The pipes in the bins in the foreground are drill stem, what are the pipes that are vertical. They are in three joints sections. The workers were lower them in the hole three joints at a time. They did that five or ten times while I was watching. Is that the casing they are installing or is it just more drill stem. They could fill many books, and they have, about what I don't know about the oil and gas business. Email and inform me, I am still an active student in the school of life. williethekidd@gmail.com


I got my answer from my new friend, Terrel Shields, he states the following.


Willie - They are pulling pipe, no casing, which is large and has thin walls and small collars (on pipe is called the tool joint.)

The pipe is pulled up through the V-Door, The smooth drum on the right or left of the large drum is used to wrap a rope around and is called a cathead, and it is used to pick up pipe from the bins (pipe baskets) and pull them up into the V-Door. The square pipe that turns is called the Kelly, it is turned by the kelly bushing which fits in the table which is spun from a gear box below where the pipe is going it. The metal shed with the writing on it is the upper dog house, there is a lower dog house below or sometimes, it is a water tank.

A rig that pulls 2 joints of pipe is a double stand, 3 joints is thribbles, I have seen rigs capable of 4 joints, but never seen one in action. Pipe is screwed together with tongs after using a spinning chain to seat the tapered threads. Lead tong throws the chain. And backup tong is usually the least experienced hand. The derrick hand handles the top of the pipe and maintains the mud system while drilling. The driller is boss and runs the brake. The mud pits are on the extreme right, mud is pumped down the center of the pipe and flows up the hole thru the blowout prevent (BOP) into a flow line which goes into the shale shaker. The shaker seperates the larger drilling cuttings from the mud by viberating. "Fines" in the mud settle in the bottom of the mud pits and have to be jetted occasionally. The geologist looks at the cuttings after washing and drying them. The "worm" hand on the rig gets the job of sample catcher unless a "mudlogging unit" is there and it has a full crew to catch samples. The samples caught by the night crew (morning tour -pronounced "tower") is usually pretty bad. Sample catching is about the least favorite job on a rig.

If the rig was in select parts of the Rockies, the Arkoma, etc. it might be drilling on air instead of mud. The flow line is called a blooie, air compressers and boosters replace the mud pumps, and the blooie is run out well into the reserve pit. A large pilot light is kept lit in case of gas. Once gas is hit, it has to be flared off until the well is over to prevent gas from building up and exploding.

Thought you'd like to know

www.roxnoil.com

Terrel Shields

roxnoil@earthlink.net