whale Oil is very clear and almost odorless; it burns with very little smoke which makes it very convenient for indoor lighting. The biggest problem with Sperm Whale Oil is that it was a very limited resource, and it was so extremely rare that really only the wealthy could afford to use it on a regular basis. It was at this time that whalers had almost hunted the population of Sperm Whales to extinction. So the market was extremely ripe for inexpensive oil that would replace Sperm Whale Oil. As stated previously, this all happened around the time of the Industrial Revolution so there was also a need for good quality lubricants for steam powered machines.

In about 1854 there was an attorney from New York named George Bissell who was the lucky recipient of a small sample of a liquid sent to him from a professor at Dartmouth College. Previous to receiving the sample, the professor had heard Bissell's interest in finding a substitute for Sperm Whale Oil. After having heard this, the professor wanted Bissell's opinion of the liquids value as a lamp oil and lubricant vs. Sperm Whale Oil. The professor informed Bissell that he had collected the sample near a creek which through the woods of Crawford and Venango counties. As you and I both know, this unknown liquid was oil. It was flowing out of the rocky terrain in and around the creek, and many people at that time had called it "rock oil." As a matter of fact there was so much of the substance that the local settlers had named this creek, Oil Creek.

After Bissell had a chance to examine the oil sample he was convinced that this refined rock oil would absolutely burn as clean and safe as any of the available oils at the time, including Sperm Whale Oil. He believed it to be a good lubricant and so he began raising money to collect oil from "Oil Creek" and to market the oil for illumination and lubrication purposes. This was truly the inception of the Seneca oil company in New Haven, Connecticut. One of the many problems that the company had faced was how to best the oil from the land. It was obvious that the best way to collect this oil was not to simply try to scoop it from the ground because of the limited amount of production. Seneca Oil's entire mission was to produce extremely large amounts of this oil and market it into the populace of the northeastern United States, so it was at this time that someone within the Corporation actually came up with the idea of drilling a well in order to tap this oil.

Edwin L. Drake who eventually became a board member of Seneca Oil was hired to oversee the drilling project at Oil Creek which was actually located in Titusville. Drake had previously worked for the railroad as a conductor. In 1859 Drake had employed William A. Smith to be his oil well driller. Smith was previously a blacksmith and had experience as a brine well driller, so he had experience with drilling previously. Considering his previous experience, Smith decided that the best way to drill into the oil well was to place the steel casing (a length of hollow steel pipe) through the soft surface of the earth until it reached bedrock. If he had not used the steel casing, then the loose topsoil would cave back into the hole that they tried to drill. (Modern-day oil rigs and drillers still begin almost all oil wells by casing the top of the hole) Smith then went on to build one of the very first oil drilling rigs ever. He ran drilling tools inside the casing and drilled through the rock.

By August of 1859, Smith was able to drill the hole to a depth of around 70 feet. It was near the end of that day that Smith noticed that the bid actually dropped around 6 inches. The next morning Smith came into the rig and found that the casing was full of oil. Overnight, oil from the formation below flowed into the well casing and filled it all the way up to the top. It was never recorded how much oil this first oil well produced, but it is estimated that 800 to 1200 gallons of oil per day was produced which was far more than the gallon or two that could be collected off of the ground previously. Probably the most exciting find out of this entire venture was the fact that an oil well could produce massive amounts of oil. According to most records Drake's oil well was the first oil well in the United States which was drilled for the sole purpose of finding and producing oil. The news of the oil well spread rapidly and because of the market which existed for oil, dozens of brand-new rigs were erected overnight in the same area to take advantage of the demand for it. This was really the inception of the first oil boom in the United States.

Natural Gas: The answer to our Energy problems?

At the mention of the term natural gas, most of us come to think of it as a gas that, as the name might suggest occurs naturally. Right to an extent, but quite vague in the true sense of it, actually natural gas is a mixture of about eight gases, mainly methane, ethane, butane, propane, carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen sulphide all in the order of proportion in which they make up natural gas. The gas is normally colorless and odorless but for safety reasons odorants, small insignificant chemicals which have the property of adding odors, are added to give it a distinct smell.

The gas that we are more familiar with, that is delivered to our homes for domestic purposes, in its purest most processed form is mostly methane. Many of us don’t realize the huge role that natural gas already plays in our homes and everyday lives. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which is a blend of propane and butane is now widely used in the US as a source of heating for ovens, clothes dryers, boilers and central heating for our homes in harsh weather. An increasing number of power plants that provide the electricity with which we power our homes and light up our cities worldwide are dependent on gas, hydrogen obtained from natural gas is increasingly becoming popular as an alternative source of fuel to power our vehicles, countries like Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, India and Sweden have already taken giant strides in the quest to considerably lower their reliance on petroleum or gasoline.

Natural gas is formed naturally through the same process that produces the crude oil the earth is so heavily dependent upon as an energy source today. They both are formed by the process of chemical decomposition of dead organic matter in the absence of oxygen over time. The natural gas is often found trapped together with the oil in wells underground. The manner of their formation places them in the class of fuels known as fossil fuels. Surprisingly even though their origins are very much the same they have quite different properties and practical applications.

Oil in previous times was thought to be the only useful source of energy in the wells, gas was mostly regarded as an unwanted by product and was mostly burned in the atmosphere in a process known as flaring. Flaring of gas was a major source of concern to environmentalists because it had been proven to be a major source of pollution, causing huge damage to the environment and even bigger costs in efforts to try rectify the damage already done in the process.

All this until, someone discovered that gas could also be used as an energy source with great economic advantages over crude oil in terms of costs of production, environmental friendliness, and availability. Natural gas has been proven to burn very efficiently leaving little to waste, it burns 43% more efficiently than petrol and 60% more than coal. Some molecules in coal and oil do not burn completely and are released into the atmosphere contributing greatly to pollution but it’s not the same for gas. It gives off relatively less harmful carbon byproducts when compared to coal and oil. Many experts also believe that there are far more reserves of gas than the quantity of crude oil ever discovered. The middle east, specifically Qatar and Iran, is reputed to have the world’s largest natural gas reserves estimated at about 900 trillion and 500 trillion cubic feet respectively in those countries.

But you haven’t heard the good news yet, natural gas can be produced artificially! No more worries and panic about global reserves declining, we haven’t learned to produce petroleum yet and there’s little hope we’ll ever be able to do that, but that’s not the case with natural gas. Methane is its major component and can be produced biologically from agricultural waste and other organic waste materials like dead plants and animal waste that otherwise go to landfills and other waste disposal processes. Specifically these waste products are chemically broken down by tiny methane producing microorganisms known as methanogens, in relatively the same way in which gas is formed naturally.
At the mention of the term natural gas, most of us come to think of it as a gas that, as the name might suggest occurs naturally. Right to an extent, but quite vague in the true sense of it, actually natural gas is a mixture of about eight gases, mainly methane, ethane, butane, propane, carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen sulphide all in the order of proportion in which they make up natural gas. The gas is normally colorless and odorless but for safety reasons odorants, small insignificant chemicals which have the property of adding odors, are added to give it a distinct smell.

The gas that we are more familiar with, that is delivered to our homes for domestic purposes, in its purest most processed form is mostly methane. Many of us don’t realize the huge role that natural gas already plays in our homes and everyday lives. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which is a blend of propane and butane is now widely used in the US as a source of heating for ovens, clothes dryers, boilers and central heating for our homes in harsh weather. An increasing number of power plants that provide the electricity with which we power our homes and light up our cities worldwide are dependent on gas, hydrogen obtained from natural gas is increasingly becoming popular as an alternative source of fuel to power our vehicles, countries like Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, India and Sweden have already taken giant strides in the quest to considerably lower their reliance on petroleum or gasoline.

Natural gas is formed naturally through the same process that produces the crude oil the earth is so heavily dependent upon as an energy source today. They both are formed by the process of chemical decomposition of dead organic matter in the absence of oxygen over time. The natural gas is often found trapped together with the oil in wells underground. The manner of their formation places them in the class of fuels known as fossil fuels. Surprisingly even though their origins are very much the same they have quite different properties and practical applications.

Oil in previous times was thought to be the only useful source of energy in the wells, gas was mostly regarded as an unwanted by product and was mostly burned in the atmosphere in a process known as flaring. Flaring of gas was a major source of concern to environmentalists because it had been proven to be a major source of pollution, causing huge damage to the environment and even bigger costs in efforts to try rectify the damage already done in the process.

All this until, someone discovered that gas could also be used as an energy source with great economic advantages over crude oil in terms of costs of production, environmental friendliness, and availability. Natural gas has been proven to burn very efficiently leaving little to waste, it burns 43% more efficiently than petrol and 60% more than coal. Some molecules in coal and oil do not burn completely and are released into the atmosphere contributing greatly to pollution but it’s not the same for gas. It gives off relatively less harmful carbon byproducts when compared to coal and oil. Many experts also believe that there are far more reserves of gas than the quantity of crude oil ever discovered. The middle east, specifically Qatar and Iran, is reputed to have the world’s largest natural gas reserves estimated at about 900 trillion and 500 trillion cubic feet respectively in those countries.

But you haven’t heard the good news yet, natural gas can be produced artificially! No more worries and panic about global reserves declining, we haven’t learned to produce petroleum yet and there’s little hope we’ll ever be able to do that, but that’s not the case with natural gas. Methane is its major component and can be produced biologically from agricultural waste and other organic waste materials like dead plants and animal waste that otherwise go to landfills and other waste disposal processes. Specifically these waste products are chemically broken down by tiny methane producing microorganisms known as methanogens, in relatively the same way in which gas is formed naturally.

However, there are some concerns about the nature of methane itself, it is recognized as one of the most potent greenhouse gases, i.e. gases that occur naturally in the atmosphere to regulate the temperature of the planet constantly to habitable levels, however man’s adventurous exploits over the years have increased the levels of these gases over the normally occurring levels making them trap and seal increasingly higher levels of heat within the earth’s surface. There are fears in some quarters that increased use of Natural gas as a fuel source would inevitably worsen this problem. However that is left to be proven. A lot of the environmentally conscious believe that there is a need to seek much more environmentally friendly sources of energy but till those sources are fully developed to a commercially attractive level natural gas should be a good alternative to take us on our quest for a cleaner healthier planet.
However, there are some concerns about the nature of methane itself, it is recognized as one of the most potent greenhouse gases, i.e. gases that occur naturally in the atmosphere to regulate the temperature of the planet constantly to habitable levels, however man’s adventurous exploits over the years have increased the levels of these gases over the normally occurring levels making them trap and seal increasingly higher levels of heat within the earth’s surface. There are fears in some quarters that increased use of Natural gas as a fuel source would inevitably worsen this problem. However that is left to be proven. A lot of the environmentally conscious believe that there is a need to seek much more environmentally friendly sources of energy but till those sources are fully developed to a commercially attractive level natural gas should be a good alternative to take us on our quest for a cleaner healthier planet.

By Fiyinn Adebiyi (www.energyplanet.info)

Obama invites India to major economies forum on climate change

By Arun Kumar (Thaindian.com)

Washington, March 29 (IANS) US President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of 16 major economies including India to Washington for a forum on energy and climate next month to prepare ground for a new global climate change regime.

The forum, scheduled for April 27-28, seeks to “generate the political leadership necessary” for a successful outcome at the UN climate change negotiation to be held in Copenhagen in December, the White House said in a statement Saturday.

Obama, who recently turned his attention to the need for more clean-energy funding, has also asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to attend the meet.

Besides India, the other major economies are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Britain.

Last week, Obama told a group of renewable-energy company owners and investors that the country has “known the right choice for a generation (and that) the time has come to make that choice”.

He argued that an expanded investment is needed to lay the foundation for long-term economic growth, cut dependence on foreign oil and slow the process of global warming.

“We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc or we can create jobs preventing its worse effects,” he said. “We can hand over the jobs of the 21st century to our competitors, or we can create those jobs right here in America.”

The need for new energy sources was a heated point of contention in the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama emphasised the need for renewable-energy development, while Republican nominee John McCain stressed a preference for more oil drilling within the United States.

More Energy News: Heartland Energy Colorado

International Association of Drilling Contractors

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Colorado Governor's Energy Office, Strategic Goals

by: Heartland Energy Colorado

The Governor's Energy Office released their strategic plan to implement the resources of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to maximize the objectives they have for job creation, job retention, energy resource development and the greenhouse gas reduction. According to the report GEO is implementing the funds so that it creates the intended stimulation without creating a dependency. You can see the report here.

ColoradoENERGY.org, a one stop shop for energy sustainability

by:Heartland Energy Colorado

ColoradoENERGY.org is a fantastic resource for energy efficiency and renewable energy information in Colorado. There is really information on everything and a little something for everyone. At this site you will find information and "how-to's" about energy efficient applications, new technologies, government actions, important events and green building. ColoradoEnergy.org is a complete information resource.

It is a site dedicated to energy professionals in Colorado to network and get the word out about activities, etc. So if you are a Energy professional make certain to join their site now and get involved!

Heartland Energy Colorado

Human Waste Converted into Clean Fuel

by: Heartland Energy Colorado

EnerTech Environmental of Atlanta, GA has launched a new facility in California that will convert human waste or biosolids into energy. The new facility located in Rialto, California will, "convert 883 wet tons per day of biosolids from five municipalities in the Los Angeles region into 167 dry tons per day of renewable energy." This renewable fuel will be used as an alternative to coal for a local cement kiln as an alternative to coal.

When Heartland Energy Colorado happened upon the press release announcing this we dug a little further into Enertech Environmental and obtained the information directly from their site. You can read their press release here.

Enertech Environmental is a renewable energy company that is dedicated to the commercialization of technologies dedicated to the production of renewable energy by utilizing biosolids.

The Formation of Oil (Part 2 of 2)

Once formed in source rock, oil and natural gas, being lighter than water, begin to migrate laterally and vertically through migratory rock.  Oil and gas pass through the pore space within the sedimentary rock structure and through fractures in rock layers.  This migration may extend as far as 200 miles from source rock.  The rate of migration depends on the porosity and permeability of the migratory rock.  Porosity is a measure of the spaces within the rock that can be filled with fluids and permeability is a measure of the ease with which a fluid can pass from one pore to the next.  Both are critical in determining the flow of hydrocarbons into a well; generally speaking, the greater the porosity, the greater the permeability. 

Oil and gas migration continues until interrupted by an intervening rock formation shaped like an inverted bowl or a fault made of a well-cemented rock with no spaces between the grains.  Once migrating oil and gas are trapped in reservoir rock, natural gas, the lightest, rises to the top of the reservoir and forms a gas cap; saltwater, the heaviest, sinks to the bottom, leaving oil in the middle.  In some reservoirs, a small concentration of natural gas may remain mixed with crude oil without forming a gas cap; in still others, there is no associated natural gas.  The subsurface water that makes up the water table is fresh, produced by rain percolating through the soil; but the water beneath the water table is more or less as saline as ocean water.

Contrary to a popular conception the originated with the dawn of the oil age, an oil reservoir does not consist of a void space filled with a pool of oil; rather, it is migratory rock turned reservoir rock, saturated with oil and gas, that has been prevented from continuing its journey to the earth’s surface.  The geometry of a trap is one determinant of the size of an oil field; the larger the dome or fault of caprock and the greater the distance from the top of the trap to the spill point the larger the size of the potential oil field.  Other determinants are porosity, which determines the quantity of oil and gas contained in reservoir rock, its permeability, which determines the flow of the oil and gas to a well and its potential recoverability, and, of course, the concentration of oil and natural gas in the reservoir rock.

Heartland Energy Colorado is one of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

The Formation of Oil (Part 1 of 2)

Dead organic matter must lie in either stagnant, oxygen-free waters at the bottom of the sea until buried or be buried quickly after death and achieve a concentration of one to three percent by weight to become a future oil reservoir, although this concentration can be as high as ten percent.  The next step is burying the organically rich sediment deep enough to generate the temperature and pressure necessary to transform organic matter to oil. 

With 7,000 feet of overburden, the pressure is sufficient to raise the sediment’s temperature to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, the minimum to produce a heavy and generally undesirable grade of crude oil.  Preferred light crudes are produced as one approaches 18,000 feet and 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Beyond 18,000 feet, the temperature and pressure are sufficient to transform oil to graphite and natural gas.  The oil window is 7,000 – 18,000 feet below the surface of the earth, meaning that sediments at river mouths must be buried between 1.5 – 3.5 miles of debris to produce oil by either the ocean bottom sinking or the surrounding land mass rising or a combination of both.

The properties of the oil depend on the type of organism, its concentration, depth of burial and the nature of the surrounding sediment.  Oil properties vary from one field to another and no two fields have exactly the same properties.  Commercial grades of crude are really a mix of oil from different oil fields in the same region that have similar properties.  A few are from different oil fields with dissimilar properties such as Urals, a specified mix of light sweet crude from western Siberia and heavy sour crude from the Ural region of Russia.

Heartland Energy Colorado is one of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Oil Operating Companies

(Source: Heartland Energy Colorado Blog)

An operating company, or an operator, is usually known as an oil company or a company whose primary business is working with oil and gas, or petroleum. Some of the big players in the United States are Exxon, Shell, and Heartland Energy Colorado. An operating company may be an independent or a major.

An independent company may be one or two individuals or it may have hundreds or employees.
Major companies, such as the Exxon, Shell or BP's have thousands of employees.

Besides the size of the company, a major difference between an independent and a major is that an independent only produces and sells crude oil and natural gas. A major company on the other hand, produces crude oil and natural gas, transports them from the field to a refinery or a plant, refines or processes the oil and gas and then sells the products to consumers across.

Whether independent or major, an operator must acquire the right to drill for and produce petroleum at a particular site. An operating company does not usually own the land or even the minerals (oil and gas materials) lying under the land. The company has to buy or lease the rights to drill for and produce oil and gas from the landowner and the mineral holder. Individuals, partnerships, corporations or a federal, store or local government can own land and mineral rights. The operator not only pays the landowner a fee for leasing, it also has to pay the mineral holder a royalty, which is a share of the money made form the sale of the oil or gas produced.

Other similar Articles: Drilling Rights | Oil Exploration | Heartland Energy Colorado

Drilling Rights

The United States and Canada are unique in permitting individuals and companies to own both the surface and the subsurface rights of land.  All other nations consider subsurface minerals the property of the state regardless of who owns the surface land.  In the United States and Canada, surface rights to build a house or farm the land can be separated from the subsurface rights to explore and develop mineral finds.  If separated, a lease agreement has to be reached between the owners of the surface and subsurface rights with regard to access to the land, the conditions for exploration and the development of any discovered minerals, including oil and gas.  Lease agreements usually contain a bonus payment on signing and a royalty payment to be paid to the owner of the surface rights if minerals, including oil and gas, are found and stipulate a time limit for the start of exploration.  If exploration has not started by the time established in the lease, the lease becomes null and void and the subsurface mineral rights revert to the owner of the surface rights.  Leases can also be farmed out to third parties who conduct exploration, and working interests can be sold to third parties to raise funds to develop an oil or mineral fund.

Large portions of the United States and Canada are not owned by individuals, but by the federal governments.  In the United States, the federal government holds auctions for mineral rights on its land holdings and offshore waters.  Rights to drill on blocks on the continental shelf, whose depth is within the capability of offshore drilling rigs, are offered periodically in a closed-bid auction.  The highest bidder has a five or ten-year period, depending on the depth of the water, to begin exploration or the mineral rights revert back to the federal government.  The U.S. government receives a one-sixth royalty if oil is found.  Canada has different rules that vary among the provinces.  In addition, if oil is discovered on land, there are government regulations on the spacing of production wells to avoid overproduction, the fruit of the bitter lessons learned from the early exhaustion of oil fields in western Pennsylvania, Spindletop and elsewhere.  Of course, providing a long-term optimal return on a costly investment is also a strong guiding force for oil field managers in determining the spacing between producing wells.

Heartland Energy Colorado is one of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Oil Exploration

In the early years of oil, drillers imagined that they were drilling for a pool or an underground river of oil using seeps as a guide for where to drill.  Such exploration was successful if the surface oil came from an oil reservoir directly beneath the seep.  Many seeps offered little reward to the driller as they merely marked the spot where the migratory rock breeched the earth’s surface.  Drilling straight down missed oil embedded in a layer of migratory rock slanted at an angle to the surface.  Since the first oil was found near a creek, early oil drillers followed creek beds, thinking that oil flowed beneath running water.  Once oil was discovered, production wells were placed as close as possible to one another to ensure commercial success.  Spacing wells increased the chance of drilling a dry hole beyond the perimeter of an oil reservoir.  This practice, having the greatest possible concentration of wells furiously pumping oil, rapidly exhausted an oil reservoir and another search for seep oil began.

Once sites marked by seep oil were exhausted, and the creek theory debunked, oil drillers turned to geologists for advice on prospective sites.  Geologists examined the land for hints of the presence of three necessary conditions for oil: (1) source rock to generate petroleum, (2) migratory rock through which petroleum moves toward the earth’s surface and (3) reservoir rock where there is an impediment preventing further migration.  Whether sedimentary rock is source, migratory or reservoir rock is a matter of circumstance.

Early geologists became geophysicists when they started using gravity meters and magnetometers to search for oil.  A gravity meter is sensitive to the density of rocks below the surface.  A mile of sedimentary rocks on top of basement rock is dense compared to a salt dome or a layer of porous reef or lighter rocks, which are detectable as anomalies or variations in gravity. 

Magnetometers, because they are sensitive to anomalies or variations in the earth’s magnetic field generated by magnetite in basement rock, are useful for estimating the thickness of overlying sedimentary rock.  Both gravity and magnetic anomalies may indicate an anticline or fault that holds an oil reservoir.

One of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA is Heartland Energy Colorado, based in Englewood, CO. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian)

Moving the Oil to the Well

The primary force that causes oil and gas to flow through pores in the reservoir rock toward the bottom of the well is the pressure differential between the oil and gas within the reservoir rock and the pressure at the bottom of the well.  The driving force in the reservoir can be provided by dissolved natural gas in the oil or by a natural gas cap on top of the oil that expands as oil is removed from a reservoir. 

Natural gas cannot maintain the same initial reservoir pressure as it expands, which causes oil production to decline with time.  Subsurface water entering an oil reservoir from its bottom or sides as a primary driving force can maintain nearly constant reservoir pressure and oil production. 

An oil well goes “dry” when natural gas or water reaches the bottom of the well.  Gravity can also be an effective drive mechanism for wells drilled into the bottom of steeply inclined reservoirs.  Most oil reservoirs have more than one of these four primary driving forces.

One of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA is Heartland Energy Colorado, based in Englewood, CO. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

Directional Drilling

One would think that a drill string made up of thirty-foot lengths of steel pipe would be rigid, but this not at all true when the drill string is measured in miles.  It is rather flexible, and actually twists several times when being rotated before the bit begins to turn.  This characterizes the type of drill string used for directional drilling.

A directional well is first drilled vertically and then cased.  A hole or window is cut into the casing and an installed whipstock bends the drill string at a preset angle.  A pilot hole of 10-15 feet in length is drilled, and when it is certified to be at the right direction and angle, which can be as great as 60 degrees, a turbo drill can be used.  With a turbo drill, the drill pipe no longer rotates to drive a fixed drill bit.

Mud driven down the center of a stationary drill pipe turns a rotary bit attached to the end of the drill string where it exits the drill pipe and enters the annulus.  A magnetic compass and a gyroscope control the orientation and the degree of deviation of the well.  The degree of deviation can be changed at various points along the way until the well is horizontal.

One of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA is Heartland Energy Colorado, based in Englewood, CO. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "Energy for the 21st Century," Nersesian, Roy L.)

Drilling Rigs: Ratholes vs. Mouseholes vs. Conductor Holes

Some rigs use a special pipe called the "kelly," which is part of the drill string.  The kelly is part of the system that rotates the bit.  Rigs with kellys require a rathole - a shallow hole drilled off to the side of the main borehole.  On land, the operator sometimes hires a special truck-mounted, light-duty unit called a "rathole rig" to drill the rathole.  During drilling, the crew uses the rathole to store the kelly temporarily.

The rathole rig or the main rig itself may also drill a mousehole on land sites.  A mousehole, like a rathole, is also a shallow hole lined with pipe that extends to the rig floor.  The mousehole is a lined hole into which the crew puts a length of drill pipe during drilling operations.  When crew members are ready to add the joint to the drill string as the hole deepens, they add it from the mousehole.

The rathole crew may also drill the first, or top, part of the main borehole.  This is called a conductor hole.  The operator can, in some cases, save time and money by using this technique.  

One of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA is Heartland Energy Colorado, based in Englewood, CO. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "A Primer of Oilwell Drilling, Sixth Edition")

Crude Oil: Sour vs. Sweet

Crude oil is a hydrocarbon mixture that often occurs as a liquid, though some crude oils are very thick and dense and do not flow easily.  Crude oil varies considerably in weight, viscosity and color.  It may also contain non-hydrocarbon impurities such as hydrogen sulfide. 

Generally, oil companies classify crude oil as light, intermediate or heavy.  If it contains hydrogen sulfide, they call it "sour crude."  Crude oil that does not contain hydrogen sulfide is classified as "sweet crude."  Oil refineries put crude oil through several chemical and physical processes to render it into many useful products such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel.

One of the top hydrocarbon-based energy providers in the USA is Heartland Energy Colorado, based in Englewood, CO. They have many drilling locations throughout the country and remain one of the top producers of US oil & gas companies. For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, see Heartland Energy Development Corporation online.

(Source: "A Primer of Oilwell Drilling, Sixth Edition")

Heartland Energy Development Corporation Expands Drilling

ENGLEWOOD, CO--(Marketwire - February 12, 2009) - Heartland Energy Development Corporation (HEDC) -- a leader in domestic oil and gas exploration and production -- has expanded its drilling operations to include a 100 percent interest in the Cerda #1 natural gas well in Jim Hogg County, Texas.

Heartland Energy Colorado is looking to expand on a well that is located adjacent to the Northeast Thompsonville Field, which is the largest Wilcox gas field in the state. According to a survey performed by the Texas Economic Geology Commission, the field produces more than 650 CBF of gas with a total 850 EUR. HEDC currently has 860 acres under lease, with an option to lease an additional 800 acres directly from the property owner. The company is collecting 3D seismic data to determine the field's long term potential.

HEDC also has a working interest position in the Margo Heirs Field in Starr County, Texas. The company has participated in drilling Margo Heirs wells 1-4, and plans to participate in the drilling of two more wells during the first half of 2009. The field's primary output comes from the Vicksburg series sands at 6,500 to 8,000 feet in depth. For the past six months, the average output of gas for the first four wells has remained steady at 10 MMcfd (Millions of cubic feet per day). Well #2 is especially productive, yielding more than 10 MMcfd with 200 BCPD (billion cubic feet per day).

In Fall 2008, HEDC participated as a non-operating working interest holder in the Xtreme Oil Creek well 1-19s in McClain County, Oklahoma. The well was drilled to 8,500 feet and completed in the 1st Bromide sand target with an initial production rate exceeding 80 BOPD (Barrels of Oil Per Day).

About HEDC

Established in 2006, Heartland Energy Development Corporation (HEDC) is dedicated to environmentally sensitive exploration and development of domestic gas and oil fields that reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy. It employs advanced drilling/extraction technologies and stratigraphic surveys to maximize yield and protect the environment. While HEDC focuses on fields in Texas and Oklahoma, it boasts a national presence with hundreds of wells and thousands of acres in development. More information is available at www.heartlandenergydevelopment.com.

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Oilwell Drilling

Probably one of the best ways to learn about oilwell drilling is to actually visit a drilling rig. In Colorado you will be able to see rigs right off the I-70 corridor and some of the rigs actually give tours of the property to the public. I happened to come across such a rig in Rifle, Colorado. My first visit to this oil rig was very educational, overwhelming and confusing all at the same time. Most drilling rigs are extremely large and very loud. At first glance some of the people who work on the rigs perform actions that don't seem to make much sense to the uneducated observer.

As a writer from Heartland Energy Colorado, having never visited a rig before I can honestly say that I was lost. A drilling rig has many pieces of equipment and most of it is absolutely enormous.

The rig has only one purpose which is to drill a hole in the ground. The rig itself as previously mentioned is enormous. The hole it drills is usually not very large, usually it is less than a foot in diameter by the time it reaches it's final depth. This hole can usually go for thousands of feet. The entire purpose of this drilling is to tap into an oil and gas reservoir which often times lies buried deep in the earth.

Rigs can operate both on land and sea. Rigs that operate in the sea are often referred to as "offshore" rigs, so it is probably most convenient to visit a land rig to begin with. Obviously a land rig is much easier to visit as you can simply drive to a land rig.

When driving to the land rig, you will definitely see part of it way before you actually arrive at the site of the rig. Probably one of the most distinctive parts of the drilling rig will be its strong structural tower called the mast or a "Derrick". Masts or derricks are tall and extremely strong, this is because they have to support the great strain of the drilling tools which usually way many tons. Rick masts and derricks are so very tall because they have to accommodate long lengths of piping that the rig crew raises into it during the drilling process. A Derrick or a mass could be as high as 16 stories which would be the equivalent of 200 feet tall.

Once you have arrived at the rig, you're very first step will be to check in with the boss or site manager. He/she will more than likely be in a mobile home or a portable type building which is on site that serves as an office and sometimes even living quarters. The rig boss may have the intriguing title of "tool pusher"; or, rig workers may call him or her the "rig Superintendent," or the "rig manager." A "tool pusher" is the traditional term for the rig boss.

Once you are touring the rig, it is most likely that you will have to wear a hard hat which is a very tough plastic With the brand to tech your head. Also you will more than likely need to wear steel capped boots which will keep your toes from being crushed and your safety glasses to safeguard your eyes. This safety wear is usually required for everyone. Whether working on a rig or just visiting, everyone must wear personal protective equipment or "PPE" for short. Usually rig hands or rig workers also wear gloves to protect their hands, you might want to wear a pair as well.

With your protective gear on in the rig superintendence permission it's time to go to the rig floor. The rig floor is the main working area of the rig and usually rests on a strong foundation or a substructure which raises it above ground level. To get to the main floor, you usually must have to walk up a set of steel stairs. Sometimes it could be as much as a 40 foot climb to get to the main work area of the rig. Once you are on the floor, you will want to stop for a minute to catch her breath and take a good look around the floor. You will probably see the crew handling several lengths or "joints" of drill pipe, the steel tubes that put the bids (the actual hole boring device) on the bottom of the hole. If the rig is drilling, you may actually hear the distinctive and loud squawk or squeal of the drawworks brake as it slacks off the drilling line to allow the bit to drill ahead. The drawworks is an extremely large and powerful hoist that regulates the weight the drill string puts on the bit. Sometimes a loud screech will come from the friction brake bands every time they ease their grip on the steel hubs of the drawworks drum to apply wait. It's extremely loud but to the rig owner it usually means that that is drilling ahead without problems.

No matter what is going on on the rig floor, make certain that you take the time to observe what's going on because the place in which you're standing is extremely vital for the oil and gas industry. There are other operations besides drilling forgetting crude oil and natural gas out of the ground and converting them into forms that we can use such as gasoline or heating fuel. Without a drilled well though, or a hole in the ground, oil companies could not obtain oil and gas or petroleum at all.

Now at this point, I'm certain that you do not know what the equipment is for or with the personnel is actually doing but don't be troubled. In future posts we will identify most of the people and tools that actually takes to drill and will give you a better appreciation of oil well drilling.

Mass Marketing Small Wind

by Bruce Mulliken, Green Energy News

I’m greeted by a hand written sign at the entrance of the Home Depot store in Riverhead, New York: “LEARN ABOUT SOLAR ENERGY, Weds. Nite”. Eating a sandwich at the nearby Panera Bread I overhear a conversation. A young women asks an older one, “Are there any wind turbines yet on Long Island?” The encounters were heartening.

Slowly, renewable energy is becoming mainstream, part of regular conversation, mass marketed. Home Depot has been dabbling here and there, off and on with solar system sales for years, and trendy retailer Target tried selling small wind turbines through its online store 8 years ago.

However, for the mass adoption of clean renewable energy for all, there’s still a long, long way to go.

Soon another national chain will attempt to mass market renewable energy, this time a new technology small wind turbine. Beginning in the Fall of this year Ace Hardware, and its 4,600 independently owned and operated stores, will be offering the EarthTronics Honeywell Wind Turbine, a wind energy system developed for home and business owners.

If the name Honeywell sounds familiar it should: the brand is probably best known for its thermostats that adorn the walls of homes and businesses worldwide.

Ace Hardware is the launch partner for the turbine. It will be made available to other retailers, apparently with the asking.

The Honeywell Turbine has a technological feature certainly not common in wind turbines: Power is generated at the tips of the blades, not via generator mounted on the hub, the central shaft. This gearless Blade Tip Power System design, as the company calls it, eliminates mechanical resistance and drag and allows the turbine to have low, 2 miles per hour (.9 meters per second) cut-in speed. Along the ridge of a rooftop, where the company envisions customers will be installing it (a ridge mount bracket is included) there is at least a 2 mile per hour breeze more often than not. As wind pushes up the slope of a roof it accelerates: The turbine will take advantage of that effect. At such a slow cut-in speed the turbine will nearly always be turning generating some electricity, albeit not much.

The turbine will generate power in wind speeds up to 45 miles per hour (very breezy) and put out its maximum power of 2 kilowatts at nearly that speed.

The company says areas where class 4 winds (roughly 16 mph, give or take) are the norm the turbine should generate about 2000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year of electricity, not enough to power a whole average home, but about 18 percent of the annual needs.

The rotor diameter is 5.7 feet. The price? The manufacturer’s list will be $4500.00 . As with all products retailers should be able to fool around with that.

The turbine’s installed cost is approximately 1/3 of the cost of traditional turbines, according to the company, with a lower installed cost per kWh than any turbine on the market. Adding to the value are federal and state rebates covering anywhere from 30% to 100% of the overall cost.

The Honeywell Wind Turbine comes complete with a computerized smart box, inverter and interconnect switch to wire the system into a household panel. There’s also a proprietary battery charging system and optional ethernet wireless system and data software for remote monitoring. EarthTronics throws in a 30 pack of compact florescent bulbs (CFL) to help cut down on electricity consumption. The bulbs and the wind turbine together could save on average over 30 percent on electricity costs per year, says EarthTronics.

The turbine was developed by WindTronics, a private technology company founded in Muskegon, Michigan at the Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Centre (MAREC). WindTronics is the licensee for the Honeywell Wind Turbine.

To some, $4500 may not seem like a mass market product. But then cars are mass marketed and the average price for a new car is what, $20,000? For that homeowners could buy four Honeywell turbines with money to spare.

Serious wind turbine shoppers should look at the variety of options available. The mass marketing of one turbine should help other turbine manufacturers that have taken different marketing and sales routes. Mass marketing is generally good for all.

For more information on Green Energy News, check out www.green-energy-news.com